Page 5 of Ruined

Reuben picked up his toast and went back to eating. "Gianni, in two days time I want you and Mina to go to Dusk Bay to see Daisy Lasalle. Try to find out if Kurt has made contact in any way. If he has, I want to know. And see if he has a twin named Frank."

"You don't think she's working with him behind our back?" Gianni asked.

"No, I don't," Reuben agreed. "But someone who works for her might be. Keep your eyes peeled. Someone out there knows where he is. Sooner or later, they'll make a mistake and we'll be there to deal with them. In the meantime, keep reminding everyone I don't tolerate people operating behind my back. If any of them think they can get away with it, we'll remind them they can't. Painfully or fatally, whichever is appropriate."

I loved it when he got authoritative like that. My clit throbbed in appreciation.

"Got it, boss," Gianni said. "Consider everyone threatened. If I was working against you, I'd be shaking in my shoes right now."

"If you were working against me, you'd have a bullet in your brain," Reuben said.

"Courtesy of me," Damon said.

"Lucky for all of us I'm not," Gianni said. "Especially Damon. He'd really, really hate to have to kill me." He winked at me.

"I'd hate to have to use up a perfectly good bullet," Damon said dryly.

"He'd cry over my grave." Gianni grinned.

"You said 'dance' wrong," Damon said.

"You dance?" I asked.

"No, but I'd make an exception for his grave." The sides of Damon's mouth twitched up in a hint of a smile. As far as I could tell, that was his equivalent of a grin.

"He really does adore me," Gianni said. "We'll probably be buried in adjoining graves. Side-by-side. In death as we were in life."

Damon grimaced. "Remind me to change my will so it says I have to be buried on the other side of Sydney."

"That's still close enough for me to haunt your dead ass," Gianni said.

I exchanged glances with Reuben, who looked amused at their banter.

"It's like having the twins around, but they're older," he said wryly.

I choked back a laugh.

"I think I'll have it revised to say I need to be buried on the other side of the world from all of you," Damon said, smirking at us.

"That sounds lonely," I said.

"It sounds quiet," he insisted.

"Quiet is overrated," Gianni remarked.

"No, it's not," Reuben said. "Damon might have a point."

"Says the man who has a family mausoleum that's nice and quiet," Gianni said.

Reuben shrugged, but looked smug.

I didn't much care what happened to me after I was dead, as long as no one haunted me. Then I'd be pissed off. Honestly, my life was haunted enough now as it was. By Kurt and by that girl.

"Where are my parents buried?" I asked. It hadn't occurred to me to wonder until now.

"On the other side of the city," Reuben said. "Did you want to pay them a visit?"

"We could dance on your father's grave," Gianni offered.