Page 36 of Shark Bait

“Temper, temper,” I say under my breath.

Blue eyes harden when they look at me. “My sister is in your corner.”

I shrug. “I’m an excellent fighter, and she likes to win.”

“You endangered us.”

Alessio makes no exceptions for the safety of his family. He’s trying to do so for me now, but he can’t forget the thousands of enemies we made over the years as he rose to power and became one of the wealthiest men in the world. People want to hurt us. Troy could be our Trojan horse.

“I’ll marry her. She will be my wife, and that is how everything will fall into place.”

“Just because you take a woman as your wife doesn’t mean she’ll fit into our family.” Alessio closes his eyes, opens them. “How could you put me in this position? You of all people. You break my fucking heart.”

“I’m sorry, my friend. I didn’t have a choice. It was a split-second decision, and I spared her life. I’ve never spared a life before, and it seemed significant. Call it God’s will. Call it the will of the universe, but I went with my gut.”

“It was not God. It was not gut. It was a lapse in judgment.”

“Yes, Alessio.” He can’t wrap his head around Troy right now. He’ll come around.

“Have you looked into her?” he asks.

“Not yet.”There go my teeth.

“Shall we look into her together, then?” Alessio opens his laptop. “Grab a chair.”

It’s not a suggestion.

TWELVE

WHO IS TROY MONGOMERY?

SHARK

Troy Montgomery was born in a small town near Nashville, Tennessee, to Carl and Nancy Montgomery, a sheriff and a veterinary nurse respectively. The couple has been married for thirty years. They’ve got six children: five boys and one girl, Troy.

Her social media profile goes back years, and in nearly all her videos and images, Troy carries a guitar as if the thing were glued to her.

Alessio plays a video of a young Troy dating back ten years ago, so from when she was nine. She’s wearing a peach dress with brown cowboy boots and is sitting on a couch playing a guitar in her living room. Next to her sits an older boy who looks just like her. He’s also playing a guitar.

They’re performing a country song when she starts belting out something that sounds more like alternative rock. He laughs as she sings and plays, but becomes serious as she carries on.

After the song is over, he says, “I’ve never heard that one before.”

“That’s ’cause I just made it. Duh.”

I chuckle and point to the screen. “Sassy.”

The boy widens his eyes. “You mean to tell meyouwrote that?”

She nods, and the boy playfully elbows her. “You lyin’.”

“Not lying, Levi.” From the pocket of her dress, she pulls out a bunch of papers. She starts laying them one by one on her lap. “See?”

Liam puts away his guitar, scoots closer, and starts reading. He looks up at young Troy, and from the way she smiles, I can tell she’s happy he’s impressed.

“Those lines are real good, sis. Denver, come here, check out Troy’s lyrics.”

A young man wearing dirty jeans and a red checkered flannel shirt walks over with a bag of potato chips. He munches as he reads the papers on her lap, offering the other two some chips.

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