Only this someone else was, at least, Bellerose, the band he loved and that had saved him many times.
Not that it made it any better.
“We don’t need you to do this,” Jace said firmly. “We’ll figure out another way. It seems that the mafia might be leaving us alone anyway. Once we’re out from under Big Noise, it should all be fine.”
Angelo cleared his throat, and Jace let out a long sigh. “Or not.”
“Definitely not,” Angelo said gruffly. “My father is letting me play band right now because he has other pressing shit on his plate, but when he clears up the Wilson issue… and he’ll definitely clear it up, then he will come back to this. To us. Not to mention Vee’s family will be plotting her death as well, as soon as they get the Wilson drama dealt with. Giovanni is calling all families to unite against the larger threat, but once it’s dealt with, we will be back on their agenda.”
Rhett nodded, seemingly so calm. “Exactly, and we have this fantastic opportunity now to take them out in a different way. While they’re distracted.”
“It could work,” Angelo confirmed. “I know people who have the sort of information we need. Fuck, I can access a lot of it, but I’ll probably be implicated right along with the rest of the families.”
Everyone remained silent as Rhett continued, “That’s the brilliance of this, I can ensure you remain safe, especially if you’re part of putting most of the Riccis, Altissimos, and whatever other main mafia families behind bars. With what we could dig up on them, they’ll all be going away for a long time.”
And all it would take was for him to sacrifice a part of his body… and a larger part of his soul.
This wasn’t my decision to make, but I still sent out a prayer that another solution would fall into our laps, and soon.
Before Rhett was forced to make a decision that no person should ever have to make.
To save the life of a great evil.
One that had almost destroyed him more times than I cared to think about.
Fuck.
twenty-four
GRAYSON
Ilay in bed early the next morning after learning a fuck ton of revelations, including that Humphrey, the fucking house-husband extraordinaire, had somehow found the balls to createDirty Truths. That fucker had caused us so much trouble and almost got Jace’s sister killed.
I was tempted to pay him a visit and really remind him that he wasnothing, and I destroyednothingwithout a second thought. I’d leave it for now because Brenda had no issue busting those balls back to his normal puny size, and I’d let her have a shot at getting him into line.
If she didn’t, then I’d step in.
Another revelation was Rhett’s plan to take down the mafia world using the very family he’d run from so very long ago. The Townsend Community had been on my radar for a very long time. They didn’t run in the same circles as my family, so I’d rarely crossed paths with them, but I still knew that in the areas they didrun in,they were considered to be powerful and dangerous.
It wouldn’t surprise me if their ties in the IRS and other government departments went a hell of a lot higher than the Riccis’. Jeremiah was known for having connections all the way to the fucking president, depending on who was in office at the time.
Hence he’d never been convicted of anything.
Rhett’s plan had some substance to it, especially if Angelo could dig up extra information to get that investigation rolling. That was his job for the day, and the rest of us were to stay put.
Staying put had never been a strong suit of mine, but at least there was one shining light in the house that kept all of us occupied and distracted.
Billie Bellerose.
Speaking of…
She was up and moving, heading for the shower, and I wondered if anyone else had joined her this morning. My cock was reminding me it had been a few days since we were deep inside her, and that just wasn’t okay.
Pulling myself from the bed, I brushed my teeth and took a piss, before padding naked from the room into the dark hallway. Billie was showering in the main bathroom, which was usually a fairly good indication that she was alone.
Fairly good. But it wasn’t an exact science.
Whatever. All of us would have to get used to seeing the others naked, if we were going to start having this sort ofinclusiverelationship with Billie. A relationship that would have normally driven me crazy, but for some reason it worked. She made it work.
