“She’ll be fine,” Jarryd promises me. “You’ll see; everything always works out.”

I nod. I don’t want to burst his bubble. He was too small to really remember Ma.

The door opens as I finish pouring another whiskey, and we both look as Robbie walks in, followed by Ronan. I start to stand, but Ronan holds a hand up. “Relax, sit down, and nurse your drink.”

“Nat?” I ask. Fearing the worst, I can’t utter more words. I can’t ask about the baby.

“She and the babe are fine, but Ivan isn’t budging. I need to work on him, but I also got intelligence back on who took her and where they’re staying.” Ronan goes around the bar, takes the bottle from the counter, and pours himself a drink. “I think tomorrow, you and Robbie can pay this Sicilian Don a visit. It’s not the main one, not that Russo character, but he’s in on it.”

I nod. “I need to end this, Ronan, but if I kill those Dons….”

“I’ve already arranged with their sons. We kill their fathers; they’ll take over the families and call off the hit. Apparently, the Dons have been slipping in the last few years, costing the families millions in their greed. The families are tired of being used as fodder and getting nothing in return, and they will back the sons.”

“Russo…”

“His secondborn was the one I spoke to. He didn’t like his brother much and considered what Natalia did a favor to him. But we must eliminate the Dons before they can do anything.” Ronan downs the drink. “Three are in New York, here to watch Natalia die, so they should be easy to track and kill. The other two are in Sicily, and their sons will sort them out once we send word that the ones here are taken care of.”

“It’s bullshit politics,” I growl.

Ronan snorts, “Isn’t that the truth? But it’s the best deal I could broker, so as usual, you gotta get your hands dirty to solve the problem.”

“Where’s the first one?” I ask.

“He’s staying at a beach house, ironically not far from Ivan Volkov’s main residence.” Ronan meets my eyes. “If she’s home, you could always…pop in and say hi.”

“You think Ivan Volkov will allow me to walk into his property and say hi to my pregnant ex-wife?” I snort. “He’ll shoot me first.”

“Don’t worry, Robbie here has a plan, and if she’s willing, you’re welcome to bring her back here. You have my word Danny-boy; she’ll be under our family's protection at all times.” I can see in his eyes that he’s being serious.

“Why do you agree to let me be with Natalia? You hate the Volkovs.” I down my whiskey and put a hand over my glass when he tries to pour me another.

“Because I ain’t seen you happy since we were young, and while you may think it’s politics I’m interested in, I’m actually just interested in keeping our family together and happy.” Ronan smiles. “Go sleep so the whiskey won’t dull your senses. Robbie will be ready to roll with our guys first thing in the morning.”

I nod and get up. “Then the fun begins.”

The night passes dreamless, and I wake up instantly when the alarm sounds to get to work. It doesn’t take long before we’re in two cars with six of my brother's best shooters. We’re going to the location, but I think about Natalia.

When we got into the cars, Robbie informed me that Natalia is staying with Ivan as Ronan said she would be. We check our comms and then sit in silence for the drive there.

We’re about ten minutes out when Robbie radios me from the other car, “What’s the plan, big brother?”

“Shoot every fucking Sicilian dickhead in the house except the Don. I have some questions for him,” I growl the words and hear my brother laugh.

Sometimes I do think he’s psychotic.

We move as a cohesive unit. We arrive and start shooting before anyone can get their guard up. Robbie drives through the gate, and we run in after him. My brother shouts like a cowboy as he takes out guards with his shotgun.

Definitely psychotic.

Aren’t we all?

We work our way through the house. We kill everyone; no one is spared. There can be no witnesses left. My men are more thorough than the navy seals could dream of being. I forgot how being in a fighting unit feels.

It feels good.

We reach the top floor, where a group of Sililian guards are defending a locked door. I smirk and look at Robbie, who chuckles. He pulls a grenade painted with rainbow colors off his belt, pulls the pin, and throws it. We all duck behind the walls, and the grenade goes off. Robbie and Deacon go first and clear the Sicilians before I follow and kick down the door. There are more guards, and they shoot immediately. Robbie pulls me back just in time as one of our other men, Lordes, throws a flash bang into the room. Once it’s gone off, we storm the room and shoot.

I move past the guards as my men take care of them and find the Don trying to squeeze his round ass out a window. I grab him and drag him back into the room. I point a gun at his head.