Page 57
Inside is the morgue, and on a metal slab is a man’s body.
“Him,” she says, and we approach the corpse. He’s young, early twenties, maybe even late teens, with dark hair. Two purpling marks on his chest look like puncture wounds from a knife, straight into his heart.
“Recruits die all the time,” I say. “Why is he any different?”
“Because he isn’t just a recruit. He’s Gio Morelli.”
My gaze snaps to meet Envy’s. “As in—”
“The Morelli family,” she finishes for me.
The Morelli family are Italian mafia on the East Coast. Not as powerful as some of the families out there, but they’re under the rule of the McEwans, and they are not the kind of people you piss off.
“How did he even end up here?”
Envy shakes her head. “Yale and I did our usual checks, and nothing came up. I only know who he is because he made a friend here and confessed.”
I circle the body. “And let me guess, that friend decided killing a Morelli was a good way to get his name known.”
“Exactly.”
This is a nightmare. Beyond a nightmare.
“Where’s that friend now?” I ask.
“Dead. I figured the longer he lived, the worse it’d be, because he likes to run his mouth. The problem is, there’s no way to know if he already bragged about his kill. We found a phone in his room.”
“Fucking hell, Envy.”
“I know,” she snaps. “But I’m dealing with this shit pretty much alone, so cut me some slack. He made a few calls after Gio’s murder, but no texts, and when we tried to trace the numbers, they were already disconnected.”
This is where I need Yale. He makes it his job to know every possible threat we face in our line of work. I lead, Yale plans, Xavier does the most violent thing he can think of.
And right now, I need Yale to think of a way to fix this, because we have decent resources, but not enough to take on the mafia. And definitely not enough to go up against the McEwans if the Morellis go to them for support. They’d wipe us out.
“What do you want to do?” Envy asks.
I exhale deeply. “We keep him on ice for now. I need to think.”
And pray I can pull a solution out of my ass—and fast.
She nods. “Okay. Just let me know whenever you decide. Why couldn’t the others come?”
On the flight over here, before Silence called and gave me the most painful hard-on in fucking history, it occurred to me that I can’t trust anyone other than my brothers and her. Grant was turned and he was my best friend for years, so Envy could have been compromised, too. It’s hard to believe, given how much work she puts into this place and considering that she called me about this. It’d be a good way to take us down, after all. But I won’t be caught out again.
“I’m about to tell you something that I expect you to keep confidential,” I say, keeping my eyes on Gio’s face. “It doesn’t leave this room.” Envy’s brow furrows, but she nods. “I’m pushing my brothers out.”
She huffs a laugh, but her smile fades when I remain expressionless. “You’re not serious?”
“I am.”
The line between her brow deepens. “Zayden, we’re a fucking team.”
“And they’re holding us back.”
“Bullshit. What’s really going on?”
“What’s really going on is that I’m taking over, and they’re either with me, or they’re not. I won’t hesitate to do what has to be done if they challenge the decision. I’m at the head anyway, and they need to accept that.”
