Page 30 of Bastard Prince
“First, while Francesca and I were, uh, checking out the venue...” Enzo cleared his throat, and I smiled at his awkwardness.
“We were boning in a dark room,” I supplied, drawing surprised stares from the crew, and a huge smile from Lexi.
“That’s my girl,” she cackled, looking at the others. “I told you that dress was fuckin’ aces.”
“Anyway,” Enzo ground out, but the smirk he sent my way said he appreciated my boldness. “We happened to overhear a conversation between one of the city councillors and that junior Russian fuck, Gregor. Sounds like he’s trying to get himself a seat on the city council by any means possible.”
“That would be bad news, boss,” said another of Enzo’s men, this one sliding behind the bar and grabbing a bottle. I watched as he poured two fingers into a pair of rocks glasses and headed our way. He held them out to both of us, and I blinked at the gesture. I took the glass, giving him a grateful smile in return.
“You’re not fuckin’ kiddin’, Benny,” Enzo said, taking a long draw on his own drink. I had a tentative sip of mine. Tequila. Not my favorite, but still nice. “If anyone in the Belikov Bratva gets even a taste of power in this city, they will come down on us hard. And it’s a fuck of a lot harder to kill a politician than a drug dealer.”
“What are the odds that he gets in, really?” said the last man, the one I knew, through process of elimination, was Massimo. “I mean, politicians are elected, right? Who’s gonna vote for the heir to a drug and prostitution empire?”
“I don’t think that’s what the campaign posters are gonna say, Massi,” Trick said with a snort. Massimo flipped him off.
“Trick’s right,” Enzo said. “He’s an asshole, but he’s right. With enough palms greased and important people bribed or blackmailed, he could win in a landslide. And I know he’s out to get us. The stupid fuck told me so himself.”
“You talked to him?” Rocco said, speaking for the first time.
“I fuckin’satwith him. He was at our goddamn table. Along with his date, Amber.”
A low growl came from one side of the room, and I was shocked to realize it was from Vinnie. He’d taken Amber’s attack on me as a personal insult, poor kid, and he’d been beating himself up about it.
“You mean that dumb skank finally showed her face,” Lexi piped up.
“Yeah, and she did it on the arm of the enemy. Apparently, the reason we haven’t been able to find her is because she switched sides. She’s well and trulyoutnow, everyone,” Enzo said, dropping his eyebrows to share a significant look with his crew. “You know what that means.”
“Hey, now,” I interjected, holding up my hand. “I feel like I should be able to call dibs on this one, seeing as how Jerry was taken away from me.”
“What do you mean, Jerry?” Rock asked.
“That’s the other bit of information we learned. Jerry Lebowitz is dead.”
“Motherfucker.” Vinnie again. My boy was having a rough night.
“He’s more than just dead, though,” I said, moving forward to look at the gathered faces. “Jerry was killed as a direct move against me, specifically.”
“How do you know?” Rocco asked, his eyes narrowed in confusion.
“A few reasons, actually. One, his eye was cut out, just like I told him would happen if he pissed me off.”
“Oh, gross,” said Lexi, her nose wrinkling. The woman beside her, the one who could only be Lucky, was smiling, the first change to her stoic expression that I had noticed tonight.
“His body was found in Downtown Las Vegas,” I said, relaying the additional information Sway had provided to me. “In a dumpster behind The Mob Museum.”
“Right,” Rocco said, running a hand through his short hair. “That’s a direct message if there ever was one.”
Enzo turned his scowl on me. “How the hell did you find that out?”
I smiled secretively. “You’re not the only one with contacts, darling.”
Opening and closing his mouth a few times, Enzo finally shook his head. “We’re gonna talk about that later,” he said, his eyes promising all kinds of retribution.
“I look forward to it.” I really did need to talk to Enzo about what I had going on, and I would, when we were alone.
“Do they have any leads on who killed him?” Benny asked from his spot behind the bar.
“Yeah.” I huffed out a sarcastic laugh. “They think I did it.”
