Page 29 of Kiss of Death
“Fuckin’ dipshit. I could have been seriously hurt, and you could have just made it worse moving me like that,” he snapped. “And Gia’s not here. I called her before I showed up. You need to leave my sister alone. Go sniff up someone else’s skirt.”
Smoke threw Otto’s arm over his shoulder and practically dragged him toward the exit. Once they were outside and away from the club, Smoke dropped him on the curb. “Only you would give me shit while I’m trying to save your ass. Should have left your ass in there to fuckin’ cook some more. It might make you a more pleasant human being,” he grumbled.
Smoke pulled out his cell, and Otto heard him talking to a 9-1-1 dispatcher.
He heard his sister’s voice next, and he looked up to see her standing over him with Smoke’s arms wrapped around her.
“You two aren’t going to end well,” he grumbled and tried to stand to his feet. He coughed and groaned. This sucked. His body hurt, his ego hurt, and if he was being honest his feelings were hurt too.
“What happened to you?” Gia asked as the sound of sirens blasted in his ears. He watched firemen surround the club with their fire hoses trying to kill the flames.
“Ivy,” Smoke said her name as a statement instead of a question, and Otto nodded. Smoke laughed, but it lacked humor. “I knew she was hiding something.”
She was, but it wasn’t what they thought, at least from what he could remember. Bruno said something about her sister and setting them free, but the way Otto’s head was spinning, he wasn’t sure what he heard and what he imagined.
“Sofia’s going to want her head,” Smoke growled.
Otto quickly shouted out a no. He knew if Smoke or Sofia got to her first, Ivy wasn’t going to survive, and while he wanted his own revenge against her, he also wanted to talk to her, to hear her side of things.
Always the sucker.
Otto ignored the voice in his head. He thought he had seen tears in her eyes while he was getting jumped by three of Bruno’s men. He didn’t think she did this to be malicious.
“I want to find her first, and I’ll bring her to the Council for Sofia and the rest of you guys to make a judgment call.” Otto hoped it would be enough to satisfy Sofia and Smoke. He knew if Sofia ordered Smoke to do anything, the man wouldn’t even question it.
Smoke nodded. “I’ll help find her for you and go with you. No offense, but you can’t be trusted when it comes to her.”
Otto rolled his eyes as another cough made his body shake. Gia was right at his side, urging him to get checked out by the EMTs who had shown up. He waved her away as they watched firefighters bring out a lifeless body. Smoke turned to look at him confused. “You didn’t say there was someone else in the club with you.”
“There shouldn’t have been. I opened.”
“So who the fuck is that?” Smoke question, and Otto shook his head not knowing for sure, but if he heard Bruno correctly, he could guess whose body they were putting into a black body bag.
Maybe Ivy was innocent after all.
More fire trucks pulled up to Tres Bellas to help stop the flames from destroying the inside of the club. Otto heard the sound of car tires squealing, and he turned in time to see a very pissed off Sofia step out of an SUV and head toward them.
Otto stood his ground, already feeling the wrath that was coming his way. He fucked up, and he was going to have to deal with whatever consequences Sofia threw at him.
“Someone’s about to get they assed beat by a woman,” Smoke taunted in his ear, and Otto grinded his teeth, counting down the days until the bastard was out of his hair.
“You want to tell me why my club is on fire?” Sofia’s voice was as cold as an ice pick as she cut Otto down to size with just her glare alone.
“You asking a question you already know the answer to.”
Sofia moved faster than he blinked and pressed a gun into his chin. Gia paled, and Smoke pushed her behind him as he used his body to shield Otto and Sofia from prying eyes. “I may not be able to shoot you with all these witnesses, but I can pistol whip you till I feel better. You saw what I did to Bruno, and that was me going easy on him.”
Sofia’s words were soft spoken, but he still felt each one of them like the hit they intended to be. He hadn’t meant to give her a smart-ass answer, but he wasn’t sure things could get any worse tonight.
Sofia had every right to be pissed at him. What she acquired with quickness had been stolen from her just as easily. She couldn’t cement her foothold on New York when Boris and Bruno were taking hits to her empire through her soldiers—soldiers who pledged to ride for her and be a part of the Council.
“How are you fixing this, Otto? I’d hate to have to get rid of you.”
Otto knew he needed to right this, and they were going to need a win soon to tip the scales back in their favor, but he couldn’t do shit until he found Ivy. He needed her truth. For his own sanity, he needed to know her why, and once he found his answers, he’d bring her to the Council, and they would all deal with it together.
“I’m taking Smoke with me to find her, and once I do, she’s all yours.”
Yeah right. Once you get your hands on her, you won’t be so quick to hand her over for a death sentence.
