Page 52 of Assassin's Heart
“What are our options?” I asked, reaching for a distraction from the confusion building inside me.
“There are a few,” Remi began.
“Not all of them good,” Eli pointed out. “A full-on assault on the Fiori family, for instance.”
Levi leaned back in his chair across the table from me. “We could certainly try, but the likelihood of catching every member of the family—”
“And anyone associated with them,” Eli put in.
“Is nil.” Remi rubbed at the scruff he hadn’t bothered to shave this morning. He’d scraped that soft-sandpaper beard across my skin the night before last, left behind reddened patches on my neck and breasts still sensitized to his touch. The muscles low in my belly clenched at the memories the simple rasp of his palm over his chin brought forth. “Any vacancy we create will be filled almost immediately, either from within the family or outside it. Not a good option.”
I tapped my finger on the armrest, willing my thoughts away from Remi and back on the task at hand. “Okay, so we can’t kill them all.” No matter how much I wanted that to be the plan. “What other options have we got?”
“We can go with the original plan and hand over the recordings,” Eli suggested.
“I’m not sure that’s a viable option either,” Levi said, rocking in his seat like it was a rocking chair on the front porch. “That’s what they demanded, but the more I think about it, the more I believe they never intended for anyone to walk out of that warehouse alive except Fiori’s men. They wanted the recordings, yes. But they couldn’t guarantee there were no copies. Couldn’t guarantee Leah hadn’t told anyone else about the evidence. They didn’t make it clear to Ross, but this was a scorched-earth tactic from the get-go in my opinion.”
A tactic that had taken the life of the only sibling I had. That had almost taken the life of my six-year-old child. As if watching it on a movie screen, I saw the moment Ross fell to the ground, saw his desperate hands tugging at the ropes to release Brooke before it was too late to save her. Anger rose in a noxious wave, roiling inside me, growing and growing and growing until there wasn’t room to breathe, much less think.
And then a warm hand settled on my thigh.Remi.His palm opened, his long fingers circling my leg, gripping me. Grounding me. His touch centered me when I couldn’t center myself, couldn’t push away the pain. I didn’t look at him, not with so many eyes watching, but I covered his hand with mine, keeping him close.
“So giving the recordings back isn’t a good option. What is?” I asked, voice a rasp in my tight throat.
“What about your father?” Levi asked.
A rough growl escaped Remi’s throat. I shot him a surprised glance.
“What about him?” I asked.
“Can he help us?”
I’d considered that and rejected it after Angelo’s death, not wanting to pit him and Ross against each other. I’d lost the father of my child and my brother all at once; I’d decided I’d rather Dad be safe than at risk because of me. Now... “He’s solid.”
“Are you sure? Ross wasn’t,” Remi pointed out, his voice as rough as the sound that had escaped him. “What are the chances that your father was working both sides as well?”
The words were like a slap in the face. Was Remi blaming me for Ross’s betrayal, for not seeing the truth sooner? I dared to meet those amber eyes, glowing with emotion, and realized the answer was no. He was angry—at Ross, at the situation—but that fierceness in his gaze... He wanted to protect me. Dad was an unknown to him.
I squeezed Remi’s hand beneath mine. “I’m sure. If Dad had been working both sides, it wouldn’t have mattered if he got ahold of the recording; he could make them disappear. Ross was the one who kept me from going to my dad back then.”
The tension in Remi’s body eased the slightest bit. Nothing would reassure him like meeting my father and seeing the truth for himself, but for now, he was choosing to trust me like I’d trusted him.
“Does he have the guts to stand up to the mob?” Levi asked.
“Yes.” I truly believed that. Seven years ago I’d doubted my father’s ability to take down his own son, not his willingness to take on the mob. “Still, even with the evidence we have—and what they’ll hopefully gain once the recordings give them an opening—the cops won’t catch everyone. There will be retaliation; it’s a given. I don’t want that for me or him or the men who work for him, but what other choice do we have?”
Remi and Levi exchanged a look, seeming to communicate without speaking. Did they have some ideas they weren’t laying out on the table yet? Did I want to know what they were?
“Let’s at least start with your dad,” Levi finally said. “He knows all the local players. Between us, we should be able to figure out the next step.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about seeing Dad again, coming back from the dead, so to speak. I’d forced myself to walk away, not look back. To give up any hope of ever returning to the life I’d once known. I doubted the reality would hit me until I was face-to-face with the man who’d raised me, loved me. Could we have that back? Would he blame me for Ross’s death?
I didn’t know. Right now reuniting with my family had to come second to stopping the Fioris. They’d taken the father of my child, my brother, had almost taken my daughter from me. They’d stolen my life. They had to be stopped.
And looking around the table, I knew I trusted these three men to help me do that. As long as I was a part of whatever plan they finally decided on, and Brooke was safe in the end, I would trust them. I knew Remi and his brothers would choose the wisest course. But…
“We’ll be going to DC?”
Remi nodded.
