Summary: Following his beating from Ari, Ransom tries to go about his business as normal. But when someone close to you both is injured, your paths cross again. And the reunion doesn’t go quite as well as he hoped.
Warnings: Bad language words. Talks of blood and injury. NSFW 18+. Contains Dark themes which may or may not be triggers.
Pairing: MOB Ransom Drysdale x Reader/ MOB DARK Steve Rogers x Reader.
Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar the reader and any other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.
Summary: Following his beating from Ari, Ransom tries to go about his business as normal. But when someone close to you both is injured, your paths cross again. And the reunion doesn’t go quite as well as he hoped.
Warnings: Bad language words. Talks of blood and injury. NSFW 18+. Contains Dark themes which may or may not be triggers.
Pairing: MOB Ransom Drysdale x Reader/ MOB DARK Steve Rogers x Reader.
Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar the reader and any other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.
The day after Ari had come to see him, Ransom had sent your car over with Carter and a box of your personal things. It broke him to watch it go, but he knew he had no choice. Nearly a week after the spy’s visit, Ransom was leaving with his own tail between his legs and his head hung low for you to come collect the rest of your belongings.
When he returned to your once shared home later that evening, he wasn’t surprised to see you’d taken the bare minimum. Whilst you had loved the finer things, allowed him to buy you expensive dresses, shoes and jewelry, you’d always insisted you didn’t need them. Instead you had taken a few outfits for work, jeans, sweaters, trainers, your books and some trinkets. The diamonds, gold, Jimmy Choos and Louboutins, the Gucci, Dolce and Armani remained in what had been your shared walk in closet.
Looking around at the room in its lack of disarray bothered him. He expected haste and dropped items, opened drawers and shuffled neatness. He headed for the en-suite and found nothing had been touched. He picked up the vase of Pampas from the counter and hurled it towards the tub, the glass smattering against the marble.
“Boss?” A soft voice spoke from the doorway and Ransom turned to look at Carter.
“Whatever she hasn’t taken, box up and get rid of it.” He spoke simply as he swept from the room, heading down to his study.
“Yes, sir,” Carter nodded.
In his study, Ransom skipped the glass and went straight to the bottle of scotch as he stood, leaning against the fireplace. His eyes stung against the healing green bruise on his face, the smattered and reset lining of his nose burned with emotion and the gash on his lip was threatening to split back open if he bit it any harder.
It wasn’t his ribs, still broken, that ached and bit at his insides, it was reality that had finally hit home. He’d lost the best thing to ever happen to him, you. The girl who had seen through his bullshit and wormed her way into his life so seamlessly, it was as if he had known you since the day he had been born.
A long, long pull of the bottle gave him a burn as if it were forming an ulcer down his throat. Thoughts and images flooded his mind and if he closed his eyes, all he could see was the pain on your face as he left you there in your shared bed, destroyed and un-engaged.
He had done exactly what he had sworn never to do; hurt you. He had refused to listen to your explanation, instead he’d reacted in a way that now shamed him. And he wasn’t used to feeling that. He didn’t like it. Shame equaled guilt, guilt equaled weakness. But that’s what you were to him, a crack in his armour.
Carter’s second, Blanc, asserted himself in the doorway with a clearing of his throat. “Sorry, boss,” he started, “but we need to get going. You have that meeting uptown with Chi and his crew.”
“Right…” Ransom took another large pull from the bottle before he placed it on the table, “Stark meeting us there?”
“So I’m told.” The man nodded.
Ransom made a noise of understanding, before he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out his pistol. Checking it was loaded, he clicked the safety on and tucked it into the waistband of his blue tweed slacks. He picked up his camel coat, scarf, and then gave Blanc a jerk of his head. “Let’s go.”
With his mind occupied with business, you sat still in the forefront, shrouded by a dark shade. This meeting was important, only set to further cement his dealings with Stark, thereby keeping his brother at bay. Chi was to help enforce muscle at the docks.
