The man who steps out is Marco’s driver, so we all know him. He nods at us before opening the back door then moving on to the trunk as Cecilia steps out, her heels clicking ominously on the concrete floor. The big space is suddenly way too silent. She looks out of place in her dainty pale-blue dress and matching bag, but her face is set in stone.
“If someone wouldn’t mind lending me their driver to give Antonio a hand.” Her voice is full of tension, her back straight, but not with power or pride, more with fear.
She’s ready for a fight.
I nod at Blake, and he hurries over to the back of Cecilia’s SUV. When they both appear, each with a man over their shoulder, I can’t tamp down my surprise. My eyebrows climb to the top of my forehead.
“Here, please.” She directs them to put them down in the middle of the circle.
Lucian and his second in command, Cotroni.
Both have their hands bound with zip ties behind their backs, and they’re dumped none too gently by Blake and Antonio.
They look fucking pathetic—wide eyes, fear practically leaking out of their pores. The tape over their mouths keeps their voices muffled, and I’m grateful.
“Do you think he’s gonna piss himself?” Sasha asks and Rory snorts.
“Remember what I told you.” Cecilia speaks suddenly, and when I turn to look I see her staring down at her brother with pure hatred. “If you want to die quickly, you’ll answer every question honestly. We already know most of it, so you better not lie,” she singsongs the last bit and I have to admire her spine, at least in this moment.
I walk over and crouch by Lucian’s torso, pulling him up to a sitting position by the neck.
“Look me in the eyes.” I shake him a little when he tries to look around. “Only look at me.” I rip the tape off his mouth, drawing a cry of pain from him, and don’t give him a second of peace. Instead, I push the barrel of my gun against his crotch. “Did Di Leo and Ricci know about your side business?”
He wets his lips and swallows hard, then shakes his head three times before speaking.
“No, only my men.”
I guess that’s not completely a lie. The only men involved from the families are his men, though I’m going to enjoy watching Rory get answers from him regarding the mayor.
I drop him and straighten.
“Congratulations,” I say with mock cheer, making eye contact with Ricci then Di Leo. “You’re not going to die today.” And I make damn sure they can see what I mean.
The second they cross me again, they will die.
“And then what?”Colby demands. He might be sitting on the bed, but there’s an excitement in him that has him bouncing. I had to spend the whole car ride from the garage to the house explaining every detail of the meeting, with Rory piping in periodically.
“Then,” I continue, and for some reason I’m full of patience tonight. I keep undressing while I talk. “Cecilia told me we could take Cotroni and Lucian, so we got them in the car, which you saw for yourself when you got in. She called Marco, and he told the circle she’s his heir. He asked Di Leo and Ricci to help her deal with Lucian’s men, but Aslanov insisted on taking care of that himself, and Chen offered to help.”
“So they take this shit seriously, huh?”
“Yes, it’s our only rule.”
“So you said,” he murmurs, looking more settled when I get to my briefs and shove them down my legs before walking over to the other side of the bed. “And what now? Are we really just going to sleep while they... interrogate them?”
I have to smirk at his choice of words.
“They’re not going tointerrogatethem. Not tonight. They took them to the bunker and will leave them there to think about their life choices for the night, then tomorrow morning, bright and early, I’m going down there with Rory and we’re going to get every answer we need to take down Carl Brent and put this whole organization in the ground.”
He nods along, following every word and probably thinking ten steps ahead, but I think he’ll find out soon enough that that’s a waste of time. In this business you deal with what’s in front of you and try not to prepare for worst-case scenarios, because if you do, then that’s what will happen.
He surprises me with his next question, though.
“If he was pointing a gun at you, why did you only shoot Enzo between his feet?”
“Simple. I don’t want to have to deal with Enzo Junior trying to get revenge for his father while we’re dealing with the fucking mayor of New York City,” I admit. “It would be a bloodbath. And there was no way he was ever going to shoot me. Everyone knows Di Leo’s a shitty shot.”
“But you really wanted to kill him, huh?” he asks, and this time there’s no excitement at all in his voice. He averts his gaze, twists his fingers in his lap.
