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All I knew about Angel was that he was the one that Toni rang whenever somebody needed to be dealt with in the early hours of the morning.

The third guy, I had never seen before.

This wasn’t a huge deal, as there were so many people who were either in or associated with The Family that it was hard to keep up or remember them all. I mainly remembered the ones that always hung around the house—the higher ups, the important people.

This guy, I was guessing by his youth and the curious way he looked around, was a freshie.

“Hey, Tone,” Larissa bounded out from the back room, her lips now a darker shade of red than before.

I sighed as quietly as I could.

She always had a thing for Antoni, ever since we were kids. I thought that when he got married she would maybe take the hint, maybe move on—but she hadn’t.

My only concern for her was that Rome, Toni’s wife, was probably scarier than he was. Larissa had balls by continuing to pursue him, despite my many pleas to just get the fuck over it.

“Hey, Riss,” Toni gave her a polite but strained smile before his eyes dragged to me.

“Hi,” I smiled.

“Back room. Now,” he said while he was already charging past me.

I waited until he couldn’t see me before I rolled my eyes. His men followed suit, all looking wholly serious, even Dimitri.

Though, when I eventually dragged my feet into that back room and he stood behind Toni, I could see that he was struggling not to smirk down at me. The downside (for Toni) of him being near my age, was that we got along.

Dimitri and I, I could see being friends—even without The Family. Maybe we would’ve even dated, if not for the fear of Toni slicing off Dimitri’s favourite appendage.

Nevertheless, that platonic brand of flirtation was how we interacted, but it was never anything more than that.

Something to do.

Some light in our days.

Some fun in the ever-so-serious business that we were in.

Well…theywere in.

I sold panties for a living.

But still, every now and again, I would be dragged into the bullshit. Just like right now.

Toni was already shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked like our dad when he did that.

“How long have they been hanging around here?” he asked plainly.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Today?”

“Only today?” he raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know, Tone. I don’t exactly pay attention to every fucking person or vehicle that comes past or near my shop,” I snapped, crossing my arms.

“Well, you have to, Zar.”

“Why?” I whined.

This shit had nothing to do with me.

So why did I have to be on the lookout? There were security cameras inside and outside the store. If they truly tried something, it would be on camera.