Page 117 of Intolerable Bishop

“Nope, pretty sure I still have a point on you,” Theo said and crossed his arms as Ren stood.

“Not for long. I plan on leaving you in my dust this year,” she said, hitting my brother with a challenging glare.

“Bring it. I can’t wait to see you try. But at the end of Senior year, the V for victory and valedictorian will be pinned to me.” He gave her a cocky smile, and she growled as she stomped across the room.

“Let’s go, we wouldn’t want to disappoint the dean, now would we. Unless, of course, you two would like to continue your private conversation,” she said teasingly.

“Wouldn’t need a fucking private conversation if it wasn’t for you,” Liam snarled. It was as if the air was sucked out of the room as Liam glared at Ren and then Theo. “Guess we’ll talk later,” Liam turned around and walked away. Silence fell on the three of us.

“Great move-in day. I’m already having so much fun,” I said and then burst out laughing.

Ren smiled but then pointed at me. “We’re not done with our conversation. Don’t think I’m going to forget.”

I raised my hands in surrender but prayed that she did. Telling her about Christov was just to keep her from snooping any deeper. Knowing Ren, she’d hunt down a phone number and call the Ivankovs to bitch them out because she thought their retaliation on her was ridiculous. That was bad enough, but telling her about my mom and Nadia wasn’t something I wanted to do.

AUGUST 27 – SATURDAY 6:00 PM

Nash

I heard the knock and glanced over my shoulder but continued fixing my tie as my father walked in.

“Are you looking forward to tonight,” he asked as he perused my room like he didn’t snoop in here all the time.

Tugging at the cuffs of my black suit, I turned to face him. “Not particularly. I’m not exactly a birthday ball kind of guy.”

Father’s lips pursed as he faced me. “It’s more than that, and you know it.”

“Yeah, so you said. It’s a great way to have all the allied families here showing support for the cause. I already drank the Kool-Aid. You don’t need to keep reminding me.” His jaw twitched. “What exactly do you expect me to do tonight? There is obviously something you’re after, or you wouldn’t be looming in my room.”

“Looming? Interesting choice of words.” He walked across the room until we were face to face, and my entire body tensed, hating that my gun was in my drawer. “I want to make sure you understand just how important this gathering is and how detrimental it will be to our entire organization if you decide to…go off script and use this as an opportunity to embarrass me. You know…prove you’re ready to take the reins.” Reaching out, he smoothed down my lapels, and it took effort not to smack his hands away. “That will be very unwise for you and the health of those closest to you.”

“Are you threatening me?”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his cold eyes. “Just a reminder that you’re still just a kid in an adult’s game and son…I’m always two moves ahead. Let’s just say that it will be very unfortunate if something happens to young Mr. McCoy on his long journey back from Ireland.” He stepped back as he put his hands in his pockets. “Accidents happen all the time.”

I glared at the snake with two legs. “Why go after someone loyal to you and the son of your most dedicated associate? That doesn’t even make sense.” I knew the answer, and it was to hurt me. Take out one of my loyal members and place another scar on my heart that I’d caused his death. But there was no way I’d say it out loud.

“And the fact that you can’t see the answer screams as to why I’m still in charge and will be until I’m good and ready to hand control over to a worthy successor.”

I sucked in a deep breath, trying to get control of the quickly building rage. “Ah…so I’m still on the maybe list?”

“Let’s just say that I will always choose the best choice for the organization.”

“And your son isn’t good enough?”

“We’ll see…won’t we? Why are you so interested in taking over right now? You’re nineteen. You should be enjoying your youth, not wanting to shove your father out of the family business.”

I laughed, and it sounded slightly maniacal as I stared at the man who, at one point, would’ve managed to play with my head. He was a narcissist through and through. I was threatening to take away the one thing that got him off and fed his narcissistic personality. He was needed, feared, and able to control everyone with a swipe of his pen.

“So I don’t work enough, and now, I don’t party enough? Which is it? Do you even know, or is it whatever you want it to be at the time?” His lip twitched.

“Lawrence, sweetie, there you are,” I shuddered at the sound of Vicky’s voice. She walked into the room with her nose in the air and her shoes clicking on my hardwood floor. She went to kiss his cheek, but my father grabbed her harshly by the jaw. Her eyes went wide with fear as she sucked in a sharp breath.

“First, don’t ever refer to me as Lawrence in the presence of someone else. I am Mr. Collier until you’re officially my wife, and even then, know your place. Second, I was in the middle of a meeting with my son. Are you blind?”

Vicky swallowed hard, and I almost felt sorry for her…almost. She had no idea what she was getting herself into. Worse was that as soon as she married my father, he would have access to the Genovese empire and the backing of the Don of Dons. That was massive. It couldn’t happen. I stared at the side of Vicky’s face…should I kill her? No, the curators had already proven to know more than I thought. God only knew what they would do with that information. There had to be another way.

“I’m sorry, forgive me,” she said softly, lowering her gaze in submission. The scene made me want to vomit. I was surprised he didn’t have her in a collar following him around. He let go of her chin, and she took a deep breath. “Guests have started to arrive.”