Page 97 of The Arrangement

“I didn’t,” she rushed to say. “Neither of us did.”

The man—Conrad—who had been keeping quiet finally spoke up, but he kept his gaze averted to the wall behind Anton. “Had we known, we would have brought it to your attention. Sonny has been making a lot of decisions like that lately without giving anyone notice. Sonny doesn’t trust a soul anymore. I overheard some of your boys talking.”

“And?” Anton asked.

“By the sounds of it, this was probably somebody’s in into the family, and it screams of amateur work.”

Anton had to agree. “The bomb wasn’t packed right for the blast to get maximum impact. Whatever relay they had on the timer fucked up because my dog had more than enough time to take her down to the ground before it blew. Her bull only got a few scrapes and bumps. Amateur is saying it lightly. We were lucky her car’s gas tank was just about running on empty or else it might have been much worse.”

“Sonny offered the job to somebody young, likely.” There was clear revulsion coloring Conrad’s tone. “Some of the younger boys who want their button mentioned Sonny was looking for a pipe maker. Any idiot can Google that shit, but it takes someone with a little bit of experience to get it right.”

“Which bothers you the most—that it was someone young, or that it happened at all?” Ivan asked from behind them. “Because let me tell you, I know which one pisses me off more.”

“We certainly don’t think Viviana deserves to die because Sonny has a mistake to fix. His work is always sloppy.”

Anton was confused. “What mistake? If this is about the paternity again, that’s a pointless, dead horse he’s beating. She already knows and it doesn’t make much of a difference now. The Bratva who know aren’t making any fuss and they won’t while I’m alive. Fucking pointless,” he repeated.

“No, not that.”

“Then what?”

The words were all but breathed into the air as Conrad said, “Roman’s death.”

Ice slipped over Anton’s heart as the cold grip of reality climbed his spine. “Explain.”

“It’s only an assumption,” Lucille interjected gently. “We don’t know for sure.”

“Not what I said,” Anton all but snarled, making the woman flinch. “Explain!”

“Anton,” Ivan warned. “Lower your voice before somebody comes down here.”

“Someone needs to explain this assumption, or I’m done with this chitchat.”

“He’s a shitty boss.” Conrad finally regarded Anton with an indifferent gaze. “I’ve worked alongside him and his brother ever since we were teenagers in this business. There was a reason his father had Roman ready and willing to take over as the head of the family when he was gone. Sonny can’t do it because he’s too fucking greedy; his choices lack intelligence; things slip between cracks too often; he’s got a mighty temper …”

It was only then that Anton noticed the yellowish bruises that barely peeked out above Lucille’s high collared blouse. It didn’t matter how much he hated her—all of Viviana’s family, really—no woman should be touched by her husband in that way.

“It’s not so far of a stretch that he might have screwed up something with Roman, too.”

“Like what?” Anton muttered.

Lucille heaved a sigh. “Viviana was staying at my home the night Roman was suspected to have been killed. Her mother and brother were out somewhere, but he had them staying with us for safety reasons. Vine was calling her father just as she was leaving my house to return home. She’d forgotten something she needed for the next day. I can’t remember what it was. It wasn’t five minutes later that she was back in the house, white as a sheet. Wouldn’t answer a thing when asked.”

“Anton, you okay?”

Anton ignored his lawyer. The moral compass he tried so hard to keep a firm grip on was suddenly spinning with no desire to stop in sight.

“Are you telling me she might have been on the phone when—” Pulling his lips into a sneer, the words cut off. Anton wouldn’t say it out loud for his own peace of mind. “Is that what you’re saying?”

Conrad shrugged. “It’s a good possibility. The paternity was nothing more than a reason for him to get Roman gone. Tony and Christina were just fodder to make sure no one talked. Viviana, on the other hand, was a whole different ballgame. Take her out, and he risked having the wrath of the Bratva coming down on him. He very well might have stuttered in that choice. And then when he had her away in Toronto and you weren’t making a move to take her, maybe he figured you didn’t want to anymore. If you were letting it go, then he was fine to give an order for her to be gone. That bodyguard of hers was begging for an in, anyway.”

“That would have been a very bad choice,” Anton said. “A terrible one, actually.”

“If I’d known what he had done … I never would have told him about Viviana calling Roman and coming back into the house like she did that night,” Lucille whispered, her ashamed gaze turning away.

Conrad’s arm draped over the woman’s shoulders, his fingers squeezing with the compassionate touch of what Anton considered to be a lover’s. When the man’s eyes turned softer, Anton didn’t doubt they were involved for a minute.

“It’s all right, Lucy. Not your fault,” Conrad murmured.