Page 49 of Last Shot

‘The point stands, Nella.’

‘Are you blaming me for almost getting blown up?’

‘I’m saying you didn’t need to be there!’

‘Why don’t you say, “I’m glad you didn’t die, Nella” like a normal person?’

‘Glad you didn’t die, Nella,’ Jett said, ‘because your cat’s being a pain in the arse lately and I can’t guarantee I would have fed him if you were no longer here.’ He started to wrap the hose around his arm like a trained python, stormy expression not clearing.

Grey took the hose: Fixer instinct.

‘What have you done?’ Giovanni’s voice cut through the debris left behind in the air after Nella and Jett’s ... whatever that was.

‘Gio.’ Grey knew he looked like an absolute mess. There were cuts on his arms from falling down the passage and soot and debris from helping Jett put out the flames. Thankfully, no one outside had spotted the smoke, so they were clear of any interruption by firies and cops. Some part of Grey sort of wished they’d show up though. Take the responsibility out of his hands.

Gio held Grey’s gaze. He wasn’t sure what to make of the old man’s face. Was he angry? Scared? Constipated?

Constipated was the closest guess. Giovanni was shaking with whatever it was he wanted to get out. ‘The evidence,’ Gio spat. ‘You’ve washed it away!’ He stared at the hose around Grey’s arm like it had tried to strangle him.

Him?It wasJettwho’d put out the flames.

‘Signore ...’ Jett began.

Grey jumped in. ‘We put out the fire, Gio. Even in winter, the threat of—’

‘I WILL NOT,’ Giovanni said, ‘be spoken back to on my own property, Hawke!’

Of course, just like Tom’s car, like Frankie’s flame throwing protest that ended up on Channel 9, like Luca punching Forrest Valentine, Nella choosing law school over selling wine, it was somehow all Greyson’s fault.

‘We need to rethink the gala.’ Grey said it as fast as he could, like he was removing a sharp object from a wound.

‘Your security can’t tell if someone’s bringing explosives into my house? What the fuck am I paying them for then, Greyson?’

‘Dad! Grey saved your life andthat’swhat you say?’ Nella admonished.

‘Someone was trying to blow up the wine,’ Gio said, completely ignoring his daughter. ‘This wasn’t a personal attack. We weren’t supposed to be in there.’

The wine. It was always about the wine for Giovanni.

‘By that logic, whoever is responsible for sabotaging the wine is also behind the bomb. Why would someone try and sabotage the wine, andthenblow it up?’

Grey couldn’t help it. He looked at Max. It was a mistake.

‘Why are we assuming the wine was deliberately sabotaged?’ Luca cut in. His face was drawn and pale, much like it had been that morning over the balcony railing. ‘Why is it totally impossible you made a bad batch?’

Tomaso was clearly too shocked to argue back; he was watching the entire exchange with a slightly concussed look. Gio moved towards Luca, but Nella forced herself between them.

‘No.’ Her face was raw and wet. ‘We almost lost each other – you have to stop this! We’re on the same side!’

‘Are we?’ Giovanni glared at his son. Luca raised his chin.

‘Yes,’ Nella growled. ‘Accusing each other won’t get us anywhere. We need to let Grey deal with this, like we always do. Max too. And if they ask you for anything – any information, any little detail – you give it to them, okay? No matter how confidential.’

Gio didn’t like it when Nella brandished her lawyer-ness in family business. Grey wasn’t sure if it was because Gio didn’t like being given orders by his daughter or by lawyers, or by women. The wine mogul turned his glare, like a shotgun, away from Luca and onto Nella. But she just glared back.

‘The gala goes ahead. We do not back down to threats,’ Giovanni said. He started to walk away but stopped, half turned towards his children and Grey and said, ‘Be careful.’

Grey couldn’t tell if it was a warning or a blip of fatherly concern that Giovanni normally fought so hard against letting slip. Tomaso threw one more look at the group, seeming like he was about to say something, but shook his head and followed Gio towards the main house.

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