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“My morsel.”
Gianni blows a ring of thick smoke. “If anyone can get anything here, it’s her. Unlike the rest of us, she’s not one to be underestimated.”
“And here I thought you wanted to buy a corsage and take her to the fucking prom.”
He laughs, almost like a chortle. “I like my neck, Wilder.”
So he knows there’s something going on, too. I don’t ask as another player walks up.
“Wilder.” The newcomer, a cartel boss, nods at me. “You played like fucking amateur hour.”
I smirk. “I thought you needed a chance, Mendez.”
Another smoke ring from Belucci. “Cut him some slack, Gabriel. He’s getting married soon.”
The angelic killer nods and smiles. “To Derek Finnegan’s daughter. There are debts left.”
I’m more than aware. I could quietly square them away, but it’s in that moment that it clicks: someone’s pushing this agenda. Quietly, trying to raise up discontent, to feel it out.
Rose is his daughter and has his holdings.
That vile bastard Vitale was her husband, and she has his, too.
Yet, only one name is in their whispers, in the current beneath them.
Thing is, Rose doesn’t owe a fucking thing. We have enough allies, enough favors owed with all the wrongs righted with Finnegan’s death. I made sure of that. This unspoken threat that’s out of reach isn’t from any of those people. It’s someone else.
I might own most of Queenstown, but there are pockets, factions. It’s the only way for commerce to work, in this world, at least.
It would be one thing if Rose had been active in the life, but she wasn’t. She owes nothing and to start paying off things I don’t need to is a slippery slope.
I need the one with the strings. Both Belucci and I are watching Gabriel, but everything about him says wrong target.
“Not to me.” Mendez glances at me. “I don’t deal with people like Finnegan unless it’s upfront, and that didn’t appeal to his ego.”
I take a swallow of whiskey as Rose’s attention is grabbed by someone else.
Mendez smiles. “You’re cool, Wilder, but I know weakness. She’s yours, I see it. Make sure others don’t. And no, I don’t know who’s sniffing around your Queenstown business. If that changes, I’ll let you know.”
“The man’s a snake, but…” Belucci shrugs as Mendez leaves. It’s his way of saying Gabriel is fine. He goes back to his cigar and whatever fucking weird ass teenage fantasies about Rose swirl around in his perverted brain.
“Boss?” Garcia comes to a stop in front of me. “From a businessman you might be interested in.”
He holds out a card, printed with a name and a number. I slide it into the breast pocket of my suit with the other note. Time to go.
I look over at Rose as the man she’s talking to starts to crowd in on her. The sight sets something off in me, and I push through the bodies, making a bee-line for her. I’m there in seconds, and right as his hand reaches for her, I take her by the arm and shift her out of the way.
“I wouldn’t. Not if you want to keep breathing.”
Chapter4
Rose
Iknow it’s wrong, but I’ll nevernotbe turned on by Nikolai laying claim to me. His murderous intent towards anyone wanting to touch me when I don’t want it is all levels of hot.
Still, I don’t want him hurt. He’s mine and I want him safe, so I wait as he holds the man’s eyes a beat too long before the guy backs off.
Finally, he slips a hand around my waist and murmurs, “Time to go.”
