Trick frowns. “Fuck that distinction.”
“Trick,” C says patiently. “Walk it to the end.”
“C’s saying that if we buy the brand and your freedom, Rachel, Frank will back off,” Trick says. “That’ll leave Leone, who may just decamp once the deal has been made. But if Frank sells you to Leone, then Frank will have to work with Leone to get you away from us so that he can get paid for delivering you,” Trick says. “And for the record, I knew what you meant as soon as you said it, C. I still vote to fuck the distinction.”
“It’s all crazy. You should not be fighting two syndicates, period. Let me talk to Alberto. I’m sure I can convince him to go home,” she says. “Frank probably told him that I’m being held against my will here. Once he knows I’m not, he’ll leave.”
“I see no problem with her having a supervised conversation with Leone,” Trick says.
“Not in person,” C says.
“Of course not,” Trick says. “By cell.”
“You’ve been quiet, Anvil. What do you say?” C asks.
What I want to say is screw Alberto Leone and screw Frank Palermo, too. They can wait and wonder what I’m doing to Rachel while she’s in our compound. They should’ve watched her more closely. They should’ve treated her better, so she didn’t take off, wandering around without protection. Anyone could’ve snatched her up.
“I don’t care if she talks to him,” I say.
“I should do it face to face. He’s not a threat to me, and I—”
“No,” I say.
“Sasha—”
“No.”
She scowls at me. Again with the attitude.
My arm snakes out and catches her around the waist. I haul her up against me and stand, so her feet leave the floor.
Both she and Zoe gasp. C and Trick move aside, clearing a path. I take her into a guest room and set her on her feet.
“You can’t do that,” she says in a low voice, full of warning.
“You’ve got things backward,” I say, spinning her so she’s facing away from me. I unzip her dress. “Lay your outfit over the chair.”
She jerks forward, clutching the unzipped fabric. “I take back what I said,” she snaps, turning to face me. “You’re better off keeping this side of you hidden.”
“Too late,” I say, pushing aside the way her words hit me. I can certainly take it. “You’ve been reckless in the past and you’ve gotten away with it, but the stakes are higher now.”
“The stakes were always high! Lives were at stake. You think I don’t know that?”
“Leone tried to kill Frank and C to clear a path to you. You can underestimate him in your mind if you want to, but the rest of you is staying where I put you, which is well out of his reach.”
We were soft with Zoe at first, and it almost got her killed. Rachel’s not going to disobey me while there’s a threat to her right outside the gates.
“Sasha, I was engaged to him, and I cheated on him. Don’t you think he at least deserves for me to break things off with him in person?”
“No. He deserves nothing.”
She shakes her head. “He does care about me. I think you’re letting jealousy cloud your judgment.”
I pause, weighing her words. Am I jealous of Alberto Leone? No. I was when I thought he was going to marry her, but not now. I’ve had her and will have her in ways he never will. “Yeah, it’s all consuming. If only I could overcome it,” I say sarcastically. “Get your dress off, Raven, or I’ll help you with that.”
She narrows her eyes at me. The sparks of her anger and defiance tease my cock.
“I don’t agree to this right now.”
