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“Maybe…” He glanced at Gideon and Penn before his eyes were on me again. “You should allow yourself time.”

“For what?” I glared at my best friend.

“To grieve.”

I scoffed. “No. I don’t need time to grieve, Danny. And if you’re gonna continue to play therapist, you can fuck right off.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “Yeah…fine.”

I looked at Gideon. “So, what’s first?”

“We wait for Toni to get back to me.”

Wait. Not something I wanted to do. “Aren’t there Bratva cells in Northchester?”

“Probably,” Gideon agreed.

“Maybe we start there.”

“You don’t even know the faction yet, Alex. You can’t go off half-cocked, killing anyone affiliated with Bratva,” Danny argued.

I put my mug down and spun on Danny, fisting his shirt. “I don’t need your help if that means you get in my way.”

“Alex.” Gideon’s tone was firm. “Release him.”

I did and turned to Gideon. “There’s more than one way to find shit out.”

“There is. And we’ll do it my way. Right now, we wait.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “I know this is hard, but you have to do this my way.”

I sneered and shook him off. “I’m going home.”

I wasn’t sitting here and twiddling my thumbs while Toni tinkered on his computer. If I had to wait, I’d be doing it away from them.

I stormed out of Gideon’s house, Danny’s footsteps behind me. “Fuck off, Danny.”

“No!”

I got to my car but stopped before opening it, facing him. “I want my space.”

“Well, you don’t fucking get it.”

I clenched my jaw. “Leave me alone.”

“No.”

I narrowed my eyes, opened my car door, and got in. I watched as he raced to his car, but I wasn’t waiting. I sped off the property, Danny disappearing in my rearview mirror.

CHAPTER ONE

Present day

Danny

“Merry Christmas, Danny.” Olivia, Gideon’s daughter, bounced over to me as I let myself into their home.

“Merry Christmas to you, Livy.” I had gifts for everyone, and she giggled and led me to the tree.

“You can put them under there.”