“A thing,” I laugh, psychotic rage growing. “Why do you ask?”
“You’re still pining for a woman who won’t have you. It’s been like this since we were all kids. You follow her around like a lost dog, hoping for scraps, and itnevercomes.”
He wouldn’t be saying those things if he knew I had my initials etched into her skin.
“Maybe I’m hoping for a bone?” I tuck a strand behind her ear. “What’s the message? Or I use my knife to cut it from your fucking throat. Your choice.”
A shiver of fear racks his shoulders, and he nods. “De Luca Capo wants to know where his pills are.”
The fucking capo.
“Of course, he does. Send him a message back,” I instruct, sliding out from the captain. She moves, brows furrowing, and I tuck my jacket across her chest. “I’ll be by to speak to him soon.”
“Are you going to tell the captain?”
Turning toward him, I tilt my head. “You think this is worth her time?”
The Board is breathing down her neck and has assassins after her. A mole is sabotaging her hard-earned reign. And Bruno feels the need to fuck shit up like he’s a cat pissing in the corner for dominance.
Lex bitching about not having his product is beneath her time. She’ll never admit it, but she needs help.
“Playing king now?” He scoffs. “Is that why you’ve always been stuck to her side? You want the power?”
Power?I’ve never wanted power. A home, or a family to belong to? Absolutely. It’s been my dirty secret for years. When you don’t belong to your old family, you wish for a new one.
But with Maeve, I’ve never wanted her spot. I never wanted to be her king. I only wanted to behers.
Grabbing the fucking asshole’s throat, I smile as he gurgles. His nails slash at my hand, and I kick out his legs. He’s airborne before I slam him loudly into the floor, the coffee table rattling. Folders fall and the paintings shift, rocked by his weight.
Maeve stirs, makes a soft gasp that pulls at my heart. Her eyes flutter, and I hold my breath. She stirs, rubs her cheek where a crease indents it, and I wait. A moment longer, before she turns, tugging my jacket higher, and buries herself into the cushions away from us.
“You’re lucky,” I comment. “If she woke up, this might be uglier.”
“Wha—"
The rage simmers higher, everything sharply contrasting. The knife rises, pulled from somewhere I’m not sure, and I attack.
The tip pierces his Adam’s apple, a slight pop under pressure. My grin grows before blood flows over my hands and into the collar of his shirt. Red mars everything, and the sweet, heated scent of copper drifts into the air, mingling with her perfume. Unimaginable relief sings through my veins; colors brighter, vision crisp. Exhaling, I crack my neck, a needed release exploding over my nerves.
Sitting back on my knees, I look down into his bugged-out, dull eyes. It’s still messy, regardless.
This causes a slight hiccup. I’ll have to clean it up before she sees. And now I’m the errand boy to the capo without Liam.
Oh well.Small sacrifices. Glancing at Maeve, I grab the corpse’s legs. Do I think she’ll care that I killed him? No. If I can clean everything up and dispose of the body before she wakes up, it’ll be one less worry for her.
Maybe she’ll even thank me for it.
“C’mon, Liam,” I say cheerfully. “Off to the harbor we go.”
“Fucking Reaper,”Alessio De Luca swears, and rubs his stubbled chin ruefully.
Oh, good, the feeling is mutual.
Alessio De Luca is the bane of my existence. He’s always been the heir Ferguson wanted—and he never let me or Maeve forget it. Whereas I was killing without discretion for my mentor and the facilitator of the love of my life’s abuse, he was ignoring all the work she put into his clan.
We’re only as strong as we are because of her wit. Her grit. Her fuckingsacrifice.
Did Ferguson see that? No. But he drooled for some boy in a pretty suit, instead of recognizing the two of us covered in blood.
