Xavier (Vigilance 4)

“I know someone like that.” I glanced at Devil.

Remington chuckled. “Devil? Our families often wonder which of them is worse. At least Devil has settled down now.”

“I’m not sure that’s changed him very much.”

Remington chuckled. “He keeps Lucien on his toes.”

“And Lancelot does that for you?”

“He does, but despite his decision to jump in without letting anyone know, if anything happens to him, I will make that my business. I expect him returned in good condition.”

“You sent him to help us in a war. I can hardly guarantee his safety.”

“You can keep him safe from friendly fire.”

“If he follows my orders from now on, then as a courtesy to a friend of the Marchesis, I won’t retaliate for his slight. However, I won’t accept any more from him.”

“Lancelot is my brother, and I will do anything it takes to defend him.”

“I know how important family can be,” I said. “I also know how hard you have to work sometimes to rein them in.”

“I hope you’re not suggesting I need advice on how to run my family.”

“Are you running it now, or is your father?”

“My father has complete trust in me, and I make decisions when necessary. I am not a man you want to cross.”

“Then let’s hope I don’t have to.”

“I expect an update from my brother within the hour. I want to hear he’s been treated well.”

“He’s lucky to be alive.”

“I don’t care what connections you have—”

“Your brother has not been harmed, and he will not be hurt by any of my men unless he surprises me like this again.”

“Then we have an agreement. I will let you know if I turn up anything else about this matter.”

“And I will honor my obligation to your family.”

“One more thing… JW has left town. He wasn’t the one working with Swain. He was ordered to go after you because he owed a large sum to Swain’s actual contact, a man my cousin eliminated this morning. We got some intriguing information out of him before he died.”

“You’ll be passing that along too.”

“In good time. Goodbye, Thomas.”

Fucker. The man controlling JW must’ve gotten my identity from Swain or Badger. Now the Theriots had an advantage over me. I wouldn’t let that stand. By the end of the day, Emilio would have something of equal leverage on them.

I slid my phone back into my pocket and gave Lancelot a thorough perusal. He looked absolutely disreputable. The Theriots were supposed to be from the top of New Orleans society, but he looked like he had just come out of the bayou for the first time in years.

“All right, monkey boy, what exactly did you think you were doing coming onto my island without an invitation? Do you understand it’s only because Devil recognized you that you’re still alive right now?”

“I was just showing you how valuable I am and pointing out some of the vulnerabilities here.”

I snarled and stomped toward him. “I could snap your neck right now, and you couldn’t do a damn thing to prevent it.”

“But you won’t. You’re a friend of the Marchesis, and you know my family will come after you.”

“Let them come. I’ll take them down like I did Swain and like I will the rest of these assholes. If you think I’ll be cowed by your threats, you apparently didn’t educate yourself about me before showing up on my island.”

I hoped to goad him into revealing whether he knew my identity or not. There was a chance Remington had kept that information to himself.

Lancelot glared at me. “I know a lot of people are scared of you, but I’m not scared of anybody.”

“You should be,” Devil said. “I’ve done a lot of stupid things, made a lot of crazy choices. I rarely choose to listen thoroughly when I’m given orders, but even I know X is not a man to fuck with.”

Lancelot didn’t even look at Devil. I got the sense they didn’t like each other very much. Probably too much competition between them to see who was crazier. Right now, my money was on Lancelot. Devil had at least a smidge of self-preservation, although that might be because of Joe.

“I really am here to help,” Lancelot said.

I just stared at him, waiting.

“My apologies. I should’ve asked permission before coming onto the island. My brother told me to look into things, and I went from there. I got ahead of myself. I do that a lot. But when it comes to a fight, I’m your man.”

“And your monkey?”

He grinned. “Tony won’t be any trouble.”

“Somehow, I don’t believe that. I’ll have my housekeeper show you to a room. I expect”—I scowled at the monkey who was sitting on Lance’s shoulder and giving me a knowing look—“that Tony will be confined there.”

“I can try, but he’s a little escape artist. He turns up at the craziest times.”