I wrinkle my nose, because the weapons supplies is one of those things I’ve never agreed with. There is enough gun violence on the streets without us adding to it, but that seems like a silly notion for someone who carries a weapon and doesn’t hesitate to use it to have. In my defense, innocents don’t get caught in the crossfire of my bullets. “Homegrown militia groups, gangs, and basically anyone else is fair game.”
“A mafia family with morals.” Tristan chuckles. “Whoever would have thought? Mario was always sneering at the way the Russos operated, but you must be doing something right, because your net worth is astronomical compared to his.”
“Loyalty and American pride go a long way,” Xavier mutters.
“Giving him the safe will at least allow him to pay cash for the next drug import,” Colton says wearily, pulling off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.
“About that…” I grimace as he looks up, his tired eyes a little bloodshot. “If you want to stay out of prison, I would avoid attending the drop.”
“What? Why?” Xavier demands sharply. “Mario will insist one of us be there to facilitate the buy.”
“Make him go,” I tell him, thinking quickly. That would at least get him out of our hair for a while. “The feds are going to be there and will scoop him up.”
There’s stunned silence. “When did you get time to let the feds know and how?” Tristan shakes his head in disbelief.
“When you went to the bathroom at the courthouse, right?” Vienna says flatly, and I wince.
“Yeah.”
“Have you had dealings with those agents prior to today?” Xavier is glaring at me, but before I can answer, Colton chuckles.
“Right, you didn’t have a mole who told you about Lorenzo being busted, you were directly responsible.”
“I hate exploitation of women or people in general.” I shrug, and Vienna scoffs, unamused.
“You run whores and strippers,” she points out dryly.
“All of our whores and strippers are paid well and want to be there. None of them are forced to do what they do, and that is the difference between me and Lorenzo. Every one of those women at the warehouse were there under duress, including the FBI agent’s sister. I accidentally scooped him up, thinking he was a cartel member invading my turf. When I got around to interrogating him, well, we came to an agreement. I wouldn’t kill him, and he wouldn’t turn me in if I helped find his sister.”
“Seems fair,” Colton remarks.
“And I won’t have meth, fentanyl, or heroine on our streets. Too many overdoses draw attention, attention we don’t want.”
“Smart.” Tristan nods.
“Mario is going to know it was you. He will get Colton to go through your phone and find the messages,” Xavier warns me.
I look at Colton who sighs. “I can make sure he doesn’t find it. Don’t use it to message anyone else though. I won’t be able to hide everything,” he warns. “Anything else you want to share with us?” He crosses his arms, and I think he’s trying to look intimidating, but he’s mostly naked, and his muscles ripple. I wipe the corner of my mouth to make sure I’m not drooling. Hell, I’m only human, and he is fucking hot.
“Not at the moment,” I hedge, and he heaves out a sigh.
“Fine, but we are on your side, I promise. We should get back to bed. I don’t want to risk us getting caught. Should we meet back here tomorrow and talk again?”
I think about what I need to do tomorrow and shake my head. “No, let’s make it the day after. That will give Colton time to do some digging.”
“Okay, sounds reasonable,” he agrees, and I move to the cupboard to close it, but before I do, I go to grab one of the guns, but a hand on my wrist stops me. I glare at the man on the other end of the hand.
“Tori, just let us protect you for now. If Mario sees you with a weapon, he will have a fit and insist on you being locked up. I promise you will be safe with us.”
I scoff. “Have I been safe up until now? Look at what happened a couple of weeks ago. You were in the car with me, and we were still ambushed,” I argue.
He winces. “Mario didn’t know we were in the car that day. He never would have ordered the attack if he had known.”
Now it’s my turn to be skeptical. “Did you ever think that maybe he already knew about Gio and Casey and the baby, and he was trying to get rid of all of us? With that baby, he wouldn’t have needed any of us anymore.”
Xavier visibly flinches, and when I look at the other three, it’s obvious none of them had even considered that.
I chuckle darkly. “By getting rid of Casey and Gio, I did you a favor. I ensured your place in his succession. You can thank me later.”
