Page 29 of Bastard Prince
Unable to let her get the last word, I called out to her retreating back. “I’ll tell Eric you said ‘hi’.” Watching her shoulders stiffen was worth it.
Enzo and I were silent as we watched her get into a boring sedan with tinted windows, waiting until the tail lights had disappeared before we both turned to look at the other accusingly.
“Did you?” he asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” I said truthfully. “You?”
“Fuck, no. You think I don’t know better than to let you make your own threats a reality,” he growled, arching a dark eyebrow at me, and I felt my heart trip over.
This manknewme.
“Whoever offed Jerry did it on their own but fuck if that wasn’t a specific move against us.”
“It was probably stupid of me to call him out so publicly like that,” I lamented with a sigh. “I really enjoyed it, though.”
Wrapping his arm around my waist, Enzo drew me close to him. “You know I enjoyed watching it.” He pressed a kiss to my mouth, rough and quick, before stepping back and grasping my hand. “Come on. Let’s get to the basement and see if we can figure out what the fuck is going on around here.”
Enzo led me to where he had parked, and once I had retrieved my phone from inside Enzo’s jacket, I spent the drive getting information out of Sway, who knew considerably more than I would have thought he would have. None of it was good, however.
The basement was packed, the limited space taken up with a bunch of faces I didn’t recognize, and more than a few that I did, most engaged in quiet conversation.
There was Rocco, looking all broody as he leaned up against the small makeshift bar in the far corner, a scowl on his face as he watched the room. Lexi was beside him, tossing me a wink and a thumbs up when I followed Enzo down the stairs in the dress that she had helped me pick out.
Vinnie, of course, was in the shadows, pressed to the wall with his arms crossed, looking at all the new faces with suspicion.
Enzo’s people took up the remainder of the space, three men and a woman, each looking a different type of dangerous.
The biggest surprise was my brother, Antonio, who was standing in the corner alone, his face contemplative. I appreciated Enzo including him in this; it meant a lot to me to have him here.
I had been spending as much time around the house as I reasonably could since he had shown back up in my life. We had talked for hours, remembering the best moments of our childhood as well as filling each other in on the things we had missed. We had laughed and cried and held each other like old times.
And I had cooked. My God, how I had cooked. Every recipe my mother used to make, I recreated, wanting to give my guys a piece of myself that I thought I had neglected. Enzo’s kitchen had been a mess, but he hadn’t complained while he stuffed his face.
Seeing Antonio alone in the room, his posture closed off and his expression wary, made me want to go to him, protect him somehow, even though he really didn’t need it. But instead, I stood by Enzo, facing our people as a united front. They all stopped talking and waited for Enzo to speak.
“Listen up,” he said, sliding his suit jacket off and tossing it on a near by chair.
I was pretty sure that was the chair Ivan had been tied to last time I was down here. The thought made me smile.
“Shit is seriously hitting the fan, and I want some fuckin’ answers. What have you learned? Trick?”
“I have been following that Russian douchebag around town, but there hasn’t been anything suspicious,” the man, Trick, apparently, replied. I watched him as he spoke, an average looking man of average height and weight. I remembered Enzo had said that he could slip in and out of places unnoticed, and looking at his relatively attractive but unremarkable facial features and brown hair, I could see how that was true. “Although,” he started, snorting a laugh and shaking his head, “the man sees more hookers in a day than anyone in their right mind ought to. I’m surprised his dick hasn’t fallen off.”
This brought a few more chuckles from the crowd, but Enzo scowled. “The last thing I want to be thinking of is Anton Belikov’s dick, thank you very much.” He paced the small space, his anxiety showing in his inability to keep still. I watched as he unbuttoned his shirt cuffs and began to roll the sleeves up, the white fabric revealing his strong forearms, their corded muscle on display, much to my silent delight.
Damn, that was a good look.
“You’re telling me he hasn’t done one thing wrong?”
“No,” Trick said, stretching back in the chair he sat in, lacing his fingers behind his head. “He’s done plenty wrong. Drug deals, solicitation, likely some weapons offenses. Dumb fuck even parked in a handicap stall. More than once, the prick.” He smiled at Enzo, looking like he knew just how much his rambling was pissing his boss off, but he was enjoying every second of it. “But none of those things even came close to indicating that he was behind any of the shit that’s been going down at the clubs. As much as I hate to say it,” he paused, exhaling a big breath and dropping the front legs of his chair back to the floor with a loud clang, “he might be clean as a fuckin’ whistle where that’s concerned.”
“Well, fuck.” Enzo placed his hands on his hips, looking around the room. “Anyone else have some information for me?”
Silence.
“Not one of you has any info on who has been dealing in my clubs? Fan-fucking-tastic.” Enzo ran his hand through his hair, his gray eyes turning stormy. “Well, because we don’t have enough shit on our plates right now, two new developments came to light tonight, and neither of them are good.”
Everyone sat up a little straighter, Lexi cracking open a laptop she pulled out of somewhere, looking ready to start digging.
