“Are you okay, Darlin’?” Jo asks, looking up. “Doctor?”
“We’re fine, Fireball.” Hayden grins, seemingly unphased as he approaches the table and pulls out a seat. “You’re acting like this is anything but a regular Tuesday for us.”
A smile tugs at her lips. “West?”
“All good, Siren.” West nods. “No bodily harm. Where’s Sam?”
“In the back with two guards and an incapacitated Mafia boss.” She turns her head back towards Alexei. “Now, have the two idiots pushin’ them around take abigstep back.”
Alexei barks, “You heard the lady. Back off.” Once the idiots in question do as Jo says, she removes her blade from Alexei’s neck, and even though he’s keeping himself composed, I can see the way he relaxes slightly. That is, until Jo awkwardly pats his head like a dog. “Um…sorry about that. I get a little testy when my pack is involved.”
But Alexei doesn’t balk. He doesn’t yell. He doesn’t ask what the hell is wrong with her.
He…smiles.
Turning to Illya and Luka with a shit-eating grin, he crosses his arms. “I have a deal for you.”
“Oh?” Illya mirrors Alexei’s stance. “And what would that be?”
“I want you to sign a legal document that states that if you ever bring the Vasiliev family back into the ways of Mikhail, Jo Harding will be the one to carry out your execution.”
sixteen
Jo
“Are documents with a murder clause legally enforceable?” I frown, crossing my arms as I go back around the table and put my hands on West’s and Hayden’s shoulders. I need to reassure myself that they’re okay after seeing those assholes pointing guns at them.
“Maybe not in the courts of the country’s justice system,” Alexei shrugs, “butyoushould know that the Families take their binding agreements very seriously—JoGallagher.”
The Families, meaning the five head families of the East Coast crime syndicate.
Moretti.
Zhang.
Gallagher.
Vasiliev.
Kinoshita.
It doesn’t matter if they’re Yakuza, Mafia, or Triad.
The Familieswillhave order.
“We will never fall into the ways of Mikhail,” Luka snaps. “We have plans.Legitimatebusiness plans that will not include selling human beings.”
“Then there should be no issue with my deal.”
“Why now?” Kole crosses his arms. “It is the one thing I cannot figure out about you. All these years, following father’s every order. All this time, going along with the hell he created. Why, suddenly, are you switching sides? Why, after so many omegas have been lost, are you choosing now to make a stand?”
He arches a brow. “Perhaps it is not just now that I am making a stand. Maybe it is just the first time anyone knows about it.”
“Holy fuck,” Illya gasps, realization dawning on his face. “It was you!”
“What was him?” Kole’s brows furrow as he looks between them.
Luka turns to him. “Before you were sent to Thornfield, there would be…random omegas that would go missing from shipments. Father would be furious, and order Alexei to investigate. But the blame would always fall on someone new,” he turns back toward Alexei, “because it wasyouwho was actually releasing them to begin with, wasn’t it?”
