Page 106 of Contempt

It meant Renzo was about to go right into the line of possible fire, too. Wasn’t it bad enough that her brother and cousin was there along with God only knew how many other people she loved and cared about?

It was almost like he could feel her fear.

Like he could read her mind.

Renzo looked down at her, and his fingers tightened around hers. Lucia looked back at him, and didn’t hide the tears welling in her eyes.

“Why is he doing this?” she whispered.

“Christian?”

She nodded. “Is it because of me … or the business with John? I don’t understand why he would do something like this for that, Ren.”

The doors to the elevator opened to her father’s floor, but she didn’t look away from Renzo. She needed an answer to her question.

“Is it personal or business?” she asked. “Is something like that enough for a man like him to come after us like this?”

“It’s not about you, or business … or even John,” came a voice from just outside the elevator.

Lucia found her father standing there, dressed in his suit, and ready to go, it seemed.

“Business is the only thing John has with Christian, right?” Lucia asked her father.

Maybe that’s what her dad and Renzo had been talking about earlier. This mess. Christian, John, and the meeting. It all made sense. It’s exactly why he knew what they were talking about when the elevator doors opened without having to ask what they were discussing.

Lucian looked up from where he was finishing buttoning the bottom button on his suit jacket as he said, “This isn’t business, Lucia. It’s a vendetta.”

SEVENTEEN

Renzo shared a look with Lucian, and the man seemed to hear his unspoken words as he nodded, asking, “Is there a problem I should know about, Renzo?”

He almost wanted to laugh.

A problem?

That didn’t seem like the right word for what could possibly be happening on the other side of Brooklyn. It didn’t feel like a big enough word.

Sighing, Renzo replied, “Yeah, a problem is one way to put it.”

Lucian pressed his lips into a thin line, and fiddled with the cuff on his suit jacket. Renzo recognized those actions for what they were—a man trying to keep his cool, and maintain his calm composure. Lucian didn’t seem like the type to overreact because of emotions or fear. He understood that.

“Lucia,” Lucian murmured, “would you mind giving us a quick minute to talk?”

“Sure, Daddy.”

Renzo could have spoken up then and let Lucian know that Lucia already had a pretty good idea about what was going on, and having her step away was pointless. But if it made Lucian feel better to think Lucia wasn’t worrying about the current drama, then what would it hurt for Renzo to stay silent?

Stepping out of the elevator, Renzo waited until Lucia was around the corner before he turned to Lucian with a grim expression. “You want the details I know first?”

Lucian shrugged. “I would appreciate it.”

Renzo went through a quick rundown of the shit he knew—the fact that John had went to the meeting as he was supposed to, and the approximate number of men he and Andino had brought along for the arrangement. He sped through the details of Christian not showing up, not answering calls, and currently, being entirely off Renzo’s radar as his vehicles were still showing parked at the hotel he’d been using for his stay.

Lucian only started to become visibly agitated when Renzo moved onto the fact that John—his son—and the others were currently in a warehouse, and had reason to suspect that leaving would be a bad thing. Be it because of an ambush, or something else.

They were stuck.

“Your turn,” Renzo said when he was finished. “Why is it a vendetta and not an asshole with a big ego and an even bigger Caesar complex?”