But half way through the meeting, he was forced to push you from his mind as Chi said something that had his blood boiling.
“What do you mean, your price has doubled?”
“Exactly what I said,” the man leaned back, exhaling his cigar smoke into the air of the conference room. “It was three million, now it’s six.”
“Eat shit,” Ransom scoffed.
“Take it or leave it.”
“Then we’ll leave it, get someone else.” Stark shrugged.
“Good luck with that,” Chi smirked, “from what I hear, we’re the only option you have left seeing as Rogers has been very vocal with his intentions to get the Maximoffs on board.”
“What did you just say?” Ransom growled.
“Your dearest brother is making moves to partner with the Maximoffs and people are seeing it as a direct challenge to you,” Chi arched a brow, “you surely can’t be telling me you didn’t know.”
“Course I knew, I’ve got Stark, so he has a gap to plug, I just fail to see your point?” Ransom snapped.
“My point is, if he succeeds, ain’t nobody this side of the country that will get in the middle of that feud, well, except me. For the right price.”
“Listen here you cum stain trash, you take the three million or I’m going to make sure every fucking container you expected with your name on it goes right back from where it came, no matter the cost.”
It was a real threat, given Chi’s dealings were in trafficking of ‘fragile’ goods that could 'expire’ in timely fashion.
“Five, final offer.” Chi took a sip from his glass that lay on the table, “and I’ll forget your little threat.”
“Four.” Stark deadpanned.
“Done,” Chi nodded.
“Just like that?” Ransom scoffed, “my brother can’t be that much of a threat…”
“The look on your face tells me otherwise.” Chi snorted, “truth be told, I was happy to do it for three, but…I’m a business man after all. That said, you’d do well to heed my warning. If he does get the Maximoff twins on board, you’ll have a hard task convincing anyone else to go up against them.”
And just like that the meet was through. Chi and his men vacated the office leaving one guard, Stark, his man “Happy”, Langley and Ransom.
Langley, who’d been quiet until now looked at his boss. “The threat’s credible. And you can’t afford to be going toe to toe with Rogers and the Maximoffs, boss.”
“Fuck them and fuck him.” Ransom snapped. “Wire Chi the money. We’re done.“
Langley pulled his phone from his jacket pocket and walked out of the room. Ransom and Stark were next, Happy in protection formation as they went.
Ransom climbed into the waiting car and sank back into the leather seat, his hand running down his face.
"Fucking shit show. Who the fuck does Chi think he is? Six million, fucking shit stain.”
“He’s right about one thing,” Langley snorted.
Ransom glared, “Well, don’t leave my dick wet.”
“Well, as you pointed out, you aligning with Stark has taken Steve’s prime ‘logistics’ partner off the table.” Langley shrugged, “and by hiring the Maximoffs, he’s making a straight shot across the bow, that he doesn’t give a fuck who he partners with as long as it makes life hard for you. I mean, Pieter and Wanda did him dirty over that drugs deal in Sokovia, really ripped him off. But, by getting into bed with them, well, he’s letting it be known that he means business, and woe betide anyone who gets in his way. I’ll give Rogers credit. He knows how to fuck with you.”
The last line echoed round Ransom’s head, and with a snarl he gripped Langley round the throat and slammed him into the side of the car door. “That supposed to be funny?”
Langley gagged for air, “no.”
Ransom felt the nerve in his jaw tick, and then a soft voice spoke from the front.
“Boss, he didn’t mean anything by it, let him go.”Carter’s words were clear as he looked over his shoulder at him. Blanc sat stoic behind the wheel.
Ransom let go of Langley and slunk back into his seat.
“Home, boss?” Carter wondered.
“No.”
“Okay, where?”
“Just drive.”
“Right you are.” Blanc nodded.
Blanc circled the city limits for nearly an hour, the holiday season lights taunting Ransom, a reminder of how much you loved it all. Never one really to understand the fuss, he’d embraced it because you had. Now, it loomed before him, a reminder of what he had lost, and he took a deep breath. You’d both agreed to spend Thanksgiving this year in Boston, but now, well he wanted nothing but to cancel his flight the next evening and wallow in his own pity with a bottle of scotch. Eventually, Ransom instructed Blanc to turn back toward home.
