Page 57 of Forbidden Bond

“For who?”

“Evander.”

“Ouch, now, that’ll send Vex a message. Smart.” Impressed, her friend didn’t seem surprised. “It’ll run tomorrow? Day after? Plenty of time for Silvio to wonder about his kid. Hustle was a clusterfuck.”

“Lives were lost.”

“Yeah.”

“How did you get out of there?”

“That’s on your guy. Man didn’t even flinch when he walked in there. Crowded with Vex’s ass kissers, weapons, the works. Had me surrounded every which way and Ire just… strolled on in like it was a day in the park.”

Never shy, and full of confidence, her guy would front it out probably until the day he died.

Fear was foreign to their leader. “He doesn’t get scared.”

“You told me that.”

“Conn’s already put a bullet in Evander’s gut.”

“Ah, that’s what it was. They talked about something the rest of us couldn’t follow. Vex didn’t want to relive that night, but he sure was pissed about it. And, I’ll say, he’s not Mensa material, he actually seemed surprised Ire showed up.”

Although Evander asked her to come alone, he couldn’t really have thought she would. Conn would’ve put a bulletthrough Strat, through anyone, before letting her walk in there by herself. He’d remind her it’s about pride.

“What did he think would happen?”

“You’d show up, I guess,” her friend said. “Boy doesn’t understand why people fear and respect his father and men like Ire.”

“Because he never grew up. In his opinion, he’s entitled to position and power. It’s a birthright, and he flouts respect on the field.”

“Doesn’t understand he’s nothing but a child pissing in a pool no one else is swimming in.”

“Do you think he’ll come for you?” she asked. The answer was kind of a given, yet she said it out loud to ensure her friend faced it. “On the street.”

“No.” Strat shifted higher again. “‘Cause I don’t think your guy will let him live that long. I’m surprised he let him leave Hustle alive.”

“Killing a Manzani son comes with repercussions.”

“Yeah, love him or hate him, Silvio would have to avenge his son. It’d be a sign of weakness to let that slide. People on the street, anyone in the country familiar with the family…” Which was a lot of people, probably most, some helped by her exposé. “They hear a son is dead and the father lets it go? He can’t do that; he has to hit the murderer full force. The legend is, in some ways, more important than the reality.”

Hmm, suspicious, she probed. “Sounds like something meant for Conn’s ears.”

“And this is the only way it gets there. Think he shoots the shit with me?”

“I listened to you once before about that.” Drawing a knee up to the bed, she got closer. “Then I opened my stupid mouth and it came out wrong.”

“When?”

“The night at my grandfather’s. In the car and I, stupidly…” Almost unable to believe it was true, she scrunched her hair in a fist. “I told him if we ever had to leave town in a hurry, I wouldn’t ask questions. That he should just show up and—”

“He took it to mean you had no faith in him.”

“At the worst possible moment, and then with how the night ended, it was just, I couldn’t tell him I was sorry.”

“That’s what you get letting crazy people like me in your head.”

And in her heart. “I feel better that you’re here.”

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