“He lost his job because he was investigating a human trafficking ring, and he told his boss he had evidence it wasn’t me so he was going to start looking into the Italians.” I wait for more interruptions, but since they don’t come, I keep going. “His whole life changed after that and he’s been working for me as a lookout for six months.”
I really don’t have time to explain to Harry and Tristan how Duffy’s the one who found him and hired him, because that would only make sense if they knew Duffy, which they don’t.
“Then two weeks ago he got himself kidnapped, and we went and got him, but by then the Italians already knew heworked for us and had obviously seen his face, so I have to protect him now, and in exchange he’s gonna help me bring down this motherfucking ring.”
There’s a marked pause when I finish the story, but I can’t stop pacing until Tristan speaks.
“I’m just gonna come out and say it, okay?”
“Go ahead, my boy,” Nan murmurs, and that gets my attention because there’s humor in her tone.
“What is it?” I demand.
“This dude has to besomekind of special to have you this worked up,” Tristan says, eyes full of excitement.
“What are you talking about?” Deflect, deflect, deflect.
“Eian,” he starts in an overly patient tone that I bet he uses on toddlers. “I’ve known you for almost five years and I’ve never seen you like this. Even when you saw those pictures of Iris out at a club in Boston the same night that—what did you call him? That stupid bitch-boy O’Connely was there. You flew off the handle, yeah, but you weren’t pacing and twitchy.”
“He’s right,” Harry says, tone low and clearly worried, but then his eyes and mouth open like something just dawned on him. “You like him, don’t you?”
I sputter for a second. “I don’tlikehim,” I protest.
“Would you prefer we call it having a crush on him?” Harry asks in that annoyingly teasing way he’s had ever since I can remember.
“Perhaps he’d prefer we say hefanciesthis Colby, which is a lovely and unique name.” Nan joins in, and the twinkle in her eyes goes even brighter when she says, “I can’t wait to meet him. Eventually.”
“I need to make sure he stays alive and out of trouble first.”
“And deal with the Italians in the meantime.” The worry is firmly back on Harry’s face, and I can’t say I blame him.
“I’ll do everything I can to keep an all-out war from breaking out,” I tell him, almost like a promise.
If the Di Leo bastard and the Venuti girl win their war, and then somehow find a way to deal with Ricci, I’ll technically have succeeded in ridding this city of the Cosa Nostra. The five heads will all be gone and they’ll have no more power. That can’t be harder than bringing down a human trafficking ring that’s backed by a “very powerful” person.
I’m not going to let Lucian Venuti continue with this bullshit. Whether he likes to admit it or not, this is my city, and I’m damn well going to protect it.
9
COLBY
“Can I ask you something?” I blurt out after one full minute of silence in the back of Eian’s SUV.
“You can ask.” He doesn’t look up from his phone as he answers, and I hate that I’m not annoyed at that, or at how he’s telling me without telling me that he might not answer.
“How long have you known about Lucian Venuti’s involvement in this? And why haven’t you done anything to stop him until now? How do you know it’s him doing it and not his father, or any of the other two Italian families?”
“Holy shit you’ve got energy in the mornings, huh?”
I assume that’s a rhetorical question by how it comes out in an annoyed growl, so I don’t bother answering and just wait with bated breath for answers.
And he takes his sweet-ass time too.
It’s fine, everything’s fine. I’m not trying to think of literally anything else but the way Eian kissed me like a man possessed last night, of course I’m not.
Why would I need to stop thinking about the best kiss of my damn life?
Because it came from a mob boss? Who’s also kind of my captor? And also my bodyguard?
