Page 71 of Alik

But Finn…

He looks at me with his head tilted slightly, his eyes dancing around my face. What I’m saying might make sense to the rest of the men, but I specifically asked him to tell me when they planned to go after Olive, and when I thought they had, I was furious. I didn’t talk like a man who’d intended to kill her myself or one who even knew it was happening.

If he digs into this at all, confirms it’s the same girl, it won’t be hard for him to figure out I’m lying.

Worse, he’ll figure out I was the guy who showed up to protect Olive.

“We had nothing to do with this,” Anthony reiterates.

Cormac nods, his hard eyes aimed at Nikita. “I trust that’s true.”

“Regardless,” Nikita spreads out his palms, “I think we can all agree this girl is a problem. She turned one of yours,” he points to Settimo, then after a moment, moves his finger toCormac, “snitched on yours, and murdered one of ours. And she’s on the loose with the Italian as we speak, probably still whispering in Daddy’s ear about us. I say we pull our resources and find the bitch before the end of the night.”

Anthony’s nose wrinkles. “Are you insane?”

The slight, friendly smile Nikita wears dips into a thinly veiled sneer. His hands lower. “Excuse me?”

“No one is killing the daughter,” Cormac replies for Anthony. “Even if she’s the pest you say she is, she’s abelovedpest. And one of theirs. We may as well paint targets on our backs right along with you.”

Nikita’s blazing eyes widen. I’ll hand it to him, he’s kept his cool throughout this meeting. He almost looked normal for a moment or two.

My God, he reminds me of Olive.

“So we’re to be cowards, then?” he asks through gritted teeth.

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe this is the reason the DEA is targeting you?” Anthony asks, shaking his head in amazement. “I mean, fuck.”

“I suppose it’s easy for you to take that stance, considering the bitch is in bed with your organization. It’s almost as if you're protecting her,” Nikita says. His anger is so real that I wonder if he believes his own words. If he’s forgotten that we’re the ones who used Olive. That all of this is our fault.

It’s curious that Cormac isn’t more worried, though. He didn’t evenconsiderkilling Olive when I pegged it as a sure thing.

I study his face but don’t see a flicker of concern. Only disgust for Nikita.

Nikita doesn’t seem to notice, too busy looking Anthony up and down. “It wouldn’t be the first time you were too weak to kill a woman.”

“Oh, go fuck yourself,” Anthony spits back with a roll of his eyes.

Nikita stomps into the circle, making my gaze snap to follow him. “Come again?”

Victor and Finn each reach for their guns, so I’m quick to do the same, watching carefully with my hand firmly on the handle while waiting to pull it out.

Come on, Nikita.

Don’t do something we can’t come back from.

When Anthony steps toward Nikita, Settimo shoves him out of the way to take his place.

“Awww, what a sweet big brother you are,” Nikita mocks.

Settimo glares. “What would you know about family?”

Nikita scoffs. “Not a goddamn thing, Settimo. Which is why you are weak, and I am not.”

“Really? Because it looks like one kick to your knee would make you crumble.”

“Jesus,” Cormac mutters. My eyes move to him as he shakes his head and gives the signal to his men that it’s time to go. They follow him toward the ladder.

“Where are you going?” Nikita growls.

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