I felt sorry for him. Yeah, he’d sided with theItalians, but what choice did he have? DC was thick with crime, infested withit. You couldn’t enter a public office at any level without having to deal withsome crime syndicate or gang intimidation tactic—it went on and on. At leastthe Italians were significantly subtler than say… the Irish. Or us. The Ukrainianswere trying hard to get a foothold here and they were brutal savages. Mexicans,Rastas, Yakuza… everybody was here. Everybody wanteda piece of the pie.
It was true that most everyone was smart enough to laylow, to let gang violence and rising crime cover up the organized activity, butthat didn’t mean DC didn’t have its fair share. And why wouldn’t we?
DC was the most corrupt city in the country.Politicians came here already half twisted toward evil. Then there was the“donor crowd.” The top one percent. Already so perverted by money that theydidn’t care where it went as long as their agenda was accomplished. Thelobbyists. The police. The fucking mayor. DC was a cesspool.
So yeah, we laid low because we didn’t want to piss offthe FBI, but we ran this city.
Gus mimicked typing on the computer. “I’ll see what I cando about the security system then.”
“That would be great,” Sayer answered. “I’ll be rightbehind you.”
“Frankie, you going back to yourhouse?”Atticus asked. “I’ll give you a ride.”
“I think I’ll just hang with Caro,” she answered.
We hadn’t had plans, but I knew she didn’t want to bealone with Atticus. He freaked her out.
He freaked all of us out.
“Whatever,” Atticus mumbled, turning around andheading in the opposite direction of Gus.
“Nine,” Sayer called after him.
Atticus replied with his middle finger in the air.
Sayer rubbed a hand over his face. “He’s such anasshole.” Looking at Frankie he asked, “Has he always been an asshole? Or is itsomething that’s getting worse with age?”
“He’s always been an asshole,” Frankie answered. “Butwhat do you expect being the first son ofOzwaldUsenko? Like father, like son.”
Sayer shrugged. “Ozzie’s not so bad.”
Frankie and I stared at him. Oz regularly beat theshit out of Gus and Atticus until they were old enough to fight back. He forcedboth of his sons into this life. Maybe Atticus had gone willingly, but Gus hadnever wanted this, never wanted to be a part of any of this. And he was a cruelbastard to his wife.
The only decent thing Oz had ever done was take Sayerin when he had nowhere else to go. But everybody knew that was because Romanhad ordered it. Gus and Sayer were close to the same age. It made sense toeveryone but Oz.
Another clue to Sayer’s messed up life before thesyndicate.
“All right, see you ladies later tonight. You going tobe okay?” Sayer’s question was directed at me.
“Fine,” I answered quickly. “Here, let me give youyour coat back.”
“We’ll go shopping for a new one,” Frankie suggested.Then with a sly smile she added, “Maybe we’ll run into those guys at the mallagain. This time you have to give that one your number though. He was so hot,Caro.”
Sayer’s blue eyes flared. “What guy?”
Oh my God. I was going to kill Frankie. Kill her. Thiswas so embarrassing. And it was only going to get worse. My bright red cheekswere about to catch fire any second, then I would start Sayer’s coat on fireand then I would just die. I would just burn up and die from humiliation.
“What guy, Six?” Sayer demanded using the nicknamehe’d had for me ever since we were ten.
“Oh, just these prep school guys we met at the malllast weekend,” Frankie prattled on. “One of them was so into her. He was likeobsessed with her.”
“Frankie, enough,” Sayer growled. “I asked Caroline.”
I licked dry lips. Nobody ever used my full name.Ever. Unless it was Sayer. And only occasionally. Like when it was just the twoof us. Or right now… when he was obviously pissed off.
“Caroline,” he repeated firmly.
Clearing my throat, I fumbled with the zipper of hiscoat. “Like she said, just these prep school guys. They were just messingaround. We don’t even know their names.”
