Page 103 of Vicious Addictions

She’s the best of all of us.

As long as she’s happy, then we all are.

And right now, I’m in desperate need of some joy after watching Marcello at work.

Yep.

Definitely need to bask in Annamaria’s pure light to get that fucking image out of my brain.

Chapter 18

Jude

“Glad to see you all finally made it. I was starting to worry you’d never get here in time,” Gio greets with a warm smile when we pull up at Casa Bella. “The family is already inside waiting for you. FYI, don’t comment on Lucky’s and Enzo’s get-up. I don’t want to encourage the rascals.”

“Oh, my God, what did those dipshits do now?” Stella asks, taking the birthday presents out of Dom’s trunk and handing them off to Marcello.

“Oh, you know, the usual.” Gio chuckles with a shrug. “Just don’t laugh. You know they live for that kind of thing.”

“Oh, I doubt I’ll laugh. Murder? Maybe. But definitely not laugh at the pair of idiots.” Stella rolls her eyes.

“How about we go one dinner without you threatening to kill your brothers? Can you do that for me, sweetheart?” Gio counters with an amused smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

“Fine. As long as they don’t ruin Annamaria’s party, I’ll let them live.”

“How generous of you.” He chuckles. “Now, be a good girl and go inside with Marcello. I need to talk to Dom and Jude for a second.”

She doesn’t kick up a fuss, too focused on making this the best night for our baby sister. Once Stella and Marcello are no longer within listening range, Gio’s happy-go-lucky face falls, and in its place rises the Outfit’sconsigliere’sstern expression.

“So, Mikhailov decided to shit on our turf, huh? Fucker must have a death wish.”

I turn my attention to Dom, hating that he alerted Gio before I could.

“Have you told my father yet?” I ask, knowing the answer already since Gio and Vincent are as tight as thieves.

“Couldn’t keep such information from him. The sooner he knew, the faster he dealt with it.”

“I could have dealt with it.” I point to my chest. “I’vebeendealing with it. It was my men who found the container. My men who tracked down Igor. And I’m the one who got the intel that it was Dimitri behind it all.”

“From what I heard, it was Marcello who got Igor to talk, not you.” He cocks a brow.

“I was getting to it,” I mutter through clenched teeth.

“Yeah, I’m sure you were.” Gio smiles solemnly at me. “But you didn’t, Jude. You spent the better part of the day trying to pry the information out of him while Marcello got it in less than five minutes flat. Don’t think your father doesn’t know that shit either.”

My jaw ticks at that.

Fucking great.

I can only imagine the fucking earful I’m about to get for having Marcello do my dirty work.

“Still, this information came to us on the wrong day. Vince was already in a mood, and finding out that the Bratva had the balls to traffic women right from our own docks didn’t improve it any.”

“Why was Vincent upset before?” Dom asks, curious.

“Crane called him today,” Gio explains, and I try not to shrink under both my fathers’ scrutinizing gaze.

Motherfucker!

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