He barely spoke a word to anyone as he headed back inside, retreating once more to his scotch and memories and bitter anger at how he fucked everything up, just how everyone had expected him to.
“You want dinner, boss?” Carter wondered as he poked his head into the room.
Ransom raised his tumbler and shook it, “got it right here.”
Carter opened his mouth to say something but closed it and shook his head with a sigh before he left.
Ransom sat, miserable and pouting, thinking. He thought about you and wondered how you were. He thought about Ari and as his wounds started to hurt just at the notion of your brother, what he heard were those words, “I’m going to kill him.” Words that he himself had spoken, ones he intended to keep.
The question was, how? Since you’d left, he’d been racking his brains, trying to figure out a way to get past his Steve’s security detail. And apparently, so was your brother. But he’d heard nothing from Ari, and the problem was, Steve’s guard was as tight as his own. How Rumlow had managed to pull off the botched hit that killed Peggy, Ransom had no idea. And he couldn’t simply ask the hitman, as he was dead.
“Carter…” He shouted.
Carter appeared once more in the doorway he had vacated fifteen minutes or so before hand. “Boss?”
“I need a chat with our special agent,” he grimaced. “And find out from Stark on when I can pay a visit to his office.”
“You didn’t ask Stark before?” Carter looked at him.
Ransom glared. “No.”
“Alright,” Carter nodded. “I’ll make the calls.”
“Ask Levinson if he’s made any headway, he’s been trying to find a way in…if he’s half the agent he brags about being then he should have one by now.”
“On it,” Carter nodded and disappeared.
Ransom watched him go, before he reached for the scotch, poured himself another glass and then leaned back in his chair, once more losing himself to his brooding.
*****
You sat in the small restaurant, pushing your food around your plate. You’d weren’t hungry, not in the slightest, but Ellie had insisted on bringing you for dinner.
“So how long is Mr Not-so-tall, but reasonably dark and handsome gonna be watching your ever move for? You gonna be setting a place for him for Christmas?” Your friend jerked her head towards the man sat a few tables away, nursing a coffee and a burger.
“Until he’s asked not to,” you sighed. “And he joined us for thanksgiving so…”
“Right…”
“Look, Ellie, it’s complicated.”
Ellie popped a shoulder, “whatever, I’m not asking. I don’t wanna know…”
“It’s better that way.”
“So, have you heard from him?”
“No. Ari told me when I could get my stuff, so that’s what I did. That was a few weeks ago now.”
“And…are you okay with that? I mean, I don’t particularly like the guy but…”
"I don’t know.”
Ellie looked at you for a moment, before she took a deep breath. “Is it definitely beyond repair?”
Your eyes misted over, “I..I think so, yeah.”
Truth be told, despite the fact you understood Ransom’s anger, you didn’t think you would be able to forgive him. Not simply for the physical way he had hurt you, but the way in which he had refused to listen. He’d dismissed your explanation, had reverted to that cold and callous business persona that had never breached your personal relationship before. And that hurt you the most.
“Y/N…what happened? You keep dodging it when I ask.” She reached over the table for your hand, giving it a squeeze, “I’m your best friend, you can tell me.”
You swallowed. “Ellie, I know. But for once, it’s better you don’t.”
“Okay.” She fell silent and then cocked her head to the side, “you wanna watch a movie or something after this?”
“Erm,” you glanced over towards Sammy, one of your brother’s colleagues from the CIA and you popped a shoulder, “Ari should be home when we get back but, sure, we can use the den.”
“Where’s he been?”
“I dunno,” you said, and it wasn’t a complete lie. It had been a week or so ago when he had taken a call from someone whilst you had sat eating dinner and when he came back, he had waved away your question. You could tell he was keeping something from you, and you had a horrible feeling it was to do with Steve and Ransom.
