Fuck, he’s adetective. A damn good one at that.
“Archer?” He grabs my arm and yanks me around to face him. “I was generous, not calling you out while we had an audience. But I’m not stupid, man.” He steps in my way and blocks my view of a lush rose bush—not like I give a shit about the blood-red blossoms. “Mayet hasn’t stopped touching you, even when Iknowshe feels weird about sitting on your lap in front of guests. Felix has got this plasticky fakeness going on, Micah’s gonna pop a vein if he doesn’t release a little steam soon, and Cato’s nervous. He’snevernervous. Spit it out before I lose my fuckin’ mind.”
“One family cannot attack another unless it’s sanctioned by the boss.” I peek back at the house as Minka comes outside and returns to our shared seat. She looks for me, her head on a swivel until her eyes stop on mine. They darken with curiosity. With frustration. Because the thing I promised I would tell her—still hasn’t been spoken about—but now Fletch is jumping the line.
Groaning, I crush the heels of my palms to my eyes and break contact with the woman I want to protect above all else. I want to go back to this morning, before we left our room, and revisit that calmness. I want to return to the world we existed in before Cordoza declared he was stopping by.
“You’re gonna have to spell it out for me, Arch.” Fletch seizes my wrists and tears my hands away from my face. “Families attacking families: you’re talking New York shit, right?”
“Yeah. The rules exist because without them, anyone could take a shot at the boss and destabilize an entire framework. Every familywantsto sit at the top of the food chain, but most are sensible enough to know better. Being Cordoza isn’t just being the guy who tells everyone else what to do. It’s being responsible for an entire fuckin’ ecosystem. It’s successfully running a multibillion-dollar enterprise while managingfeds, distribution chains, suppliers, buyers, and enough guns to keep the system functional.”
“Fine. Okay.” He shifts and forces himself into my line of sight. “So someone broke the rules?”
“Yeah. Anthony Agosti is a two-bit, piece of shit, used-to-be powerful motherfucker out of New York. He and my father were similar in a lot of ways, but there was a difference in wealth from the outset. Timhatedthat his grandfather arrived here, broke and begging for a better life. He was bitter and mean, because hewishedhe came from fancy, old money. Agosti was bitter and mean because hedidcome from old money and was pissed when he lost most of it.”
“And now Agosti has taken a shot at someone? Attacked a family?” Realization hits him, and his eyes shoot across to Felix and Christabelle. “Someone threatened Felix?”
“No.” I scratch my fingers through my hair. “Agosti was at the wedding last night as Cordoza’s guest. Now he’s dead.”
“Felix?” He lowers his voice. “Shit. And now he’s in trouble?”
“Wasn’t Felix either.”
“So—”
“Felix asked if it was me.” I drop my hand and grunt in the back of my throat. “It wasn’t. But Cordoza’s coming here later today to ask me himself.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Nope.”
“So just say it wasn’t you! Old men don’t grow old and powerful unless they have a decent, functioning brain in their head and an ability to use it for critical thinking.”
“Agosti cornered Minka last night. I told him to fuck off. Cordoza saw that.”
“So when he asks, you’ll explain your version of the story and everyone will move on.”
“Fletch, it’s not?—”
“You’re not one of them anymore, Arch! When you’re hanging with Felix and Micah, you’re hanging with yourbrothers, not the fuckin’mafia. You tell Cordoza you didn’t touch that other dude, he takes you at your word—because why the fuck wouldn’t he?—and then life goes on. If it wasn’t you, it wasn’t you.”
“You’re wearing rose-tinted glasses.” I dig my hands into my pockets and ball them into fists. “In a good, fair world, that might be the end of it. Butsomeonewiped Agosti off the face of the planet last night. At mybrother’s wedding. Even if Cordoza moves on from me, he’s still looking at my family. That’s a problem.”
“Well…” He scrapes his jaw, the noisy crackle of his stubble audible even above the happy squeals of his daughter in the pool. “You’ve established it wasn’t one of yours, right?”
“One of my brothers?” I drag my lip between my teeth and nibble. “Yeah. I mean… I didn’t ask for their alibis, but considering they cornered me this morning and asked for mine, I’d say it’s pretty fuckin’ clear they’re not responsible.”
“This is what we do, right?” He drops his gaze, his shoulders firing with adrenaline. “We literally investigate death for a living. Don’t freeze up now, just because it’s your ass in the sling. Where did he die? Who was the last to see him alive? Who else wanted him dead?”
“His hotel room, in the bathtub. Don’t know. Don’t know. Felix said the wife discovered his body early this morning. He was swimming in his own blood, with slit wrists, and a knife nearby.”
“Suicide.” His brows pinch tight. “Why is Cordoza looking for a killer if the dude offed himself?”
“Probably something about not making assumptions.” The scrape of a chair on the ground brings my eyes up, then I lock onto Minka’s determined eyes and knowI’m out of time.
She snags my phone and fists it in one hand, then she starts this way.
“Fuck.”
