Page 37
She slaps me as Lex snorts. “Oh, I’m well aware.”
I stick my tongue out; she tries to slap me again, but I dart away.
“Seriously, why are you here?”
I flick my fingers at the Reaper, who is currently cradling a baby to his chest. It’s fucking weird to a see a killer so… nice. “Clan issue.”
The light in her vibrant eyes dies away. “Oh. So not a family visit.”
I shrug sheepishly.
With a baby on his shoulder, Lex sits down and hits another key. The computer processes, and I cringe. I’ll update his shit remotely—I cannot listen to that anymore.
“What do you have?” Killian asks.
“If this is accurate”—he cuts me a look and I flip him off—“then it’s right in the middle of the Scipione family’s territory.”
Killian tilts his head like a snake sizing up his prey. “What do you know?”
“Probably as much as you.” Sloane perches herself on the desk as Lex adjusts the baby. “Marco is the head of the family, having killed his older brother to take the throne. His son is understood to be next in line.”
“Freddie.”
Killian side-eyes me, but Lex nods. “He’s not too bright, but has a nasty temper. Anything he wants, Daddy gives him. I heard he’s engaged.”
My stomach twists. I remember his arm around my sunshine—his controlling stance. The way he seemed to mark his territory.
“Who?”
Lex exhales. “Valentina.”
Sloane’s lips pucker. “Who’s Valentina?”
The baby fusses, and Killian pats his back to soothe him. “Roman’s little sister.”
Her eyes widen. “So, Hayes’s little sister.”
The Reaper nods. “If the marriage goes through, the consolidation in wealth and resources will be extreme.”
“More than ours,” I add, gesturing to Lex and Sloane. “O’Brien and De Luca uniting was a once-in-a-lifetime event in our area. Irish and Italian? Never to happen. But combine two big-ass families across two different states?” I whistle. “Not pretty.”
“Unmatched power,” Killian agrees and gestures to the capo. “This doesn’t bode well for us. What does Scipione deal in?”
Lex curls his lips. “Girls,” he spits. “But he has his hands in the local PD. They let him run his girls unchecked on the street. His business is big and hard to break up.”
I pinch my brow. “Fuck. That’s fantastic.” With those kinds of resources, Scipione is next-level scary.
“Then you need that marriage to be dissolved,” Sloane says, crossing her legs. “No marriage, no threat.”
“Hard to do, menace,” Lex murmurs. “It’s rumored Freddie and Valentina have been arranged to marry since she was two. Scipione won’t just give her up.”
Sloane tsks. “Poor girl.” At her husband’s hard look, she waves him off. “You don’t count. I at least got to experience life before marriage, to know the real thing when I got it. She’ll be trapped.” Tapping her chin, she sighs. “She needs to know she can get out. Maybe have a friend on the outside. Just a little bit of reassurance.”
Lex gives her a poignant look. “Maybe.”
My brain spins, numbers and memories coming to be like a whirlwind. Valentina sneering at Freddie, the night of debauchery, and the way she broke Cherry out.
Cherry was a resource to the Bruno family. Without her—without the girls—the business falls apart.
