Lucien (The Marchesi Family 1)

“Ugly as sin too,” Devil added.

“While I don’t disagree with either of you, he’s saying something that’s making people listen. We’re going to find out what it is, then we’re going to track down everyone who’s listening to his bullshit and make them sorry.”

“Do I get to do the making them sorry part?” Devil asked.

“Possibly, but you need to prove you can follow the rules this time.”

“We haven’t gotten where we are by being reckless,” Angelo said in a voice that was clearly meant to mock my own. “Come on, Luce. What’s the point of all this power if we can’t have a little fun with it?”

I started to speak but Devil held up his hand. “Wait. I’ve got this. If we have too much fun, we’ll lose all our power.”

“If you two keep joking around, you will lose it right fucking now.” I’d thought I was ready to take over the reins of the family business when my father said it was time for him to retire, but at times like this, when the only two men whose loyalty I’ve never doubted acted like fucking toddlers, I wanted to call my dad back from his months-long vacation and walk the fuck away.

“You know we love you, right, Luce?” Angelo said.

“I know I hate when you call me that. If you two assholes don’t sober up and get downtown in the next hour, I’ll call Nonna and tell her we just had an interesting chat, and you two are ready to find some nice girls and settle down with them.”

Angelo’s eyes went wide, and his mouth fell open. “You wouldn’t!”

Devil started laughing so hard he fell off the couch. Technically, he was our cousin on my mother’s side, and Nonna—my father’s mother—wasn’t his grandmother, but that hadn’t ever stopped her from treating him like her own son. Devil’s mother was disinterested at best, malicious at worst. Fortunately, she spent most of her time on another continent. A lot of people mistook Angelo and Devil—whose real name was more or less a family secret—for twins. They were gorgeous and charming and much too used to getting anything they wanted. As far as I was concerned, they were a lot of fucking trouble, but I loved them. If anybody else said a word against them in my presence, they never made that mistake again.

As if by magic, Angelo and Devil managed to look polished and wide-awake by the time we needed to head downtown. I wondered if they would ever get too old to pull off that transition. At thirty-two, I already felt like I was. They were only two years younger than me but didn’t have the weight of running the family business on their shoulders.

The meeting with several of our allies was taking place at Distinguished Properties, the commercial real estate business we used as a cover for several of our other enterprises. We took the elevator up to my office. When the door slid open, I expected to see the little snake Jimmy sitting behind the reception desk, waiting to do my bidding. He’d once again failed to pay my family what he owed us. Out of respect for his late father’s loyalty to me, I’d given him the chance to work off his debt. While I doubted he’d make much of a receptionist, he at least knew how to be charming and put people at ease. And if he were in my office, he wouldn’t be getting himself in more trouble.

But Jimmy wasn’t there. Instead, a shockingly beautiful blond-haired twink sat at the reception desk. My brother didn’t look a thing like an angel, except maybe the fallen kind who would lead you straight to hell, but this boy looked like the sort of ethereal creature who would guide you to heaven after a hero’s death. He looked up at me with bright hazel eyes. “May I help you, sir?”

“You can sure as hell help me,” Devil said, propping a hip on the edge of the boy’s desk.

I didn’t even know the kid’s name, but jealousy sizzled through me. I kicked my cousin’s shin. “Get the fuck off the desk, and quit acting like some kind of animal.”

“Jesus,” Devil said rubbing his leg. “Those shoes you love are fucking lethal.”

Angelo held out his hand to my new receptionist. “I’m Angelo, and you’re very clearly not Jimmy.”

The boy tentatively lifted his hand. Instead of shaking it, Angelo brought it to his lips.

“Back off,” I growled. “Where the fuck is Jimmy, and who are you?”

The boy’s eyes widened, and color rose in his cheeks. “Jimmy got another offer, and he asked me if I wanted to come here in his place. Ms. Carla said it would be all right for me to have a trial day since there wasn’t anyone else here to do the job.”