“I don’t want to die,” Reed whimpered, his muscled body shaking. Sweat gleamed on his skin, and his naked chest and legs were covered in blood and gashes. He was a mess.
“Tell me.” I slammed my knuckles onto his broken knee, and he screamed, the sounds disappearing against the soundproof walls. They wouldn’t leave this house.
He shuddered and cried harder.
Atut,tut,tutfrom behind had me straightening, and I turned to the doorway where Oisín leaned against the frame, a half-eaten red apple clutched in his hands. He took another bite and chomped, and I growled in frustration.
“Why’re ye here?”
He shoved himself to his feet and bounced toward me. Theeejitclearly hadn’t bothered to shave today. His brown hair had been parted to the side like it usually was, and he wore ridiculous blue suspenders over a gray shirt. I never understood his fashion sense, but at least he hadn’t put on the flat cap today. He tapped his shiny silver watch with its blue face, and I wondered if he’d been trying to match it to the feckin’ suspenders. “Time’s ticking, Cillian, and the boss wants answers.”
I rolled my eyes and gestured down to my bloody clothes. I’d washed up as well as I could before I went home the last few days I was here, but this time I finally brought an extra pair of jeans and shirt. I could only ruin so many expensive clothes before enough was enough. “I’m working, aren’t I?”
“He’s a tough nut to crack, then?” Oisín skipped closer and bopped Reed on the head. “I don’t think the boss expected him to last this long.”
I snorted and slid off my brass knuckles, throwing them on the silver tray of tools I had sitting on the floor beside my foot. “Why are ye bloody here, Oisín?”
His face brightened and he took another loud bite of his apple while stuffing his other hand in the pocket of his brown pants. “I’m glad you asked. The boss sent me. I did a little digging and talked to a few folks.”
I didn’t want to know what he meant by “talked.” While he preferred to be low-key and steal stuff, Oisín was also very good at interrogating. Unlike us, though, he preferred the blackmail route, and he was talented at getting dirt on people.
“And?” I pulled at the black gloves on my hands and they came off with ease. I dropped them onto the tool tray beside my knuckles.
Reed groaned and shuddered, letting out another whimper. He drooped forward, and the only thing stopping him from taking a header was his tied wrists behind the back of the chair. Blood gushed from his mouth and onto his lap, coating his already piss-damp underwear with more fluids.
Oisín stared at him with a flashy grin before he chomped on his apple again. “Apparently, you’ve got an Italian problem. The Giordano family. Heard of them?”
“No. Should I’ve?” I frowned at him and crossed my arms.
“Probably not. They’re the big noise in Chicago. They irritated the boss by interrupting a birthday party Conall planned. It wassorude. They shot Ardan.”
“Shite, that was them?”
“Yep.” He shrugged and threw the apple core at Reed, hitting him on the head. Reed groaned again. “The Folliero family’s having trouble with them. They want a piece of the New York City action.”
“If they are Elio Folliero’s problem—”
“They’re also our problem.” He shrugged and nudged Reed’s foot with his brown boot. “Anyway, you didn’t tell us about a dead Italian guy, too. The one who beat up your lover boy.” He pouted at me. “I had to find that out myself. Is your new boy why you’ve been ignoring my hookup calls?”
Yes.Vail had tired me out enough that I hadn’t needed to look for anyone else. “What else?”
Oisín carded his fingers through his hair, messing it up slightly in the way I usually liked, but it did nothing for me today. “Well, according to Elio, who is not an easy man to schedule an appointment with, by the way, he thinks the Giordanos sent your dead Italian guy to New York City. It’s a little up in the air if that’s a fact or fiction, that he was on a job I mean, but it’s probably true. So, the Follieros whacked him.” He rolled his eyes dramatically and shrugged. “He was casing the Folliero businesses and being rude while he was at it. The staff noticed him. They started checking into who he was, and low and behold he isn’t from New York. Bing, bang, boom, you got a dead Italian guy. Aside from that fun mess, apparently it’s been floating around that your boy of the hour had some good dirt on the Giordanos, although what exactly it was I don’t know. That’s just something I heard... around.”
“Like what?” I demanded.
He pointed. “Just said, I don’t know. It might not even be true, but Dr. Mifflin is well known for poking in mob business with his books. He has some theories that come too close to the truth. No one likes problems. Now follow this twisted little knot. That dead Italian belonged to the Giordanos, right? Nowthey’repissed, acting all righteous, like he was just in town for bagels or some shit when everyone with a brain knows better.”
“Fuck.” I shook my head. “What a fecking mess.”
“Yep.” He bounced his head in a nod. “Officially, Elio’s pretending he doesn’t know anything about anything. And the boss is mad as heck. Elio doesn’t know the Giordanos’ end goal, but he thinks they want to stir trouble between the Five Families.”
“Because if they stir trouble then the alliance will be unstable,” I whispered.
“And the Giordanos can swoop in and destroy them all.” He gave me spirit fingers. “Ta-da! Pretty smart, actually.”
“So, was it the Giordanos who raided Vail’s apartment? Their dead soldier was at Vail’s lecture and jumped him.”
Oisín snorted and stared up at the ceiling. “We’re truly over with, aren’t we? Pity, it was great hookup sex.”
