I could never decide if I was proud or sick when I thought of the violence they would grow into.
Their table was weapon free, littered with plastic forks, and enough juice to feed a small army. Thank God we got the wine.
“Rules,” Tex barked.
We all sighed and took out our weapons and placed them on the table so everyone could see—just in case another fight broke out, which almost always happened considering we were hard-headed Italians and discussions were more like yelling matches where we tried to talk over one another until someone finally stood, raised a gun, and pulled the trigger.
“So.” Tex leaned back, in his chair like the fucking king of the Cost Nostra he was and grinned. His reddish-brown hair was messy like he’d run his hands through it more than once, and he was wearing a tight black shirt that did nothing to hide his ridiculously buff body. In a word, he was fucking terrifying. “It must be bad since nobody wants to talk about it.”
I grunted, and then I explained everything Breaker had discovered only to get nervous when the room grew quieter and quieter.
“What’s your plan?” Chase interrupted, unbuttoning the front of his suit and taking off his jacket. His expression was hard; his blue eyes flashed with something that I recognized in my own soul—the need for revenge, the need to inflict pain. He was in politics now, though, and he wasn’t allowed to get his hands as dirty as he’d like, so he had to live through us vicariously.
“Easy.” I grabbed the knife I’d set on the table and thumbed it with a grin. “We lure them into our web by way of partying, gain as much intel as we can, and we keep the Families safe.”
Tex looked at each of the bosses, Chase, Nixon, my dad, Dante, Sergio, Andrei. All of them wore similar expressions of trepidation. “What’s the ruling?”
Dante, the youngest, spoke first. “Be discreet.”
Tex snorted out a laugh. “And by discreet he means, try not to chop anyone’s heads off mmmkay? If you need clean up, you know who to call.”
“One more thing,” Chase spoke with quiet authority. “You remember how to ID them, right?”
“Of course,” I said confidently. “They’ll be the ones that want in the most.”
“Yes.” My dad looked up from his plate. “Junior, are you sure you can do this? Maybe it’s best if—”
“Are you shitting me right now?” I yelled, jumping to my feet as my chair toppled backward. “Why would you even ask that?”
My dad said nothing.
It was Andrei who spoke. “Because…” His blue eyes flashed. “You could be killing one of your cousins in cold blood.” He gripped a knife in his hand, then held it to King’s throat before anyone could do anything. “His age, one of them could be his age, and if he attacks, if he tries anything, you’ll have to pull this blade across his soft skin—killing an enemy is one thing, killing an enemy that looks like your family, that has the same blood running through their veins… is quite another.”
My nostrils flared. “And yet I was ready to kill Serena this afternoon—”
Nixon jumped to his feet.
My dad followed, his right hand moving to his gun like I was the one who needed protection.
I rolled my eyes. “It was an example, chill out, old man. I’m just saying, don’t doubt me, and don’t doubt us. It’s fucking insulting, especially since you created us.” I leveled each of them with a glare. “You did this, so I’d really appreciate it if you’d stop looking guilty for forcing us to survive in a world full of people who’d rather see us dead.”
“I think—” Tex grinned at me like he appreciated my sociopathic tendencies. “—we have our answer then. It’s settled. We eat, and the children… hunt.”
I sat back down. My dad didn’t grab his gun, but something shifted in Chase’s glance as he stared at me then over at Nixon.
I was trying to figure out why they were looking at me funny when I glanced over at Serena and noticed her eyes were glassy.
Shit.
I’d hurt her feelings.
And for some reason, she chose this moment to crack, to show them that it affected her, that I affected her, which meant one thing.
To protect us both.
To honor the love we once had.
I would need to become her greatest enemy.
“Hate you for as long as we both shall live…”
We’d been slipping.
And we couldn’t.
Not now.
Not when we had enemies at our door.
“That time of the month, Serena?” I lifted my wineglass to my lips and earned a scowl from her before a knife got thrown in my direction. “Missed.”
Ash groaned. “Nope, no, she didn’t. Little warning next time?”
He pulled the knife from his arm as blood dripped down his biceps.
Everyone chuckled.
“Maybe if you’d stop trying to feel up your girlfriend under the dinner table…” Chase teased, earning a smack in the back of the head by Luc. “Hey, that hurt!”