Page 164 of Where the Wicked Reign

But then she merely nodded and murmured, “Okay.”

As she headed up the staircase to her room to get changed, I cursed under my breath.

“I get what you’re doing, but don’t push her too hard,” Julian warned me.

“This isn’t her,” I ground out.

“Did you really think there wouldn’t be a massive emotional toll to enduring all that shit at your wedding? Or even all the shit before then? Santino and Angelo’s abuse? Getting stabbed? Being pulled back into this world she worked so hard to escape from? Having to now go to war?” he put to me.

“She can’t even go into work,” Milo added. “She’s been working remotely since the wedding, all so we can keep up this she’s-under-your-brutal-control-and-abuse façade.”

“All I hear from you are problems. She needs solutions. And this sparring session will be a good start.”

“Or you give her some time to acclimate to everything,” Milo suggested.

Really?I spun toward him. “Thereisn’ttime. That’s the issue. And now her mom’s finally out of our hair things can go back to normal where Caterina is concerned. She just needs a little push to get back on track.”

“You’re dreaming there if you think she was the only issue. You just heard us reel off a list of—”

“Instead of a push, why not a little fun?” Julian cut in, obviously seeing how pissed I was getting.

“Fun?” Milo pressed.

“Yeah, I know it’s a foreign concept to you two assholes, but it’s clearly something she’s in dire need of right about now. And, not surprisingly, something the two of you haven’t even considered.”

And I didn’t get toconsiderit now either, as my phone rang.

I pulled it from my leather jacket pocket to see Rocco calling me.

He was overseeing one of our big coke shipments tonight, securing the drug route with a portion of my soldiers, while I had Tony Amato doing the same with the other at the far end of the city. This one that Rocco was overseeing was particularly important because it was headed out to the new buyer I’d secured, Harlow Whethers. She ran an up-and-coming criminal enterprise a couple of cities over with an iron fist. She was on top of everything, very systematic and controlled, exactly what I needed in a new business associate. This was our first shipment, the beginning of a lucrative business relationship. It had to go well, had to go off without a hitch.

It became clear that wasn’t going to be the case the moment I swiped my phone and took the call, Rocco’s voice sounding down the line before I could even get a word of greeting out. Urgency and panic slammed into me.

“Nico, we’ve been hit! We’re under attack! Had our guys escorting the shipment, and we were hit by the truck stop at the northeast border! They came out of nowhere!” I heard machine gun fire, followed by thuds, crashes, screams and yelling. “Fuck! There’s too many of them and—”

The line went dead.

I tried to call him back, but it just rang and rang.

“What’s happened?” Milo asked, stepping forward.

I reported what I’d just heard from Rocco.

“Who’s attacking your guys?” Julian asked.

“He didn’t get to that part, on account of being shot at,” I bit back.

“Just saying, it’s the first thing I’d think he’d know to report.”

Milo held up his hand. “Let’s focus on what we do know.”

“What we know is I need to get down there immediately.”

“Without backup?” Julian asked worriedly.

“There’s no choice. I can’t pull Tony and that portion of my soldiers from securing our other shipment. Losing this one is bad enough. I can’t call on Cassio for support either, because he’s stretched thin covering both his territory and Gio’s because Leo has Gio and his soldiers with him scouring every-fucking-where for the Lone Gunners.”

I gritted my teeth. I’d told him to let it go—for now. Let them think they’re safe. Then when they come up for air, we move in and decimate what’s left of them. That way, we wouldn’t be stretched thin at a time when we needed to be on high-alert and securing our assets and territories first and foremost. And asking the Leones to cover us at this early stage of the alliance would make us look weak. Especially with what Bianca had just told me concerning Santino’s true plans to fuck us over.

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