Page 67 of Brutal Power

“He could’ve killed you today. It’s bad enough you refuse guards?—”

“You refuse guards?” I stare at Brody, feeling outraged.

He sighs and gives his brother a hard look. “Thanks for that. It’s all I’m going to hear about for the next week.”

“Goddamn right,” I say, getting to my feet. “Brody Quinn, how can you be so stupid?”

Seamus gestures at me. “The girl’s right. You are stupid. We need to hit Santoro back before he thinks he can do whatever the fuck he wants to us.”

“And you need to start bringing guards with you everywhere you go!” I’m ready to throw my damn shoe at my stubborn asshole of a husband.

“First of all,” Brody says, gesturing at me. “I’m a lawyer. A respectable lawyer. A fuckingtaxlawyer. I can’t show up atthe office chauffeured by dangerous thugs.” Then he points at Seamus. “And you need to stop being so fucking bloodthirsty. It wasn’t an ambush earlier, it was a meeting.”

“That’s not how Mom described it.”

“Mom got it wrong.” He grimaces and gets to his feet. “Enough, both of you. I’m handling this.”

“Santoro could’ve killed you,” I say through my teeth. “And you’re too stubborn to have guards.”

“We should be out there showing Santoro that we can’t be fucked with!” Seamus says.

Brody slams his hand on his desk. “Enough.” He turns on his brother. “Drop it. I have a plan and I don’t need you fucking that up by going all cowboy on me. And you.” He turns to me and softens. “I’ll consider the guards.”

“He listens to reason,” I say, beaming.

But Seamus looks disgusted. “We’re not finished. I’ll see you in the office.” He storms out and slams the door.

Brody stares thoughtfully after his brother before gesturing me over. I go to him and let him pull me into his arms, even though I’m still annoyed.

“This is hard on everyone,” he says, and I know what he means. His family’s struggling with the idea of fighting this war, and Seamus in particular seems to be taking it to heart. “Now, where were we?” He tries to kiss me, but I push him away.

“You were about to call some of your guys to drive you to work. And I was about to go home.”

He groans as I wriggle from his grip. “It’s hard being the boss.”

“You’ll survive.” I give him a hard look. “If I hear that you’re moving around the city alone, I’m going to be pissed. No more of that. Do you understand?”

“I’ll do what I can.” His jaw works and I can tell he’s getting annoyed. I decide that’s the best I’ll get and leave him alone.

But if he thinks this is the last time we’ll talk about this, he’s crazy.

He’s too important to me to let it go.

Chapter 35

Elena

Iwatch from my upstairs window as Brody climbs out of a black town car driven by a man I don’t recognize. Another guy’s sitting up front. He looks annoyed as he comes to the front door and it puts a smile on my face.

My husband actually listened to me.

I like that. It feels strangely powerful. Brody doesn’t seem like the kind of man who takes advice easily, at least not when he thinks he’s right, but he made an exception for me.

Downstairs I pour us both some wine and we eat together out back. He talks about his tax clients and we don’t talk about mafia issues for a little while. If I close my eyes, I could almost pretend like we were a normal couple.

“You know, I just realized something earlier,” I say, studying my handsome husband as the sun sets over the oasis. If there was ever a more perfect evening, I can’t picture it. “You never told me what you did to Omar.”

His eyebrows raise in mock surprise. “Really? I didn’t? I can’t imagine why.”

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