Page 54 of The Silence Lies

“Just drop it!” He pushes off the chair to his full height, towering over me. Yeah the guy has a couple inches on me, but that doesn’t mean I’m intimidated.

“The fuck I will!” I face him head on, not moving from the spot.

We’re staring each other down, eyes narrowed, waiting for the other to break. I’d say he’s nailed the look completely, but he doesn’t fool me. Anger is his go-to emotion because he’s too afraid of what the others might do to him. That much is obvious.

“It won’t work on me so drop the act.”

“I said,” he grits outs, grabbing the front of my shirt in his fists. He gets up close, close enough that I can see both the anger and fear he seems to be battling with. “Drop. It.”

“Enough!” Sera’s voice sounds across the backyard.

We both turn to see her approach with Giovanni behind her. As she pads across the path toward us, I notice she’s looking a lot more relaxed than before. That is until she sees us anyway.

“Whatever the hell is wrong with you two, suck it up and move on. We need to have a debrief and I’m not waiting around for you two. So either get your shit together or leave.”

Her words throw me off kilter. Luca, too.

He drops his grip on me with a shove, arms hanging limp as he gapes at our leader. Wherever she has found this newfound confidence from, I like it. It seems with each passing day she’s growing into the role, owning the title like she should. If I wasn’t already crushing after her, I definitely would be after that. She’s got fire behind her eyes and determination clenched in her fists.

I think I’m turned on.

After a beat, Sera nods, slipping past us and heading back inside.

For now, it seems like Luca is biting back his anger for the sake of our leader. And I do the same, shrugging his aggression off before following Giovanni inside.

Soon after, Luca joins us in the living room, still looking like he lost his damn toy. If I could hazard a guess, I think the toy might be Bianchi.

Luca

And just like that, I’m back in the mood I started in four weeks ago. Only this time, I’m resenting Serafina for an entirely different reason. I’ll hold my hands up to the fact that I was the one to make the first move. I didn’t really think about the ramifications of my actions until our lips crashed together. But I know I can’t have her. Not in the way that kiss demanded anyway.

I can’t stop looking at her, though. She’s perfection, wrapped up in an oversized tee that is just begging me to tear it from her slim body. Yet again, I’m locked in a battle with my own common sense. She’s with Levi—to some degree. And she’s technically my boss. I can’t be thinking about her like that.

But then again, she kissed me, too.

This is exactly why I’m all twisted up. She’s bringing down my walls, brick by brick, and she doesn’t even know it. I have to switch off my emotions. I have to ignore what I want and focus on the plan. I’m basing my urges purely on the fact we’ve been in each other’s pockets for the last four weeks.

Yeah, that’s it.

We’re all sitting in the living room, Mancini commanding it as he stands before us. Levi is cozied up to Sera on the sectional, looking more than comfortable. She doesn’t even spare me a glance, which means what happened less than an hour ago was nothing to her. She’s made that abundantly clear by the way she’s all but ignored me since.

The twins are on their own couch along with Giovanni. There’s only space for me to perch on the end of the couch at this point, but I don’t really mind. It gives me the advantage to leave if I want to.

“You wanted answers,” Raf nods at our leader. “So here they are. Those men who attacked you last night weren’t Verdi’s men.”

We knew that much from the way they handled themselves. They were more concerned with running Sera’s vehicle off the road than actually shooting a target. This wasn’t Verdi’s work, at least not directly anyway. Although I’m certain they had something to do with this.

“So, who were they?” Levi asks.

Raf hesitates, glancing at Sera, her knee bouncing nervously. “They belong to a crew by the marina.”

The room lapses into silence. Thick tension fills the space, apprehension and uncertainty threatening to throw us sideways. We all know what Raf’s not saying. We are all aware of what lurks down by the bay—the shady parts anyway. They’re famously named The Vultures for the way they pick off the weak.

The marina crew take down individuals who have nothing left to give. If they think you are worth something, they’ll groom you into their gang. If not, you’re as good as dead. But all this begs the question of why?

Why Serafina Bianchi? She has nothing to do with the crew. She runs the hills and bay, while they reside at the marina and docks. We never venture that far out of the city, especially to make enemies.

“The Vultures?” Marco frowns. “This isn’t good.”

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