Page 32 of Only Fools Rush
“We can wait until tomorrow, darling,” Wynn said. We’d returned to the penthouse, and I collapsed on the couch to leave the rest of them to unpack, clean their weapons, and change into fresh clothes. Eventually, they’d all come to sit in the living room, just waiting for me to speak.
Tonight, I’d done nothing but watch while they fought for their lives. For our future. But what did we get out of it?
I wasn’t a leader. I had no idea what to say. Tonight didn’t feel like a complete failure, but it also didn’t feel like a win. Max was still alive, Vincenzo was dead, but none of us were hurt. We’d made it through, somehow, and we stood in exactly the same place as before.
What the fuck were we doing?
I looked out the windows. The sun was barely rising over the New York City skyline, casting the apartment in its soft glow. The clock on the wall read almost 5:30 a.m.
“It is tomorrow,” I murmured.
“Let’s debrief,” Obi said. He’d exchanged his dark combat clothes for his usual kind of relaxed loungewear: slacks and a polo shirt. I’d only ever seen him wear pajamas that one night we’d fallen asleep together on the couch.
I turned my gaze to him, and his dark eyes held mine. My heart twisted in my chest with all the conflicting emotions struggling to surface.
Max had surprised me yet a-fucking-gain. I knew it was possible. He always had a plan up his sleeve. Even when we were kids, and we were playing pranks on Alessio and Daniele, my father’s men, he had everything thought out. But somehow, I never would have seenthatcoming. Never would have seen him gettingengagedto my best friend.
I’d been so angry that Obi had cut me out of that mission, but if I had been there, it would have been a royal shitshow. Obi was right. I needed to see what happened from a distance. Otherwise, Max would have gotten his wish, and I’d probably have been snared by whatever else he had planned.
I realized, then, that I wanted Obi’s comfort. I wanted his strong arms to wrap around me and for him to whisper in my ear that wecoulddo this. That he believedIcould do it.
But he wouldn’t do that until I’d earned that respect.
“You were right, Obi,” I admitted, staring at my fingernails. The last time I got them done was with Chiara a week before my birthday, but the polish had chipped off entirely in the six weeks since then. “Max was setting another trap, and if it weren’t for you, I would have played right into it.”
“This is why we must proceed with caution,” he said. I closed my eyes to take a deep breath. “Tell me what you are thinking.”
I shook my head, a little laugh bubbling up in my throat. WhatwasI thinking? I could barely get a handle on it. “I’m thinking,what the fuck?”
Ryuji leaned forward. “Are you surprised he allied with the Tommasos? We knew that was a possibility when Ciel found him there.”
“I’m surprised Chiara agreed to an engagement,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’m surprised I got smacked in the face with another betrayal from one of my closest friends. I’m surprised Vicenzo would give his daughter to such a piece of shit.”
“Perhaps she was forced into it,” Wynn added. “Mafia marriages are often arranged with little to no input from the women.”
I sucked in a breath. I knew Wynn was right, and I’d been wrestling with the question of a forced marriage since the words came from Max’s mouth. Maybe that’s what Chiara had been trying to tell me. Maybe if I had responded to her text messages, I could have saved her. We could have planned to get her out of there. But I was too afraid.
And still, it didn’t quite feel right. Would Vincenzo really have done that? Wouldn’t Chiara have fought? Screamed? Yelled to get away from Max?
What made more sense—that she was being forced and controlled or that she was somehow involved and had betrayed me?
“Vincenzo is—wasa strong Don who stuck to the old ways mostly,” I began, trying to make sense of it, “but I always thought he was more like my father. He spoiled Chiara. She got even more privilege and freedom than I did.”
“There was a lot about your father that you didn’t know,” Ciel told me in a hushed voice.
Understatement of the century.
But I did know one thing. My father never would have forced me into a marriage I didn’t want. I regretted how hard I pushed him to let me marry Max every day. I knew my role as the Veroprincess was to forge alliances, but he never would have sold me away without a care for my happiness or safety.
My heart sank, regret sweeping through my chest. Maybe an arranged marriage to someone I hated would have been easier compared to what happened in the end. Maybe if I had let my father decide who I should marry and not insisted on Max for so long, he’d still be alive.
But he’d also still be selling people, stealing drugs, and ruining his empire.
And I wouldn’t be here. With Cas. With the Shadows.
“Vincenzo must have had a reason for agreeing to the alliance,” Cas went on. He rubbed at his shoulder and flexed his fingers. “Maybe Max had some sort of blackmail against him.”
I cocked my head as the answer seemed to scream in my brain. Blackmail. I locked eyes with Obi. “We need to get to the bottom of those account numbers.”
