Page 71 of Vicarious

“He’s going to be on high alert with Jason Travis dead,” Eileen says. “One incident can be chalked up to a mishap. But that and this on Isabella’s turf when it gets back to him…”

“Then tell him the truth,” I say without really thinking about it.

“The truth?”

“Not about Phae. About me. He knew we were fucking, and he wanted me to keep my distance. But when I tried to break it off, you didn’t want to let me go. So, I admitted to you that I was using you to get information to create a business to rival and eventually overtake Pray and eventually hand him to the feds for his betrayal seven years ago. I tried to get away, you chased me, and your men and the Uccello-Bianchi men ended up in a standoff when they came to back me up.”

“So not the truth but a version of it,” Viper mutters. “I don’t like this. If I tell this to Pray, it’s a declaration of war. You won’t be able to leave New York City.”

“And he won’t be able to come anywhere on the east coast. That’ll certainly put a damper in his bid to run for fucking president, won’t it?” I ask. “He’s going to want to take care of this quickly. So he’ll make mistakes, and we’ll be able to take advantage of it. But only if we sell him this story.”

“Dele.”

I shake my head. “There’s no time to come up with anything else.”

I pull him to me, kiss him hard on the lips, pull away and say, “Now shoot me.”

“What the hell?”

“We’ve gotta sell the story. And the criminal underworld chattering about Addy Bianchi recovering from a gunshot wound because she got on the wrong side of Pray and one of his lieutenants will sell it. Now come on. Do it in my leg and miss the major arteries.”

I walk backwards to create some distance. Viper stares at me wide-eyed and disturbed, a stark contrast from the hard, unfeeling expression he usually maintains in this kind of work.

“Dele.”

“Think of it as payback for the one on your chest,” I try to joke all the while bracing myself. This shit is going to hurt.

Viper raises his gun and aims it at my leg. His aim is true, but his hand is shaking, and I don’t think he’s going to be able to do it. I don’t think he’s going to be able to go through with shooting me.

I’m right. He’s not.

Eileen is.

I only register her snatching Viper’s gun out his hand before she turns it to me, and the next thing I feel is an explosion of pain in my leg. I fall to the ground and instinctively reach to clutch my bleeding leg. No amount of bracing myself could have prepared me for this kind of pain.

“Dele,” I hear Viper say as my vision begins to blur.

“Get the fuck out of here,” someone says. “Before Isabella has all of New York City after your ass.”

“Stay with her.”

I feel someone kneel next to me and press something into my leg.

“Now fucking go.” Then, “You’re okay, Dele. I know it hurts like a bitch but you’re okay. Stay conscious for me.”

I try, but the only thing I can register is pain. It’s everywhere. After a while, it’s the only sense of this mess that I have. And a little while later, not even that as I black out.

32

Viper

“I was going to divorce you, you know.”

It’s the first words Phae has said to me since I dragged her back to my estate and locked her in her room with only a few books to entertain her. But other than that, no electronics, no internet, and the windows and doors were locked with guards watching her 24/7 while I dealt with the mess she created. Pray will never know that, though. As far as he knows, Isabella Uccello and her cousin Addy Bianchi have betrayed them and have a criminal empire that rivals and could topple his own.

Pray’s a little irked at me that yet again I’ve let my weakness for a woman get the best of me, but also, if not for that weakness, he would have never uncovered the plot this soon. With Jason Travis dead, he has no choice but to overlook my indiscretion and poor judgment so I can help him salvage this mess.

So all in all, Pray knows exactly what Dele and I want him to know and has no clue that Phae ever left that fucking dungeon he had her in and that we’re on the way with my men to have her escorted on a private plane back to Italy when she can stay out of all this. But of course, I should have known Phae would never go quietly.

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