Page 60 of Vicious Little Princess

“You’re framing it as a show of force, as a demonstration of what you’re capable of. A warning to MarcoandSantino.”

“Yes.”

“You want them to fear you.”

“To fear us.”

“If they challenge that, if they come at us while we’re lacking resources—”

“We won’t be.”

“You’re talking about Rocco and your soldiers? Well, I can certainly get back to investigating all of them now that Julian is safe, and—”

“I do need you to do that, yes. I need a list as soon as possible. Verified beyond a shadow of a doubt. But I was referring to other resources as well.”

She cocked an eyebrow.

I leaned against the hood of my Ferrari and told her quietly, “The attack that Milo and I were called to the night you and Julian were taken wasn’t really an attack. It was Carlo Benzino’s way of luring me to him for a meet.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“Because we had our hands full with trying to locate Julian. This requires full focus.”

“What was the content of this strange meet?”

“Before I tell you, I need you to do some hard thinking on the drive home.”

“About what?”

“Whether you’re really all in. Especially now things are about to heat up. Majorly so.”

“Of course I am. How can you even ask me that?”

“Because of Joseph Stover.”

She started.

“He’s not a part of this.”

“He needs to be, Caterina. Like I said, hard thinking. You told us you weren’t ready beforehand to reveal all your secrets. It’s time to open up more where that’s concerned. Where he’s concerned.”

I opened the passenger door for her, but before she could sink inside, the screeching of tires caught our attention, and I looked to see an irritatingly familiar gray BMW speeding into the area. It shot down a couple of rows of the parking lot before zeroing in on my Ferrari, then coming to a rough stop just a few feet from it, wherein Leo then bolted out.

His ponytail swung from side to side as he stormed toward us.

That seemed about right.

“What the fuck are you playing at?” he demanded, stopping just shy of my personal space.

I instinctively pushed Caterina away at the clear aggressive threat coming off Leo.

His gaze darted to her and to the gesture itself. “I see that was all bullshit, too. You’re not doing your duty where she’s concerned. Nottrainingher like Santino wanted.”

“The fact you all thought that was possible where she’s concerned is laughable. And fucking pathetic.”

He got up in my face, growling, “You need to get back in line.Now.Calling in Marco to clean up that fucking massacre at Angelo’s place for one of your friends because you knew it left us with no choice or the Leones would find out what you’d done, which would have been considered a show of force against them, something that wasn’t sanctioned, was fucking unacceptable. Despite what he’s done, Angelo Simone is one ofhisown, not ours. It falls under Leone jurisdiction, not ours. You damn well knew that, and you used it to force our hands. All for that fucking playboy.”

“Thatplayboyis a Marchetti Syndicate asset. My earnings reports prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

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