“Lefty.” I slid into the back seat, the leather cool against my suit.
The door closed with a soft thud, sealing me into the climate-controlled interior that smelled faintly of leather polish. Punchy entered the Bentley in the passenger seat. Lefty slipped behind the wheel and eased the car out of its reserved space, navigating through the underground garage. The tinted windows filtered the harsh Vegas morning sun as we emerged onto Las Vegas Boulevard.
I pulled out my phone and opened the encrypted messages from my capos. All my men knew better than to send incriminating messages over the phone. The moving truck was already at Lord’s house. The men had been instructed to be efficient and respectful when helping Labria with her things. Everything was going according to plan. I preferred it that way. Disorder was bad for business, and the Bregoli business was everything.
The truck moved smoothly through the morning traffic. This left me free to think, to plan, to calculate the various moving pieces of the day ahead.
Labria Harris had become an unexpected complication in what should have been a straightforward arrangement. Lord had brought her to Vegas. I positioned her at Stern, Foster, and Pellegrino, and everything had been good until she’d discovered Lord with Lolita LaGrassa. Or at least, that’s what she claimed. I still wasn’t entirely convinced. Lord hadn’t mentioned anything about Lolita to me, and that wasn’t the kind of detail he typically kept to himself. Something didn’t add up. Their stupid little lovers’ quarrel wasn’t my most pressing concern at the moment. I had the Tino LaGrassa mess to clean up. I had to compensatePrimo LaGrassa for the untimely death of his nephew. After that, I had to find and kill Tom Ignacio.
Labria had left Lord and run straight to Maurizio. Trust a Black woman to create a love triangle that could disrupt Bregoli family harmony. I needed that situation resolved quickly and quietly. Lord wasn’t just my brother and best friend. He was the underboss and too valuable to the organization to be distracted by relationship drama, also known as Black pussy.
My thoughts drifted back to Marie and her request to email her brother. There were parallels between the two situations. Both women were under my protection and making choices that could complicate my best-laid plans.
I gazed out the window at the Vegas streets rolling by. This city belonged to me in ways most people couldn’t comprehend. Not just the Palladium, but the flow of money, influence, and power that ran beneath the surface of the neon glitz and glitter. My father built this empire with calculated risks and deliberate choices. His legacy lived through me, and I would never let him down.
We exited the freeway and entered the residential area, passing security gates where a guard waved us through, recognizing the car. The houses here were large, set back from the street, with immaculate landscaping that defied the desert climate through liberal application of money and water. Lord had chosen well when he purchased here. Private, exclusive, secure. I’d approved the location myself before he moved Labria in.
As we approached the house, I mentally shifted gears, preparing for the interaction ahead. Labria would be in a bitchy mood, possibly hostile. She wasn’t completely afraid of me. That was part of what made her interesting, but she was smart enough to be cautious. She knew I had dirt on her. I was the only person on the planet who knew she murdered a made man. Shedidn’t know that she had actually done me a huge favor getting rid of my uncle Gianni.
Chapter Ten
NICCO
Amoving truck was parked in the driveway of the once happy home that Lord and Labria shared. The door at the back of the truck was raised, and the ramp was down. Two of my men were carrying boxes from the house. But what caught my attention was a woman standing on the steps by the front door. She was Black, but she wasn’t Labria. The woman looked familiar.
“Wait here,” I told Punchy and Lefty. “This shouldn’t take long.”
When I was ready, I nodded to Lefty, who stepped out and came around to open my door.
The morning sun hit me as I emerged from the air-conditioned interior, but I didn’t flinch. I removed my suit jacket, handing it over to Lefty. It was too hot for the suit jacket. I adjusted the cuffs of my gray collared shirt and started up the driveway toward what promised to be an interesting encounter with my brother’s ex-girlfriend.
The moving truck was half-filled with boxes and bins, efficiently packed by my men. I wasn’t here to help, but I still wanted to make sure everything went well. Lord was in New York, so I didn’t have to worry about there being any violenceor drama. Honestly, I was impressed by how he was able to ignore Labria when I saw how devastated he was when she left him before. I had no idea Maurizio had set his sights on Labria. I underestimated my cousin’s charisma. Apparently, he’s been waiting around for his opportunity to steal Labria from Lord. I couldn’t be mad at him for shooting his shot and actually hitting his target.
“Don Bregoli.” One of the movers said as he did a slight bow of his head. The other man did the same as I walked past the moving truck.
“Good morning.” I said, acknowledging them.
Labria was walking out the open front door when she spotted me approaching. She froze for a split second. It was subtle, but I noticed. I had that effect on people. I always noticed these small tells. My eyes darted over to the other woman. I was closer, and I recognized her as Labria’s sexy sister Khia.
Labria wore jeans and a short-sleeved plain black T-shirt with the words ‘educated and melanated’ across the chest. Her dark hair was pulled back in a high, no-nonsense ponytail. I had never really seen her looking so casual. Her sister, Khia, was dressed similarly, though her hair was styled in small braids with wavy ends that fell over her breasts and down her back. I licked my lips as a gazed at her silky brown legs in shorts. How I wanted to bend Khia over and fuck her from behind. A married woman was such a sweet treat for a powerful man like me.
“Nicco,” Labria said as I approached. Her tone was formal, although our relationship was quite intimate. We shared a murder together. “I didn’t expect to see you.”
I nodded to the movers, who immediately looked away and picked up their pace, disappearing into the house for more boxes. They knew better than to appear interested in my conversations.
“I wanted to ensure everything was going smoothly,” I replied.
“Yes, thank you.” Labria crossed her arms, unconsciously creating a barrier. “Everything’s fine.”
“Khia, Labria didn’t tell me you were in town.”
“I just got here.” Khia added.
I took all the necessary steps to close the gap between me and Khia. I pulled her into an embrace. I wanted to force a hug, wrap my arms around her to cop a feel, smell her, and let her smell me. Her hair smelled of cocoa butter. I let her go. Then I took her hand and held it a beat longer than necessary, smiling in the way that usually disarmed women.
“Nicco. What a surprise.” Khia raised an eyebrow, glancing at her sister. “Labria didn’t mention that you were stopping by.”
I laughed, genuinely amused by her frankness. “I tend to come up in conversation only when absolutely necessary.”
