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“Try again.”
“Look Gio. I can’t. I really can’t. You may scare the living crap out of me, but Reaper will have my soul if I say anything without his permission. All you need to know is that she is with us and needs our protection. That’s all I can say. I’m on the level right now.”
“I want her full name.”
“Layla. Her name is Layla.”
“Does this Layla have a last name?”
“I’m sure she does, but I don’t know it,” I lied.
“Why do you want to know?” Massacre asked.
“I want to know who’s in my house. Friend or foe, I have the right to know.”
“I say we get the bees,” Salvatore grinned wickedly at Massacre.
“NO!” My brother shouted as I looked at Salvatore as if he was crazy. It was one thing to take a couple of hits at us, but bees were no joking matter. Especially since Massacre was highly allergic to them.
Fuck, I hope he packed his epi-pen.
Massacre grinned wickedly. “You even think about it, Sal, and I will put my boot so far up your ass, you will be able to tie my laces with your tongue.”
“Big talk from a man who is tied up, hanging from the ceiling.”
“Oh, I won’t be here much longer dickhead.”
“Oh yeah, and how do you plan on getting out of this?”
Massacre grinned, then yelled loudly, “AUNT NIKKI!”
“You Irish Bastard!” Salvatore cursed as the basement door was thrown open. Down walked the only person on the planet who could make five grown men cower in fear as we all pissed our pants. Not many women on the planet could handle a house full of testosterone-ridden Italian boys, but our Aunt Nicoletta was one of them.
My mom was the other.
“Ma che cazzo stai facendo?” Aunt Nikki sternly shouted in Italian before she spotted Massacre and me. She gasped and rushed over to us, “Oh, my Goodness. Dwyane, Reginald! Oh, my babies are home.”
“That was low, Dwayne,” Sal muttered as he walked over and unhooked his arms from the chains holding him. When he was free, my brother just grinned. “You’re just pissed I remembered Aunt Nikki made tea every night exactly at seven and that the air grate connects directly to the kitchen.”
“Shut up, man.”
“Do you boys want to tell me what in the world is going on down here? And why wasn’t I told that my nephews were home? Gio, is this how we treat famiglia? Well?” Aunt Nikki asked, looking at her oldest son.
I snickered as Luciano quickly unhooked me. Standing on my own two feet hurt like a mother fucker, but there was no way in hell I was going to miss this. It wasn’t every day that Giovanni Valentinetti got his ass handed to him.
It was pure gold!
“Mother, I was going to tell you. I had planned on surprising you at breakfast in the morning. Reggie and Dwayne are going to be staying with us for a while. They even brought a guest. She is upstairs resting. As for what is going on down here, well, I was just clearing up some unfinished business. That’s all.”
“Smooth man,” Massacre whispered but quickly shut his mouth when Aunt Nikki turned her stare on him. “Don’t even start Dwayne Michael Buchannon.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Upstairs, all of you. Right now and get cleaned up. I just had the floors done.”
As Massacre, Sal and Luc followed Aunt Nikki upstairs, I hung back, sensing Gio wanted to talk. Well, it was more the look he gave that told me to stay than my intuition, but whatever. As the door closed upstairs, I turned to my cousin and waited.
“Who is she really, Reggie? If she’s got someone after her, I need to know. My mother lives here, along with my sister. Your mom frequently visits, as does the rest of the cousins. I can’t have a woman I don’t know put our family in danger. Now, I will do what I can to protect her, but unless I know what the threat is, my hands are tied.”
