AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Declan’s smile was quick and razor sharp. “My pleasure. Viv,” he said, gaze shifting to her, “good to see you again.”
“Yes, ah, you too.”
Declan turned back to Evie, and Viv had to bite back a sigh when love lit his face. She chanced a quick peek at Aidan, who watched with a scowl, hands shoved into his pockets while he waited for Declan by the door. After a quick kiss on his wife’s lips, Declan left the way he came with Aidan trailing behind him.
Viv was destined to marry a man who probably slept with a permanent crease between his brows, annoyed even by his dreams.
ChapterFour
“Something came up?” Aidan asked once they were in the car and beyond the driveway.
Declan made a non-committal noise in the back of his throat. “You know I’m doing this for your own good, right?”
“Mine? I thought it was for yours.”
Declan’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “You don’t think this benefits the entire family? The Italians have been too explosive, too unpredictable, for too long. This brings them into the fold. It stabilizes the city in a way that lays a foundation for everything else I’ve wanted to build for over a decade.”
Declan sighed. “If it was anyone else getting married, I know you’d see that. You always saw and understood far more than Dad ever gave you credit for.”
Aidan was so shocked by his brother’s words he almost said thank you. But there was something else, some other reason for the praise. There had to be. Declan always operated ten steps ahead of you.
“And yet here I am, relegated to stud for your alliances.”
On a snort, Declan pulled into an alley just outside Little Odessa. “You’re right. That’s why I asked you to come instead of leaving you to discuss flower arrangements and place settings.”
Before Aidan could ask exactly what he’d been invited along for, another SUV pulled into the opposite end of the alley, and he tensed.
“Relax,” Declan said, reaching for the door. “Friendlies.”
He indicated an earpiece on the dashboard before he got out of the car as Falcone and his two oldest sons did the same. Aidan slipped the piece into his ear and immediately heard keys clacking in his ear. Brogan. Aidan could add whatever the fuck this was to the list of things his brothers wouldn’t share with him until it was absolutely necessary. It got longer by the second.
“Falcone,” Declan said when Aidan stepped up beside him. “We have a problem with the Russians.”
Aidan didn’t miss how Declan emphasized the word we, and neither did Falcone, his brows ticking up a degree.
“I assume you know what he was doing with DiMarco?”
“I do.” Falcone crossed his arms over his chest and flicked a glance at Aidan. “Buying girls from DiMarco’s trafficking ring for his club.”
“Yes. Even after strict orders from me not to. Ivankov doesn’t appear to be very smart, but even the dumb need lessons.”
Another car pulled into the alley behind Declan’s Range Rover, and Aidan knew without turning around it would be full of syndicate men. Falcone’s jaw set when the men stepped up behind them, but he said nothing.
Aidan followed Declan when he walked past Falcone’s SUV, jogging across the street to keep up. They stopped in front of a restaurant with a dingy sign over the door, and the curtains in the front window pulled tight.
“Clear,” Aidan heard Brogan say in his ear.
Aidan went in first, gun drawn before he even stepped over the threshold, and heard their men sweep in behind him. One Russian stood behind the bar, and his hands immediately shot up as he stepped out from behind it. Aidan wondered if that was the guy who earned the broken nose from Brogan the last time they conducted business with the head of Philly’s Bratva.
Ivankov sat at a booth in the corner, looking as gaunt and ugly as Aidan remembered him. His usual bimbo, typically clad in a too-tight dress and teetering on impossibly tall heels, was nowhere to be seen. Today he was seated with his son, his only surviving child after the Italians murdered his daughter.
As syndicate men moved to flank the rear entrance and the door to the kitchen so no one would interrupt them, Declan stepped in, Falcone and his sons close behind. Ivankov had the good sense to blanch. Two visits from Declan in less than six weeks should definitely terrify him.
“Ivankov. Did you miss me?”
“It’s good to see you again so soon,” Ivankov said, getting up from the booth and reluctantly sliding into a chair across from Declan when he took a seat at an empty table.
Ivankov gripped his hands in his lap until his knuckles were white. He knew his penance had come due. No one betrayed the Callahan syndicate and walked away without paying for it. Usually with their life. But Aidan got the distinct impression Declan wanted to send a different kind of message and avoid another skirmish.