The next morning, he’d told you he was going to be on business for a while, and that was the last you’d seen of him whilst he’d left you with a twenty-four hour armed babysitter.
You eyed Sammy answer his phone and listen to the other line. He twitched a little, spoke lowly and then hung up. He then glanced in your direction, and you could see from his expression something was wrong. Sammy stood from his table and immediately came to yours, he leaned down in your ear and whispered, “we gotta go.”
“We’ve not finished!” Ellie glared at him.
“It’s an emergency, Eloise,” Sammy snorted. “The bill is covered.”
“This…I…oh, whatever.” Ellie scoffed.
“I’m sorry,” you spoke softly, your heart heavy as you stood up. “I’ll call you…”
“Yeah…. if I answer.” She sighed.
Sadness filling your chest, you went as Sammy took you outside by your elbow. The car pulled around, Kabede at the wheel. He opened the door for you and you slid in, Sammy coming round to the driver’s side back door and slid in next to you.
“What’s going on?” You demanded.
“Ari’s in trouble.”
You swallowed, “what…what sort of trouble? What do you mean?”
“I don’t know.” Sammy replied. “He’s at St. Vincent’s.”
At that, your blood ran cold. “He’s…at the hospital?”
“Look, I need you to calm down, y/n. All I know is what I know. He’s in trouble and they took him to St. Vincent’s.”
“Who told you? Where’s he been? What’s going on, Sam? I have the right to know.”
“Jake and Max. They were…”
Before Sammy could finish his answer, you heard your phone in your bag. Scrabbling for it, wondering if it was the hospital you paused as a number you shouldn’t remember but did flashed on your screen.
“Who is it?” Sammy asked.
“Him…” you whispered, your hands shaking. “It’s…”
“Rogers?”
You nodded.
“Answer it, put it on speaker.” Kabede instructed from the driver’s seat.
“Hello?”
“You know, Doll, for a supposed secret agent, your brother has all the subtlety of a panzer.” Came the drawl on the other end and you swallowed, your eyes brimming with tears.
“What did you do to him?”
“My hands are clean, Buck’s however…”
You glanced at Sammy who was clenching his teeth.
“Likes to play with knives, does Bucky, bad habit“, Steve continued. “People get hurt. Badly. Sometimes, they die…”
You went pale and a cold sweat formed at your brow. “Is he…did Barnes kill him?”
At that, Steve chuckled, “not as far as I know, don’t think he went deep enough to hit any vital organs but…if he didn’t make it to the hospital in time, who knows.”
“What do you want, Steve? This has gone too far.” You held back a sob.
“You had your chance to finish this, you blew it.” Steve replied, his voice calm as he spoke, “but you know what I want. You. And I always get what I want, one way or another. The question is, how many more people are you willing to sacrifice before that happens, because I can do this all day, sweetheart.”
The line went dead and you swallowed before shouting at Kabede to pull over. He barely had the car to a stall when you threw your door open and let go of what little was in your stomach. Sammy was by your side in a flash, eyes scanning around your surroundings.
With a groan, you shakily stood up straight, tears in your eyes as you looked at Sammy. “Let’s get you to the hospital,” he spoke softly, “then we can find out how he is.”
St. Vincent’s was busy, more than usual for the time of day, so, Kabede headed around the back where Max and Jake met you. Jake was covered in blood as was Max and immediately Sammy scolded them both.
“What are ya thinking? You couldn’t have changed your god damn shirt.” He scowled. “Get in there, get her up to see him and keep her close.”
“We got a problem,” Max looked at him. “Police are sniffing all over this, one of the nurses called them.”
“Fuck.” Sammy hissed.
“We can call base,” Jake said, “get them to have the cops cool off but…look, I don’t know what he was doing but I know it’s off book so-“
“No, don’t…” you pressed the heel of your palm to your forehead as you swallowed, and pulled Sammy to one side, “call Tony, he and…he and Ransom have half the police force in their pockets. He’ll know what to do.”
