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“Some fucking cunt of a bitch…” he starts, but his chest lights up with little red dots. He doesn’t notice it at first, but they’re reflecting off my water glass in front of him. His eyes widen, and he coughs, wincing again. “I’m sure she’s a lovely person.”

The red dots disappear.

“Some blonde woman showed up at my place with a few of her friends.” He juts his chin out toward the table of suits. “Roughed me up and told me to sign the papers, or next time it won’t be just my face.”

“The guys did this to you?”

“No.”

I grin. “You got beaten up by a girl?”

“She was a fucking ninja.” He clears his throat. “I’m sorry for being such a ‘small dick loser who would rather control the one good person in my life than let her be happy.’”

“I assume she’s given you some talking points.”

He huffs out of his nose. “Yeah.” He dips his head. “Even when we were good, we weren’t. I hope you find someone who gets you and can see all the things I couldn’t.” He pauses. “Can I have my cat back?”

“No.”

He nods and stands. “I didn’t think so.” He pats me on the shoulder and walks out.

A shadow settles over me. “Thank you.” I look up to see Thiago Ramos smiling at me.

“I’m pretty sure Alana did all the work.”

He laughs. “Oh, she did. But I was the one who rolled out of a moving car before it exploded.”

“How action movie of you,” I say between bites of my salad.

He pushes his hair off his face. “If I wasn’t about to shit my pants, it would’ve been pretty cool.” He puts a gold coin on my table. “Between what you did for me and Uri and Dimitri, you’re under the Four Families’ protection now.”

Wow, this all feels very John Wick.

“And you are…” I start.

“We’re under Alana’s protection,” he says without a hint of irony.

“So the most menacing criminal organization is a bunch of men who can’t protect themselves?”

He pinches his lips together and nods. “Sounds about right.”

Chapter

Twenty-Six

Dimitri

Back in Russia, Damien was known as the Squid. I’m guessing because they’re the assholes of the sea and they have that fucking weird beak thing. When he destroyed someone, he would suck them in, tear them to shreds and chew them up. No, not literally. Gross. He would suck them in, tear them to shreds, and leave nothing to prove they were alive beyond the ink on their death certificates. He would also kill his own men if he thought they might betray us.

I was The Octopus—smarter, able to blend in better, and ruthless, but only when necessary. Unless someone was pissing me off, then I’d punch them for no fucking logical reason.

Families do shit like that. Have weird symbols and bonding rituals. And it sounds like I’m about to be pulled into another family’s rituals and drama.

Apparently Joey and Thiago have a problem. Well it’s a Thiago problem, and Joey is forcing me to go along. Because they’re family-ish. And now, it seems, so am I.

About a month ago, Thiago was nearly killed by a car bomb. I didn’t want to say it when Joey was telling me the story,but everything about the setup sounded Russian. I had several guys in our crew who would use that exact system. It could be Mikhail, or any of his men still left alive. But the thought of that mother fucker still breathing sends me in to bear-like rage.

Joey texted me while Ian was at school, and we’re meeting in the office at the club. I’ve only interacted with Thiago a few times at Four Families dinners. He seems like a good enough guy. Uri gives him a head nod when he comes in. Joey and his cousin Donny arrive shortly after. It’s the five of us in the office and it’s never felt smaller. The growing tension closes in like the walls are slowly moving to crush us.