Page 12 of Revenge & Truth

“Yes, good call,” Astin agreed, then turned her focus back to me. “Can I ask why you didn’t take them? If they make you sick, we can get Doc to prescribe something different.”

“Why aren’t you mad at me?” I blurted, unable to comprehend the opposite reaction I was expecting.

Pushing out of her chair, she walked around the desk to lean on the front of it, standing before me. “I went over everything with Atticus piece by piece, then Jace shared your reasoning for why you handled things the way you did, helping me to understand.”

That sneaky fucker.

“Look… bottom line is you went there to do a job, and the club owner refused to let you do it. Not only that, but they reneged on their contract with us, giving you every right to make an example out of their boss. However, where you fucked up is letting the bastard get under your skin when you didn’t have the manpower to settle the score,” Astin pointed out, and I agreed.

She grabbed a file off her desk and handed it to me. “I’ve been looking over their contract and numbers Atty pulled together before going. It’s clear to me they’ve been stealing from us for quite some time. Because they were such a small earner, we didn’t notice it before now. Stealing, breaking a contract, siding with the enemy, and having the fucking audacity to dare attack my lieutenants will not be tolerated. Seeing as they have zero regard for me or fear of the Caprioni name, I think we should pay them a visit tomorrow. Want to come with?”

“Fuck yeah, I do,” I answered without a second thought.

“Good, now take the fucking pain meds and be a good boy, or I will be mad at you,” Astin ordered, leveling me with a look that told me she wasn’t fucking around.

“Understood, Mistress.” I nodded.

She surprised me with a light kiss on my lips before heading back around the desk. “Today has been one full of surprises, so strap in and save all your questions and comments until I’ve explained it all. Trust me, you’re gonna have questions because I certainly do.”

Jace made it back in record time with the medication and two slices of buttered toast. Now that we were all here, Astin and Liu filled us in on their meeting with Luca and the surprise visit with Ivy. I’ve never met the woman, but her reputation scares the shit out of me. So it only made sense she’d want to be friends with Astin, but the information bombs she dropped about the founding families had my mind spinning. How the fuck are we supposed to deal with a problem this massive being so far from the source? As Astin spoke, I could see the wheels turning in her mind, and I had no doubt she’d have a plan sooner rather than later.

“How the hell did she find out all that shit when I haven’t heard a peep about it in all my digging?” Hound grumbled after Astin finished talking.

“I know it might be shocking to you, but some people don’t like to put their criminal activities on the internet,” Ryker quipped. “Judge Rupp is old-school and would never think about sending an email with that kind of information in it. He’s a paranoid old bastard, and it would have worked if he could handle his liquor.”

Hound glared at Ryker, flipping him off.

“Now that we have this information, how do we plan to use it?” Atticus questioned. “We don’t have anything that he removed from Luca’s case to show he was hindering a fair trial.”

Astin rested her arms on the desk. “Some of you already know this, but back in Huntingford, I developed an unusual hobby I became quite skilled at. I was a thief. It’s actually how I was first introduced to Hound via a chatroom on the dark web. There was a job that had a security system I couldn’t figure out how to crack, but Hound, the hacker extraordinaire, just so happened to be able to help me. From that point on, I reached out if there was technology too advanced for me to deal with on my own.”

Just when I didn’t think this woman could become even more fascinating and badass, I was proved wrong. “That is fucking cool,” I blurted. “Would we have heard of you? Are you on the most wanted list?”

“Only you would be interested in that side of things,” she said with a chuckle. “I was given the name Luna Selene and, yeah, I was definitely on the top ten list for Apria. Lucky for them, I had a job transfer, so they have no idea that damn stamp was my last job.”

I started to ask more questions, totally enamored with the fact she was a famous thief that only stole from the high-class society but was cut off by Atticus.

“While I find this new information interesting, and I see the value in having someone with those skills, what does that have to do with our judge issue?” Atticus pressed.

“You said there was nothing in the safe from the trial. Well, what if I planted the gun used to kill the mayor?” Astin countered.

Atticus contemplated for a moment before speaking, “That would only work if it shows up in the details of the case, on the evidence logs, and the gun is found in proper law enforcement bagging.”

“Easy,” Hound stated, clapping his hands. “I can make the paper trail, Jace will reach out to his police contacts to get the supplies, then all we need is the gun.”

“That will be my task to handle,” Liu interjected. “I’ll need to wait a few days to see Luca again so as not to cause suspicion, but this will allow us to make sure we have everything set. His court date isn’t set for another three months, so we aren’t running against a timeline which is always helpful.”

“Excellent. Now for my job, I need blueprints of the judge’s home and what kind of safe he has in the house,” Astin informed us. “I’ll also need his schedule from the courthouse as well as personal comings and goings. If we can’t find something that will work in his day-to-day life to get him out of the house, then we’ll just have to make up something.”

My hand shot up with a grin on my face. “It just so happens I need to go down to the courthouse for some business, so I can deal with that schedule.”

Astin snorted at my silliness which is exactly what I wanted. The woman had a tendency to get stuck in her own head when it came to situations like this, and it was my job to remind her to have a little fun.

“Oh, let’s not forget tomorrow we’re going to pay the owner of Rhythm & Boobs a visit,” Astin reminded us as we got up to leave. “We need to make sure those outside the Family understand I’m not some silly girl to ignore but a bitch to be feared. How does a lunch date sound to you guys?”

I gave her a bright smile even though it made my lip sting and probably bleed, but I couldn’t hold back my happiness. These assholes were about to get fucked up, and they would never see it coming.

six