Page 108 of Vito

"It's connected somehow," Raf says, giving me a worried look. "Do you think someone knows about you and Eden, Vito?"

There's no way, but I can't declare that without explaining how we've been meeting.

Massimo grips his hair in a fist; it's the first time I've seen my brother not perfectly well-groomed in a long time. "Motherfucking Christ. Vito, do you know what position you've put me in?" He turns to me. "What you did to Cutt could break the peace treaty of all these years—"

"I did Ash a favor, and you fucking know it," I grit. "Cutt went to the home of Gilly's owner-operator and broke in. You think he was there to get her address to mail her a goddamn Christmas card? How would that look for the Havoc Guardians?"

I'm sure his teeth crack when he grinds them. "Well, how about the fact you pissed all over the line of neutrality and have been sinking your dick into someone forbidden?"

This time, my teeth nearly crack. "Fuck. You—"

"Enough!" Creed shouts.

Massimo resumes pacing the room, heaving like it's physically hurting him not to beat the shit out of me. The tendons of his neck are prominent, and he's opening and closing his fists. "I need a full assessment of the potential fallout so I can do damage control before it bites us in the ass. Where are Cutt and Jax's bodies?"

Raf and I exchange another look.

"What other fucking secrets are you keeping?" Massimo snarls. I think if I were within arm's reach, my nose would be broken as he looks at me with malice. "Did you involve Mario or any of our family's resources for the clean-up?"

"We didn't need to." I risk getting closer to my nearly feral brother. I've never seen him like this before; he's resembling me in the unhinged department right now. I don't make that comparison because that wouldreallymake him lose his shit. "Eden wouldn't allow us to use Santoro resources; she used hers."

His nostrils flare. "You motherfucking idiots—"

"Not Gilly's," Raf quickly clarifies.

"Explain," Massimo nearly spits. He points his finger at me. "You're lucky I haven't demoted you to a foot soldier after all this bullshit. You're supposed to be my second-in-command, the protector of our family."

My fists clench. "Calm your fucking tits." I seethe, but calm myself because two hot-heads right now will be like throwing a pack of burning matches into a barrel of gasoline.

"Calm my fucking tits?" Massimo growls but then chokes back a laugh, shaking his head. "Vito, you have thirty seconds before I actually do demote you to a foot soldier for relying on using Eden's resources," he makes air quotes, "to cover up a murder that could topple this family."

I'm feeling quite smug. "Ohith."

Massimo is about to say something but snaps his mouth shut.

"What did you say?" Creed looks a bit slack-jawed.

"Ohith and Axin."

"They're dead."

"I can assure you they aren't. Axin is the one who called me about Eden tonight."

"Okay, so they're alive." Creed sits heavily in a chair by Massimo's desk. "But how do they connect with Eden?"

"Ohith is her adoptive father." Raf still sounds a bit star-struck when he talks about him.

"He rescued her off the streets; Ohith faked his and Axin's death so they could leave this world behind to give Eden what she felt she needed: no ties to this city."

"What in the actual fuck?" Massimo exhales, shaking his head. "Are you for real?"

"Looks like she's come full circle, then." Creed frowns and glances at me. "She came back to solve her brother's murder, but she might have put herself right in the crosshairs."

"Axin has been here since she returned, watching her back." I focus on Massimo as I loop us back to my suspicions. "He saw the attack, but before he could get out to Eden, Lixin was there and killed the two attackers."

"So we have three case scenarios," Raf adds, looking between us all. "Lixin was at the right place, at the right time, by fluke. Or he was watching Eden and stepped in.Orhe orchestrated the attack to swoop in to save her."

Creed's fingers drum on the arm of the chair. "If he orchestrated the attack, I'm sure whoever those two guys were, they didn't sign up to be killed. Whoever they’re connected to could retaliate, either against Lixin or Eden."

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