Page 52 of The Veiling

“I should’ve known I wouldn’t be the only one who couldn’t sleep.” Meandering to the shelves of liquor, I skimmed the labels; some legal, some illegally imported, as expected. “What are you guys drinking?”

“This one.” Marco stood, sauntering over to the wall of spirits with his glass still in his hand. He removed a golden bottle and set it on the black bar top. “Here.”

“You do realize this is a ten-thousand-dollar bottle of whiskey, don’t you?” I would have recognized it anywhere. “This was a Christmas gift from Giovanni. Five years ago, he gave them to several of us, remember Liam?”

Marco shrugged, placing the rim of the glass to his lips. “You people all shit that much money after your morning coffee. I’m not worried.”

William’s laugh caught me off guard. I glanced back and forth between them as I poured myself a shot. “Good to see you two getting along.” I waltzed over to the lounge area, sitting in a third chair.

“You have Gio to thank for that, then.” William smirked, holding up a half-filled lowball glass.

Ignoring his tipsy, light-hearted remark, my gaze flickered to the reflecting water in the pool outside.

“Uh oh,” Marco sighed. “I know that look. What are you planning?”

William shifted in his seat. “Are you going to bring the families into this?”

I shook my head, then slowly met his gaze. “We’re going to kill Jesse here in Colombia.”

“Uh,” Marco slid to the edge of his seat, “and Felipe?”

“We’re going to take him back to my home and lock him away in the basement until I slowly bleed him to death.”

William scoffed. “You’re joking.”

I arched a brow, taking a cigarette out of Marco’s pack sitting on the coffee table, and lit it.

“Fuck,” William muttered.

Marco slid back into his chair once again, nodding. “I like it.”

William shot him a glare. “Why?”

“Making a mess here is just too risky, even if this place is made for that shit. This isn’t Valentino’s turf. And if anything came back to haunt him later on,” he knocked on a wooden coaster on the end table, “it’s one less track we have to cover and deal with.”

“Correction.” I inhaled a drag of the cigarette. “It’s one less thingIhave to deal with.”

After what felt like an eternity of silence from William, he chugged the rest of his drink and set the empty glass down and nodded. “Alright, I got your back, as always.”

“You realize Isabelle’s going to be pissed off, right?” Noah’s voice echoed from the doorway. We turned to watch him stroll into the room, smoking his own cigarette. He held it up. “I was just about to go for a walk. Couldn’t sleep.” He sat in the fourth chair, cocking his head. “She’s going to murder you if that prick steps foot onto the property.”

“He’s right,” William pursed his lips, waiting to see how I would reply.

I shrugged. “Then I guess we just won’t tell her.”

“Excuse me?” Noah waved a hand. “That wasn’t the point.”

“Remember who you work for,” I reminded.

“I get it,” he flashed his palms at me, “but you have to understand she might actually leave you when she finds him there.”

“Then you better make sure you do your fucking job and stay by her side, so she doesn’t find him.”

Marco, who had been watching us like a tennis match, finally spoke. “While I see your side, Val, he’s right. I’m all for keeping this shit as quiet as we can, but if it’s not handled as soon as we’re back, you’re going to have a bigger problem on your hands.”

“Need I remind you,” Joseph entered the room with a scowl, “Jesse managed to escape the mansion?”

I nodded. “I know, and we fixed those issues. We won’t make that mistake again.” I looked at William. “Call Blaine first thing in the morning and have him and Tate start preparing for our return.”

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