Page 81 of Vicious Little Princess

He shifted his weight in his navy denim jacket and black sweatpants as he awaited my response.

“They want a meet concerning what exactly?” I asked.

“They wouldn’t say. They insisted that they’d only relay that to you. But Dante told me to pass on a single word.Wharton?”

I jolted, and I saw Julian register the recognition in my eyes.

“Send them in.”

He gave a nod. “Nico’s office?”

“No. Here,” Julian cut in.

I swung my head toward him. “It’ll be better if I receive them in Nico’s office. Alone.”

“Why?”

I shifted my weight uncomfortably. “Because this partially pertains to a certain someone I don’t want to bring up in front of you.”

“You said you’d keep me updated on your search for Angelo,” he said, shuddering with it. “And, yes, I can actually hear his name uttered.”

“You just shuddered as you spoke it.”

“And yet I’m still standing here just fine, aren’t I?”

“Shit, all right.” I signaled Tony. “Send them in here. Thanks.”

Tony looked at Julian, zoning in on his gauze pad and the cane he was clutching like a lifeline. When his gaze snapped back to mine, he spoke worriedly, “These are Leones, though. Allowing them in is one thing, but leaving them alone with you, especially while Julian is injured, concerns me.”

“I’ll handle them.”

Tony, although clearly being respectful of me at Nico’s behest, looked skeptical. He shifted his weight, obviously feeling awkward, as he went to push it.

Before he could, I stepped up to him and held out my hand. “Pass me your knife.”

“What’s that?”

“The tactical blade you have nestled in that ankle holster beneath your right pant leg.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”

“Just hand it over for a second.”

Perplexed and looking more than a little wary, he did just that, retrieving the blade and handing it over to me.

I spun it in the next second and lobbed it through the air.

It cut through it rapid-fire and plunged right through the center of the clock above the door, driving into the joined hands.

Tony whistled. “Message received.Youcan handle it all on your own.”

“That I can.”

He walked to the clock and pulled the knife out. “Got it,” he said, before giving me an impressed smile, then heading on out.

Julian chuckled. “Little does he know that you were actually holding back.”

“What?”

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