Page 73 of King of Temptation

I walk back through the bedroom, not bothering with a shirt as I meet my brother in the hall.

“You smell like sex,” Mason rumbles with a glare.

“I didn’t have time to shower.” Mason rarely has anything complimentary to say. It’s his nature to be dissatisfied. Charlotte is a rare exception and, Mason is completely smitten with his wife.

With good reason, they’re perfect for each other. And it’s refreshing to see that Mason can soften for someone.

Something I wish I’d seen sooner.

Then again, I’d been so full of anger…

Kim has cleared my head in ways I’d never imagined possible.

“I told you I’d be here at eleven.”

“What time is it?” I ask casually, leading the way down the stairs.

“Eleven thirty,” Mason retorts. “Which means I got to hear the very loud fuck you just gave my wife’s best friend.”

“What can I say?” But my skin prickles. I don’t want to share any part of Kim. Not even her screams.

“You can say that you’re not going to just hit and quit it because I don’t want to clean up another of your fucking messes, Leo.”

This is how Mason and I end up in fist fights. I should have known it was coming. Mason and I can only play nice for so long.

I spin, my hands clenched. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, bro.”

He stops, glaring back. “I was trying to be fine with it. You seemed to be helping her.”

I run a hand through my hair as I try to relax. Not fighting with my brother is one of my goals.

“Can we talk about last night and how the Italians came at us again? How they tried to use Kim to hurt us?”

“Right. Good idea,” Mason says, pushing past me and entering the kitchen, which is absolutely fantastic.

There’s a massive window over the sink, a view of the landscaped back yard, making the space light and airy.

On the island, Mason has a bag of food, which he begins to unpack.

“Look. I’ve got an idea I want to run by you.”

Mason stops. “You’re asking for my advice?”

“This is an everyone-in-agreement kind of plan,” I say with a deep breath. “And it’s definitely more grey than we’ve been living so…”

The jail time I face for turning over that footage is minimal. But me falling on the sword and killing Toni Carcetti, that time has passed. I need to live my life outside of prison. But I’ve got another idea, one that works even better than the one I was hatching before.

Mason straightens. I half expect him to shoot me down before I’ve even begun. “Grey is fine with me. If they’re going to come after our women, we’ll do whatever is necessary.”

I agree.

Taking a deep breath, I start. “We both know that Toni has two daughters.”

Mason’s jaw tightens. “It’s that kind of plan.”

“Yeah. And Jake is key so he’s going to have to be all in too.” I take a breath. “And we might need an assist from the Dukes. They’re less known in this town and we might need them to do some tracking and baiting for us.”

“Explain.”

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