Page 133 of Brutal Obsession

Harper glances toward the phone. “Who is it?”

I grab my phone and clock the caller ID. “Finn.”

Tapping the answer button with my thumb, I hold the device to my ear. I don’t get even one syllable out before Finn’s gruff, staccato voice is there, anxiety laced in every word. Something’s wrong.

“We’re in the situation room. Get up here. Now.”

I sit up a little, and Harper sits up with me.

“What’s going on?”

“Major development.” Finn pauses, strategic and ominous. “Is Harper there with you?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t react.” Alarms go off inside me. Whatever he’s about to tell me is a fucking bombshell. “It’s Leo De Luca.”

Leo De Luca?The heir to the De Luca Mafia? The dipshit who’s in jail for the rest of his life? What the fuck kind of trouble could he have stirred up from behind bars?

“He’s out of jail.” Finn’s rough voice is grim as death.

Shock detaches me from the moment.

“He got out on a technicality. You can guess the rest.” Finn delivers the truth like it devastates him just to say it. “It’s official, Cian. We’re at war.”

Epilogue

Rory

I’ve been at this so long, my fingers are about to fall off.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is real.Shit.

Cracking the knuckles of both my hands, I shake them out and lean back in my office chair. My hands may be aching, but at least in here I get a reprieve from the insanity gathering outside.

The war brewing between us and the De Lucas gets more dangerous by the day.

Allies and enemies on both sides of the fight have been walking that fine line between staying out of it and getting involved. Staying out of it shows how shallow alliances between families can go, and getting involved creates the possibility of a wider, regional gang war. No one fucking wants that.

Different people will describe our position in this fight in different ways, but the way I see it, the major weakness in our camp is a lack of emotional heft.

Leo De Luca and his familyhate uswith a passion. The emotional, egotistical intensity Leo brings to this fight is his strength, I think. His impassioned desire to end the Kings makes him unpredictable. How far he’s willing to go… Maybe evenhedoesn’t know.

Leo De Luca is armed, dangerous, gathering his forces, and totally unhinged.

His hatred and sinister creativity are entirely unchecked. He doesn’t have his father or uncle or a De Luca administration to rein him in or steer his nascent leadership. This is the first time he’s ever been in charge of his own clan before.

No one knows what to expect from his tenure as don, least of all us.

There’s no way for us to guess how low he will or won’t stoop. And because we don’t have the same level of hatred for his clan, we won’t be able to fight his insane intensity with any insane intensity of our own.

He’s fully on the offensive, and right now, we’re fully on the defensive.

A horrible place to be at the beginning of a fucking war.

Which is why Shane gave me a special assignment as soon as news broke of Leo’s freedom.

Look for a way to get the De Lucas on a leash and keep them there.

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