He grinned, wild and proud, smoke still curling from the barrel. “Can’t be too careful these days.”
I shook my head but couldn’t quite hide the approval. He was sloppy, but the instinct was there. Better too much than not enough.
The door opened behind me, and I felt the controlled presence of my brother before he came to a stop beside me with Dario and two soldiers next to him. Lorenzo shook his head, his expression a wild toss-up between anger, frustration andprobably pride. I knew he’d follow me, he was just too late to the party.
“Like the décor, brother?” I grinned rubbing my jaw.
“Unfuckinghinged,” he muttered then sighed. “Christ, Remo, you’re the underboss now, try a little restraint once in a while.” His gaze snapped back to the men lying cheek flat in pools of blood.
“They stole from us, Renz.”
“And I’m assuming talking was a no go?”
“They talked and now they’re done talking.”
“Fuck.” He shook his head again, looking at Gian. “You’re supposed to keep him in line.”
The fuck had the decency to drop his eyes. “Sorry, sir.”
“By the looks of things, I’d say you enjoyed yourself too,” Lorenzo muttered then glanced at Dario. “I thought you said he was teachable?”
Dario smacked the back of his brother’s head. “I’ll sort it out, boss.”
“Good luck with that.” I winked at Dario, catching Gian’s smirk.
“Get this shit cleaned up,” Lorenzo instructed the two soldiers then headed out with me on his tail.
No matter how often I annoyed my brother, went against his wishes or, like he said, displayed bouts of irrationality, he never gave into anger, never turned his back on me and never put anyone before me. Well, except for his pretty boy other half. That little shit might steal my brother’s affection but I’d protect the two of them with my life. Rayden made Lorenzo smile unknowingly, laugh without restraint and if I dared to say it, soft-hearted at times, yet he never strayed from his role as a well-respected Don. Something I hoped to be one day.
Not anytime soon, though, because I wasn’t done fucking up shit, killing motherfuckers who stole from us and be an all-round bad boy. Only, I did it in a three-piece suit, neatly styled dark hair and translucent blue-eyes that apparently charmed the panties off women. No-one saw the unbalanced bastard beneath, the so-called beauty unless I smiled.
Like the three fuckers I’d just offed. As our money managers, they considered themselves rich successful men, achieved in large parts through the Rossi name.
A week ago, Lorenzo needed access to our money. Their stalling tactics made me suspicious and sure enough when I pulled the bank statements, they didn’t match the fake shit those fuckers were sending us every month. Lorenzo might be a little more accepting of their behavior, wanting to talk and discuss strategies. Me, I lived by the blade, dressed in the metallic scent of blood and could probably come from watching a man on his knees, begging for his life.
Yep, unhinged.
“Did you actually get anything out of them or was it just a pretty massacre for you?” Lorenzo’s sarcasm pulled me out of musings as we climbed into the back seat of the blacked-out SUV.
“Admittedly, the bloodbath was a treat.” I chuckled, earning my brother’s usual ‘I give up’ look. “Fuckers were skimming money off our accounts, Renz,” I added, his disbelief was quickly replaced by anger. “They filled it up every now and then with other client’s funds they were cleaning, just to keep the accounts open.”
“Like a fucking Ponzi scheme?” Lorenzo offered a tight-lipped growl.
I nodded. “Michael figured by the time we caught on, we’d either be dead or rotting in prison while they enjoyed our money.”
“He cleaned us out,” he muttered.
“On the contrary.” I retrieved my phone from my inside jacket pocket, tapped the screen and handed it to him.
He stared at it for a minute, frowned and looked up. “That’s a lot more fucking zeros we didn’t have.”
“And now we do.” I shrugged. “I had them transfer every dime from all their accounts into several of our offshore accounts.”
“Leverage?”
“While they were on their knees, pissing their pants to get away from my weapon was fun, I offered his men a chance to redeem Michael’s mistake. They were dead, either way, so they chose the lesser of two evils.”
“You’re the lesser of two evils?” Lorenzo barked out a laugh.