Frankly you couldn’t have given a shit if the entire NYPD came swarming in, but what you did care about was this going any further. Who knows what Steve would do if the authorities started sniffing around him too much, not to mention the shit storm that would hit Ari.
If he survived…
“I just wanna see him,” you sniffed, “please.”
Sam nodded, “Stark it is.” He passed you off to Jake, “take her up.”
Wordlessly, you followed Jake into the hospital and through to the elevator. Your mind was racing, your heart thudding. You couldn’t lose your brother, he was the only thing you had left.
“He’s in surgery, but we wait here, he’ll be out soon.” Jake explained. “He’ll pull through, he always does.”
“What the hell happened, Jake?”
Jake shook his head, “I don’t honestly know. He was working on something, off radar, but he called saying he needed to speak to us, he’d found something and he wanted us to check it out but when we arrived to meet him at the house, well, he was on the doorstep covered in blood.”
“This is all my fault,” you sobbed as you fell into a chair, your head in your hands.
“Look, I don’t…I don’t know what’s going on, not sure I want to.” Jake sighed, “but Ari is a law unto himself, you know this.”
“Mr. Morano,” a middle-aged blonde woman with Eastern features appeared. “I’m Dr. Reiter. It’s my understanding you’re here for Mr. Thomas?”
“I’m his sister…” you immediately stood.
“Ms. Thomas, I’m so sorry for us to meet under these circumstances. You brother, Mr. Thomas, is being moved into recovery. He’s in a bad way.“
“How bad?”
"Well, he’s quite lucky. There’s no denying that one quick movement in the opposite direction, he’d have bled out. It was almost as if his attacker knew exactly where to hit and what to miss.”
You swallowed, your conversation with Steve running back through your head and you took a deep breath.
“He always has been a lucky bastard,” Jake mumbled.
"Will he live?”
“He lost a lot of blood and we had to remove his spleen.” The Doctor sighed, “he also had three broken ribs but there were no complications in surgery. He’s not completely out of the woods but…well, we’ll know more over the next twenty four hours or so.”
“Thank you, Dr. Reiter.” Jake nodded. “When can we see him?”
“Ten minutes, I’ll have a nurse come for you.”
You nodded and sank back into the chair, your head in your hands. This had gone too far, just way too far. You knew Steve was ruthless, absolutely despicable compared to his brother, but what was left for you to do? Could you turn back? Fall into Steve’s embrace? Would it stop, even then? Ransom was through with you.
Lost in your thoughts, it took a gentle squeeze on your shoulder from Jake to jerk you from them. As you glanced up through your tears, you barely heard the nurse speak to you. You followed her on auto pilot to the room where Ari was and stepped inside.
He was led up in bed, an O2 tube down this throat and his veins being pumped full of blood and fluids that hung from bags on hooks. A steady beep came from the machine that monitored all his activity. The inhale and exhale of air from the machine hissed in the dim space.
You let out a loud sob as you stumbled into the chair by his bed, reaching for one of his hands. Gripping him tightly you cried into the blanket tucked in around him. You squeezed his hand as you sobbed apologies and whispers of shortcomings. You kept on like a broken record that his state was all your fault and you were to blame. You were sorry, so very sorry. You never meant to put him in this situation.
As the sun set outside, the room was illuminated by the soft fluorescent overhead lighting and you sat, numb, watching your brother for any sign that he could hear you. Then, after half an hour, there was a commotion outside that made your head whip round so fast you were sure you’d given yourself whiplash.
“You can’t go in there…”
“Eat shit.”
Sammy stood quickly to block your view of your incoming ex. You stood there behind him, uneasy and very aware of how your whole body shook in that moment. Fear, worry, pain and guilt all settled inside you and you again felt sick but stood tall, despite your unease and waited.
“Get the fuck back, Drysdale.” Sammy declared.
Ransom scoffed, but his eyes then fell on you and you saw his face flicker with a look that you couldn’t quite place. He seemed to slide through several emotions in that split second your eyes connected; remorse, care, worry, compassion, an undercurrent of anger.
