Logan sits my ass on a barstool and takes the one next to me. He nudges a sandwich toward me with a grunt that sounds suspiciously like “eat.”
Gideon gets up, gets his coffee, and leans against the wall. He continues to tap something out on his phone.
Adrian picks up an egg sandwich and demolishes it standing up.
No one talks about feelings. No one talks about Calista.Food first.
After the food is gone, Gideon speaks.
“We don’t have time for you to sulk. We have a problem,” he states. “Remo’s still out there. Nowyouare a target.”
“So is she,” I mutter.
Gideon’s mouth tightens into a grim slash. “She’s not my family.”
I glare at him.
Logan groans. “She’s his, Gideon. Stop testing him.”
Gideon ignores him—and me, for that matter. “I can hire someone. Shut it down. End the contract and clean up the mess before it spirals.”
Just delegate the blood, the guilt, and the responsibility.
But before I can open my mouth, Logan cuts in, “No.”
Both Gideon and Adrian look at him. So do I.
Logan pushes back in the barstool, looking unusually serious. “This isn’t something we can outsource.” He meets my eyes. “It has to be Lucian.”
He knows.
Gideon’s brows knit together, and he shakes his head. “Too risky.”
“It’s got to be him,” Logan persists.
Adrian leans in, resting his forearms on the counter. “We want the problem taken care of. It’s illogical to want to be the one to do it.”
“It’s about honor,” I reveal.
Both Gideon and Adrian make sneering sounds.
“I started it. I have to finish it.”
“Killing the head of theCosa Nostrais not going to be easy,” Gideon warns.
“It’s dangerous. It’s a poor strategy,” Adrian remarks.
“Got no choice.”Can’t they see that?
This isn’t about Remo. It’s about Calista. It’s about me. And it’s about finding out if I’m strong enough to be the man she deserves—or if I’m just another monster she has to survive.
Gideon looks like he wants to argue—God knows he hates loose ends—but after a beat, he nods curtly.
“If you fuck this up,” Adrian says casually, shrugging into his coat, getting ready to leave, “we’re still bailing your ass out—but I’m gonna kick it hard after we do.”
16
THIS IS FOR HER
