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Getting on her bad side is the last thing you want to do.
Thankfully, she’s softer around my older brother. More mellow. She may have annoyed me at first—actually, she royally pissed me off—but the last year has brought a certain kind of understanding to us. The more we talked over the year, the more I realized she was more like me than I originally thought.
“None of the people still out here should be a problem for you.” She looks out the window in the kitchen, arching an eyebrow when she sees Brielle. “Who is that?”
“My neighbor.” I have the urge to close the blinds and hide the redhead from sight, but I don’t. It would only give Sofia more reasons to ask questions about her, so I try to bring her back to the subject at hand. “Now, what makes you certain that I won’t have a problem with these people? The cartel hasn’t had a history of loyalty to anyone other than you in a very long time.”
She shrugs, mischief shining in her eyes. “I guess that means that you better not piss me off like you normally do.”
“You started it.”
Sofia laughs and shakes her head. “Yeah, I guess I did start it. I had a good reason for it, though. Your famiglia was too soft when I got there. They needed a little bit of shaking up to keep them on their toes.”
“You did a good job of that, I’ll give you that. I’m sure that some of them still have nightmares about all the missing car batteries and that coffee stunt you pulled.”
She grins and starts walking around the house. Boxes are everywhere, left in varying states of being unpacked.
Last night, my meeting with Brennan took longer than I thought it would. It’d been a little over a year since I last saw him, even though we talk at least once a week. It’s nice to have one other person who thinks I’m capable of doing more than continue to live in my brothers’ shadows.
“You need to unpack more.”
I roll my eyes, a smile pulling at the corner of my mouth. “Yes, Mom.”
“Your mom is doing good. Damien says she’s dating again.”
“Good for her,” I say as Sofia starts to dig through one of the boxes in the kitchen. She pulls out a stack of dishes wrapped in paper and starts unwrapping it. “You don’t have to help me unpack.”
She raises an eyebrow and gives me a stern look that reminds me of my younger sister.
Sofia’s been spending too much time around Aria.
“If I don’t help you unpack this stuff, you’re never going to get around to it. Now, while we unpack, why don’t you tell me about this new neighbor of yours?”
I groan internally. Though she phrases it as a question, I know it’s not. One way or another, Sofia is going to find out whatever information she wants to know. Her family is old and established in the criminal underworld. Especially near the coast.
“Don’t know much about her. Brennan calls her his adoptive sister. Think she’s some kid he took in when she was younger.” I grab a few glasses out of the box and start putting them into the cupboard.
“What’s with the camera hanging around her neck?”
I glance out the window and see Brielle, turned slightly away from my house and looking at one of the rose bushes in her yard. Flowers climb high, twisting beneath the sun.
Her red hair hangs loose down her back in wild waves. If she were anyone other than Brennan’s sister — blood relative or otherwise — I might have entertained the idea of running my fingers through that hair as I kissed her senseless.
She’s pretty, with her green eyes and tattoos curving their way around her body. However, she isn’t worth the trouble it would bring into my life.
“She’s a photographer.” I scowl as I put away another set of mugs.
Sofia sighs and runs her hand through her hair, pushing it back from her face as she takes a closer look at Brielle. “Do you think that you’re going to be able to live next door to someone who is constantly taking pictures?”
“Don’t know. It’s going to take time to see how this is going to play out. She’s tied to Brennan, and she seems to know what he does. I would hope that she’s smart enough not to try and insert herself into my business.”
“Don’t make the mistake of trusting her,” Sofia says as she turns away and starts unpacking another box. “You don’t want a repeat of what happened with that woman before.”
“How do you know about that?” I ask, bristling slightly.
Her cheeks turn a pale shade of pink. “Your brother might have told me a couple things.”
“Or you stuck your nose into some side comment you heard like you always do.” I smile and shake my head.
