Page 59 of Stolen Hearts

Ares smirks as he lifts two phones out of his pockets. “Truth.”

“If you want to really lean into it, you could get one of those fuckwad Bluetooth things for your ear, so no one at Starbucks has any fucking clue if you’re talking to them or the phone,” Hades adds helpfully. I glare at him.

“I’ve already programmed pretty much everyone’s number in there for you,” Cillian adds.

“Well, look at you, Castle,” Ares grins. “You already have a new number two!”

Cillian shoots him a cold look of death as Callie blunders into the room in sweatpants and a hoodie.

“Morning,” she mumbles.

“And how was your night at Casa del Kildare, Ms. Drakos,” Cillian smirks. “I trust your room was up to par.”

“Andsingle occupancy,” Hades mutters, shooting me a look.

I ignore him, turning to where Ares is rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, well, anyway,” the older Drakos brother says. “Two things. One, there’s a lot of chatter on the street this morning about Massimo.”

I arch a brow. “I’m guessing he’s a little pissed that he didn’t get a wedding invite?”

Ares smirks darkly. “Yeah, something like that. He’s pissed, that’s for sure. The question is,howpissed.”

“As in,” Cillian adds, “is he pissed enough to do something about it, and make this into something bigger than it needs to be?”

“Exactly,” Ares growls. “This arrangement breaks the contract and protects the combined assets of our families. Does it also start a war with the Carveli family? I don’t know. So I took the liberty of setting up a meeting with Michael Genovisi.”

I arch a brow. Michael is the head of the Scaliami family here in New York, but to my knowledge, the Kildare organization hasn’t ever had any dealings with them—good or bad.

As if reading my thoughts, Cillian glances at me and shakes his head. “No, we’ve never really crossed paths professionally. I’ve met Michael through friends of friends, though, and he seems like a level-headed and rational enough guy. Given that the Scaliamis are one of the five Italian families in The Commission alongside the Carvelis, he can provide a good temperature read for all of this.”

Hades pours himself a cup of coffee and leans against the counter. “Dante Sartorre is going to be at this little sit-down, too.”

Very interesting.

I’ve only met him in passing, but Dante Sartorre wieldsconsiderablepower in New York’s underworld. He’s actually a distant cousin of the Carveli family and is also the primary investor and head operator of Club Venom—an extremely exclusive kink club here in the city that caters to the wealthy, connected, and frequently criminally-minded.

I know all this because Cillian used to be a member, before he met Una.

Hades was too, actually, before Elsa came along. That’s most likely how and why he’ll be at this meeting. I know he and Hades have some history together.

“Okay, when’s the meeting?”

Ares glances at his watch. “We should head out in ten. That doable?”

I nod.

“There’s no way I’m going to be ready in ten minutes.”

I glance over to where Callie’s hunched over a cup of coffee on one of the kitchen stools, fastidiously avoiding eye contact with me.

Maybe I was right about the whole regretting grinning at me from the shower thing.

“No problem. It’s just going to be me and Castle,” Ares says.

She makes a face. “No. This meeting is about all of this, which involves me.”

“Stay here, Callie,” I growl. “Unpack, set up your room. Whatever you want. I’ll fill you in when I get back.”

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