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“Damn straight I am.” Nick turns to Vinny and pouts. “Baby–”

“I’m going,” she reiterates. “I can take care of it—” she glances at me and quirks her lips, “him.”

Sy grunts, brushing his lips across hers, and presses something into the palm of her hand. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“I’m not okay with this.” Nick lifts his foot and rests it on the metal chair next to the table. He pulls a knife out of his boot and holds it out to Vinny. “But if you’re going to be stupid, take this.”

“I’m armed, Nick.”

A slow grin spreads across his face. “Of course you are, Little Bird, but for my sanity, take the knife.”

She holds out her hand, and he grabs her by the wrist, dragging her against his body. His hand cups the back of her neck, pulling her by the hair until she’s looking up at him. “Stay safe. I don’t have time to go on a vengeance murder spree right now.”

His mouth covers hers, hard and possessing, and my dick twitches wanting in on the action, but then a twinge of pain from my side joins in and I think I may throw up.

Bending down, Nick tucks the knife into her boot and then releases her to me. Vinny wraps her arm around my waist, and I try not to lean into her as we walk to the back door. “Hey,” I call to my brothers. “No one gets ink while I’m gone. That’s my job.”

The last thing I need is some other guy encroaching on my territory.

“Got it, bro,” Sy says. “See you in three days.”

The door closes and the two of us are alone in the back alley. I’m tired, sore, and probably a little drunk.

“What now?” I ask, pushing her hair off her cheek.

She holds up the object Sy passed her. It’s a set of keys. One to his car, the other older, bulky, and made of brass. The letters ‘RG’ are engraved on the side. There’s a reason Simon is king.

He’s always one step ahead.

I manageto not just stay awake as Lav drives through West End, but to give her coherent directions. “Are we staying with Jade?” she asks, pulling the SUV to the curb. My friend Jade’s storefront is across the street. “It doesn’t look like she’s open.”

The shop’s windows are dark–as they should be. It’s late. The Fury wasn’t over until well after midnight, and then I had to get stitched up. The only sign of life on the street is the faint strains of music coming from the dive bar down the road. I shift in the seat, trying not to grunt at the radiating heat in my gut. I jerk my chin to the four-story building I had her park in front of. “We’re staying here.”

“An abandoned building?” She peers out the window. “What does that old sign say? Royal…”

“Gazette. It’s the old newspaper building.”

Vinny gives me a look. “What are we doing here?”

“Remember when the lawyer came by and gave Sy all that paperwork from Saul’s estate?” I ask, resting my hand on her thigh.

“Yeah. He shoved it in a drawer and ignored it.”

It’d sat there for weeks, a darkness radiating from the closed drawer. Like Sy, I thought it was best to just pretend it wasn’t there–but avoidance is my nature. Nick on the other hand wouldn’t let that shit go. He was dying to know what was in there, probably because he worked so closely with the King in South Side that he had an idea of what may be in there.

He wasn’t wrong.

“Nicky finally made him take it to his parents and they helped him go through it.” This isn’t really my story to tell, but Sy’s the one that gave her the keys. “Turns out he inheritedmore than just Saul’s ring and title. There were bank accounts, investments, business holdings, not to mention bills that needed to be paid, and... ” I nod to the building, “properties. This is one of them.”

“A dusty, abandoned, newspaper building?”

“Well sure,” I admit, “but Saul was using it as a little hidey-hole for his current fuck buddy.”

She makes a face at the term, but it is what it is. Saul had no wife–no one ever met his standards. He didn’t have the need to keep his rotating lovers secret, but he was a controlling bastard. Keeping some girl, probably a student–, a virgin, and with enough royal blood to satisfy his kink–, tucked away in an abandoned building to meet his needs is on brand. Fucker.

“I mean, I guess I’m not surprised. My father definitely had investments, and Saul had to do something with all that gun money.” She unbuckles her seat belt. “How’s Sy handling it?”