“I just told you I don’t fucking know! Aurelio wouldn’t send us just to crash a party.”
“But he’d send you to put me in the ground.”
Silk’s jaw works. “That’s a standing order at this point, and you know it, Vin. It’s a fucking war.”
He throws a glance over his shoulder as more crashes come from inside.
I use the distraction to close the distance, inch by inch. “So you gonna try it, you piece of shit?”
His hands fly up, palms out, his gun pointed at the sky. “Nobody wants Aurelio, man. Nobody. Including me.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls, Silk.”
He earned that nickname for a reason. He’s a smooth talker, the kind of guy who can talk his way out of a body bag. But I’ve heard this song before. More than half of Aurelio’s crew defected when the war started and even more are feeding me intel on the side.
“You know it’s the truth. Let me prove it.”
I arch an eyebrow. “You want to prove your loyalty? Go inside and kill Jimmy and Dante.”
Silence stretches between us then Silk turns on his heel and strides into the house.
I rise from my crouch, move behind the cruiser, weapon trained on the entrance. I don’t know if he’s doing what I asked, making a run for it, or gathering reinforcements to take me down. Guess I’ll find out.
Shots ring out inside, and I drop behind the cruiser, sights locked on the doorway. Thirty seconds later, Silk emerges. The strobing red and blue lights wash over his face, highlighting the blood spatter across his shirt and cheek.
Silk gives me a quick nod. “What’s next, boss?”
I straighten slowly, keeping my gun steady.
“Find out who ordered the hit.”
6
Sophie
Matti and Siena huddle together at the flimsy card table that passes for my dining room table, heads bent together, voices low and urgent. I refill their empty wine glasses with apple juice, the liquid catching the dim overhead light.
We walked for what felt like hours before Matti called in one of his guys to pick us up and take us here to my house. It was the only place we could think of that ticked all the boxes: private, tucked away in a forgotten corner of Brooklyn, and completely off the radar of anyone who might want us dead.
Siena lifts her glass with a sleepy smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Love drinking out of wine glasses at your house!”
“I almost never have actual wine, but the glasses were my mother’s, so that’s what we use.” I laugh, the sound lighter than I feel.
I may own a restaurant, but money? I have none. Nowhere is that more obvious than in my cramped little apartment with its thrifted hand-me-down furnishings. The couch spring gave up the ghost months ago. The so-called dining room table is a card table that’ll fold in half if you breathe on it too hard. Pretty much all the dishes and silverware in my kitchen are from the restaurant.
“What did your mother think of you coming to the party tonight?” Siena sips her juice.
I shrug, not wanting to hurt her feelings. She’s well aware that my parents kept us apart when we were children after Aurelio murdered her father. She also knows they don’t love that I reconnected with her in adulthood. What she doesn’t know is that since she hooked up with Matti, the underboss of the Demonio family, they’ve been working overtime to convince me to walk away from Siena forever.
That’s never going to happen.
“It’s not her favorite.” I keep my tone casual. “This was actually the first time I told her I was hanging out with you. Usually, I avoid the question, but I tried to calm her down, told her it was just a party, no big deal. You know how she is, though.”
Siena rolls her eyes. “Well, I know what you’ve told me. She sounds controlling, honestly. My mother rarely cares enough to be controlling, but since I stopped pretending we had a relationship, it’s been so much better.”
I squeeze her arm gently, my fingers pressing into her soft sweater. I know how hard this is for her: pregnant, her sister Emily gone, no family other than me and Matti. “I’m here for you, babes.”
She nods, her eyes glassy with unshed tears.
