Page 13 of Ruined By a Devil

“If that doesn’t ruin the alliance with the Moretti’s, I don’t know what will,” Elijah speaks from his seat at the end of the table. As our fixer and intelligence head, he’s already processing the political fallout.

“Nolan is a fool,” Levi sighs, taking a sip of whiskey.

“He’s impulsive and impatient,” I correct. “Regardless of his intellect, he gave us the exact leverage we need to sever the Morettis from the Devlins. That’s our focus.”

“If he fired at you and Jade in the middle of a party at the Moretti’s estate, I’ll stick to my original statement.”

“Is Jade safe?” Zeke asks, his hands resting flat on the wood. He hates collateral damage, especially when it involves women dragged into mafia feuds.

“She is,” I nod. “She’s at the estate outside the city.”

“So she agreed to marry you?”

“She will,” I say, pulling up the local media feeds to check if anything that happened tonight made the headlines.

“Tell me you didn’t take her by force, Malachi,” Zeke says.

I meet his stare. “I don’t waste energy on kidnapping, Zeke. I moved her to a controlled environment so Nolan doesn’t execute her to cover his embarrassment.”

“After you put her in danger yourself,” Zeke points out.

“It was the only way,” I say, finally finding an article covering the shooting. “And the idea is to prevent anyone else from going after her.”

“So she’s willingly staying at your house?” Zeke raises an eyebrow.

“We agreed she’ll stay there until tomorrow morning,” I explain. “I’ll set up a meeting with her father and we’ll meet with him to talk things through once she agrees. If she chooses to say no, I will not force her to live with me.”

“But you think she’ll say yes,” Elijah comes to a conclusion, having the ability to read my micro-expressions.

“I do,” I say. “Because Jade is a smart woman and she knows her father will force her into another marriage, if not with Nolan himself, if she says no to my proposal.”

My brothers don’t need to know the rest. They don’t need to know that I offered her a white marriage or that she has this raw, dark pull on me. Those details are strictly classified.

“Who’s watching the property?” Elijah asks.

“Milo is in charge,” I respond. “Lucas and Josh are there too.”

“Good,” Elijah nods, satisfied with the security layout.

“Want me to come with you tomorrow morning?” Cain speaks for the first time since I arrived at Eden.

“That’s a good idea,” Levi agrees. “Devlin’s men might be there just waiting for you to show up.”

“They won’t,” I respond. “There’s no way the Morettis would allow more blood on their steps again. They want to remain neutral.”

“That’s what worries me,” Zeke explains. “Neutrality can make them unpredictable.”

“And hand you over to him on a silver platter,” Cain agrees.

“That wouldn’t work,” Elijah jumps in. “They’d have to answer to us immediately after and the Morettis know better than to provoke us.”

“So they’re caught between choosing which family to make angry,” Levi concludes. “I don’t like that.”

“They know we’re far more lethal than Nolan Devlin,” I explain. “And look, the news are already referring to Nolan as unstable and not being good enough to carry on his family’s business.”

“He must be fuming,” Levi bursts into laughter. “But it will make him even angrier at you, big bro.”

“I can live with that,” I smile, taking a sip of decaf coffee, and regretting it instantly. It tastes bad.