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“It should be somewhere up there. Genevieve D’Addario. With an angel carved of white marble hovering over her.”
Theo gives my ass a squeeze as Dominic opens his door and climbs out, and I shoot him a grin, grinding my ass against his crotch a little before I follow my brother out of the car.
The night air feels cool after the cramped confines of the car, and I rub my damaged arm as goose bumps crawl over my skin, making the nerves in my stump prickle. The tightness of the thigh holster strapped to my leg is a comforting feeling. Reassuring, somehow.
The guys grab a few pieces of gear from the trunk befo
re we start moving forward on foot.
It takes us several minutes of searching, but we locate the statue at least a dozen yards away from the little road. The marble angel looms out of the darkness, its white wings bright even in the dim light.
We gather just below it, in front of the headstone that bears Genevieve’s name. I shift my weight from foot to foot, feeling almost superstitious about treading on her grave like this. I can see why Luca considers it sacred ground.
Let’s just hope he’ll honor that tonight.
Marcus pulls out his phone, his thumbs flying across the screen as he quickly types out a message. Then he looks up, the lower part of his face lit by the soft blue glow of the screen.
“It’s done. He got the message, and he knows where we are. Now we just wait to see if he’ll come.”
If I thought waiting all day for sunset to arrive was torture, it’s nothing compared to the wait for Luca. The chilly air seems to grow colder, and I find myself staring at the shadows of gravestones as if I expect Luca to materialize from behind one of them like a demon in the night.
When he finally arrives, it’s the slight crunch of wheels on gravel that alert us to his presence.
Instantly, all three of my men have their weapons trained in the direction of the sound.
The crunching noise stops, and a moment later, a door closes with a soft thud. I didn’t even hear the engine at all. Whatever car Luca drives, it’s fancy and expensive enough to run without a whisper.
My eyes have adjusted to the dark as well as they’re going to, but it’s still hard to make out Luca’s face as he approaches us from the direction of the road. It’s not until he’s within a few yards of us that I can make out the sharp, hawklike cut of his features.
He stops before he reaches us, folding his hands behind his back as he lifts his chin, surveying our small, motley group.
“Well.” He makes a tsk noise with his teeth. “This is disappointing.”
“No one’s more disappointed than we are,” Marcus shoots back, his voice just as bland as Luca’s.
I realize with a start why Theo and Ryland both voted immediately for him to be the one to accept the prize, if we can convince Luca to step down. He’s good at this. He’s made for it.
Luca and his fucking game shaped Marcus into who he is today.
And now Marcus is going to take him down.
“The game is over, obviously.” Luca shrugs. “Too many of you know for it to continue.” He frowns, glancing over at Victoria. “I’m surprised to see you here. I’ve heard stories about you, and I know how vicious you can be. I didn’t think you’d give them a chance to speak before you killed them.”
“It wasn’t exactly voluntary.” Her voice drips ice as she addresses Luca, her gaze focused on him like a laser.
“Ah. I see.”
He doesn’t even glance at Dominic, and I feel a stab of anger in my chest. He’s dismissed the other man outright, and it makes me think Dominic wasn’t wrong that Luca might’ve been about to kick him out of the game before everything went to hell.
“We didn’t call you here to chat, and that sure as fuck isn’t why you came,” Marcus says. “We know you’re the Viper. That you’ve been lying to all twelve families who volunteered their heirs for the chance to succeed you. That you’ve been lying to everyone else you do business with in Halston. You’ve been double-crossing them, making deals with them as both Luca and Viper. Cheating them. If we share what we know, there’ll be an uprising. One not even you can put down.”
Luca’s eyes glint in the darkness. “You don’t know that.”
“I know that if you wanted a war, you would’ve started one already.” Marcus adjusts his grip on his weapon. “You wouldn’t have played this elaborate fucking game. You wanted us to suffer. You wanted other parents to lose their children. Well, you’ve done that. Do you want more innocent people to die in a war you could prevent? Is that what Genevieve would want?”
The older man’s body jerks as if Marcus hit him with a physical blow. “Do not say her name.”
Marcus dips his head, the only sign of respect I’ve seen him give the man since he arrived. Maybe it’s because he has some inkling of the pain raging in Luca’s chest. “All right. But my question stands. If every criminal organization in Halston comes for you, you won’t survive it. None of them may be as powerful as you, but if they all decide you’re the common enemy, how do you think that will go? You could fight that fight. Or you could walk away and live. Step down like you promised you would, name me the winner, and transfer your power peacefully.”
