“Yes, I am afraid so. Perhaps mistaking his importance to you, Lorenzo neutralised him the moment he left the hospital.”
“He killed Rocco St. John to get to us?” Cam shook his head slowly. “How fucking stupid is this bloke?”
“I never said he was clever.”
“You’d have been wrong if you had. We had time for Rocco, and he helped us out more than once, but we weren’t friends, and now I gotta spend the rest of my life feeling bad his kids ain’t got a father. Fucking-A.” Cam reached for a smoke. Changed his mind and shook his head, done with the conversation. He was fiercely intelligent and better at big picture thinking than any of us, but he also had a brain that needed time to process information before he absorbed any more.
I took my cue as he zoned out. “Regardless of how we felt about Rocco, Lorenzo killed him for a reason. And he doesn’t know you’ve told us Rocco’s dead. So what’s next? He comes for other people he thinks we care about? Picks them off to pull Cam into open ground?”
Viktor shrugged. “Possibly. It is true that Lorenzo isn’t the sharpest leader, but he is a proud man. A tenacious fool looking to make a name for himself, a reputation that will stand him for many years to come. What better way to do it than wiping the infamous Rebel Kings from the map?”
“Infamous?”
“I do not mean to offend you.” Viktor spread his hands. “But it is true that your organisation isn’t a high-value target in monetary terms. With Sidorov distracted, no one who matters to Lorenzo will care if you are destroyed. The collateral comes from the victory. The reputation.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Rubi’s voice came from behind me. He wasn’t known for his ninja skills, but he caught me off guard all the same.
Nash too.
Not Cam, though. The brothers with the oldest bond shared an indecipherable stare. Then, at Cam’s nod, Rubi took his seat. “You’re saying that we’re gonna have to fight a war based on some spoilt brat’s daddy issues?”
Viktor sighed. “It pains me to say it, as you seem to have terrible luck, but yes. If the next few months play out how I think they will, I fear you might.”
“You’ve spent time with these people?”
Viktor regarded Rubi and answered his question with a slow nod.
“Okay...” Rubi lit a joint and blew herbal smoke into Viktor’s face. “How does Mario Sambini feel about his rogue nephew? Would he be upset if...?”
If we took him out.
Viktor winced. “I do not think that matters. Only Alexei has the capability to do that cleanly, and his presence here is too obvious now.” He inclined his head to Cam. “That is what he gave up to be with you, no? Anonymity?”
Cam’s glare turned epic. “What does that mean?”
“It means that you are not an organisation built for that kind of assassination. You do not have, or want, that firepower, and to seek it out would expose Alexei more than he has already exposed himself by being here.”
Rubi tapped his tattooed fingers on the table. “So we wait for this cunt to come for the people we love, then fight him in the open like a pack of fucking dogs?”
“No, but you do wait, youlisten, and you stay out of anything that brings you more enemies. If you take one piece of advice from me, it is that.”
“Don’t piss anyone else off, eh?” Rubi rolled his eyes and reached for the Clipper to relight his joint. “Understood, Vickie.”
“Is it?” Viktor accepted the blunt Rubi offered him. “It is easy to say, but you seem to have an unmatched skill for attracting trouble.”
“Cam’s fault,” Rubi quipped. “Can’t walk down the street without a wrong’un wanting to bang him.”
“I do not think Lorenzo wants to fuck any of you, if that is any consolation. But my advice remains. Do not make new enemies.” Viktor rapped his knuckles on the table for emphasis. “Lorenzo Sambini is a boy with an ego, and I do not know for sure that my employer will not crush him eventually. But if the wild card gains an ally in the meantime, make no mistake, it will be over for you.”
12
MATEO
I waited on the roof, watching as Embry and Rubi escorted Viktor to where Saint lurked in the shadows. Whether the Russian saw Saint or not, he’d be the last King he shared oxygen with before he left our turf.
Embry came back alone. I figured he’d return to Cam in the chapel. Hash out whatever bullshit Viktor had brought with him.
