Cruel Summer

“Well then, you’ve got me,” I say in mock surrender, holding my hands up.

Tomasso’s eyes narrow in on the gesture but I watch as Tizzy fights off a smile.

He’d definitely be my type of person, in and out of the bedroom, if he wasn’t an insecure, closeted Rossi.

“And you think coming in here being a smart ass is going to get you that alliance?” Tomasso asks, a muscle jumping in his jaw.

“No,” I confess, letting my hands drop down. “But like you, I’ve been hearing things, and the last thing I heard was that you wanted to know who snitched on your father.”

Both men go completely quiet and I know I’ve got them right where I want them.

Everyone loves them a good rat.

I look at my own mouse, finding her watching me, her eyes wide. She doesn’t have the whole story but that last bit definitely just caught her attention.

I look away from her, sitting back in my seat, grinning as I fold my leg over my knee. “So if you want that information confirmed, I suppose you may want to consider our request.”

The two men exchange a look before Tomasso’s gaze lazers in on me. “How do we know that you can get the information?”

“Because I already have it.” It hadn’t taken long to get in touch with our new FBI contact after Polo had clued me in on what the Rossis wanted to know more than anything. It probably would have been quicker if we hadn’t had to have gotten rid of our old contact, Cressida, but well, no one likes a traitor.

I don’t think the law has pulled her body out of the gulf yet. Lucia did a good job of weighing her down.

Tomasso blows out a breath. “Fine, let’s hear your proposal.”

I smirk. '“It’s simple, really. Everything stays the same as it is, except when we need you, you’ll allow us to borrow your men and your gunfire.”

“All in exchange for one little name?” Tizzy asks, a scowl on his face. He’s all business now.

“The offer would go both ways, we’d extend our own forces to you when you need it.”

“Except you don’t have near as many men as we do, that’s the reason you’re here,” Tomasso says. “Your daddy started a war that he wasn’t prepared for and when he finally died, he left your family with virtually no men. And your brother hasn’t been able to make the numbers back up.”

He hits the nail right on the fucking head and it makes me wonder where he’s getting all this information from, to be so damn accurate.

Our old bastard of a father had stirred up a bunch of shit before he died. Most of it we were able to claw our way out of, but the numbers game of our soldiers hadn’t been an easy fix. Not even close to it.

Most men in the family are legacies, like their fathers and grandfathers before them, loyal to the Costa family.

Like Vito.

Unfortunately, a lot of those legacies had died in the war with Seven Quad or took off, which means we didn’t want them sticking around anyway. I’d enjoyed taking each and every one of them out when Giovanni had given me the order. It’d taken a while to find all of them and Lucia had had to help as well, but it’d been worth it.

So now we’re only left with just a handful of legacies that are of age. In another five years or so there will be an entire generation of teenagers ready to learn the way of the life, but as of right now, they’re still sipping iceboxes on the fucking playground, oblivious to the world they’ve inherited.

And Giovanni doesn’t trust just anyone to allow in the family. It’d taken a lot of convincing on my part, and Enzo proving his loyalty, for him to be allowed in.

He’s not willing to pick up any more random men off the street.

I thought he’d come up with some sort of solution a year or two ago, but here we are. Not even Vito has been able to come up with a good solution, other than to make alliances with the families we don’t already have one with.

“Yeah, we may not have as many men, but we’ve definitely got the horse power. I know for a fact that your arsenal doesn’t come nearly as close to ours. And let’s face it, you’re about to go through a power struggle now that Daddy Dearest is about to have the book thrown at him.” Yeah, I’ve done some research myself. “There’s going to be a power vacuum and suddenly the people you thought were loyal to you are going to expose themselves.”

It was another reason we’d lost men. After our father had died, some of the old heads thought it was their right to take over, citing that Giovanni was too young and I was too out of hand, unhinged.

They’d been put right on down by my unhinged hand.

“And our numbers aren’t going to stay like this forever.” I don’t know whether it’s a lie or not to be honest, because who the fuck knows at this rate. I allow my gaze to move over Tomasso’s shoulder to Tizzy. “Plus, I’m sure along the way, you’ll find there’s things that you need that our family can provide.”

Tizzy’s eyes meet mine and his brow inches up the slightest, his gaze going to the back of his brother’s head. His eyes return to mine and his tongue traces along his lip.

I definitely wasn’t propositioning him, but if him taking it that way is how he’s going to be able to agree to this deal, then fuck it.

Tomasso is quiet for a long time and I know he’s the one who has the final choice. After a long moment, he finally nods his head. “Okay,” he mutters. “We’ll agree to helping you but if there’s any shady business, or you don’t make good on your end, then this whole thing is off and you’ll have another war to worry about.”

I smirk at him. “No problem at all.”

“Now, give me the name of the informant.”

“Of course.” I lean in closer, enjoying the way both men look at me in anticipation. “The informant is Tullio Rossi, your brother.”