Page 110 of Vicious Little Princess

I started. His pronunciation left a lot to be desired, but I managed to make out his attempt at referring to us asallies.

What the fuck was happening tonight?

Every part of this mission was going off the fucking rails!

At a time when things needed to be going off without a hitch.

I mean, shit!

“Who the fuck are you?” I called over.

“A friend of Caterina’s.”

I signaled my soldiers to hold fire, and I started over there, closing the distance between us.

As I did, Julian staggered over too. “You killed our best lead to finding Angelo!”

“Your presence is what alerted Angelo and Price to an incoming attack.”

“Shut the fuck up. You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Goddammit. Julian was out of his mind right now—in so many ways.

“Stop,” I grunted, grasping his arm when I was close enough as the mystery guy continued his approach. “Stover?” I asked.

“Correct.”

When he reached us, he pulled something from one of the pockets of his tactical vest and I studied the small metallic square device.

“Be still,” he warned Julian. “This won’t hurt and I won’t touch you either.”

I released Julian, and he stood there staring at Stover with a whole lot of confusion as he ran the device the length of him, from bottom to top. It started beeping when it reached his neck. Stover walked around behind him, his eyes narrowing as the beeping became rapid and shrill, a red light starting to flash as he reached the back of his neck, just under his hair.

“Sunshine, hold still,” I said, lifting up some short tufts of his hair to see a small two-inch scar there from what appeared to be an incision.

“He’s been tagged,” Stover told me. “That’s how they knew you were coming. He was ahead of you, already here more than a couple of hours before you, scouting the area.”

There was only one explanation for it. “Angelo did this,” I ground out.

“No,” Julian said. “You guys checked me for any bugs or tracking shit before I entered the Manor after I was discharged from the hospital. Your tech would’ve picked it up.”

“This runs on a special, unique frequency. Only this device can detect it,” Stover explained. “It’s tech created by Knightsridge Engineering. As is this device I hold in my hand.”

“How did you know?” I asked him.

“I keep an eye on everything concerning Caterina. During the time that Julian was in Angelo’s captivity, there was a break-in at one of Knightsridge Engineering’s storage facilities by somebody matching Angelo’s description. Although, it wasn’t reported to the police, due to the nature of the covert tech that’s developed there, Roman Knight reached out to me, concerned it could impact Caterinaand her loves,as he put it. I wasn’t certain that Angelo actually had the brains to use it, but when the connection between him and Shawn Price was made apparent, the likelihood increased. These guys chip the women they traffic. Not with this kind of tech, but they have people on staff who are able to perform these minor surgical procedures efficiently. One of those was with Angelo at the location where Julian was being held.”

“Why didn’t you take that fucker out? Too busy trying to rig the warehouses that you couldn’t spare the second it would have taken to end his miserable life?” Julian bit at him.

“That wasn’t my mission. Tearing down this operation was. Not to mention, Angelo has vital intel on the Leone Family, current and future plans and strategies.”

“You’re saying he’s an asset to you?” Julian growled.

“If you weren’t so emotionally involved, you’d be able to see it too. All of you.”

I took a dangerous step forward at his accusation.Emotionally involved?After what Angelo had done to those we loved, how could we not be?

Stover held up his hand while opening his tactical jacket with the other, then pulling out a silver flash drive. He held it out to me. “Give this to Caterina.”

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