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Scar comes closer but stops as her eyes move almost imperceptively to my left. From my peripheral, I spot Gavin approaching, his gun drawn and aimed right at her.
“Stay the fuck where you are, bitch, unless you want that pretty hair stained red.”
She narrows her gaze on him thoughtfully, the edges of her lips pulled up. “Hmm. While I’m sure I’d be a stunning redhead, I think I’ll stick to blonde.” Then she glances around the perimeter and laughs.
When I look too, I see why. At least ten men are now surrounding the area. As one, they rush at us. Without a word, both Gavin and I turn and run from the gunshots. We may be good fighters, but we’re also smart enough to know when we’re far too outnumbered.
I glance once over my shoulder and see Black and Scar getting into the car.
“Fuck!” Gavin yells. “I’m hit!” He stumbles, grabbing his shoulder.
Leaning into him, I help him onto the boat, all the while staying low. I turn the key and start the motor and, without another look back, take off.
* * *
Two hours later, those of us who survived reconvene at Briar House. I lost two of my men. Luca and Gavin each lost three.
However, the biggest loss was that of Luca’s sister-in-law.
While we sit bruised and battered, his wife sobs endlessly in an upstairs room. Even through the closed pocket doors of the study, the sounds of her crying penetrate, adding a soundtrack to an already morose situation.
Luca enters looking worse for the wear, his eyes bloodshot, his shoulder-length hair disheveled. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Hey, man, you gotta be with your woman right now.” Gavin holds his bandaged arm and grimaces. “We get it.”
Standing in front of us, Luca extends his hand to Gavin, then to me. “Thank you both.”
“You were right. Black has gained too much power. We can’t go after him alone.”
“If Sean were alive, he’d be here,” Gavin says, speaking of his half-brother, Sean Murphy.
Gavin Alexander is one of the most powerful men in the Vegas underworld, but it was his brother who had heavy ties with Tadesco and Black in Chicago. Still, the fact that Black has bought a property near one of Gavin’s casinos says he considers him as next in line.
“This isn’t the last we’ve seen of The Ferryman,” Luca says. “You’re on his list, Alexander.”
Gavin nods. “I’m aware.”
“We should be going,” I tell them, needing to go and find an outlet for this anxious energy thrumming through me from the battle. Every muscle in my body is tense, my nerve endings hypersensitive. I’m still in fight mode, unable to turn it off like I normally do, because it’s not over. Far from it.
“Do you want to take care of that before you go?” Luca asks, pointing at my temple.
I touch the sore spot and look at my fingers. In all the commotion, I didn’t even feel it happen. “I’ll survive.”
“Esposito,” he calls before I step through the study doors. “When you take your place over the Giannis, you will have our support.”
Just beyond us in the foyer, Matteo and Alex glance our way, having heard Luca’s words. They watch me intently, waiting for a response to the question they’ve posed several times.
“Black will come after me full force if I do. He’ll send that bitch, Scar.”
“Scarlet,” Luca corrects. “Don’t worry about her. We’ll take her down. Either way, the fuck is going to come after you. He sees you as a threat now. He won’t care if you’re a Don or a hitman. He’s going to try to kill you.”
I stare intently at him. “You should know, I’m the one who killed Renzo. Scarlet took credit, but she didn’t do it.”
“Fuck,” Gavin says and comes closer, his sight set on Luca’s reaction.
Luca narrows his gaze, his brows pinched in thought. “Because she was going to kill him anyway.”
“Yes.”
