Page 49 of Little Bird (Advantage Play 3)

“Is that out of the norm for her to attend one of these things?”

“Yeah. The Allegrettis were blacklisted, which is why you never attended a gathering, but Regina was always tucked away in her room to prevent anyone from snapping a picture to reveal her true identity.”

“Since that strategy worked so well in the first place,” I add sarcastically before stepping out into the morning air. The body swings from side to side as we approach the car.

Stefan chuckles with me. “Pretty much.”

“Hmmm,” I hum. Dropping the corpse onto the ground, I open the back door to keep any of his blood from touching Burlone, then we shove him in the back seat. Wouldn’t want any cross-contamination or anything.

Once he’s situated, Stefan gets behind the steering wheel, and I slide into the front seat before he asks, “So did you know the guy well?”

I look over my shoulder to the stained sheet.

“Yeah,” I breathe.

“How ‘bout his son?”

Shaking my head, I admit, “I don’t know him well, but I’ve seen him a few times. Johnson was an outlier. He didn’t have a connection to the family, initially. Hell, he approached Burlone about a year ago and slowly weaseled his way into making connections. I’ve never heard of him purchasing a girl, though, but his son was being groomed for the family.”

“They start young, don’t they?”

“We all start young. Well”—I give him the side-eye—“most of us. What the hell made you want to join the Romanos?”

Mouth quirking, he confides, “You and I aren’t that different, Dex. We were both raised in shit homes with shit moms. I realized how much I needed a family to watch my back, so I went searching for them.”

“Is that what the Romanos do?” I quip, unable to hide my disbelief. “Watch each other’s backs?”

“Yeah. They do. And once you’re initiated with the gathering, they’ll officially have yours too.”

And I want that so much that it hurts. But I want Regina more. The real question is, will I be able to have my cake and eat it too?

Turning my attention back to the road, I mutter, “I guess we’ll see.”

And all the while, an image of my Little Bird haunts me because I feel like if I have my brothers, then I’ll lose something that’s so much more important to me.

* * *

We take care of Burlone’s burial first because it’s more crucial we don’t leave any evidence of Johnson on Burlone’s body than if Johnson ends up with a little of Burlone’s blood on him. Why? Because Kingston ordered me to disclose the location of Burlone’s body to a Fed, and we don’t want it connected to Johnson’s disappearance in any way, shape, or form.

Although, as I look at Burlone’s decrepit body, a part of me wonders if anyone would be able to recognize him if we didn’t hand out the exact location of his corpse. Half his skull is missing, and what little is left of his face is bloated and black and blue. Hell, he was practically my pseudo dad, even if he was a shitty one, and I’d have a hard time placing his identity.

Hopefully, it’ll be enough to satisfy the Feds and get them off our asses now. I guess we’ll find out.

I check the text from Kingston and type in the number he’d forwarded to me. It rings three times before a foreign voice answers, “Hello?”

“It’s in the woods off 49th and Emerson Road. You’ll see a giant oak and freshly churned ground. Good luck.”

Then I disconnect the call and rub my hand across my face.

“You okay, man?” Stefan asks from the driver’s seat.

“Just tired.”

Turning on his blinker, he heads toward the location of where he’d initially told me we’d be disposing of Johnson’s body. “Then let’s get this shit done and go home.”

A comfortable silence encompasses the cab as the trees on both sides of the road blur past us. After a few minutes, Stefan breaks it with, “I uh, I wanted to thank you, by the way.”

“For what?” I ask, keeping my gaze on the lush greenery outside.

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