"Odin...Rossi?" The astonishment in his voice was genuine. Perhaps the first truly genuine reaction out of him in their time together. There wasn't a criminal in the city that didn't at least know the name. Liam had thought him to be the stuff of legend or myth. A bogey man to scare all the little street rats into behaving. Liam had received many warnings about Odin when he'd started to set up his little operation. But as long as he stayed out of the heroin business, he had no reasons to cross paths with the king pin.

Then how the fuck did he end up with one of the legend's lackeys on a leash? It meant a number of things. The most likely was that Mike was fucking with him, twisting the truth. Another was that this was all a set up, but could a junkie survive undercover work like that? And finally, if it were true, either it actually was past tense or Odin didn't give a fuck about his lackeys.

"Oh, I've heard stories about him. He's a very bad man. No wonder you were so rough with Kelly. It couldn't have been easy working with someone like that." He sounded almost sympathetic. He dropped the ring into his hand, catching it with his little finger so he could cup the side of Mike's face. A gentle counterpart to the hand in his hair. "Is he who got you hooked in the first place?"