“Sam, it’s okay.” Your voice was croaky as you sniffed, “let him in.”
“You sure?” Sammy asked. “Cause if he’s gonna be a problem…”
“You’re right outside.” you nodded, the turned to Ransom, “whatever you’re carrying, leave it outside.”
He held his hands up, “I got nothing.”
You stared at him, those crystal blue eyes looked right back and you took a deep breath, you believed him.
“Fine.” You popped a shoulder and returned to your seat.You waited for him to speak, but of course he had nothing. “Well, you’re here, for what I do not know. Clearly, you need something.” You spat.
“Stark told me what happened.” He spoke after a moments pause. “The police have been handled.”
“That’s it?” You shook your head, not bothering to look over your shoulder to where he stood still by the door, “that’s why you came, to tell me the police had been handled? You’re so full of shit, Ransom, why don’t you tell me the truth.”
At that, he scoffed, “like you told me the truth about you and my brother you mean?”
“You son of a bitch,” you stood so quick, you dizzied. “How dare you compare the two?”
Ransom stood still, his eyes on you as you advanced towards him. “Y/N…”
You cut him off with a stinging slap to his left cheek. His head snapped to the side, and then you lost it.
“This is all your fault!” You sobbed, your hands pounding at his chest as you hit blow after blow, “you and your brother and your stupid, stupid feud and shitty, shady dealings. I hate you, you asshole…you fucking asshole.”
Ransom stood there and took it, each blow as you gave it. You beat on him until your fists ached and your head grew woozy and you felt yourself falling as heavy arms caught you.
“Shit, here…sit…” he gently guided you to the chair, helping you awkwardly to sit down.
“Don’t touch me…” you feebly pushed him away.
He stepped back, hands raised in surrender as you pressed the heels of your palms into your eye sockets.
The door to the room opened and Sammy and Carter both stepped in.
“Y/N?”
“I need some water.”
“She needs a doctor.”
“Fuck off, you don’t get to tell me what I need.” You spat, looking at Ransom, “If I didn’t see a doctor after you raped me I don’t want to see one now.”
The room went silent as all eyes were on the two of you.
Ransom swallowed, his eyes fixed on yours before his head bowed, “I’m sorry.”
“You’re too late.”
“I know, but…” he shrugged, “I just wanted you to know.”
You licked your lips as your nostrils flared. Sammy slid your glass of water between you and your apologetic former other half. You downed the clear liquid quickly and with a shaking hand, handed it back to Sammy.
“I think you should go,” he spoke to Ransom.
“Y/N…..” he whispered.
“Just go.” You whispered.
Ransom took a deep breath, “you can’t go back to Ari’s. It’s not safe. I’ll have Stark find you somewhere.”
“I’ll stay at the tower.” You stated.
With that he nodded, and headed for the door. He paused, turned back to look at you, but whatever it was died on his tongue as his head dropped. He took a deep breath, and then he left.
Neither Sammy nor Jake said a word as the air thickened around the room. Ari was still out cold and Max was just outside the door. You sighed and carefully stood, “Send Kabede home to his family. There’s plenty of you here to babysit me.”
“Okay,” Sammy nodded, “erm, do you want one of us to fetch you some things from the house?”
“Sure. I guess, I don’t know.” You sighed. “I don’t plan on leaving here any time soon.”
Neither of them argued, or tried to convince you otherwise.
“I’ll grab a bag anyway, least you’ll have a change of clothes.” Max stated, his voice soft.
“I want a sweep and report back as soon as you’re done. Anything out of place, and I mean anything as small as a blade of grass, I wanna know.” Sammy stated, his finger in Max’s face and his hand over his shoulder.
Max nodded as he left. Once he was gone, Sammy closed the door once more leaving you alone with your brother.
“What did you do?” You cried as you again were crouched over his bed, his cold, limp hand between your two warm ones. “I’m nothing to go to war over, Ari…..”
