Page 21 of Reign of Psychos

For her.

I lay wrapped around her a few more minutes, soaking in the heat of her body and the scent of her skin. But time was ticking on and as much as I wanted to stay with Thea, we both had shit to do.

My phone had fallen out of my jean’s pocket. Being careful not to disturb Thea, I reached down for it and checked for notifications. News reports flooded my home screen, all of them telling me Francesco di Luca had been arrested as part of a wider anti-mafia operation by the DIA.

What the actual fuck?

Then I saw the message from Carlo:The DIA received the evidence yesterday. Also sent to all major news outlets. No mention of T and V.

Dad’s revenge from beyond the grave. I grinned. Not even Francesco could bribe his way out of this. If he did, the government would stand accused of corruption and heads would roll. Who else had got caught up in the sweep? Had the DIA arrested Torrance?

Thea still hadn’t stirred, so I slipped out of bed and switched the TV on in the living room, keeping the volume low. While the news reports played out, I made some coffee and then sat down to catch up.

Thirty minutes later, she appeared in the doorway, yawning deeply, while wearing my discarded shirt. Her hair stuck up in every direction and she still had crease marks on her cheek from the cheap cotton pillowcase. She looked adorable.

“Come here, baby,” I ordered, patting my knee. She threw me a belligerent look but did as she was told.

The moment she sat down, I pointed to the TV and said,

“Your father’s been arrested.”

“What?” Her head snapped up in surprise as she stared at the banner headlines playing below a news report on some job cuts at a local engineering factory.

“I had a text message from Carlos to say the information my father had been collecting on Francesco all ended up with the DIA and media outlets early this morning. The DIA must have moved almost immediately. I guess they caught Francesco off-guard.”

Thea turned to face me, “But he has people on his payroll working for the DIA, so how…?”

“Maybe he’s not been paying them lately.” If he had cash flow problems, then he’d have likely stopped the monthly stipends to his contacts in law enforcement and government. People like that weren’t loyal, and if the money dried up, they would happily sell him down the river.

“And Torrance?”

“I don’t know who got swept up. It’s possible he escaped the round-up.”

She chewed her lip. “Maybe Milo could hack the DIA servers and find out more.”

“Is he capable?” I had no clue what Milo could and couldn’t do. He mostly kept to himself, holed up in his room with his tech shit. Hearing he’d lost his virginity to Thea on New Year’s Eve had shocked the hell out of me. The guy cringed every time someone touched him, so how the fuck he’d been comfortable having sex was a mystery.

“Yeah. He’s a genius with computers.”

“He might not want to help,cara. He seemed pretty upset you left him after…” I didn’t need to spell it out.

Her shoulders slumped. “I didn’t want to hurt him. Any of them. I bet Kyril is furious.”

“He wasn’t best pleased, especially not when we found out you were pregnant.”

“God, what a mess.” A huge understatement.

“Since there’s no point in either of us hanging around now, I’ll book us flights out of here.”

“OK. I’ll go get in the shower.” She tried to stand, but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back against my chest. The news reports faded until all I heard was the thud of her heartbeat. “What are you doing?” she asked in a slightly breathy voice.

“I’m not ready to let you go,cara.”

12

Kyril

Ronan’s punch connected with my jaw when my attention wandered for a moment, and I stumbled. Damn, that fucker had some power behind him. More than I expected given his pretty-boy looks.

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