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“I still have eyes, Aus.” He shrugs. “Are you saying she isn’t?”
He presses his lips together and glances away, a telltale sign he agrees. It makes my curiosity about the girl climb. I had hoped to run into her earlier. But it wasn’t in the cards.
“Maybe we should focus on the benefit for now,” I suggest. With Austin here, we are drawing some attention. The majority of businessmen here know he is still very much one foot into the ‘family business’ and one in this world. No matter how much he wishes to shed his old life.
“Did you learn anything while I was gone?”
“Melody is a bitch,” I reply. “The chief is a predator.”
“We need her for this to work.” Austin shoots me a look, silently asking what I did. “And I will handle the chief.”
All he’s missing is the Brooklyn accent and cracking his knuckles, and he would sound like a true mob boss. He is refined, though. His mom had sent him to a private boarding school in England, so sometimes even a slight British accent mixes with his upstate New York accent. It is an interesting combination when his threats sound like a mix of setting a date to visit the horse races or afternoon tea.
“Do we really need her? Do you hear the way she talks to Felix?” I tug Felix close, my protectiveness clearly at the surface.
Austin sighs. “She doesn’t really talk to him at all. Except for calling him that stupid nickname.”
“She calls me a flea. You know those bugs that live on animals?”
He nods, his nostrils going wide as he pulls in a deep breath. He rubs his forehead before dropping his hand. “I’ll talk to her.”
His words placate me, and when Felix pulls away, I let him. He threads his fingers through his bright hair, then messes with his eyebrow ring, before shrugging his shoulders.
“I can ignore her stupid jabs. She means nothing to me. Her words don’t hurt.” He glances around and then lowers his voice. “But I’m going to need to know what we are doing. You have never kept me in the dark before, and you shouldn’t start now.”
“If we tell you and they catch us, you are less protected than Saint and me. We–no, I, can’t have that.”
Felix’s tongue swipes over his lower lip as he shifts on his heels. “Then what is the point of me being here at all? You said flirt with the chief, so I did, and he tried to murder me.”
“He what?” Austin growls.
I chuckle. “With his aftershave. But I saved him just in time.”
Austin rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Next mark is Gabriella.”
“Gabby, Carmichael’s step-sister?” he asks, sharing a look with me. “So, you have certain things you want to protect me from. But another Mafia boss isn’t one of them?”
Another laugh pops out of my throat, and Austin sends me a pointed glare. “He isn’t wrong. I was sure Carmichael was going to gut me for even looking her way before. He is really protective of her.”
“He won’t do anything to you.”
“Just promise to dress like the grim reaper and stand at the back of my funeral,” he says to me. I smile, and he releases a long breath before searching the crowd for the girl. “When I’m dead, remember me, Aus.”
“God, you are so dramatic,” Austin says, but he’s smiling. “If Carmichael makes a move toward you, I’ll intercept him. Remind him of the truce. Happy?”
“Ecstatic,” he replies.
CHAPTER7
Austin
We watchFelix thread through the crowd toward Gabriella. She wasn’t far from Carmichael and looked to be having a terrible time. I knew little about her, just that she was a ward of her older step-brother, and he seemed to dictate what she did most of the time. And they hated each other.
At least Felix’s flirting will bring a smile to her face for a while, and it will distract Carmichael. The whole point of sending him over there. If he is watching Gabriella, he won’t be paying attention to me or Saint, and I wasn’t wrong when I told Felix he would be safe. Carmichael isn’t threatened by anyone but another alpha, and I wonder if it is because they could scent-match her and take her away from his daily torment.
“Melody Lynn knows the entire plan,” Saint says as we circle the room. His gaze is fixed on Felix as if he is ready at any moment to launch himself across the marbled flooring to save him.
“She thinks she does. It isn’t just the painting though,” I reply. “And if luck continues the way it has, we will have a secret weapon.”
