Page 123 of More Tricks

“What do we know about his mother, Felicia? Like how in the world did the man who was trying to take control of the East Coast find himself with the daughter of someone who was once the advisor to the Italian mafia?” I questioned.

Wes shifted in his seat, frustration written all over his face. “That’s what I’m having the hardest time figuring out. They must have had someone wipe all that from every database they could manage because I only could find random mentions of her. Even at the hospital, there is no record of her giving birth to Tommaso, and I know that’s where she went. Diego’s finances match up to paying for it.”

“So either they were protecting Tommaso from knowing, or whoever adopted him knew exactly who Tommaso was. Like it was a planned situation to get him out from Diego after his mother died,” I mused. “Fuck, this is like a mafia thriller movie that affects my life, and I don’t like it one bit.”

“Look,” Eagle said, grabbing our attention. “No matter what happens, we gave it a shot. Hell, if we can get the Italians on our side just by telling them we’re taking Marco out of power, then to hell with all this other shit. Tommaso is just our in for the situation, not the solution.”

Cognac let out an impressed-sounding whistle, then grinned. “Look at Eagle laying down the facts. Impressive, pres.” Eagle flipped Cognac the bird, sending the man into a fit of laughter.

“Do we have any other connection to the Italians?” Cam asked.

Then it hit me. “Yeah, we most certainly do,” I shared with a wide grin. “Harper made nice with none other than François Barilla, one of the top mafia mobster families in Italy. We didn’t get a chance to talk for long, but in the speed version of what happened while she was out of the country, I did pick up that tidbit of information.”

“It’s almost as if it was meant to be,” Void interjected, resting his hands behind his head. “Now we need to stop worrying and let the cards fall, so we know how to move forward.”

Each of us looked at the man like he’d lost his mind. Ever since I said yes to being their wife and wearing the ring they had made for me, Void had been on cloud nine. Nothing could take the pep out of his step and that shit needed to end before the fight this weekend. We had two more days before we needed to fly into New York, the fight being Saturday night. It was crunch time, and I couldn’t have Void off his game. With all the training we’d been doing, I was back in shape, not top-tier shape but the best we could do in the time we had, which meant I needed Void to be on his A-game to keep me alive.

“Wow, look at the city,” Picasso commented as we broke through the clouds.

I’d never been to the upper East Coast, so I was excited to check out a new city. Each one had a life of its own, a heartbeat that pulsed with life and crime, good and evil. The trick was figuring it out fast so you survived. Now we were about to go knock on the front door and see if anyone was home.

We landed, grabbed our bags, and headed for the hotel. While I wasn’t one to dress up much, I knew this meeting needed to go well. Part of that was looking like we weren’t bikers and gangsters. So I went out with Dani and Tilly to go shopping, get my hair done, and pick out things for the guys as well. Now each of them had two business casual outfits that looked sexy as fuck. I might have gone overboard on mine, but who would I be if I didn’t take things to the extreme?

The hotel was downtown, nothing special with adjoining rooms but all of us would have to share rooms. This was becoming a theme in my life. Never enough space for all eight of us to be together and I was starting to get sick of it. I’d pushed to rent out the fucking penthouse, but everyone shot that down, saying we needed to keep a low profile.

“Dax, we have forty-five minutes for you to get ready. We’re heading down to the restaurant to get something to eat,” Wes called.

Yeah, well, when they were already dragging me out of bed at four in the morning to make our flight, I wasn’t getting up to take no damn shower. Looking at myself in the fluorescent bathroom light, I grinned at the fresh, bright hair and much shorter shaggy style I preferred. Not needing a full shower, I quickly washed my body and face so I could put on my makeup.

It was different doing this without Harper around, and I realized how much I missed my best friend, having been apart for almost two months now. Good news was, she was back in the States, and I could see her when I got to New York. We had so much to catch up on and hardly any time to do it before we needed to get down to business. Her triplets were going to come in handy for this job since we needed stealth to get Elena out of their clutches. We’d decided as a group no matter if she was blinded by love or something else, we were going to get her back. Once this was all over, we’d deal with the fallout.

Seeing as it was still late morning, I kept the makeup light and professional. Then when I looked at my clothes, I grinned, knowing they were going to get some looks. The leather pants were soft and buttery on the skin with spikes on the knees in little rows. They also lined the pockets and waistband. My shirt was a black and white distressed band tee that was cut into a crop top. Then to finish it all off was a fitted black blazer that, when buttoned, showed off some of my stomach. Was this the most professional option? No, probably not. Was this the best Dax-style option? Fuck yeah, it was.

The final touch that topped the whole outfit was my pink Doc Martens, and I was ready to kick this day's ass. Stepping out of the room to join the guys down at the lobby where the restaurant was, my stomach grumbled, unhappy I hadn't fed it yet, but I hoped my men would know well enough to get something for me. If not, then I might have to question if they truly loved me or not.

It wasn’t hard to spot them gathered together at a table dressed in nice jeans, button-downs, or polos. Really, I couldn’t blame the front desk ladies for gawking at them or the bartender, who I might have to wipe the drool off his face. They were absolutely pretty to look at, just don’t fucking touch, or I’d have to do something about it, and no one wanted that.

“Please tell me you love me,” I whined as I got closer, my stomach raging at the smell of food.

Eagle looked up first, and his smile widened as he looked me up and down. “Fuck, if I didn’t before, that outfit would have me on my knees for you all over again.”

I blew him a kiss but aimed right for Cam who was sitting at the end of the table with two plates in front of him. Peering down, I spotted a breakfast sandwich that hadn’t been touched and a cup of coffee to go with it. “That wouldn’t happen to be for me, now would it?”

Cam shifted his chair back and to the side so he could look at me. “That depends…”

“On what?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.

“Can you eat it in ten minutes before our ride gets here?” he challenged.

I let out a huff of laughter and plopped myself on his lap, snatching up the sandwich. This, of course, had been his plan all along, giving him the opportunity to wrap his arms around me while he kissed up my neck.

“If we have time, I want to take you on a date in New York,” he murmured in my ear. “Just the two of us.”

Pausing a moment, I looked at him over my shoulder, then shoved the last two bites of the sandwich in my mouth. Now that he’d asked for the chance, I was surprised none of the others had before now. Swallowing, I licked my fingers and answered. “The others okay with it?”

“Yes, I’ve brought it up. We all agreed that none of us should have any issues with you having one-on-one time with us. As long as it’s kept fair,” he explained. “It’s something that we should have been doing long before this.”

“I agree. A date sounds wonderful,” I said. “Problem is we have the fight Saturday night and who the fuck knows what will happen after that.”