“How’d you know what I was doing?” Nervosa asked, then looked back at Palmira. “Right. Of course.”
I stared at her, eyes wide. “You didn’t.”
“He’s my boss,” Palmira said, shrugging, and looked at her nails like she was standing in line at a convenience store.
I sighed and glanced up at Nervosa’s face. He looked annoyed, but didn’t push the issue.
“What’s the situation?” Erin asked.
Nervosa filled them in with as much detail as he could in a short time. I added a few things, and when we were finished, Erin pursed her lips and nudged against Redmond.
“My wife would like me to offer the support of both our families,” Redmond said like he was reciting from a script. “While I don’t agree with her decision, I don’t do things halfway.”
“That’s good to know,” Nervosa said, glancing at Erin. “And what makes you think this is the right move?”
“A war with your people would be very bad,” she said, shrugging. “If you’re trying to stop it, and Melanie here believes you, then we need to make sure we do everything we can to help you succeed. Seems like an easy and obvious solution to me.”
Redmond glared at the ground but said nothing.
“Right now, we need to locate Uncle Cedric and Laurel,” I said, looking at Redmond. “You know, our cousin Laurel and our uncle.”
“More family,” he said, voice droll. “Wonderful.”
“I think I can help with that,” Erin said. “Maeve left me one hell of a spy network and I’ve been rebuilding it ever since I took control of my family. I have people in this area that can help.”
“Get them on it,” Nervosa said. “We need to check in with Liam and Griffin. If Silvano’s making a move, they need to be warned.”
“I’m sure they can handle themselves,” Redmond said.
“You’d be surprised. The Oligarchs out west trust each other. We’ve been working together as a group for a long time. Silvano turning his back on us won’t go down easy.”
“Too much change,” Erin said, shaking her head.
“We’ll head over to Griffin first,” I said, tugging at Nervosa’s arm. “From there, we’ll figure out what’s next.”
“Works for me,” Redmond said, but hesitated. “You sure you’re okay, Mel?”
“I’m fine,” I said, holding Nervosa back from saying something stupid. “Trust me, okay? Find Laurel and Cedric. We’ll talk to Griffin.” I turned and pulled Nervosa along with me.
“I don’t like the way your brother talks,” he said, sounding grim.
“He’s protective of his little sister. Can you blame him?”
“I guess not. If I had a sister and she was spending time with me, I’d start killing people.”
“Good thing my brother’s a bit smarter than you are.”
He grinned as we climbed into the back of a Rover. “More like we’re all lucky his wife is so brilliant.”
“That too.”
Nervosa relayed his orders to his men and the Rovers pulled out. I noticed Palmira stayed behind, speaking animatedly with Redmond and Erin in the driveway in front of the deserted house. I felt a pang of betrayal thinking about her sending reports back to Redmond, but that’d been her job—she was only following orders. I couldn’t be angry that she was spying on me the whole time.
I should’ve been angry that I hadn’t thought of it from the beginning.
Nervosa sat forward in his seat. He looked on edge and twitchy about something. I put my hand on his leg and he looked back at me, calming somewhat as we rolled north toward Redwood City.
“Something feels wrong here,” he said, shaking his head. “I wasn’t lying when I said the western Oligarchs have worked closely together for generations. Silvano going out on his own like this is extremely disconcerting.”
“What do you think is going on with him?”
“I don’t know. Some kind of crisis. I can’t imagine he’d blow up everything for no reason.” He sucked in a breath and let it out as he sat back. “You didn’t seem happy to see your brother.”
I let out a low laugh. “That’s complicated.” I took his hand and held tight. It felt so natural to sit there with our legs touching and our palms pressed together. His fingers were strong and rough and I felt a sudden moment of warmth and safety rush over me. Even though I was in the most danger of my life every moment I was around Nervosa, he still managed to make me feel like I could walk into the middle of traffic and somehow, he’d save me from getting hit by a truck.
“Make it less complicated for me.”
“You saw how it was back home.” I tried to come up with a way to explain and failed. “I’m close with Redmond, but he’s the boss. At least in his mind.”
“Seems like his wife, Erin’s the real boss.”
“That’s true. I like her very much.”
“She likes you too, that’s obvious.” He hesitated, holding my hand tighter, and pulled me toward him. “Don’t get angry at this question, because I have to ask it. Can we trust them?”