Page 136 of As the World Falls

James

Flames touching the sky dance in my vision. Smoke begins billowing out of every crack and opening in the burning building.

The funny thing about being someone out of the mafia is that you’re never truly out. Even if you think you’ve cut all ties, there will always be at least one left. For me, it was Stef, who will always be my family whether I like it or not.

Stef’s maniacal smile blazes alongside the burning warehouse. We figured out that the warehouse we’re currently at belonged to Dante and that he was also recently there, having regular meetings with Chuck and Hodge, who have entirely joined forces with him.

My shit and Stef’s shit have now become a collective shit show.

Chuck was a problem for me, but he became a bigger problem by partnering with Dante, who was Stef’s problem since he was trying to take over the city right out from under Stef. One of the quicker ways for him to achieve that is to get any city politicians on his side, which he seemed to have done with Chuck.

So here we were, burning down one of their warehouses that held a shit ton of the weaponry they had stocked and hidden to make trades doing gunrunning. Stef makes large amounts of money doing the same, kind of like me with crystals, but Dante is trying to undermine his trades and steal clientele. The only way we knew this was, thankfully, said clientele, who is extremely loyal to the Luccio family, tipped us off. One of Dante’s biggest underestimations was the loyalty of other families to Luccio. He'd never found the same respect that Stef had earned, and it was already becoming one of his biggest downfalls.

“He’s going to retaliate big time after this,” I tell Stef as we get back inside his car and leave the warehouse.

“Let him. I’ll always come back tenfold. The Amato’s will never be as powerful as me and my family. It’s amusing he’s even trying.”

“That’s fine, but let’s not forget, I’m out of this scene as soon as we take care of Chuck and Hodge. I’m done.”

“Until the next thing, brother. Until the next thing,” Stef chimes.

I just shook my head because, as annoying as it was, he was probably right. Even without being family, our paths will always have a way of crossing.

“Whatever,” I sigh. “Just take me back to my apartment. I want to get back to Boston as soon as possible.” I needed to relax the rest of the day and wanted to get out of my head. I thought I’d surprise Cecilia at the library and wind down there for a little while. It also wouldn’t be horrible to remind her little friend of my place in her life. I didn’t like her being alone with him, even with Marco standing guard.

I can typically get a general idea of people when I meet them. Read them like a book, so to speak. Lance, on the other hand, keeps surprising me with his relentless urgency towards Cecilia. I didn’t like how often she’s had to express her disinterestin him. So, keeping up appearances around him felt like an excellent reminder of that.

“Back to your girlfriend, huh?” Stef muses.

I sigh irritably. “Of course, and don’t call her that. She’s much more than that.”

“God, you’re weird,” he laughs, shaking his head. “I never expected this side of you. I’m speechless.”

“If only you actually were,” I mumble.

He laughs obnoxiously. “Look at you making jokes now, too. You’re a far cry from the sad little London boy I picked up years ago. You make big brother so proud.”

I cringe at his mocking tone. “Please don’t refer to yourself that way.”

He makes a pouting face now. “Whatever, you’re no fun.”

I shake my head now but can’t help the smirk growing on my face. “I’ll never understand how you are who you are with the personality that you have.”

He grins with pride. “It’s called variety, brother. Try a little less brooding and get some.”

I sigh. “Can you just drive me home, please?”

A couple of hours later, I stride into Stone Corridor, casing the place for Cecilia. I stop short when I find her, keeping my distance so I don’t expose my presence yet. She was standing in the middle of the young adult section, holding a stack of books in one arm and using her other hand to play rock, paper, scissors with Marco. When she wins, she snickers and drops the stack of books into his hands. He reluctantly takes them and puts them away while she explains the difference between High Fae and your average faeries.

“It’s pretty much just a power thing. They rule the lands and might possess different or stronger abilities due to their higher rank in power and—” Her words die off when she sees me step forward, a smile slowly spreading over her features. My heartfelt like it beat way too hard when I saw her smile at the sight of me. “James? What are you doing here?” She walks over to me, stands on the tips of her toes, and kisses me.

“I wanted to stop by and hang out for a bit. I needed to get out for a little while.”

She scrunches her nose up as she observes me. “I thought you had a meeting with Stefano earlier?”

“I did, hence why I need to get some air and relax.”

“Is everything okay?”

---