Page 49 of Bitter Queen (Advantage Play 4)

“I already told you that’s a terrible idea.”

“And I already told you that she doesn’t have a choice. And neither do you.”

Growing frustrated, I shake my head back and forth, but I’m careful to choose my words wisely. “She’s scared, King. She doesn’t respond well to men in general. There’s no way she’ll be able to answer your questions.”

“She seems to respond fine to you,” Kingston points out.

With a glare, I mirror Kingston’s position, resting my elbows on the table while reminding myself of my own self-preservation. You don’t question the boss. I know this. But he doesn’t get it. “It’s a bad idea.”

“And I don’t give a shit. I need to talk to her, D, and that’s an order. I need to find out if she remembers anything out of the ordinary from her disappearance. I need to find out who she really is because her story isn’t adding up, and if she wants my protection, she needs to be honest with me.”

I want to argue. I want to drag her away to the nearest cave where we can both get lost, and this entire ordeal will be a distant memory. There’s just one problem. Q’s screwed-up past isn’t just affecting her. It’s affecting the Romano’s entire operation, and I have to remember the family.

Family first. Always.

But what about Q? my conscience whispers inside of me. Because she’s starting to feel like someone other than a random girl off the street that I’ve been tasked with watching over. She feels like more.

Every muscle in my body is coiled for a fight, ready to spring into action at any second, daring Kingston to push me over the edge. But he’s smarter than that.

Dex, however….

“She’s stronger than you think,” he interrupts. “We need to get to the bottom of this.”

“Then I stay when you interrogate her,” I growl, staring Kingston down from across the table. “And you promise not to touch a hair on her head. Understand?”

The air pulses with that same violent testosterone as Kingston debates whether or not he should let me be there when he questions her.

After another moment of consideration, Kingston answers coolly, “Fine. You can sit in on the interrogation, but if you intervene before she has a chance to explain herself, there will be consequences. We clear?”

My jaw tightens before I spit, “Yeah. We’re clear.”

“Good. Next order of business. Jack, your face is plastered all over the news. Thankfully, they haven’t found any connection between you and the Romano family, but you’re officially on house arrest until we figure this shit out. I don’t need the Feds knocking on our door with an arrest warrant for you. Understand?”

He nods. “Yeah. If I can help while still staying under the radar, I’m your man.”

“Good. It seems that Jack’s face being headline news is rocking the boat a bit with Burlone’s previous associates, so we’ll need to smooth things over. Dex, this is where you come in. I don’t care what you have to say; I don’t care what you have to do; you will not let any of this messed-up situation blow back on us.”

“I won’t.” His voice rings with determination as my gaze drops down to his bandaged hand.

Kingston nods his approval. “We won’t be reaching out to Dominic’s contact until I speak with Q, but that doesn’t mean I’m not keeping it as an option if we need to move forward with it. Stefan, do you know if Lou has located Sei yet?”

My brows furrow as I register his comment, convinced I’ve heard him wrong.

Located Sei? Why would we need to locate him if he’s in prison?

Blood boiling, I shout, “What?”

Again, all eyes turn to me as my chest heaves with rage.

With a sigh, Dex explains, “Dominic informed us that Sei wasn’t captured during the raid.”

“But I thought you—”

“Yeah, I know,” he replies, growing impatient. “I zip-tied him to a fucking chair and shot enough drugs into his veins to take down a gorilla. I have no idea how he escaped, but he did.”

I shake my head, seconds from losing my shit in front of everyone as I order, “We need to find him.”

“He’s not our greatest concern right now,” Kingston counters.

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