AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Of course not. So no one will miss you, then.”
“Miss me?” I frown.
“The Russians were going to pay me handsomely for you to marry Igor in return for our alliance. Now you’ve ruined any chance of that when you spread your legs like some common whore. So you’ll just need to make me money some other way.”
Connor re-enters the room and clears his throat. When his eyes dart to me this time, I catch his discomfort. Despite that, he still makes no move to help me. “Jose accepts.”
“Excellent.” Dad claps his hands, and I involuntarily jump at the sound. “I’ll be glad to get rid of a whore for a daughter.”
“At least that’s one thing we can agree on.” His insults mean nothing to me.
“You wanted to act like a slut? Well, now you’ll get to be one for the rest of your miserable life.”
I meet my dad’s eyes. The ice in them hits me directly in my heart, spreading out until it threatens to consume me whole, freezing me to my seat. My heart beats fast, and I take shallow breaths. It’s as if my body knows something my mind has yet to catch on to. With a strangled voice, I whisper, “What did you do?”
“You’ll never see your bastard child again. Not after you’re sold to the highest bidder at next week’s auction.”
13
Michael
Halloween
I toss the business report on the desk and pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration.
“How much did we lose?” I ask. I don’t want to know because I really don’t need this shit tonight, but I also need to know.
“Two dozen semi-automatic rifles, three dozen handguns, and two mixed crates of grenades and flash bangs,” Raphael answers me solemnly.
I drop my hand, open my eyes, and gaze around the crowded office.
“Where the fuck were the guards? Where was Luke?” I demand. Luke is in charge of unloading all firearms at the docks when they arrive.
“Dead,” Enzo growls. He’s leaning against the bookcase with a brooding expression and his arms crossed. “He and a half dozen others, too. No survivors.”
“Fuck.” We lost good men and nothing to show for it. “You know the drill. Make sure we cover their funerals and set up funds for their families.” What we do is dangerous. Those who follow us tempt death every day, and we pay our men handsomely for it. If they sacrifice their lives working for the family, we make sure their loved ones are taken care of afterward.
Raphael continues to be the bearer of bad news. “There’s more. The dock we used to bring in the product is owned by the Irish. It was attacked too. I’m not clear on the exact number the Irish lost, but there were bodies on their end, too.”
“How mad is Patrick?”
“On a scale of one to ten, where one is sunshine and rainbows and ten is murderous?” Raphael weighs the options with a tilt of his head. “I’d say he’s at a twelve.”
Awesome.
“And our father?”
“Pretty close to a fifteen,” he answers.
Fuck.
“He’s doing damage control, but I don’t know what good it will do. It feels like we’re on the cusp of starting another war when we haven’t made a dent in the one we’re currently fighting.”
Enzo helps himself to my bar cart and pours a large drink. “Everything’s out of control, Michael. There’s no pattern to these attacks. Shitty time for Dominic to be overseas visiting his mom, if you ask me. When does he come home again?”
“In a couple of days.” Dominic loves his mother, but it’s hard for him to find time to get away to see her. She and Uncle Leo are still legally married, but neither take their vows seriously any longer. Aunt Mary moved back to Italy shortly after separating from our uncle when Dominic turned eighteen. I hate to think about ordering him home early, but if this shit show grows any bigger, I may be forced to.
“What do we do?” Raphael asks me, which reinforces just how serious this entire disaster is. I’m no longer the heir or boss, but since the fire at Sinners, the men have returned to treating me as their leader. None of us have tried to correct them either. Dad included.
