Fairmont buzzed with a different kind of energy this time of day. Some kind of street carnival had taken over several blocks, residents parading for miles with portable drum kits and trumpets slung over their shoulders.
The streets pulsed with music and motion. People danced loosely along the sidewalks, arms raised, feet stomping to whatever rhythm the nearest drummer set. Store owners leaned in their doorways, half-watching their businesses, half-watching the show pass by.
Vendors called out over the noise, selling drinks and skewered meat from carts. Children weaved between dancers, chasing each other through gaps in the crowd. It felt less like a Tuesday morning and more like the whole city had agreed to celebrate something at once.
On the opposite end of the chaos, a cluster of tourists trailed behind a woman with a raised umbrella. Joanne. Black hair pulled back, sharp blue eyes, a cowboy hat perched over her head like it belonged there.
The moment Nico’s car rolled past, she gave him a small, practiced salute.
Joanne was one of his lieutenants, tucked into his sprawling network like so many other residents wandering this city under some cover job or another. Hers happened to be scouting.
She slipped into rival districts unnoticed, studying their defenses, deciding whether they were worth the trouble of taking. Nico had plenty of scouts scattered across Fairmont, but none of them matched her instincts.
She didn’t just measure how strong a district’s defenses were. She figured out exactly how to break them, no matter how solid they looked on paper.
Silas had built half his empire on information she’d handed him. Now that Nico sat where his brother used to, she’d already proven just as useful to him.
’I should give her a raise.’
"She’s really pretty, isn’t she?"
Kira said it from the back seat, cutting through the silence. Her eyes had clearly caught the length of Nico’s gaze lingering on Joanne a beat too long.
"Why don’t you just step out the car and go propose to her?" She added, not bothering to soften it. "There’s always room for one more, right?"
Nico sighed and kept his eyes on the windshield, not bothering to glance back.
"You know, it feels relieving to know that your tongue still works." He said. "For a moment there, I was worried we would have to turn on the stereo."
A sharp, offended gasp came from the back seat. Lucas fought down a laugh in the front, jaw tight with the effort, though he didn’t quite manage to stay silent.
Kira scoffed.
"Unbelievable." She muttered. "I already hate the fact that we had to go shopping with you."
’I wouldn’t be here if you guys had at least had a sense of self protection.’
The words sat right at the edge of his tongue. He swallowed them back, figuring the comment would land on more than just one person in the car, and kept his eyes fixed on the road instead.
A few minutes later, the car eased to a stop outside the shopping center. Wide, gleaming, recently gutted and rebuilt for luxury after Silas willed the whole property to the Ashford family.
Nico carried the Ashford name, sure enough, but ownership of the building had never actually passed to him. Whatever he bought here today would come straight out of his own pocket, exactly the way his father had arranged it.
They stepped out, Lucas and two other lieutenants trailing a few paces behind as they walked into the mall.
The interior stretched out in polished marble and soft gold lighting. They passed a cosmetics store first, shelves gleaming with more products than Nico could name, then a sleek shoe store with mannequins posed mid-stride in the window.
Further down sat a bookstore, shelves stacked floor to ceiling, the smell of paper drifting faintly into the corridor. Mira’s eyes lit up the second she spotted it, her pace slowing without her seeming to notice.
Past that came a games store, screens flickering with demo footage, and finally a jewellery shop, glass cases catching every overhead light like tiny fires. Each store pulled a different set of eyes toward it as they walked.
Kira’s gaze locked onto the jewellery store and stayed there, long after they’d walked well past it. Nico caught what exactly had held her attention, a leather choker studded with short spikes.
That explained it.
Nira, meanwhile, cared about none of that. Games were her thing, and unlike her sisters, she wasn’t shy about asking for what she wanted.
"Can I get a video game?" She looked at Nico with wide, pleading eyes. "There’s this one I’ve always wanted to get."
"You can get anything you want."
Nico said it simply, and the response somehow pulled both Mira and Kira’s attention toward him at once. Their expressions flickered with something like regret over an opportunity just missed, though neither said a word.
Nira practically bounced on her feet, thrilled at being the only one bold enough to ask and get an immediate yes. Even walking into the women’s clothing store afterward, she was the one the attendant noticed first.
"And who is this pretty young lady?"
The attendant looked to be in her mid-forties, neat brown hair tucked under a red beret, hazel eyes soft and welcoming. Nico recognized her instantly, a leftover memory from the weekends his ex-girlfriend used to drag him out of his underboss routine.
He even remembered her name. Margaret.
"My wife."
Nico said it simply, walking in with the girls while the lieutenants stayed posted outside. He crossed to the counter and leaned in close to Margaret.
"Be discreet about anything else, I haven’t told them about Leanne."
He kept his voice low, just for her.
"They came to pick some clothes. Please, can you try convincing the one on black not to pick something too occult? Thanks a lot."
He straightened up and turned to the girls with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
"I’ll be waiting outside when you’re done."
The moment he stepped back outside the store, he waved one of his lieutenants over.
"Here’s what is gonna happen. You’re going to make two quick stops." Nico kept his voice low. "You’re gonna head to the bookstore and the jewellery shop."