“You can’t be certain I’m outnumbered.” Medina glanced around the street, but I was ready to call his bluff. I also noticed that Bello wasn’t with him. He was probably too afraid to face me after what he had done to Sable.His was fucking coming.“You never know who is with me,” he said.
“I do know that there are a dozen or so of NYPD’s finest tending to that water main break a block away from here,” I said. “You’re not brave enough to come at me here. But me, on the other hand, I am crazy enough to put a bullet between your eyes if I don’t like what you have to say.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
“Try me.”
“I didn’t come here to fight.” He was fixated on Sable as he spoke to me. “I came here to remind you of something."
“What’s that?”
“I promise that if you don’t get your father on the same page as me, no one will be left unscathed.” He smiled at Sable. “Milo can’t keep you safe forever. Men like me are inevitable in his world.”
“Shut up!” I warned him. “You can only push me so far before I do something you’ll regret.”
I let go of Sable and reached for my gun, but she slid her hand on top of mine before I could draw it. As much as I knew I couldn’t escalate anything with so many cops in the vicinity, her bold move caught me off guard, knocking me off my game.
What the fuck?
“Oh, Mr. Accetti.” Medina’s laugh was colder than the sleet that pelted us. “Have you learned nothing from your brother and his train wreck of a wife?”
“Fuck you,” I shouted. “Don’t look in Sable’s direction. Don’t talk to her. Don’t even think about her.”
“It looks like I may have found your weak spot.”
FOURTEEN
Sable
“The womenthey fall in love with tend to pay the price, and death isn’t always the worst of it.”
Angela’s warning blared in my ears as the frigid sleet picked up in intensity. Why did Diego have to ruin tonight? Why couldn’t he leave us alone?
I didn’t mean to interfere in Milo’s business, but when he reached for his gun, my instincts kicked in. Something told me to stop him before it was too late. The only one who might end up regretting anything tonight was me.
“Sable.” Ax moved me away from Milo and placed his strong arm around my shivering body. “Stay out of it.”
“Do you always allow Sable to stop you from taking care of business? Or does she just have a soft spot for me?” Diego asked Milo. “Either way, I find it fascinating.”
The evidence in my mistake was more obvious than it was a few minutes ago. When Diego taunted Milo, I shouldn’t have interfered, but my desire to shelter Milo was as strong as his was to protect me.
“I’m going to kill you,” Milo threatened.
“Not without your daddy's permission, and I know you don’t have that.” Diego looked at me as if I were some sort of prize to be won. “You found your way back to Milo. What a shame. I had hoped there would be a future for you and I.”
“You must have a death wish,” Milo said. “That’s the only explanation for why you would approach me.”
“We all have a breaking point.” Diego adjusted the collar on his coat. “Once I hit mine, you’re going to wish you had negotiated with me.”
“In a negotiation, one side needs something from the other,” Milo said. “There is nothing I need from you. My family holds all the cards, so if I were you, I’d get the fuck out of this city.”
“Maybe you don’t need something from me tonight. But eventually you will.”
This conversation left me with an unsettled commotion deep within my soul. Milo’s tough exterior didn’t crack, but I sensed that Diego had gotten to him.
“You keep threatening my family because that’s all they are.”
Milo stepped forward, breaking the barrier between him and his guards. That left him vulnerable for a shot to his chest. I couldn’t stop my mind from imagining him being shot in front of me, leaving me helpless.
