Page 437 of Filthy Elites

“It’s done,” Felix said in an awed whisper. “The creep is dead. No more challengers for the throne. Not that I was ever much of a contender anyway.”

Lucan caught his gaze. “Darius was right. We’re in this together from here out.” His attention slid to me. “Will this be enough to satisfy your brother? You don’t think he did have bigger plans?”

I inclined my head, a belated sense of relief washing over me. Itwasdone, my whole mission here, in a way that was still sinking in.

I’d gone into the lion’s den and emerged not only intact but with three new allies on my side—allies and friends and lovers, who stood withme, not with Ezra.

“I’ll tell him I found out a major lieutenant of Marcel’s was in on the scheme,” I said. “You’ll need to make him right with his end of the deal and offer some kind of amends for the takeover downtown, but I think you can rebuild the good will there now that the source of the problem is dealt with. Maybe Ezra knew more than he let on… but I don’t think it matters. I would have done the same thing no matter how it benefitted him.”

Felix slipped his hand around my arm. “You finished the mission you came here on. Does that mean you’ll be going back under his roof?”

“No,” I said without hesitation. The certainty had been gathering inside me for a while now, potent enough that I felt comfortable voicing it out loud. “I think it’s time I stood on my own two feet.” I shot him a coy sideways look. “Although I won’t mind if certain men lift me off those feet from time to time.”

He grinned back at me. “I’m sure we’ll all be more than happy to oblige.”

Lucan had started tapping on his phone again. “We’d better get the goods moved out of the building where Holly and Brant had them stashed—as much as we can while still leaving a bit to sell the story you presented. I’ll see if I can track down any of the money they stole too. We’ll square things away with the Nobles.”

His gaze flicked upward with a sly glint. “And we wouldn’t want there to be any chance of the cops finding the wrong DNA evidence at the scene after what those boxes have been through.”

I snorted, and Felix let out a muffled guffaw. I stepped forward, tugging him with me. “All right. Let’s go pick up the pieces of this mess and fit them into a better picture.”

TWENTY-FIVE

Anthea

ONE MONTH LATER

The best thingabout the apartment was the windows. A whole wall of them stretched from the living room through the master bedroom, floor to ceiling, giving a view over the south end of Manhattan and the East River beyond. It wasn’t quite the penthouse level of the new modern building, but I figured there was nothing wrong with leaving something to aspire to.

The morning sunlight spilled through the glass over my skin. I inhaled deeply, drinking in the warmth in every possible way.

“It’s perfect,” I said. “I’m taking it.”

Darius walked over and wrapped his arms around me from behind. “Finally we found an abode that our Lady Noble is satisfied with.”

I swatted his bicep. “Hey, I had a lot of important criteria. Some of which should be important toyoutoo.” Like my vicinity to Brooklyn, so the Rosano brothers could drop by on a regular basis. And the very wide master bedroom, which was going to allow for a custom bed large enough for four, if I had anything to say about it.

Felix sauntered up beside us and elbowed his older brother mischievously. “Don’t give her a hard time, or maybe she’ll decide this one isn’t good enough after all.”

Lucan had gone to stand by the windows, gazing out over the city. “We’ll need to get you a good security system.”

Always the most practical one. I shot him an affectionate smile. “I trust you to recommend the best options for me to pick from.”

My phone rang in my purse. I fished it out of my purse and stepped away from Darius when I saw the caller ID. “It’s my brother.”

The three men remained still and silent as I answered the call. “Hi, Ezra.”

“Anthea,” he said, careful but not cutting. He’d been less stern with me since I’d announced my intentions to move to New York permanently. “I thought I’d check in and see where you’re at—and whether there’s anything to report as far as the Hell Kickers are concerned.”

As far as Ezra knew, part of my new role in the criminal underworld we all moved in was as liaison between him and the Rosanos—with me being more on his side than theirs. It was part of the way I’d sold him on not fighting with me about this additional bid for independence.

Over the past few weeks, with his business in Brooklyn restored to him and the true culprits of the deal-gone-wrong revealed, my brother had re-established a tentative peace with Marcel. But neither the guys nor I were telling our respective families that we were involved in a lot more than business when it came to each other.

Our personal lives were none of their concern. And frankly, my family had already gotten to dictate too much of what happened in mine. The three men around me and I had made our commitments to each other, and that was all that mattered, not anyone else’s opinions.

“I’ve just found an apartment,” I told Ezra. “So I can finally get out of the hotel. Everything seems to be going smoothly here with the recent joint operations between the Hell Kickers and your local business. You know I’d contact you as soon as I saw any reason to worry.”

“Of course.” He sighed. “Are you sure you won’t reconsider? I’d feel better having you close at hand—for your own security. You’ve been through enough already.”

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