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All of this was just on the bottom floor. What was happening on the second and third I was curious to find out, but it’d have to wait.
Sienna and I held still as the tatted gentleman finished checking their guns were kill-ready and loaded, then aimed them at our heads. The conversation stopped. The work stopped as every eye, and weapon, fixed on us.
“This is quite a greeting,” Bane said good-naturedly. “I put on a suit and none of you recognize me? I’ll give you a hint. I made those weapons that you’re going to point at the floor. Now.”
“It’s Bane.”
“Alexander.”
“Sunny’s brother.”
His name bounced around the crowd. One after the other, they dropped their weapons.
“Alexander.” A spiky-haired blond guy with a ring through his eyebrow pushed ahead of the pack. “What are you doing here? Where’s Sunny?”
“That’s what I’m doing here, Ryker.”
Ryker. The name summoned the information. Ryker’s Sunny’s right hand. Keeps an eye on the operation in-house while Sunny tracks the street gangs, making sure everyone behaves as they should. Ryker was also cute in a pissed-off, leather-vest-wearing, face-tatted-biker way.
Bane treaded the semicircle. “You’ve been trying to reach Sunny for almost two weeks, and you haven’t heard back. I bet you assumed the worst. Unfortunately, your assumptions are true. Sunny is dead.”
“No, he can’t be.”
“That’s a lie!”
“Not Sunny.”
I looked around at the crushed, furious, broken expressions. Sunny said he and his crew were close, and gazing at them, I felt the loss of their boss. If one of them is faking their sadness, I can’t tell. Yet.
“How can he be dead?” demanded a woman with purple hair and a tight white halter dress. Athena. Sunny said I’d know her by the hair. That she oozes sex appeal from her pouty, purple lips and tree-bark heavy-lidded eyes would also be a good description.
“It’s not true,” Athena cried.
“It’s true,” Bane said. “He was taken and thrown off an overpass. Someone found and tried to get him help, but there was no ID on him. When he died, they didn’t know who to call. Eventually, we tracked him down and found out what happened.”
Ryker swore foully. “Who did this?!”
“The family will take care of that.”
“Like fuck!” Chin-length brown hair, stacks on stacks of muscles, tight body shirt, and a faint scar on his chin. Sunny’s enforcer, Makai, shoved Ryker aside. “He’s our boss! We want in on this. It’s our right to take this shit’s head and hang it over Main Street.”
“Oooh, the right?” Bane repeated. “Should you be talking to me about your rights to avenge my brother when this went down right here in North Quay? Should we be talking about your rights, Makai, when it’s your job to watch his back, and you were fuck knows where when he was snatched off the street and left to die like trash under an overpass?”
The veins popped in Makai’s forehead. He did not mistake Bane’s light tone for what that comment was.
“Should we talk about your rights on the day I made funeral arrangements for my youngest brother?” Bane got in his face. “Should we be talking about you at all?”
Ryker pushed Makai back. “He’s hot, Bane. We all are. Sunny was our boss. We’ve been looking for him since he disappeared. When you find the guy who took him out, you’ve got the Sons of Saint behind you, waiting to tear him apart.”
“Such a sweet offer,” he mocked, “but I don’t need you behind me. What I need is for you to listen up. All of you.” Bane strolled over to us, placing his hands on our shoulders. “Sunny’s gone and SOS needs a new boss. Say hello to her.”
Chin high, I stepped forward, face placid as their expressions shifted from grief to something else. “Hello, everyone. I’m Mrs. Bellisario.” I flashed the huge, shiny rock on my finger.
Silence spread through the room. Athena broke it.
“Are you kidding me? Bane, who the fuck is this?”
“She just told you. This is Sunny’s wife, Mackenzie.”
“He’s not married!”
“Recent development,” he said. “If Sunny didn’t get around to telling you, that’s not my problem. Sunny’s business, and North Quay, stay in the family. She’s family. Sunny trusted her. She’s in charge.”
“But—”
Bane plowed on. “I’m certain you didn’t take advantage of the cat being away, and got up to shit you shouldn’t.”
Ryker replied, “Of course not—”
“Good, then the books are in order, the money’s adding up, shipments are going out on time, and collections are prompt. I want Mackenzie and her sister, Sienna, up to speed on the whole operation by nightfall. She’s taking Sunny’s cut and Sienna gets eight percent.”
“Eight percent?” Ryker turned bulging, raging eyes on my sister. “Who the fuck is she to get that much?”
“That’s how much you get, is it not, Ryker? Seeing as she’s taking your job, she gets your salary.”
