Page 177 of Tempting Little Thief

The soft glow of a light in the distance catches my attention, and my eyes narrow slightly. I shake my head, finally seeing out into the dusk for the first time rather than looking or focusing on my inner thoughts. As if sensing my surprise, he nods in my peripheral.

“When did that happen?” I wonder out loud.

“A little over a month ago. Bronx was the first to notice when the garden fountain suddenly flicked on.”

“Someone purchased the property? I thought the deed was missing. Wasn’t that why no one could prove it belonged to the Greysons?”

It takes him a moment, but he lifts a single shoulder and then casts a quick glance over it before I even hear their footsteps.

Bronx and Delta rejoin us, fresh cappuccinos in their hands, and they offer one to me.

“We figured you needed this.” Delta’s smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

I pull it to my lips, cupping my hands over the warm glass and breathing in the roasted almonds and woodsy scent. I take a second sip, and then a long sigh escapes.

“I’ve combed through everything there is to comb through, and I can’t find anything on the surveillance for your house or for outside the gate that’s helpful, but Damiano already said he’s going to go over it again just in case,” Bronx shares.

“It has to be Enzo, doesn’t it?” Delta says as she lowers onto the patio seating.

“It’s not Enzo.” We all look to Boston, who leans against the open doors, her arms crossed over herself.

I hold her eyes a long moment, watching as a clear gloss coats them. I nod, agreeing. “It’s not Enzo. If it were, he wouldn’t have gone after my dad.”

He would have taken … damn, I have no idea who he would have taken: the girl he agreed to marry or the “better one” my father said he could have instead.

Anger threatens to consume me, but I wash it away because my father isn’t here, and God only knows what’s happening to him. The last thing I need is for him to take his final breath while I’m standing here, pissed off at what he’s done. Or, more accurately, threatened to do before everything went to shit for the second time in twenty-four hours.

Behind Boston, the Grecos step in, Ander and Alto behind them.

Kenex and Kylo join us on the balcony as well, looking first to Damiano and then to me.

“Do you think they’ll hurt him?” Kylo worries, and Kenex nudges him in the ribs. “Your dad, I mean?”

I lift a shoulder, giving him a small smile. It’s sweet of him to care when my father has shown him not an ounce of humanity.

Everyone nods, looking to me, waiting for instruction I’m expected to give. Waiting for an answer that I’m supposed to have.

I have nothing. Well, maybe the smallest of insights. “I would say it was Otto finally coming after him in search of Oliver, but our dad said Otto was attacked just before our security went out. That’s why we were coming home.”

Dom nods. “Calvin told us about what happened at the Henshaw mansion.”

“What if Otto and his family faked the attack to cover for himself, so he could come after Dad without repercussions?” Boston asks.

My eyes widen. “Holy shit.”

“That has to be it,” Dom agrees.

It does. “The Henshaws had to—”

Sai’s giant form breaks into the room and my words die on my lips, my muscles tightening as he makes his way toward us, his suit still perfectly in place, no sign of an attack made on the name he’s sworn to protect.

To everyone else in the room, his face likely looks calm and unreadable, but as I said, I’ve spent more time around this man than anyone in my family or friend group. I see the strain at the edges he tries to hide but can’t. Lines of guilt?

His eyes connect with mine and my throat runs dry.

“Do you need anything?” he asks, his gaze pointed and searching.

I can’t find my voice, so I simply shake my head, and while it takes him a minute, he finally accepts it as an answer and moves back into the hall.

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