Page 31 of What's Left of Us

“I hate that,” she replies with a scowl. “What about his attorney? Couldn’t he work with us to speak with Alastair? Surely he’s supposed to do things to benefit him, right? We will absolutely speak on Alastair’s behalf now about the case.”

I school my features as I respond. “I’m not sure about the attorney. We don’t know him, so why would he be willing to help us see Alastair more than necessary?”

Jo hangs her head again, and I push away the feeling of guilt. I don’t keep secrets from my wife unless I absolutely have to. I haven’t had the chance to mention that Xeno hired Alastair’s attorney. She knows he has one because Sterling vaguely mentioned it, but I haven’t gone into the details with her yet. There’s so much going on right now.

“You need to listen to me,” Xeno says, catching my hand. I sneer at him, peering around the hospital. There’s a man across the room in a smart suit who’s watching us, and I narrow my eyes at him. Xeno dragged me away from the reception desk, Jo still arguing with someone about where Alastair and Sterling are. “Carefully.”

“What are you doing?” I grunt, keeping my gaze on the man for another moment before I tear my eyes away.

“Papa knows you used his cabin,” he explains as if I should be scared. All I do is scoff. That’s not enough to make me care. “And he knows an arrest was made on the property, and figured out pretty easily that it was Constantine.”

Ah, now I see the issue. “You think Papa still has a grudge for all that?”

Xeno narrows his eyes. “Remember what he used to scream at you around the house? Se preferisci una donna alla tua famiglia, per noi sei già un estraneo.”

I cringe. He not only said that around my siblings, but right in front of Jo while we were out in the park. At the time she didn’t know what we were arguing about but Papa made sure no one could understand us despite being out in public. He wanted to bully me into listening to him and it didn’t work. “If you choose a woman over your family, then you are a stranger.”

“He doesn’t like Jo,” Xeno says, like I need the reminder. “And he didn’t like Alastair either.”

“You don’t need to remind me of that.”

Xeno sighs. “I heard him talking to some of the men, Jonathan included.” His voice drops until it’s almost too quiet to hear in the crowded room. “Se mio figlio non onorerà questa famiglia, allora saremo noi a disonorare la sua.”

I narrow my eyes. “What the fuck is he planning?”

“I don’t know,” Xeno tells me honestly, straightening up a bit to smooth back his hair. He doesn’t need to bother since it’s never out of place, and then his fingers trace over the scars on his cheek.

Glancing over my shoulder, I try to see if one of Papa’s men is standing around watching us. But I don’t recognize any of the people standing near us, and other than the few I saw walking paces behind us with Xeno, no one seems to be here.

Then I notice a girl scrambling across the waiting room. I wouldn’t think twice of her if she didn’t pause, glaring across the room at Xeno. They glare at each other for a moment before she continues moving, keeping her eyes on him until she passes through a set of doors and disappears.

I glance at my brother, lowering my voice. “Chi è lei?”

“She’s none of your concern,” Xeno replies with a sigh. “My point, Vinny, is that Papa isn’t going to make things easy. He might actively try and make things harder.”

My skin goes cold, a sweat breaking out across the back of my neck. “What would you have me do, Xeno? Punish Alastair for loving me?”

“For loving both of you,” Xeno agrees. “He’ll never believe that love is for everyone, and that some know how to love enough to extend that to more than a single person.”

I narrow my eyes. I keep my voice low, deciding this might be something that Xeno doesn’t want anyone else knowing about. It’s unusual to see him here with none of his men in the background. “Parli secondo la tua verità, fratello?”

He smirks, “My truths are my problem, Vincenzo. Right now your friend needs to ensure someone has his back in court, in the visitations, in every aspect. It can’t be you, and it can’t be Jo. You’re too tangled up. Don’t get me started on Sterling.”

“Then what do you propose?” I snap.

Xeno grins and gestures someone forward. I snap my gaze around again, finding the guy in the suit from before. “Tobias, this is my brother Vinny. Vinny, Tobias McKinney, defense attorney. He’s on my payroll.”

“Discreetly,” Tobias agrees, holding out my hand. For an attorney, he has a lot of old, faded scars on his hands. “Your brother and I have things to discuss now, Mr. Ajello. He’s going to ensure that Constantine is well taken care of.”

“Or Tobias won’t be taken care of,” Xeno agrees, clasping his shoulder. Tobias shoots him a look, but says nothing in return. “This time Vinny, Alastair’s going to fight for his rights. Dad can’t get to him if someone is watching his back, the law can’t fuck him if he’s got someone in his corner, and you don’t have to try and find an attorney on his behalf when I already know someone.”

“As far as the law and the FBI go,” Tobias agrees, folding his hands in front of him, “I’m working for Constantine pro bono.”

Jo’s fingers dig into my wrist, and I snap my attention back to her. “V.”

Immediately, I stiffen and go into hypervigilance. Jo never calls me V unless something is wrong. I gently push her legs off of me and turn, following her gaze.

There’s a blue SUV parked outside. Like the ones Xeno’s men would sometimes drive when they were watching our backs.

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