I brush off her claims with a halfhearted shrug. I’m not a killer. Just the thought of ending another man’s life rushes memories of Igor’s last breath to the forefront of my mind, but I can do it for Demi. She comes before anyone—even me.
Furthermore, murder is already notched on my ledger. Saint’s is still clean. I don’t see that being the case if he discovers the real reason for Sloane’s absence the past couple of days.
While rubbing my thumb over the vein pulsating in Demi’s wrist, I press my lips to the shell of her ear. “I can do this, Demi. I can do it for you.”
When she fails to fire an objection, I place her back onto her feet. She pivots around to face me so fast, her hair slaps her face. Demi’s cheeks are white, and tears are damming in her eyes, but once again, her focus isn’t on herself. It isn’t even on me. All her attention is rapt on one man. Agent Moses. He is watching our interaction like this was the exact response he was aiming for. His my-shit-doesn’t-stink smirk all but confirms my earlier theories that he has teamed up with the very men he’s meant to be hunting.
Demi doesn’t fight me when I impede her steps for the second time today. It could be because Agent Moses’s swollen eye makes her urge to punish him less vital or the words I whisper in her ear. I’m truly unsure. “It’s in our best interest for him to believe I’m going to fight tonight.”
As I guide her to a taxi rank a couple of spots up, her confused eyes bounce between mine. She doesn’t want me to fight, but she’s convinced we don’t have any other option. I believed the same thing only moments ago. Regretfully for Agent Moses, his lack of dignity reminded me of a famous quote my father shared when I was a child.“If you fight for what you believe in, you may lose, but if you don’t fight at all, you’ve already lost.”
I don’t have the means to fight men like Col and Agent Moses and come out of the wreckage uninjured, but I know someone who could. I simply need to convince him that royal lineage means nothing when the hierarchy of the realm neglects the dignitaries stabilizing his foundations, and the perfect person to help him see sense through the madness lives only a stone’s throw away.
6
Maddox
“You’re fuckin’ crazy if you think I’ll go through with this.” Rocco points to Demi milling in the lobby of his palatial home. She’s unsure why I brought her here, but she is so blinded by worry, she’s following my plan after asking only a handful of questions. “Your girl ain’t dead, Ox. How about you take that as a win.”
“But her friend—”
“Isn’t my problem,” he interrupts, his voice a roar that startles Demi even from a distance. She’s been extra jittery since we left Mercer Private. She is barely gripping reality. One push in the wrong direction could completely overwhelm her. I must tread carefully, but I also must do it quickly. Time is not in our favor.
“So you’re going to let a girl be raped and mutilated by a group of men and donothingabout it.” As far as I am aware, Sloane and Rocco have never crossed paths, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use Rocco’s hate of rapists against him. His response to his mother and sister being abused is a clear sign he loathes woman-beaters, and I’m desperate enough to use the knowledge against him. “Col was going to auction Demi off. There were no stipulations to her sale. They could do whatever they pleased to her. Cut her. Rape her. Torture her. Nothing was off-limits!”
“All right, fuck face. I get the point.” Rocco works his jaw side to side before adding, “But the girl you want to help isn’t Demi, which means she ain’t my problem.” I don’t announce I can hear a ‘but’ hanging in the air. He doesn’t give me the chance. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t fiddle around with some things. See if I can get the ball rolling in your favor.”
“We need more than a ball, Rocco. This isn’t a fucking tennis match.” The clenching of his fists warns me to tread carefully, but forever stubborn, I rip off the Band-Aid with one fell swoop. “Dimitri needs to be involved. He is theonlyone capable of going against Col and living to tell the tale.”
Rocco rubs his hands together like he relishes the idea of hearing Col take his last breath, but he also shakes his head. “Dimi ain’t got time for this.”
“He would if he thinks it concerns his daughter, Fien.”
Before I can blink, Rocco pins me to the wall of his living room by my throat. “Howthe fuckdo you know Fien is his daughter?” he screams in my face, coating my cheek with his spit.
“He told me about h—”
“Bullshit,” he interrupts, cutting me off. “Dimi doesn’t shareanythingabout his family withanyone. Not even his family, so you either quit lying, or I’ll remove digits until you learn without a doubt how much I hate liars.”
If it were any other day but today, the truthfulness in his tone would have me shitting bricks. Sadly, I don’t feel fear when protecting the people I love. “Dimitri told me about Fien when I confronted him about using my sister as bait.”
The tenseness in Rocco’s jaw doubles, but since nothing but honesty is heard in my reply, he has no choice but to believe me. “So you’re the reason I’ve been on his shitlist the past week?”
Some may call me an idiot for nodding, but I’ll wear the title with honor if it gets Rocco on board with my plan. I don’t need Dimitri to fight my battles. I need him to understand the storm his father is raining down on his cousin.
“Dimitri showed me Fien’s photo, said she comes before anyone.”
“Shedoescome before anyone,” Rocco clarifies, walking straight into my trap.
“Then shouldn’t he want to end the violence that occurs to women in his industry to ensure she’s adequately protected? Fien is mafia royalty.” When Rocco nods, agreeing with me, I hook my thumb in the direction Demi is standing. “So the fuck is Demi, but that hasn’t stopped her uncle,the king of your realm,from threatening to sodomize her. She’s his fucking niece. His blood. Yet, he still wants to treat her like a whore.” With how hot my blood is, I’m shocked I can talk, much less in a cool, calm, and collected manner. “I get it. All right. I understand. Everyone has a place in this realm. I just hope like hell Col changes his sick ways before Fien shows up, or who knows what will happen to her.”
I have him now—hook, line, and fucking sinker. He wants to castrate Col. He wants to hang him via his intestines. But regretfully, he’s also aware not even someone as high up as him can do that. Dimitri can’t even end his father’s reign. Col can only be taken out two ways. He either hands the reins to his son or castrates himself. Since the latter will never happen, Dimitri must force him to do the former. Discovering he is liaising with the wrong side of the law could be the beginning of that. I just need Rocco to convince him there’s a good reason for him to interfere in his father’s business adventures. His daughter could be the missing puzzle piece I’m seeking.
After a couple of seconds of deliberation, Rocco says, “If this goes sour—”
“I fully expect you to throw me under the bus.”
The relief I’ve finally gotten through to him shifts to anger when he mutters, “And take up residency with your girl.” He pats my shirt like the heat roaring through his body will iron out the crinkles he caused before he moves for a pack of cigarettes on the coffee table. “I’ve seen the way she looks at me. She’s totally into me.”
