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“I’m old, Nico, not blind. And certainly not deaf. I’ve been hearing plenty of whispers.”
I never thought that when the day came I had it out with Lorenzo, it would be over saving Dominic freaking Luca’s life. But if he put out a hit on the Lucas, what was I going to do? The only options were to stand by or put the man down. Kill my father to save the Lucas? Lorenzo was aCosta. It scraped across my sense of loyalty like a grater to eventhinkof it.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, trying to delay the inevitable like these few seconds could somehow make any difference.
“The girl, Nico. I hear the girl you’ve been fucking looks an awful lot like a Luciano.”
Part of me sighed with relief while another part of me surged with rage. If he dared to threatenonehair on her head, I’d rip him apart.
So, where’s your loyalty now?a voice taunted from inside my head.
“How would you know that?” I asked, keeping every drop of emotion out of my tone. Lorenzo knew how to weaponize every sign, wink of weakness.
“There is nothing coincidental about it if a girl with Luciano blood has showed up at the same time we’ve been plotting against the Lucas,” he said, ignoring my question. “That girl isusingyou.”
It would never cross Lorenzo’s mind that any girl could be possibly interested in me,not the Costa empire. I wanted to be angry with him for it, tell him he was wrong.
But even I didn’t believe it. It would never crossmymind that Raven would be interested inme, not the Costa empire. Still, questions and doubts niggled at the back of my head.
Raven had ample opportunity to deliver information to the Lucianos. But I haven’t heard a single peep from Enzo or his men.
Why did she stick around? If she wanted a good time in bed, I was the man for the job. But if that was all she was interested in, it should have fizzled out by now.
She should have been long gone. Because no one could convince me she hadn’t bolted for my charming personality.
Nobody wanted to get deep and personal with a monster.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but the girl’s got nothing to do with anything,” I said.
“I want you to bring her home for dinner. If she is a Luciano, I’ll make the bitch squirm.”
Ignoring the insult—for now—I tried to imagine just how that encounter would go. Raven and the Costas sitting down to eat spaghetti, Lorenzo’s glare trained on the girl like a hawk while my mother and brothers mustered up pathetic attempts at dinner conversation. If she was innocent, she would just chalk it up to a lousy night out.
If she was guilty, she’d be quaking in her pretty strappy sandals.
One way or another, I’d have my answer.
“Fine,” I barked. “But if you call her that again, I’ll cut out your tongue.”
The line went silent, but he hadn’t hung up. I could just imagine Lorenzo’s stunned face. Nobody talked to him that way. Nobody threatened him, not until I waved a gun at his face years ago.
But the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. If he sent his men after me, it would almost have been worth it just to picture the slack-jawed look on his face.
“You watch what you say to me, boy,” he said when he recovered from the shock enough to speak.
“I’m just being the man you raised me to be,” I said, then turned off the phone.
I clicked my tongue. I couldn’t stand it when my own head was a mess.Raven, Avalone, Lorenzo.
“What the hell was that about?” Gabe’s eyes widened, brows knitted together.
“Nothing a few bullets or knives wouldn’t fix,” I muttered, trying to shake off the grimy feeling that dealing with Lorenzo had left on my skin. It was like a thick coat of dirty, black oil.
“He found out about the girl?” Gabe asked.
I narrowed my eyes.Had Gabe gone running to Lorenzo, looking to get into his good graces?
I looked at him, perhaps for the first time in my life as the man he was, not as my younger brother. He was a man, full-grown, with a place of his own and a regular stream of women moving in and out of his life. He was skilled in combat and experienced with weapons. He knew the ins and outs of the family business. He’d even undertaken business ventures of his own on the side, which attested to his interest in climbing the ladder. In truth, I didn’t even have a clue what those ventures were.
