Angelo (The Marchesi Family 2)

The fuck I would be. He just grinned and closed the door firmly behind him.

10

Angelo

Lucien had called while I was with Cameron. I’d ignored him, and I was sure he’d have a hell of a lot to say about that. When I checked my messages, I saw he was calling an emergency meeting. I’d been expecting him to yell at me some more about the situation with Cameron, but that wasn’t an emergency. This had to be about something else. I got back to our downtown headquarters as quickly as I could.

When the elevator door opened into our reception area, Peter, who worked as our receptionist—mainly so Lucien didn’t have to let him out of his sight—looked up from a conversation he was having with a lovely, brown-haired twink. I could tell from the way Peter’s eyes widened when he saw me that I was in trouble.

“How mad is he?”

“I expected smoke to start pouring out of his ears when he was ranting about how you wouldn’t answer”—he held his hands up and made air quotes—“your goddamned fucking phone.”

“Thanks for the warning. Who’s this?” I tilted my head toward the other young man. He rose and held out his hand.

“I’m Tom. I’m with Vinnie.”

“Vinnie’s back?” I asked, glancing at Peter.

“Mr. Marchesi said he was needed here,” Tom said.

“I’m Angelo Marchesi.” I looked at Tom again, reassessing him. If he’d come back with Vinnie and was here while Vinnie met with Lucien, that meant he was more than just a trick. Interesting. “You must mean my brother.”

“Yes, sir.”

Things must be serious if Lucien had gotten Vinnie home this quickly. Vinnie and his family had been our closest allies during our recent war with the Riccis. When Vinnie discovered Damian Ricci’s son Mario was the man who killed Vinnie’s sister several years before, Lucien gave him the go-ahead to end Mario, then insisted Vinnie take some vacation time after the job was done.

“Is Lucien in his office?”

“No,” Peter said. “He’s in the meeting room.”

“The sooner you get in there, the better,” Carla, Lucien’s assistant added. “It’s been quite a day.”

I steeled myself as I headed for our meeting room. Devil was there, along with Vinnie and Marco Ricci, who’d turned on his family after his uncle disowned him.

“Angelo, how nice of you to join us.” Lucien’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

“I was detained by business.” Business. Pleasure. It was all the same when it came to Cameron.

“Right. We’ll talk later.” Lucien’s words sounded dismissive, but I knew I was fucked.

“No need. I have everything under control.”

“Sit the fuck down. We have serious shit to deal with now.”

I wasn’t going to question his authority in front of outsiders. I also wasn’t going to tell him what he wanted to hear after the meeting. Once I was seated, Lucien addressed us all.

“We thought the war with the Riccis was over once Vinnie took care of Mario, but we were wrong.”

“What happened?” I asked. No wonder Lucien seemed even more irritable than usual. The war had been hard on him. He needed more time to recover and enjoy being with Peter. If things were heating up again, I was going to have to take on a lot of the responsibility. I shouldn’t have started this shit with Cameron. It was selfish. Lucien needed my full support.

“Two businesses under our protection were vandalized last night. Windows broken, graffiti on the walls, furniture smashed. And another was nearly burned to the ground. The owners are wondering what the hell the point is in paying us if this kind of shit is going to happen. I need to know who’s behind this before they undermine people’s trust in us. The bastards can come for me, and I will mow them down, but no one messes with my people.”

Damn. His words made me shiver, and I had nothing to fear from him other than a long, boring lecture. “You want me to drop in and reassure them?”

Lucien nodded. “They need a visit, and it needs to be friendly.”

Devil gave Lucien the smile that rarely failed to bring whoever he used it on under his spell. “I’ll go with Angel. I can be friendly.”

I rolled my eyes. “You can also be scary as fuck, and sometimes you try to be both at the same time.”

“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side.”

Lucien banged his fist on the table. “There are no sides here. I need you both to fucking take this seriously.”

“We will,” I said, giving him a look that let him know I truly understood. I saw his shoulders settle, letting me know his tension had eased slightly.

“Vinnie, I want you to go with Angelo so the owners get reassurance from an ally as well.”

“Yes, sir,” Vinnie responded. He looked much better than he had the last time I’d seen him when he’d just gotten the news about his sister’s killer.