Page 84 of Cage of Thorns and Blood

Nico nods. “I tend to agree. Shall I have James organize it, so they meet a sticky end?”

“Won’t we need a ton of men?”

Nico shakes his head. “Let’s read the report, but if they’re street level assholes who are as disorganized as the London crew were, then James has ways of dealing with them that mean they quietly disappear. He and some of my men who work closely with him specialize in that kind of thing.”

Jesus. Really? I remember to pay James the due respect he’s clearly owed when I see him.

“Then let’s read the report, but I agree; we get rid of them,” Clifford says. “Especially if your man can make them disappear without trace.”

“He has his methods,” Nico says with a dark smile.

“Does it involve matchsticks being stirred into their morning coffee?” Clifford asks,

Nico stares at him for a long beat, and I cuff him upside the head. He starts to laugh, then there’s a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Nico says.

Speak of the devil and all that. James walks in. I study him as he heads to the desk, opens a drawer, and takes out a phone. He glances up at us as if he’s just realized we’re all staring at him.

“Do I have a hair out of place?” he asks deadpan.

There’s a quietness to him that contrasts with Nico’s more grating arrogance, but I recognize it immediately for what it is. James is one deadly motherfucker.

“No, we just need you to quietly kill a lot of people,” Nico says.

“Oh, well, that’s okay then.” James smirks. “Let me have the details and the coordinates, and I’ll make it happen.”

“Do you use…” I slap my hand over Clifford’s mouth before he can utter another word.

James stares at us for a long beat, cold, calculating, and then he shrugs and leaves.

When the door closes, I glance at Nico. “He’s an intimidating motherfucker,” I state on a laugh.

“Just a bit,” Nico says with a grin. “But he puts the fear of death in my enemies.”

I laugh, and Nico offers us more brandy.

Life is so strange. Here I am with the enemy of my family, drinking and about to marry his sister.

I down my brandy in one go and rise. “I’m going to find Renata,” I say.

Ever since I heard those bastards wanted to decapitate her, I need to touch her and reassure myself she’s in one piece.

I find her in a massive room, with high ceilings and polished floors, laughing as Derek whirls her across the floor in a waltz.

It’s only the fact that he’s in love with my cousin that saves Derek from death.

“Renata.”

Derek stops dancing immediately and steps away from her. Wise man.

“Come here,” I say as I crook my fingers at her.

I turn to Derek. “Do you mind giving us a moment?”

“Not at all.”

He waves bye to Renata, and then we’re alone.

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