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Around the time that O’Grady came back to town, around when all the shit started to happen.
Like Diego says, I don’t fucking believe in coincidence.
I nod. “Drive up, front door, we have the rest of the shipment in the SUV.”
We’ve pulled this before so they understand. We go in, benefit of the doubt, with guns cocked and ready to shoot.
“Let’s go,” says Nicolo.
Things went downhill from the moment Nicolo and I stepped in. Diego is firepower outside, and he’s already fucked up their cars.
The craggy one is not there to play. “You.” He nods at me. “You beat up my boy.”
“I beat up a lot of assholes.”
He starts playing with one of his guns as Nicolo has his eyes on the most dangerous one. The man who stays back, arms loose, not playing fucking peacock. Diego has an eye on the others from his vantage point, and I concentrate on craggy.
The man’s face twists in anger. “He earns me money.”
“Harold. Yeah, we had a beef.”
The man comes up to me, thinking he’s got the room. “This a message from Smith Group, amigo. Keep your fucking nose out of shit that doesn’t concern you. Back off, or De Luca will be at war, and your little hot piece of jailbait will be dead.”
The man steps back. “Alejandro, kill this one over here and get the rest of the shi?—”
He screams as I shoot him in the thigh. I don’t want him dead, just in pain. Someone needs to take the message back to not fuck with De Luca.
As Nicolo takes out Alejandro, I step on craggy’s fallen body, right on his thigh, as I shoot the man to his left. One manages to squeeze off a shot before Diego falls him.
It’s a short, brutal, and bloody fight. In the end, it’s the three of us left standing.
We load the weapons in the SUV, and I toss the car keys at the moaning asshole.
“De Luca’s business with you is canceled.”
With that, we leave.
It’s not until we’re heading back to Dallas that Nicolo says what’s on all our minds. “We gotta tell Leo.”
“He threatened your firecracker Karlee.” Diego slaps a hand on my shoulder.
I want to say she’s not my anything.
“The effort it took not to rip his entrails out with my bare fucking hands,” I mutter.
Nicolo sends me a glance. “Better alive for now. He’s on our radar.” He pauses. “Leo’s too. So, this would be a good time, Tizio.”
“I know, but right now, he’s up to his fucking ears in that delicate East Coast shit. We wait. And keep digging until we can take this to him.”
“Seems like,” says Diego, “Smith Group is itching for a war.”
Chapter Eighteen
KARLEE
I can’t sleep.
It’s a hell of a dumb thing, but after tossing and turning, I get up and stomp into Tizio’s room, switching on the lamp to low.
