Page 26 of Savage Hero

I don’t know if he can hear me grinding my teeth, but something stops him dead. Maybe it’s my glare. “I can’t go against my father’s wishes, you know that.” I glance around, scanning as far as I can see. It’s late—there shouldn’t be any servants about, but I’m not taking any chances.

With a flick of my fingers, I lead Vito into the home cinema. When I close the door behind me, it’s as if we’re in a soundproofed bubble—which, technically, we are. I flick on the 85” flat screen and switch it to the sports channel.

“Should we talk in code too?” Vito quips.

Instead of punching him like I so desperately want to, I head over to the small bar along the back of the wall and take two beers out of the fridge beside the popcorn machine. There’s a cigarette dispenser in here too—I grab Vito’s brand of smokes and tear open a new packet, lighting myself one before tossing the box at him.

When he sees me smoking, concern puts creases in the corners of his eyes. “Hey man, what’s going on?” Vito steps closer, taking the beer I hand him and absently popping off the lid. “This about your dad? I know he looks a little worse for wear, but I’m sure he’s going to be—”

“Father will be fine,” I cut in as I lean against the countertop. “It’ll take more than a fucking bullet to kill him.” My eyes are on the game, but all I see are smudges of color. “It’s abouther.”

“The girl or the baby?”

“Nyx.” The smoke scratches my throat and burns my lungs. I haven’t lit a cigarette in years, and the fact that I was craving one so badly makes me as worried as Vito.But it’s been a long, complicated day so I’m chalking it up to that.

“Is this where I finally hear what her story is?”

“I don’t know what her fucking story is,” I growl, flicking ash into the ashtray. “All I know is she had every intention of killing my father.”

“Shewhat?” Vito says through an incredulous chuckle. “You’re joking, right? Wait, is that why she’s dressed like a guy?” He lets out a barrel full of deep belly laughs. If I wasn’t ready to murder someone, I might have cracked a smile. Maybe.

“I have to get rid of her. But now Father thinks she saved his life, and for some reason he’s forcing her to work for us.”

“Did she save his life?”

I tug at the cigarette. It’s not doing its job—I still feel like I’m walking on razor blades. “Kinda.”

“Can’t really see this being a gray area, Savage. She either did or she—”

“She warned us about Bogota’s drive-by. I’m pretty sure she only did it to save the civilians in the restaurant, but it saved Bryan’s life. Mine too.”

“And the baby’s.”

“Shut up about the fucking baby!” I turn to him, glaring as I stub out the cigarette. I immediately snatch another box from the dispenser, but Vito plucks it from my fingers before I can open it.

“This isn’t going to help,” he says, shoving the box of cigarettes into his suit pocket. He rummages around for a few seconds and then pulls out a silver tube. When he pops it open, a joint slides out. “But this might.”

I fill him in on everything that happened at the restaurant while we smoke the joint. I leave out the part where I had Nyx pinned to the wall though—I’m still not sure why the fuck I did that in the first place, and I don’t need Vito trying to help me figure it out.

He knows me as Savage—and he knows all the things I’ve done to earn that nickname. If I told him all the times I was weak today, he’d lose every ounce of respect he has for me.

The weed does its job. My edginess starts blurring at the edges, anger slowly ebbing away. But it has its own side effects, switching on parts of my brain I usually keep dormant.

Now I’m starting to feel all sorts of shit, and I like none of it.

“How am I going to get rid of her without my father knowing what I did?” I twist to look at Vito. He’s sitting in the recliner beside mine, his nearly flat.

“Slip her out of the house and tell Bryan she escaped.”

“He’ll blame me for not looking after her.”

“Now you’re her fucking mother?” Vito rolls his head to the side and frowns at me.

“He put me in charge of Nick.” I toy with my bottom lip as I look away. “And then he told her she’s working for us now. I can only assume he expects me to show her the ropes.”

“Fuck. What happens when he finds out she’s a girl?”

“He won’t.” I shake my head. I’m lightheaded, but I stand anyway. “I’ll tell him I don’t trust her—Nick.”

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