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“I mean, do you want to deal with your mom if you leave blood drops on her carpet trying to get to the bathroom?” I offered. Joey considered it for a second before he undressed himself in the garage until he was standing there in soaked boxers. He gave a cold shiver before looking back at Ian, who shook his head.

Joey clenched his jaw, removed his boxers, and threw his hands up. “Happy now? There’s nothing left that can drip on Mom’s carpet!” Ian looked him over for a second before going back out the garage side door. We heard the sound of running water a moment before he came back into the garage with the hose again, motioning for Joey to step away from the door. “This is starting to be cruel and unusual punishment, Dad.”

Ian chuckled with an almost innocent shrug before he turned the nozzle on Joey again and sprayed him down until the water ran satisfactorily clear. He turned the nozzle off and gave Joey another once-over before nodding in approval. Joey rolled his eyes and gave him a thumbs-up with a sarcastic grin. His thumbs-up became the middle finger when Ian turned his back to take the hose back outside.

“I’m gonna tell him you did that.” I quipped with a smirk.

“Do it and see what happens.” Joey grumbled, turning back to the door to go inside.

I shook my head and chuckled. “I’ll grab Az and we’ll meet you in your dad’s office after you’re showered and dressed.”

Twenty or so minutes later, the three of us were sequestered in Ian’s office. Joey relayed everything that had happened while he and Leighton had been checking ourterritory, though he conveniently glossed over how he’d ended up so thoroughly soaked in blood.

“Shit,” Az hissed. “While it’s still a possibility, it’s highly unlikely someone who was gunning for us would have tranq’d you and left you alive.” He paused, and I could see his mind working. “Did you notice if you two were being followed at any point?”

Joey pursed his lips as if holding back a snarky response before answering. “No,” he said on an exhale. “If wewerespotted and followed, they covered their tracks with serious skill.”

“Fuck. So we have nothing to go on.” Az replied, running a hand through his hair before tugging on the strands. He’d done that so often lately it was starting to seem like a compulsion.

“We have to consider that someone knew we were here and that the house could be bugged,” I spoke, my mind working over the severe lack of security at the Innocenti house.

Joey’s eyes slid to me and narrowed. “The house is owned by a shell corp, you took care of all of that yourself so that it would be impossible to find any connection to us through this house.”

“Dawn and Ian took my advice and avoided having any sort of wake or gathering here before Rich’s funeral, too. And you’ve been here ever since to see for yourself that they haven’t had any guests.” Az added.

“What about deliveries? Food, flowers? Condolence gifts?” I asked.

Joey just shrugged and shook his head as if to say he didn’t know. Az, on the other hand, let out a muttered curse.

“We didn’t think to tell them not to.” He said, clenching his teeth. “Fucking hell. I may have compromised all of our safety by missing something so fucking stupid.”

“I’m going to need Phil to make another run. Let’s not panic until we’re sure.” I replied, unsure how to stop Az from beating himself up over something anyone could have missed.

“I’ll make the call, what do you need?”

It was nearly midnight when Az returned from meeting Phil at the drop point. I’d laid down with Victoria while I waited, not wanting to cause her to panic if I was wrong. Az didn’t bother knocking on my door. Instead, he walked straight into the room and waved the radio frequency detector in the air. Carefully untangling myself from Victoria, I moved to take it from his hand and motioned for him to lead me to where Dawn had stashed any deliveries they’d received in the last week. I’d scanned a casserole dish, a plate of cookies, and two condolence cards before the detector went off on an ornate vase of white lilies and roses.

“Fuck,” Az spat, slamming the side of his fist on the end of the counter the vase sat on.

“We found it,” I said, trying to reassure him. “That means I can disable and track it. And I’ve already started beefing up security around here. We will be fine. We willmake surewe’re fine.”

“I really need that fucking head count and names of who’s left.” Az growled softly. “I’m not going to bring them here, but I can station them at the drop point in case we need back up. It’s not too far for that.”

“Until we find Leighton, Joey is all we got to check things out. I’m not sure it’s such a smart idea to send him out alone. He turned up here covered in so much blood it had even saturated his boxers. Ian had to spray him off with the hose… twice.”

Az lifted his hand toward his hair before stopping midair and scowling at it like it had offended him. “I’ll sync up with Philand we’ll do the sweeps. You figure out who the hell that bug belongs to.”

Chapter Twelve

Leighton

I was starting to grow bored of tormenting Alfred, though it had been pretty amusing when the man nearly broke. Still, I was ready for this sham of a wedding to be over so I could get back to Ma Petit. I hadn’t seen anyone other than the butler, so I wasn’t too surprised when Waddlesworth walked into my room while I stood in the middle of it butt-ass naked.

“Like what you see, Bixby?” I asked, shaking my hips to make my dick swing back and forth.

“Leighton,” My mother’s voice called from the doorway, interrupting my fun. “Put on pants, we need to go over your schedule for today and I’d prefer to do so without your genitals exposed.”

Alfred moved to my dresser and retrieved a pair of Versace cashmere joggers before turning toward me like he was going to put them on me himself.