Page 54 of Broken Promises

“You don’t give a fuck about?—”

“I never claimed to be a saint, Beckett, but your sister means more to me than almost anyone. I had no one in my corner when I met her, but she showed me loyalty and friendship like no one had before. I see her as family, and I’ll protect her like my own flesh and blood. You don’t have to fucking like me, but I don’tfuck around with her safety. Not anymore,” I growled, grabbing the sponge and hose to get back to cleaning my car.

“Good to hear it,” Slash muttered, still looking at me like I was the devil, but at least he had less murder in his eyes. “You worked closely with Stefano, right?”

“I sold drugs for him, and he checked in regularly to keep tabs on me, yes,” I answered as I scrubbed.

“You’re not some secret spy for him?”

“No. He tried to hurt Raven and Zavier, so the fucker’s going to die,” I said bitterly, looking over at him. “I’m taking him down and hoping Dante takes over. He’s not so damn cold like his father, and he has good business smarts.”

“Stefano was probably less cold at Dante’s age too. The industry turns you that way over the years. No one’s born a cold-blooded killer, you become one,” Rory said flatly.

“No one touches Dante,” I barked, not wanting him to get dragged into this mess all because his father was a prick. “We can’t choose our families.”

“We can. If Dante chooses his father?—”

“Dante hates the prick and wants him dead, but then he’ll be labeled a traitor. I can deal with Stefano so Dante is free to step up as head of the family. I’ve got it all planned out, I just need to set up a time when I have better eyes on him.”

Slash nodded slowly, seeming to think about it for a moment. “Let’s say you successfully take down the head of the mafia. Then what?”

“Then Dante takes his place and everything goes back to normal. Taking down an organization from the inside out isn’t a quick thing to achieve. It’s not like I can have daily meetings with Dante to figure it out or we’d get busted. I just have to keep Zav and Raven safe long enough to put the plan into motion,” I explained, relieved when everyone seemed to take a step back and calm down more.

“You’re plotting with his son to take him down?” Rory asked, waiting for me to nod before turning to Beckett. “This is why we don’t kill people who annoy us. They come in handy sometimes.”

“Fucking hypocrite,” Slash muttered under his breath, wheezing as Rory elbowed him in the side. “Damn, Killer. Keep your boney little elbows to yourself. I’m your boss.”

“Sure you are,” she scoffed, shooing Beckett. “You, go home.”

“Seriously? Raven’s staying with him. She—” Beckett didn’t get to finish.

“I’m aware. Diesel gave him the third degree this morning when he dropped her off at the house. He knows he’s dead if anything happens to her.”

I was a little happy that he’d threatened me too. Raven needed a father figure who wasn’t a piece of shit, and she seemed to like him.

Beckett flipped me off like a brat and stalked off to her Mustang, leaving without another word, and Slash lifted his chin at me. “If shit’s going down, you fucking call us. You’d better stay true to your word, or the mafia will be the least of your problems. Clear?”

“Clear,” I confirmed. “Can I get back to washing my car now? I would like to get home to bed at some point.”

Rory eyed me silently as I finished scrubbing and started hosing the suds off, only speaking when I turned to acknowledge they were still there.

“Diesel likes you, which is the only reason I showed up to save you tonight. Don’t fuck that up.”

I scoffed, raising an eyebrow. “Save me? You think I’m threatened by your daughter?”

“No. I think you’re not and you’d gun her down if you needed to. I was saving you from the repercussions of that,” she said coldly, walking back to her car with Slash following behind her.

I ignored them as they sat there for a few minutes, obviously trying to unnerve me or something, but I was more than happy for them to waste their time watching me wash my car.

When I climbed behind the wheel and started the engine, they waited to make sure I turned in the direction of the Heights before leaving and heading home themselves, making me roll my eyes.

I was hardly a threat to them unless they turned me into one, and going to war with the crews wasn’t on my bingo card today.

The drive home was uneventful, and I tried hard to be as quiet as possible as I parked in the garage and put the door down, stepping inside the silent house.

I stripped down to my boxers and got comfortable on the couch, wrapping the blanket around me and rearranging the pillow until it felt right. I missed my bed, but I wasn’t going to fuck up the progress I’d made with Raven by trying to climb into it while she was asleep.

I closed my eyes and listened when I heard soft footsteps, the bedroom door creaking open a moment later. Once Raven or Zavier had checked to make sure it was me, they shut the door again and got back into bed.

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