Page 43 of Love & Power

Satisfied, Metteo turned his attention back to Atticus. “First, I would like to offer an apology for being a dick when you didn’t deserve it. We are allies, and eventually, all of us will consider each other friends. I hope my carelessness doesn’t prevent that from happening.”

Impressed by his response, my gaze flicked to Atticus, curious as to how he was receiving it, but his face was unreadable.

“Is that your true feelings, or are you just saying what your father expects you to in an effort to fix the mistake you made?” Atticus challenged.

Metteo ran a hand through his hair, clearly uncomfortable with his intentions being questioned. “Can it be both? Look, I’ll admit it, I’m an ass who speaks first and considers the consequences later. I know we need you and your boss to set things right, but damn, having you bust my balls like this is oddly a turn-on and makes me want to keep starting shit.”

“The fuck?” Ryker blurted, causing Frediano and Armond to laugh.

“What?” Metteo said defensively. “He wasn’t going to accept anything but the truth, so I was honest. Come on, you can’t tell me listening to him verbally spank me like that wasn’t hot.”

“While I understand it’s supposed to be flattering for you to see me as sexually desirable, I must make it clear that I have zero interest in anyone but Astin Caprioni,” Atticus stated. “Please keep any further thoughts about me in a sexual nature to yourself. I say that for your safety. Astin would not take kindly to it, and as you said, friendship is our goal.”

Lazzaro leaned forward to look at his father. “Are we talking Von-level crazy?”

“Son, Astin is the viper you don’t notice until after she’s killed you with her venomous bite,” Armond explained.

The twins exchanged a look before facing us again, a glimmer of fear in their expressions. Personally, I felt better knowing they understood she was something they should be afraid of. Fear brings respect, and in time, it would change to friendship if they were worthy of it. So far, Astin seemed to take a liking to Armond which was a good sign for the others.

“Now that we’ve all had a chance to get to know each other…” Frediano commented, signaling one of the staff waiting near the kitchen door, “… I think it’s time we break bread, drink some wine, and solidify this alliance between men folk.”

There was a lull in the conversation as wine was poured and soup was placed before us with fresh, flaky bread that had my mouth watering. Everyone dug in, making grunts of pleasure at the taste of the hearty soup. It was so good, I was going to ask for the recipe so I could make it back home.

“Armond, I believe you mentioned that your daughter was busy tracking down a snitch?” Frediano asked, breaking the silence.

“If you call spending a week in the Trian prison being busy, then yes,” Armond grumbled.

Lazzaro shook his head, jabbing his bread into his bowl. “I can’t fucking believe she would choose to be thrown in there. Everyone is given a life sentence. What if she can’t get out like she planned?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Boykov interjected as he walked up to the table. “According to Thad, Lady Astin and Miss Ivy are in there right now. He didn’t know what they were doing there, but my guess is they’re picking up Miss Zuccaro.”

Ryker stabbed his knife into the table, slowly stood, and reached out for Boykov’s phone. “Give it to me.”

“You know when I said she’s a trouble magnet, I didn’t really expect her to put it to the test,” Jace groaned.

“I just want to point out this is what happens when I can’t keep an eye on her,” Hound said, crossing his arms. “Why this country is so against having CCTV everywhere is beyond me.”

Ryker raised the phone to his ear, pacing as he tried to contain his need to cuss Astin out for pulling this stunt. “Thad, why the fuck is the leader of the Raffa and Caprioni Families in the Trian prison?”

Whatever the response was, it didn’t help matters as Ryker’s face turned an impressive shade of red.

“But you can see her? What is she doing right now?” Ryker demanded, turning sharply on his heel. “Hound, can you break into the prison’s security cameras? They wouldn’t let Thad go with them. He’s tracking her movements on the video feed, but I want eyes on her now.”

Hound shoved back his chair and jogged out of the room to grab his laptop.

Ryker shifted his attention to Armond. “Why exactly was your daughter in this prison?”

“Von discovered one of her runners double-crossed her and stole the weapons he was supposed to transport back to one of her warehouses,” Armond explained. “From what I understood, she was going to leave once she found her mark.”

“So is it safe to say if she cut off a man’s hand, she’s found her guy?” he pressed.

“Oh yeah,” Metteo answered with a chuckle. “Question is, how long did she plan to wait to take the other one?”

Luca leaned forward. “Why wait to take the other?”

Metteo shrugged. “Von likes to play with her victims.”

“Hmm…” Luca hummed. “I see the logic in taking both hands. Can’t be a thief without them and leave them with extremely limited options for work. Rather brilliant the more I think about it.”