Page 87 of Happenstance
Micha was less than impressed. “What the fuck!” he growled at his father.
“I’m sorry, son, but it’s the only way I can protect you both.”
“Protect us both!?” Micha roared in response. “He gave Junior and Finn to that sick fuck! He deserves to be punished.”
“And he will be,” Lou straightened out his suit jacket, “But not by your hand.”
That was a load of crap. Lou wasn’t doing this to save his illegitimate son’s life. Or out of some sense of fatherly responsibility. He was doing it for one reason. Cheyenne Grace. Luke’s mother. Like the rest of us, Lou would do anything for the woman he loved.
“You can’t…”
“It’s done, son,” Lou said, cutting Micha off, after which he leaned over and rolled his dark eyes over the rest of us. “You boys will let me deal with this, understand. The mafia isn’t something to be toyed with. If you go in there half cocked, you’re not coming back.”
If he thought I was going to sit back and do nothing, then Lou didn’t know me at all.
“I mean it, Parker.”
I pursed my lips and nodded. “I got it.”
Go fuck yourself, Lou.
He eyed me for another second, before turning and walking away. Micha, who was pissed as fuck, followed, ranting his objections behind him.
Mason crossed his arms and shifted his gaze to Silas. “Why do I get the feeling that he’s about to do something stupid. Like go pay some Russian asshole a visit?”
“Because he’s got the same look you did before you hit on Ava.”
As Lou said, the mafia wasn’t something to be toyed with, but Lana was their princess, and my guess was that Nikolai would want to protect his heir. Miami wasn’t that far. Without a word, I spun around, slipped out the patio door, and snuck around the side of the house to my SUV. I barely got the door closed when the passenger side opened and Mase plopped down in the seat beside me.
“Oh man, there’s nothing like rolling up to Nikolai Ivanov’s house in the mommy wagon.”
“What are you doing?”
The back door opened and Silas climbed in. “We’re going with you.”
“Why?” My lip curled in confusion.
“Well this one’s just a moron,” Silas nodded at Mase, “But Lana helped my cousin, so I kind of owe her.”
“I thought you said this was stupid?”
“Oh, this is definitely stupid. Way beyond grabbing your sister’s ass, but,” Mase shrugged, “I just got out of rehab. Stupid’s my middle name.”
It took Mase two weeks to heal from that shit. There’d be no healing from what we were about to do. One of two things happened when you drove up to a mafia bosses house. You got turned away. Or you got shot.
“Last chance,” I said, starting the engine.
They both said nothing. Just clicked their seatbelts on and sat back.
“Alright.” I stepped on the gas and steered the SUV down the driveway.
It was time to meet my father in-law.
Chapter 30
Parker
Ileaned forward and scanned the large brick manor through the windshield. More specifically, the four armed guards by the gate. If people saidwehad money, then Nikolai owned the whole damn bank. This place put Oakleigh Manor to shame, and that was only from what I could see over the wall surrounding the property.
