Page 39 of The Boss
Leif’s voice lost its edges. “Explain.”
She didn’t flinch. “He promised me to his lieutenant first. To lock in loyalty and shut down any whispers about succession if our father’s health got worse. When that started to backfire, he pivoted and planned to offer me to another family’s son. Bigger play. Bigger protection. Iwasn’t invited to vote.” She lifted one shoulder a measured inch. “So I walked.”
“To the Alabaster,” Leifsaid.
“To buy a new name,” she said. “Except my brother showed up. Ileft with you instead.” Her eyes flicked to his mouth and then away. “Not the plan.”
He absorbed that, the clean internal click when something drops into place and locks. The lieutenant loses the promise, loses face, maybe loses revenue if he’s been clipping river shipments as a personal bonus. He has motive and access. He also thinks in timers and humiliation, not in diplomacy. The blast hits the schedule. The room goes to hell. The Boss gets blood on his suit. No one claims it. Everyone in the city reads it anyway.
“Name,” Magnus said, already moving. “Who is your brother?”
Mariah hesitated. Leif squeezed her knee. “Say it,” hesaid.
“Stellan De Angelis,” she said atlast.
“The De Angelis Consortium,” Leif said flatly.
“Yes.”
“You’re Mariah De Angelis.”
“Yes.”
“And the Lieutenant who you were initially promised to?”
“Rocco Lorrie. He runs the night side for my brother. Smuggling.”
Pieces clicked into place. “The river.”
Her lips firmed, but she nodded.
Alaric’s brows rose. “Stellan drinks his own product and thinks he’s immortal.” He nodded to himself, pulling threads none of them could see. “He could time a bomb and brag about it in silence.”
“And he could get explosives without blinking,” Leif said. “The riverfront makes that easy when you own the men who unload the wrong crates and reload them with the right smiles.” He looked at Mariah. “He couldn’t have known you were with me.”
“No,” she said. “He assumed I’d be at home. He assumed I’d be obedient.” Her voice failed for a breath and came back harder. “He’s wrong about many things.”
Leif reached under the table and found her hand. She gave it to him without looking. He dragged it upward and pressed his mouth to the inside of her wrist, slow. The pulse there kicked against his lips. Her breath caught and the sound went through the room like a current.
Magnus rolled his eyes skyward. Alaric looked pleased with the theater. Leif didn’t care about either. He held Mariah’s gaze and let her see what he wasn’t saying. Mine. Safe. You breathe. I’ll handle therest.
“Work the list,” Leif said without looking away from her. “I want Stellan’s dock hands pulled in quiet. Iwant his runners lifted and put back down a block away to learn who notices. Iwant eyes on every warehouse he’s used to move anything from watches to warheads.”
“Already started,” Alaric said, checking his phone. “And a gift. Stellan just shifted a night delivery from Warehouse K to a river bay farther south. Less cameras. Less eyes.”
Magnus’s mouth went hard. “He’s cleaning.”
“He thinks he is,” Leif said. He stood, tugging Mariah up with him by the hand he still held. The chair legs scraped. The movement decided the next hour, the day, the week. “You have your lanes. Run them.” He leaned over the table. “If Stellan’s hand is on my table, Itake the hand.”
“Before or after you take the head?” Magnus asked.
Leif’s smile showed teeth. “Yes.”
Alaric’s eyes slid to Mariah and back. He rose, pocketed his phone, and tipped two fingers off his brow to her like a half salute. “Welcome to the family fight,” he said. “Try not to sneeze without telling someone.”
“I’ll put it on a calendar,” she said dryly.
They left with the authority of men moving to war, the door shutting them into a quieter room that didn’t seem quiet. The city thrummed under them. The river drew a line of gray beyond the glass. Leif turned to her, closed the distance, and backed herup against the edge of the table before she could decide if she wanted to go orstay.
