Page 62 of More Tricks

“That goes for all of us, Dax,” Eagle stated. “You’re the woman we all fell in love with, not for any other reason that you crashed into our lives and made it impossible to let you go after that.” He then glanced at Harper, who was watching me as well. “I have a feeling those kids are going to need some kick-ass uncles and one badass aunt in their lives.”

Harper sat up and clapped her hands excitedly. “Just think how much fun this will be. You can do all the things I’d never allow them to do or their fathers, for that matter. I’m pretty sure they will turn into the biggest worry-warts as the kids start getting into things. They’re going to need people to turn to when we drive them crazy. Who better than you guys?”

“Now, why would you go and say that?” Ghost demanded. “I’m going to be the coolest dad ever.”

Harper just looked at him and patted his leg. “Yeah, we’ll see. I’ve seen how you act with me. When it’s our children, I only see your smothering getting ten times worse.”

Ghost pouted at this but didn’t really argue either, making me think it might be true. “Now that we’ve got that all settled, I think it’s time we call Tommaso and find out if he’s willing to play our game,” I suggested.

Wes handed over a cell, and I dialed the number Tommy had left on the sheets for us. It rang twice before I realized it was six thirty in the morning and he might not be up.

“When you said you’d call in the morning, I didn’t think you meant the ass crack of dawn,” Tommaso answered.

“Yeah, sorry not sorry. I haven’t gotten to bed yet, and I’m taking it out on those who got to sleep,” I shot back. “Do you want my answer or not?”

“Okay, shoot,” Tommaso said as I heard the rustling of sheets and assumed he realized he wasn’t going back to bed at this point.

“You’ve got the Hidden Empire backing you if and only if you agree to the plan that we’ve made. It will put you in power, take out Diego, but give me what I need out of this whole situation,” I warned. “Still interested?”

“One hundred percent, but I feel like this conversation shouldn’t happen over the phone. I’m going to send you an address to my operations headquarters in New York. This way, as you lay out your plan, you can sell it right to the men who are going to help us pull it off,” Tommaso offered. “Unless you don’t trust me enough to do that?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying not to bitch this guy's ass out for getting sassy before I had any sleep or coffee. “That’s fine. It makes the most sense if you're confident that you’ll stick by what we came up with.”

“Trust goes both ways, and if it gets me in power and meets your needs, then who am I to argue?” he reasoned.

Grunting, I leaned back against the couch. “Send me the address but give us a few hours to pull ourselves together before we head over there. I’m sure you need to get your ducks in a row as well.” I paused, thinking of something I should have asked last night. “Hey, does everyone know you killed the big boss man?”

“No, François has helped me keep that under wraps. Valter is known for going off to see one of his mistresses in Pennsylvania, so we are just playing that story up for now,” Tommaso answered. “Take the time you need. If we’re going to pull this off tonight, then you need some sleep.”

“I’ll text you back at this number when we’re heading over,” I shared, then hung up, tossing the phone on the couch next to me. “Seems he’s all in, wants us to go to his base of operations to settle up the plan and put it into action tonight.”

“Little Demon, what about the fight? It’s tomorrow?” Void asked.

I rolled my head to look at him. “Oh, don’t you worry about that. I have a perfect plan for that situation. It’s going to be so much more fun and ensures that neither of us will get hurt.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What did we say about sharing the plan, little demon?”

“Can I just ask you guys to trust me on this, and once we get the important part settled, I’ll tell you the rest?” I requested. “This can only happen if the whole plan goes as it should, but we’ve seen how well that goes.”

“Does it put you in more danger, loba?” Cognac asked.

“Nope, it actually takes me out of danger,” I shared.

Cognac shrugged and looked at the others. “That's all I needed to know. You guys good?” Everyone nodded and mumbled in agreement. “Great, now I think we need to get some sleep so we aren’t dead on our feet.”

Magnus grabbed keys out of his pocket and chucked them at Sprocket. “These will get you into the apartment downstairs. It’s set up for you guys, even food in the fridge.”

Heaving ourselves up, we managed to stumble into the apartment downstairs, and I flopped face-first on the bed. I felt the others come joining me, but I didn’t know who managed to fit, but I didn’t care. I just needed sleep.

Looking out the car window, I chewed on my thumbnail as we headed for Staten Island. Now that I’d gotten four hours of sleep and ran through the conversation I had with Tommaso over again in my brain, I realized I should have questioned why he had a base of operations in New York. If he’d been based out of Boston this whole time, when did he have the chance to make a place here that Diego didn’t know about? It was smart as shit to have people already planted where you wanted to take over. I just didn’t get the feeling he’d been that prepared.

All of this was setting me on edge. So much of this came down to relying on others that weren’t my people. It had me second-guessing everything. A hand reached up and grabbed mine, tugging it away from my teeth.

“Don’t be so mean to yourself, little rebel. We’ll handle whatever comes our way. The eight of us are a strong unit, and with the triplets added in, I don’t see much getting in our way,” Sprocket murmured, kissing the back of the hand he held. “I know giving up this much control is hard, but you’re not in this alone. The victory or the failure will be ours to share. Just keep your eye on the prize. We’re almost done with this whole thing.”

Letting out a heavy sigh, I leaned into him, allowing him to hold me, giving me his confidence in this that I was lacking. This wasn’t who I was. Dax Blackmore was a woman who stabbed first and asked questions later. Now here I was asking all the questions, afraid to make the wrong move. Then again, it had just been Wes and me. Now, I was suddenly the quote-unquote mockingjay heralding in the change of the criminal world as we know it.

As Eagle turned into a subdivision, I sat up again, looking around utterly confused. What the hell was he doing making a base here? Children rode bikes up the street, and there was even a playground with kids and mothers chatting as they played.