Page 132 of Reaper Flame

My heart pounded against my skin. Hiram may be gone, but a part of him would always be with me, and I fucking hated it. I wanted to claw him out and flush my bloodstream.

“Are you okay?” Rocky took my hand as he and the guys slipped into the row alongside us.

My DNA had been programmed from childhood to survive. In school, it meant keeping my head down. In Blackthorne Towers, it involved killing on demand. After that, I did whatever I could to avoid going back there, and now? The one thing I had left to battle lived inside me.

“No,” I whispered back, squeezing his fingers. Q once told me nothing worth fighting for is ever easy, and he was right. “But I will be.”

The service was beautiful, but I struggled to concentrate on the speeches and poems people read out. All I wanted was to be back in Lapland with the Sevens, free of the melodramatic sobs from strippers in the back row who barely knew him. Last week, I overheard a group of dancers bragging about how they planned to use the funeral to find rich guys. We needed to rehire.

When it was over, we stood at the exit and shook hands with everyone as they left.

Zander nodded across the graveyard to a lone figure standing by a tombstone.“Who is he?”

I grimaced as the man started to approach. “That’s Juliano Romano.”

“Giovanni Romano’s son?” Zander’s eyes narrowed, and his hands went straight to rest on his gun. I’d already filled the Sevens in on how Juliano ordered a hit against his father. A hit that I’d carried out on Hiram’s behalf. “What is he doing here?”

“Let me speak to him first,” I said, putting my hand on Zander’s wrist. Being trigger-happy at a funeral is the last thing we all needed. “I’ll find out what he wants.”

“You’re not speaking to him alone,” Rocky growled.

“Are you ever going to let me do anything without a fucking escort?”

“Nope!” Rocky grinned. “You better get used to it because the Sevens are forever. You had your chance to back out and didn’t take it, remember?”

West’s hands curled into fists as Juliano got closer. I didn’t blame him. One look at Juliano’s smug, shit-eating grin would turn a nun to violence. There’s a reason he cornered us here.

“Kitten!” Juliano greeted me with an air kiss on both cheeks, making my guys tense. “Why do we only meet at weddings and funerals?”

“I go by Candy now,” I replied coldly.

“I’m sorry for the loss of your friend,” Juliano said without an ounce of real sympathy. “And Hiram, of course.”

I glared at him, making it clear he wasn’t welcome. “I can’t pretend to be sad about the latter.”

Juliano smiled, misinterpreting my remark. “We do what we have to do to get what we want, right?”

Out of respect for Q, I didn’t smash his teeth out on the spot.

Zander stepped in, sensing my anger rise. “Why don’t you tell us why you’re here?”

“I’ve come to make you an offer,” Juliano said. His eyes glittered with excitement. “I hear you have taken over Hiram’s business.”

“It’s not for sale,” West’s deep voice rumbled. “It’s under new management.”

Juliano isn’t the first asshole to make us an offer. After he died, we discovered Hiram got his final wish. I’d become his successor and inherited everything. The Sevens were suddenly one of the richest and most powerful gangs in the country. Vultures were already circling.

“You haven’t even heard me out,” Juliano replied smoothly, like a car salesman who wasn’t used to being turned down. “I can assure you it’s generous—”

“We don’t give a fuck about the money,” I interrupted, trying to keep my voice low and avoid making a scene. “We’re not selling.”

“But the Blackbird was very interested…”

Of course, it made sense Juliano Romano was the ambiguous other party interested in screwing Hiram over and taking everything for himself. He’d already taken over his father’s business — why not acquire another and merge the two biggest crime organizations together?

“Well, I’m not the Blackbird. Where is he now anyway?” I snarled. “Things didn’t seem to work out well for him.”

The news of his disappearance traveled fast, but what happened to him would stay a mystery as far as the world was concerned. Although, peppering a few hints about our involvement wouldn’t hurt. The unknown is what people feared the most.

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