Of course he didn’t answer, there was nothing in response but the steady beeping of the machinery. You lay your cheek on your arms, looking up at your brother, your eyes growing as heavy as your heart.
****
Steve tossed his jacket down on the back of the sofa, making his way to the drinks trolley which stood by the huge window of his Brooklyn penthouse. But, as he reached for the decanter, he found it empty.
“What the…”
“You could have gotten the decent stuff,” a familiar voice spoke and he whipped around to see his grandfather sat in the chair in the shadows of the room.
“I prefer that one.” Steve replied flatly.
“You always did have questionable taste,” Harlan sighed, as he clicked on the lamp to his left, “goes with your questionable judgment. Stabbing Levinson? Seriously? You stupid little shit.”
“He’s a threat. I don’t like threats.” Steve raised a brow. “And I don’t like it when unwelcome guests take my things.”
“Like you took your brother’s fiancée you mean? Jesus Christ, Steven, you always have been a self-entitled little fucker but this…”
“Look, if you didn’t want me to hurt him, why did you tell me he was tailing me?”
“To stop you doing something stupid!” Harlan snapped, “because despite what you think, I don’t want to see you or Ransom dead or in jail. You’re my flesh and blood, both of you. But I swear to God, if Levinson dies, I’ll bury you myself. You’ll have lost me my security, the person that kept the authorities off our back.” Steve’s nostrils flared as his grandfather stood up, “Ari had every right to be pissed, what you did to that poor girl, it’s unforgivable, all to get at your brother. Your mother would be disgusted in you, and I sure as hell am.”
“He killed Peggy…I want him to suffer!”
“No, he didn’t, Steve.” Harlan shook his head, “he didn’t order that hit.”
“Ha, please,” Steve scoffed. “There you go, always covering for him. Your precious Ransom, your pride and joy.”
“Oh listen to yourself!” Harlan slowly walked towards him, “you sound like your father, he was a paranoid, woman beating piece of shit too. I should have had him killed long before he managed to do it to himself.”
“Why are you here old man?”
“You know, I had high hopes for both of you. When your mom came home, I was overjoyed. My family, back together but then…she died,” Harlan bowed his head, “and Linda and Richard took you both in but it just wasn’t enough. Not for you. I failed you, clearly, so I was trying to right a wrong. Ari wasn’t just tailing you, he was digging. Digging into who exactly ordered that hit. And he’d found something. Only your attack dog managed to shank him before he could tell me. So I repeat what I said before, he best pull through. Because if he doesn’t, the answers you need and want die with him.”
"Are you done?” Steve seethed as Harlan stared down at him.
“For now.” He said simply and walked on. “Oh, there is one last thing…” he paused in the doorway and turned back to look at Steve.
Steve’s hands fell to his hips in anticipation, bored anticipation at that.
“I want you in Boston tomorrow afternoon. You come alone.”
“You do realise that Thanksgiving was last week…”
“I’m well aware of that.” Harlan snapped. “Stop being a facetious asshole, Steve. It doesn’t suit you.”
Silence fell, as Steve stared at the unwavering face of his Grandfather, before he sighed and shook his head. “You understand this ends one way, don’t you?”
“I don’t want to see either of you dead, but if this carries on it’s inevitable.” Harlan stated, a resigned tone to his voice. “That said, I’m going to try one last time. It’s in both your interests to find out who ordered Rumlow to kill you. If I can get you to both see that, maybe you can work together. And whilst Ransom is never going to forgive you for what you did to his fiancée, maybe you can find a sliver of that brotherly love you once had growing up, if not for each other but the memory of your mother.”
Steve swallowed, the nerve in his jaw ticking.
“Boston, tomorrow.” Harlan instructed, “and stay the fuck away from Y/N. She’s suffered enough at the hands of both of you. You so much as send her a message, I’ll hand Ransom the fucking gun and watch.”
With a final quirk of his eyebrow, Harlan turned and left Steve staring at the empty space where he had stood.
