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Aww, he does love me. I trade knowing looks with Scarlett and she grins behind his back.
Asher barely even blinks at the threat, making my grin grow wider. I can already tell I’m going to like this kid. Especially when he just shrugs. “I remember when my father tried to kill me.” Scarlett’s brows raise in intrigue. “Didn’t work out so well for him,” he finishes.
I have to hold back my laugh at how casually he throws it out there, but fail when Scarlett peeks her head around Luca’s broad back and exclaims, “Twins!” I’m not the only one who chuckles at the absurdity of her excitement.
Luca tilts his head in confusion as he watches the kid, no doubt having thought he would have been easy to intimidate because of his age.
Tyler shakes his head and bumps his shoulder against Asher’s. “We’re never going to stop hearing about you surviving a bullet to the chest. Are we?”
As soon as the words are out of his mouth I already know what’s going to happen next. Sure enough, Scarlett steps around Luca, putting herself between the two of us again. I put my face in my hands and shake my head at her as she says, “We really are twins.” Pure delight coating every word. “Let’s see yours then.”
I sigh, knowing there’s no stopping this odd exchange. Luca tenses on the side of our girl, and Asher regards her carefully before smirking and lifting his shirt to show off the scar that runs down most of his abdomen. A scar that looks all too familiar.
Scarlett steps up to him and runs her fingers over the mottled flesh, not that Asher seems to care. Tyler watches him, surprise flickering across his features and I get the feeling the kid isn’t one to allow many people to touch him.
My pretty girl rolls her eyes as she steps away. “Pussy shit,” she teases and I catch a brief glint of amusement in his eyes.
“Don’t even think about it, Letty,” Luca curses, but it’s too late and she’s already pulling up her shirt to show off her scars as she completely ignores him. I hear Kade also cursing behind me while Noah and Ry just chuckle. She has to remove the blade that always sits snugly between her tits, and pulls off the holster that holds several more blades and one of her guns and hands it to me.
Her fingers dance over the scar that starts on her sternum. “My momma gave me this one,” she tells Asher and his eyes dance with curiosity. “But this one,” she says, tracing the scar that covers her stomach. “This one is from my Daddy.” She infuses her voice with a soft southern charm and it makes me want to gag. It’s all too reminiscent of our pasts.
Asher’s fingers reach out to feel her scars the way she did his and I start to laugh. Oh, this is going to be good.
Kade’s arms wrap around her as he pulls her away. “Touch her and I will sever that hand from your body,” he threatens. It amazes me that he ever once was able to hold back from murdering every dude that Scarlett hooked up with before they were official.
She slaps his hands away and moves to stand on her own two feet again, throwing him a dirty look. “He’s a child, Kade,” she snaps, grabbing the weapons she tossed at me to restrap them on.
His eyes narrow at her choice of words, but must decide not to snark to her, instead changing the subject. “As soon as Tyler called, I knew we had your guy.”
Scarlett’s entire posture changes and we all follow suit, snapping to attention as we focus on the shift in conversation.
“We had a body show up this week. Turns out he disrespected the Italians and they were quick to make a mess. Problem was, no one knew where the guy had turned up from. We don’t like unknowns in this town, so we were already looking into it. There are more than a couple houses left empty after the,” he hesitates, trying to find the right word to use. “Cleansing my friend gave the town,” he finishes with a smirk, pride and affection clear in his tone.
Scarlett nods along with his words, no doubt knowing more about this town than the rest of us do. She wouldn’t have sent one of our own without knowing every last detail. “Atkins was a part of that.”
He nods. “We hadn’t realized the estate had sold. It was all very quiet and quite frankly, we hadn’t given a damn about what happened to it.”
“It was never listed. Just bought silently from a shell corporation and left to sit empty until now,” Scarlett explains. Noah and Charles had been able to find it from going through the financial records of CGK. It had been an educated guess that it would lead us to Romano, but it wasn’t until we got confirmation from Tyler that we knew for sure. Everything else in that company’s files had to do with Scarlett, so it only made sense this purchase did as well.
“The good news is, we’ve been there before and we still have the plans and blueprints. Getting you in and out will be a piece of cake.” He scoffs slightly, “Of all the places to buy in Black Hallows, they really went for the one that had already been compromised.” His face falls as the words slip out and his features harden in contemplation.
Scarlett’s brows lift, reading his thoughts perfectly. “You can come with us and while we have our fun, you can scope out anything that may have made the place special.”
He nods his thanks, checking his watch. “Some of the others are going to meet us at my place. I have everything there we’ll need to finalize a plan and gear up.”
Luca steps away to instruct the staff unloading the plane while the rest of us split up and pile into the two cars. Scarlett leads us straight to Asher’s car, climbing into the front seat. We exchange looks and sigh. She looks over at us and sticks out her tongue as we slide open the door. She can be such a brat. Noah and Ryder take the back row, while I take the middle row and leave the first row for Kade and Luca. It’s a huge car, but still a tight fit for the guys sitting next to each other.
Rachel, Holden, and Joe will have a much more comfortable ride with Tyler, but it wasn’t like any of us were willing to leave Scarlett’s side.
Asher climbs into the driver’s seat and stares at all of us in the back before turning to glance at Scarlett, happy as a clam in the front seat. “Now I know why Tyler insisted I drive the Sprinter,” he mumbles.
Luca comes around and walks to the front seat before spotting Scarlett. “Dammit, Letty,” he growls before giving up and climbing in next to Kade and slamming the door behind him.
As soon as Asher starts to drive, Scarlett turns to him. “Tell me more about the last time you went to the Atkins’ estate.”
His fingers tap against the steering wheel as he begins to answer her. “It’s a large piece of property, but surprisingly not all that difficult to get in. Arrogance can be a person’s downfall, after all. There’s an iron-wrought front gate, only opened by the guard tower. No pin code. Cameras line the street and driveway so going that way will give them warning to our arrival. But there should be no cameras at the back of the property. There wasn’t last time.”
She turns back to meet Noah’s eyes. “There’s been no money spent on the house other than to purchase and for a deep clean shown in the accounts,” he answers her silent question.
