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He pokes me in the side playfully .“Are you saying I’m an egotistical control freak?”
“I’m saying… your personality is so big that sometimes it’s over-powering.”
“It hasn’t been for you,” he points out.
That actually makes me smile. “I’ve held my own?”
“Enough to annoy the hell out of me,” he confirms. “At first.” Then he shifts and I can almost feel a sense of ease trickle back and forth between us as lines of tension go slack. “But lately… lately, I’ve realized that I need someone who can push back. I need someone who’ll hold me accountable. I need someone who’s my equal.”
I risk a glance up at him. Something ripples across his face, but it’s gone before I can catch it. I’m not sure if he’s having some sort of existential revelation or just coming to terms with his new reality.
Either way, when he turns his gaze on me, his features soften.
“Elena was a wonderful person. She was sweet and kind—but she was still just a girl when I met her. You, Wren… you are a woman. You’re the woman I need by my side from this point on.”
Smiling, I slip my hand into his. He doesn’t have to use his words to say he loves me.
The touch of his fingertips on my face says it loud enough.
29
DMITRI
I’m stuck in downtown Chicago traffic when my phone goes off.
Aleks’s name flashes across the dashboard screen. When I accept the call, I growl, “You better have good news for me.”
“Hold on—I lost at rock-paper-scissors, so Locksmith gets to tell you. Lemme put you on speaker.” He’s obviously eating something because his words come out all crunchy and muffled. “Okay, you savage, go on. Tell him.”
I hear the grate of Locksmith’s modulated laughter. “Guess who wants a meeting with you?”
I know the answer before she can give it. “This is the third time Cian’s asked for one. He must be getting real fucking desperate.”
“Guess again. It’s not Cian asking this time.”
My hand tightens on the steering wheel. “Vittorio?”
“Ding-ding-ding! You are correct, sir!” Locksmith is giddy with enthusiasm. “Can you believe that arrogant motherfucker actually came down off his high horse long enough to request a powwow?”
“Considering we took down his third business in the last week alone, I can see why he’s getting nervous. And considering we’re going to blow his depot to rubble next, he ought to be.”
“Speaking of the next hit,” Aleks interjects, “what’re we thinking timing-wise? I’ll have to squeeze this one in between the two Irish properties you already have scheduled to be—and I believe I’m being technical here—torched to fucking smithereens.’”
Between the moment with Wren this morning and Vittorio’s capitulation this afternoon, I’m in enough of a good mood to laugh. “We can push that,” I decide. “The Irish are still scrambling from our last attack. They’re not getting back on their feet anytime soon. We can focus on the Italians for now.”
“They might rally faster than you think,” Aleks cautions. “Their existence depends on it.”
“That’s by design. If they weren’t desperate, they wouldn’t be calling.” As the traffic slows to even less of a crawl, I make a detour down an uncrowded street.
“It could also be a trap,” Locksmith ventures.
“I’ve considered the possibility. Which is why I’m not entertaining their calls at the moment. I want them to really sweat before I deign to give them so much as a return call.”
“Please,” Aleks snorts. “You may not have to talk to either mudak with the way things are going right now. If we keep cutting off their lifeblood, they might just run away with their tails tucked between their legs.”
“As nice as that sounds,” I muse, “I also want to look each of them in the face before I end their lives. I owe that much to Elena. To Bee.”
There’s a crackle of silence on the other line. “What are you worried about?” Aleks asks at last.
