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Ares clears his throat. “I can’t tell you what to do, and I won’t. But…” He turns to watch his sister as she explores the penthouse. Then he glances back to me with a hard look on his face. “Look, the fact is, there’s not a single person on the planet that I’d trust to protect my sister more than you. You’ve already saved her life, twice. You’ve saved mine, and you’ve saved my wife’s on more than one occasion. And for that, you know you have my eternal gratitude. But I have to ask you for one more favor.”
My molars grind as I swivel my gaze to where Callie’s just settled into the big couch by the fireplace and kicked her bare feet up onto the glass coffee table like she owns the place.
And as I do basically every time I look at her, I’m caught between the overwhelming desire to keep looking at something so goddamn beautiful, and the need to turn away from something so fucking forbidden.
Because for me, looking at Calliope Drakos the way a man looks at a woman is like looking directly into the sun.
In other words, a really bad idea.
“It’s pretty clear it’sherthey’re after, Castle,” Deimos growls quietly, running a tattooed hand over his jaw. “She’ll be safest here, with you.”
No, she won’t.
Because if Callie keeps looking at me the way shealwayslooks at me while we’re locked in here together, I’m not exactly sure how long I’ll last before I look back.
Or do way more than look.
But of course, I say yes to staying here with her. Because even though I may not be the hero they all think I am, I’m at the very least cursed with a hero complex.
Even though I’m not fucking Superman, I just can’t for the life of me stop jumping in front of trains and bullets.
Gavan clears his throat, stepping closer to all of us as Callie disappears into the bedroom to explore.
“Could we talk for a moment?” he growls. “In private?” He jerks his head toward the terrace. The rest of us follow him out, and I close the door behind us before leaning against it.
“What’s your prevailing theory on the shooter?” Gavan asks in a measured tone, looking at me. “I’m asking you as a both a combat veteran and as someone who understands this game we all play.”
I reply immediately. “A professional. No doubt there. They were set up properly, they had a secondary shooting location across from the Drakos estate, and they were focused. The shot groupings in the hit on our brownstone definitely point to Callie being the target.”
Ares’ eyes flash with a primal sort of fury that I understand all too well.
“Also,” I go on, “they didn’t leave a single shell casing behind, and even though I’m pretty sure I winged them, there wasn’t any blood, and the scene was doused in bleach.” I frown as I stroke my jaw. “I’d say professional hitman, for sure, and almost certainly military trained.”
Gavan nods. “Okay. So who would want Callie dead?”
My brows knit as I glance at Ares, who I’ve already filled in about my brief conversation with Dante after our meeting with Michael.
“Normally I’d say Massimo would be the primary suspect, except Dante Sartorre put that theory to bed at a meeting I had with him earlier today. He claims Massimo is just thumping his chest. Image and all that. They claim…” I glance at them.
I still haven’t mentioned what happened in Paris to any of them.
“Dante says there was no love between Massimo and Luca. And that the precise circumstances of Luca’s death, along with the legitimacy of the will naming Massimo heir to his fortune and throne are both things Massimo might rather not have examined too closely.”
Gavan nods. “Really. How trustworthy is Dante?”
“He’s got no reason to be bullshitting us, if that’s what you’re asking,” Cillian growls. “Dante trades in information. It’s his currency. And by that metric, he’s the richest man in this city.”
Ares clears his throat. “It could be any of our enemies. Fuck knows our families have plenty of them. But the timing with the wedding just seems...” He scowls. “Like it’s not a coincidence.”
I nod. “Agreed.”
Gavan sucks his teeth as he leans against the railing of the balcony. “I have another theory. But I’m not sure you’re going to like it.” He glances between me and Cillian with a significant look. “What do you know about Declan Kildare’s affair with Svetlana?”
Recently, Gavan brokered a deal with the notoriously vicious Drazen Krylov—a legendary boogeyman in the Bratva world—after he helped Gavan and Eilish in exchange for a fortune he’s now using to rebuild the Krylov Bratva. Part of the deal included Drazen giving Gavan a fuckton of information on a wide range of mafia family heads that Drazen had collected. There’s been someveryinteresting things indeed found on that hard drive, all well-documented enough to stand up to thorough investigation. But one of the biggest ones was proof that Svetlana—the sister of Gavan’s adoptive father, with whom Gavan lived with for some time—had been having a prolonged on-again, off-again affair with Neve and Eilish’s father, Declan.
That was the affair that Neve and Eilish’s mother Erin found out about, and tried to leave her husband over.
It’s also what got her killed by that same husband.
