My phone rings again and I send it straight to voice mail. I’ll deal with Carmine Ricci later. I’m tired and on edge. As much as I want a second of peace, rest is not a luxury I can take right now. Jax and Enzo are out handling a complaint from one of the businesses we “protect.” It’s a nice euphemism to say they have to pay us or else we’ll burn their building down. A step up from busting kneecaps, in my opinion.
Julio has gone quiet, and that worries me. I’m still pissed as hell that Andie suggested she use herself to flush him and Alejandro out. Over my goddamned dead body.
Holding my drink up, I salute the room with my glass. “Kellan, wherever you are in hell, our girl needs an angel to look over her. Even if it’s one of God’s fallen ones.”
Tipping back the rest of my drink, the smooth bourbon goes down easily. The quietude of the house is unnerving. The mansion feels empty without her here. It never used to. I drag my hand through my hair and release a heavy exhale.
Sitting back in what used to be Max’s chair, I stare out the window and watch the wind blow through the trees, bending the tops of the tall pines almost horizontally. Black clouds line the distance signaling an approaching storm front. It’s the season for them.
Dante raps lightly on the door and walks into the office. “Hey, sorry to bother you, boss, but we have a situation downstairs.”
Of course we do. It’s been one nonstop parade of problems since Max first went missing.
I flick my fingers inward, letting him know to come fully inside and shut the door.
“Tell me.”
Dante nervously looks behind him like he’s expecting someone to burst through the door. “Uh, Rita just arrived and she’s demanding to know what happened to Rafe.”
Fuck. I don’t have time to deal with her bitch drama.
“Who the hell let her leave the safehouse?” I demand. Better yet, how did she find out Rafe wasn’t here?
He shrugs and as much as it irritates me, I let it slide. He’s been dealing with disposing of the bodies of the men we killed. Men like Matteo who’d been working for Levine. Funny how quickly things can change within forty-eight hours. But I can’t regret what’s been done. With the information we were provided with at the time, we did what we had to do in order to rid our house of the rats that infested it.
“Send her up,” I tell Dante. “And let me know as soon as Jax returns.”
“Got it,” he replies, leaving the room.
Knowing Rita, she’s going to pitch a very loud hissy fit, and I don’t want the men to hear it. Max’s office is thankfully soundproofed.
Dante and the other three men who came with me and Jax to Falcon Tower last night haven’t been briefed yet on what went down there. No one knows Andie and Rafe are with Levine, and only Jax is aware of the deal Levine and I made. Oh, the tangled webs we weave. A web that includes Liam Connelly. I wasn’t kidding when I told Andie that Liam was more dangerous than Jax. Liam just wears his psycho better, like a ruthless businessman wears a three-piece suit. And knowing that piece of shit has touched her. Has fucked her. Said that he was hers. The glass that held my bourbon shatters against the wall when I hurl it.
“My, my. Almighty Keane throwing a temper tantrum. Never thought I’d see the day.”
I turn in the chair as Rita’s cloying perfume fills the room like a carrion’s dead stench.
“If you’re going to be a cunt, turn around and march your ass back to the safehouse.” My tone is threatening and unforgiving, letting her know I’m not going to put up with her theatrics today.
Rita’s dark eyes burn like coal embers at my remark, not used to having anyone talk to her like that. She has always acted like an entitled brat, and Dom only perpetuated her behavior. Spoiled mafia princess doesn’t even begin to describe her. As upset as I still am at Rafe for what he did, I’m glad he doesn’t have to marry her now.
“Do you know what Max did to him?”Andie’s question has lingered in my mind since she said it. Jax and I never knew that Max had been raping and abusing Andie since she was a child. There were never any visible bruises. No outward signs to alert us to what was happening. Kellan never said anything either. From Andie’s hurt-filled accusation, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Max had also done something bad to Rafe. I can’t believe how blind I was to all of it. What the fuck is wrong with me not to see what was going on right in front of my damned eyes?
“Where’s Rafe?” Rita whines, swinging her hips as she saunters over and slides to sit on the desk in front of me. The movement hikes up the already short, body-hugging skirt she’s wearing, exposing tanned, shapely legs that do absolutely nothing for me.
I sit back, placing distance between us. “I don’t know yet,” I lie. “We’re chasing down leads.”
Rita’s black brow quirks up, her scarlet-painted mouth curving. “I think you do.”
“Shouldn’t you be more concerned about what happened to your grandfather?” I retort.
“Marcus told me.”
She doesn’t seem very upset about it. After learning about how her grandfather was massacred, you’d expect her to barge in here demanding revenge or retaliation. But then again, with Dom gone, Rita will inherit most of his liquid assets—the stuff that’s legit and not tied to the business—as well as his estate. She just became a millionaire overnight.
Rita slowly spreads her legs apart, moving one stilettoed foot to rest on the seat of my chair. It also exposes her bare pussy since she’s not wearing anything under her skirt. I refuse to look at what she’s clearly offering, my eyes never leaving her face, and return her eyebrow quirk with one of my own.
“If that’s all,” I say, dismissing her.
