I’m typing back a message to Liam, the second architect, to confirm our meeting time when another text from Rafael arrives. I frown as I read it.
RAFAEL MORETTI
Let’s have a drink tonight. I’ll see you at Inferno.
It’s not a request.
Raincheck. How about tomorrow night? I’m too busy tonight.
RAFAEL MORETTI
I don’t mind coming to your compound for the drink. We need to talk.
My frown deepens. I don’t want him or any of the other Nightshades nosing around in my territory, asking questions. As it is, only Maximo truly knows how this compound operates, and because of Elira, he’s mostly kept those details to himself. I’d like to keep it that way for as long as possible.
Fuck. That means I’ll have to go meet him in Manhattan after all. No, I’m not going that far. Not when I have so much work on my plate.
How about we meet at Mughetto’s instead?
Maximo’s little restaurant that’s not really a restaurant.
Rafael replies with a thumbs up, and I drop my phone on the desk, wondering what’s so important that he’s willing to leave Manhattan.
Although I have suspicions. Suspicions that center around the little liar currently living in my house.
Mughetto’sis a four-story building tucked into a residential neighborhood—the kind of place you’d never look twice at if you didn’t know what it really was. The restaurant itself occupies the ground floor, complete with fading blue awnings over glass windows and a sign hanging beneath displaying its name and the image of the flower it represents.
Lily of the valley.
My inner arm itches where my tattoo sits—fresh ink from a few weeks ago, after Rafael’s declaration that I’m one of the Nightshades now.
I get out of my car and push through the double glass doors, ignoring the pretty interior as I scan for my quarry. Rafael is sitting towards the back, Maximo and Romero flanking him on either side.
I pause, wondering if I should have brought Dhimitër and some men. I didn’t think it would be necessary for a simple conversation.
Though nothing with the Nightshades is ever simple.
“I didn’t realize this was a family meeting,” I announce as I approach, letting the doors close behind me. “Where’s Michael?” I make a show of glancing around even though I know if the big tatted man isn’t visible, he’s not here.
“He had business to attend to,” Romero answers, lifting a tumbler of golden liquid to his lips—whiskey, most likely.
I grab an extra chair from a nearby table and drag it towards their group, the feet scraping loudly against the hardwood floor. Maximo straightens in his seat, his brows twitching.
He’s getting irritated.Good.
I swallow my smile and twist the chair around so the backrest faces their table, then slip into it heavily, my elbows coming to rest on the backrest like I don’t have a care in the world—even though I’m a little worried about how they’ll take the outcome of this meeting.
“So,” I move my gaze between the three of them. “What’s so important that you had to see me tonight?”
“Can you sit normally?” Maximo asks with clear irritation, eying my unconventional posture.
“Nah.” I smirk. “This is too comfortable.”
“It doesn’t matter how he’s sitting,” Rafael cuts in, his steel-grey eyes locking onto mine with the intensity that reminds me why he runs this city. “What we’re here to discuss is more important.”
Here it comes.
I raise a brow coolly, none of my thoughts showing on my face. “And what is that, exactly?”
