Page 67 of Ruthless Oath

“Give back what you took.”

“Fuck him.”

“Marchello,” Milo shouted. “You can’t keep splitting your focus.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.”

“You and Lissia need to come home and figure out how you’re going to deal with this. If you don’t want to give her back, so be it. You two can still be together, but I need you on the frontline,” he said.

“I can run things from here.”

“Between this and the cartel shipment, we can’t take another hit. We look weak. No one is going to trust us with anything if we don’t figure this out. Dad would not have let this happen.”

“Don’t you think I’m aware of that?”

The longer my father was off-the-grid, the more I realized I had a lot to learn if I was ever going to run this operation.

“I’m not blaming you,” Milo said. “But we have to regain control.”

“We’ll strike hard,” I assured him. “Get here so we can formulate a plan.”

“Fine.” He sighed. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I ended the call and tossed my phone on the nightstand.

Lissia came up behind me and put her arms around my neck. Her arms were the last place I should seek comfort, but that ship sailed an hour ago when I decided to make her mine.

“What’s wrong? You’re so tense.” She rubbed my shoulders. “I thought by doing what we did, you would relax.”

“I did, but that didn’t last long.”

“What happened?” she asked.

“It’s business.” I didn’t want to get into this with her.

“It sounds serious.”

I guided her onto the bed and situated her on my chest so I could hold her. Indulging in her warmth, I tried to reconcile how she had managed to work her way into my life.

Did I even want her there? Yes, otherwise she wouldn’t be here.

“You don’t want to talk about it?” she asked.

“In the next few hours, that’s all I’ll be talking about.” I held her close, breathing in her sweet scent and twirling a strand of her silky hair around my finger, finding it strangely calming. “The dealership was targeted tonight. A bunch of cars were vandalized.”

My blood boiled. That worm Collins was destroying what was mine—what my family worked so hard to maintain for decades. Knowing I had fucked his intended bride was a small comfort.

“Oh, that’s terrible.” She lifted up on her arm and stared at me. “Do you know who did it?”

“I do.”

“Who would be stupid enough to come after you and let you know it was them? Why would someone taunt you?”

I extended my hand for her and brought her back to my chest because I wanted her close to me.

“This is nothing for you to worry yourself with,” I said. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Was it my father?”

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