Page 113 of Dangerous Rhythm

Their recordings would still be a good asset to have if they ever ran into trouble with the Stilettos again. But at this moment, Curtis and she could only trust Tony at his word.

Curtis held out a hand and nodded. “Good luck with your family.”

Tony firmly shook his hand. “Thank you.”

Returning to the defeated-looking Serafina, Tony urged his mother to walk with him. “Let’s go,Mamma. We’ve arranged a beautiful retirement for you. Remember when I was little, you said if you didn’t have to be who you were, you’d love a small villa on Elba?”

Connor and Sofia came to them, their hands clasped. “Thank you for…” Connor searched for the right word, “…facilitating this.”

“I’m just glad it worked out,” Curtis said, relieved. “Serafina showing up was—”

“A blessing in disguise,” Sofia said. “It pushed Tony to take the final step and me to realize whatever happened, I can’t live without Connor.”

She looked at Connor with a smile. “We’re getting married.”

“Oh, thank god. Finally.” Connor beamed and pulled her into a hug.

“Congratulations!” Curtis exclaimed, shocked.

The news shocked more than the two of them because a high-pitched shriek filled the air. “No!”

“Watch out!” Tony warned.

Lina had literal seconds as she saw Serafina throw a thin dagger, and it flew at them. She didn’t think, she only knewshe had to stop the dagger. She barely registered Curtis shoving Connor and Sofia away. Her focus was on the incoming knife.

She could feel it as it flew past her cheek and her fingers caught it by the tip of the blade. Years of training controlled her next reaction as her arm swung back and flung the dagger at Serafina.

There was no scream this time. Silence filled the air as Serafina fell back onto the floor, undignified. The sharp tip of her blade imbedded on the concrete floor between her spread legs.

Her face white as she almost faced her own death, Serafina stared at Lina with petrified eyes as Lina advanced toward her. The heartless woman finally shook with fear as Lina pulled the dagger out of the floor.

“If you ever try that again, I won’t miss next time,” Lina warned.

Lina turned her deadly stare at Tony, who was as shaken up as his mother. “You better take your mother home, Tony.”

Before I kill her.

forty-three

Curtis couldn’t sit still as the B&Y team reviewed the footage from the meeting. He stopped and watched when they got to the part when Serafina had launched her attack.

“Did you see how fast Lina moved?” he asked, still flabbergasted.

“Your knife game is rusty,” Kate teased Lina as she dressed the cuts on Lina’s fingers, which she’d sustained from catching the flying dagger.

Lina just smirked.

“That’s rusty?” Curtis’ eyes rounded. “Holy shit.”

“Okay, settle down, fanboy,” Marcus said as he turned off the monitor. “We got lucky it turned out the way it did.”

“The Stiletto kids are fed up with mommy dearest,” Ken quipped. “Can’t blame them.”

Marcus leaned on the desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you trust Tony to keep his word? Can he control Serafina?” he asked Lina.

“I think his family depends on it. To divide and give away parts of the Stilettos’ businesses to Serafina’s people—ex-people now—is a smart way to strip power from her and keep those people happy,” Lina said.

“That’s a huge financial sacrifice,” Kate muttered as she finished bandaging Lina’s hand.

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