Page 15 of The Gambler

“I’ll make it quick.”

“Besides, Ally had dinner yesterday,” Angel said. “She basically only needs to be fed once a week. If we overfeed her, she gets a stomachache.”

Fucking hell. He wasn’t even going to get into that. “You can’t be serious.”

“Dead serious,” both brothers replied.

Obviously, they still had that annoying habit of answering together, honoring the term symbiotic twins. “How is she any threat to you? Shit, guys, I need her.”

Damon’s eyes narrowed. “Do you know why we’ve stayed out of prison for so long? How Kristoff’s crew differs from the regular Bratva? It’s because we don’t leave anything to chance. We don’t take stupid risks. Ever. The second something or someone is the slightest threat, we eradicate it. Root and all. This girl can connect us to a body. A very dead body of someone who has obviously been murdered. Now, while we have nothing to do with it, she might one day be questioned about it. She might mention our name, connecting us to this case. Being a suspect can lead to a trial. A trial can lead to our asses getting locked up in jail.”

“I’m too pretty for jail,” Angel chimed in.

Damon spread his hands as if weighing something. “Killing a girl and not becoming a suspect or… letting the girl go and possibly one day becoming a suspect. Not a difficult decision.”

It wasn’t. Not for Damon. Luca knew that. He also knew that Damon wouldn’t easily change his mind. To him, Angel’s well-being and safety came before all and everything. He wouldn’t lose a night’s sleep over killing Tess, if it meant keeping his brother safe.

Shit. “I need her,” he repeated. “Also, I owe her.”

“Two weeks,” Damon said, after some pondering. “Then you’ll hand her over to us. If, anytime in those weeks, she gets picked up by the cops, our deal is over.”

“I’m thinking of a different kind of deal,” Angel suddenly said. The sparkle in his eyes told Luca he wasn’t going to like whatever it was on his mind.

“And what’s that?”

“You need her, don’t you? I’m going to give you a tip on women you will cherish for the rest of your life. Consider it my ‘welcome out of jail’ present. Make her fall for you. A woman in love will do anything for her man. You can’t buy loyalty but you can earn it. Make her love you, and she’ll help you find the fucker who screwed you over herself. She would be like your pink and purple digital avenging angel.” Angel lifted his index finger. “So, here’s the first part of my deal.Make her fall for you.”

“She’s not my type, Angel.”

Angel smirked. “Judging by the way she looked at you, you’re not her type either. And isn’t that what makes this fun? It wouldn’t be much of a challenge if she immediately knuckled under for you, now would it? I bet you can’t make her touch your pole with a ten-foot pole.”

Hell no. Not this. Not now. They’ve been going at it for years. “This is about the score of our bets? Are you serious?”

“It’s my turn to choose a new bet,” Angel claimed. “You’ve been ducking it, with going to prison and all, but that’s over now.”

Only Angel could describe the two most hellish years of his life as ‘prison and all,’ making it sound as if he was talking about the weather. Then again, Luca had heard the stories about the twins’ life before they’d found Kristoff. It was a miracle they hadn’t turned into complete sociopaths, instead of merely a quarter of one.

“You really wanna do this?”

“It irks me that I’m a point behind.” He sounded dead serious.

“How do we decide the winner?”

“Easy. At the end of the two weeks, I’ll just ask her if you’ve fucked her.”

Luca rolled his eyes. “Crude as always. You’re beginning to sound like Damon.”

“Thanks.”

“It wasn’t a compliment.”

Damon merely gave him the finger and cocked a brow. As usual, he kept his thoughts mostly to himself.

“Now, why don’t you get the pretty doll out of the pantry, so we can discuss the second part of my deal together. After all, it concerns her just as well.”

He was just about to reopen the pantry door when the doorbell rang. All three of them tensed. Damon and Angel quickly shoved Grace’s body into the pantry, obviously having dealt with these sorts of situations before. Luca went to the door, only to find two annoyed-looking agents, holding badges.

Fuck, what the hell was the IRS doing at his door?

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