Page 23 of Lie to Me

We need to find out what the fuck is going on with our shipments and figure out who hell is playing with us. This shit with Sloane could be completely unrelated, but my gut is saying it’s somehow connected.

I step into my dad’s office where he and both of my brothers are already waiting. I’d usually be one of the first ones here, but I wanted to make sure Sloane got to work okay before I came. Their bewildered expressions make sense, they’ve never known me to be late for anything.

“Where are we with whoever is fucking with our shipments?” I grunt.

“That’s it? Not even gonna explain why you’re late? Are you okay? I’ve never known you be late for a thing in your life, little brother. I’m pretty sure Mom gave birth to you at exactlymidnight on your due date,” Luca snarks. I grunt at him in response. It’s time he finds out about Sloane, but I want an update first and foremost.

He sighs and lounges back on the sofa where he’s sitting next to Enzo while I lean against the wall facing them as Dad sits in the armchair.

“We have nothing. Nobody has anything. Each of the four main organizations have been hit.” Meaning us, the Irish, the Columbians and the Russians. “O’Brien’s shipments seem to be getting hit more than the rest, but we’re still being fucked with either way,” Luca says.

“Could it be one of them, but they’re making it look like they’re being hit, too, as a way to cover it up?” Enzo asks.

“Nope. I thought that could be a possibility, but I looked into it and everything seems legit,” Dad adds.

“How much more are the Irish being hit than the rest of us?” I ask, my gut instincts screaming that that note Sloane received isn’t just some fucked up coincidence.

“At least double the amount as the rest of us,” Luca says, and I curse under my breath without thinking. The sound doesn’t go unnoticed as Luca’s head snaps my way and hit eyes narrow.

Meanwhile, my dear little shit-stirrer of a brother grins at me. “Care to explain to the rest of us why you’re so upset about the Irish being hit, big bro?”

I grunt at him and take a seat. I’m pretty sure I’m about to be interrogated, so I may as well get comfortable.

I turn my attention to my father. “Sloane had a note posted under her door last night. There’s no evidence that it’s linked to whoever is fucking with us, but my gut says it’s somehow connected.”

My dad’s expression goes from laidback to furious in a second. I feel a rush of warmth at the fact that he doesn’t even know her, she could be considered an enemy, but my feelings for her eraseanything that could be held against her as he automatically goes into protective mode.

Luca looks between me and our father, and I can just tell he’s brimming with questions, but Dad speaks before he can voice them.

“What did the note say? And how was it delivered?”

“The note said, ‘Do they know? They don’t take death of their own lightly’ but Sloane wouldn’t elaborate who the ‘they’ were or who it was about. The note was slipped under her door. I’m not sure when, but she found the note when she came home late while she was on the phone to me.”

“I’m sorry, but who the fuck is Sloane?” Luca asks and Enzo chuckles.

I take a deep breath before blowing it out. “Sloane O’Brien.”

“You mean the girl who used to attend those galas? Finn’s twin sister? Why the hell were you talking to her? I didn’t even know she was back in town.”

Here we go.

“She left town ten years ago,” I say, hesitating before I say the painful part. “She left after I ruined us.”

Luca blinks at me, seemingly at a loss for words while my father and Enzo send me pitiful looks.

“I don’t… I don’t understand, what did you ruin?” Luca asks once he finally pulls himself together.

“My life,” I admit with a self-deprecating laugh. “I ruined my fucking life. She’s my Izzy, Luca,” I say so he understands who she is to me as I run my palm down my face.

His eyes widen in shock. He opens his mouth, as though he’s about to say something, before snapping it shut and narrowing his eyes. It’s not quite a glare pointed at me, more like he’s trying to process the information.

His features harden, and I wait for to call me out for being an asshole and keeping this from him—which would be fair—only my big brother shocks the shit out of me.

“We’ll talk about what happened between the two of you later. Right now, we need to focus on who’s leaving your girl notes and who’s fucking with us. We need a meeting with Finn, too, at some point, to make sure he doesn’t have any bright ideas of coming between the two of you.”

“Yeah… only she’s not actually my girl, Luca. I’m not sure she’ll ever forgive me for the shit that happened between us.”

Luca sits forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands. “Do you love her?” he asks.

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