Page 45 of Bitter Queen (Advantage Play 4)

Cocking his head toward the exit, he reveals, “In the shed. We’re waiting for the rest of the family to get here to hold the communal. Then we’ll get it done. Go get some rest. We’ll talk more after.”

“What are you going to do with him?”

His gaze narrows. “What needs to be done.”

Well, shit.

Mind spinning, I exit his office without another word, then find myself outside Q’s bedroom. I flex my hand at my side before knocking it against the barely-cracked door.

“Blue?” I murmur. “Can I come in?”

She doesn’t answer, but I don’t expect her to. She’s still shaken from the chaos we stumbled upon when we got here. Pushing the door open the rest of the way, I scan the room and find her lying on the mattress. She hasn’t moved since I left her there, and it feels like all the progress we’d made at Matteo’s estate has evaporated into thin air. I should’ve never brought her here.

“Hey,” I greet her.

Sensing my wariness, she studies me carefully before coming to some kind of conclusion, though I have no idea what the hell it is. Her movements are jerky, but she forces herself to push past my paralysis and approach me.

“What’s wrong?” she whispers.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I reveal, “My brother messed up.”

“Brother?”

“Yeah. Dex,” I clarify. “We’re blood.”

Her eyes widen. “Dex? As in…the guy who worked for Burlone before accusing him of working for the Feds?”

I nod.

“What did he do?”

“Touched Kingston’s sister,” I grit out, my blood boiling. “How could he have been so stupid? I get that he loves her. I get that she loves him. But doesn’t he understand the messed-up position he put Kingston in? He should’ve been patient. He should’ve waited until Kingston gave him permission.”

She chews on her lower lip, weighing the severity of the situation before a single word slips out of her sexy mouth. “Fuck.”

With a breath of laughter—even though the situation is far from comical—I breathe, “Yeah.”

“What is Kingston going to do? I remember his warning the morning we returned from Burlone’s estate. I remember his threat. His promise. If Dex touched his sister, he’d kill him. But would he actually go through with it?” The question tumbles out of her as her entire body vibrates with concern. For my brother.

Half-brother.

The guy I never got to know.

Regret swells in the pit of my stomach as I answer her. “I dunno.”

“Is your boss a man of his word?”

My shoulders fall as I meet her worried gaze and admit, “Yeah. He is.”

“Can you talk to him? Say something?” she suggests, scrambling for a way to fix this. But it isn’t that easy.

“That’s not how the family works, Q.” Pulling her against me, I wrap my arms around her naive little body, then rest my chin on the top of her head. I need to touch her. To feel her. Because right now, she’s the only thing keeping me from getting lost in the chaos.

“Then how does it work?” she demands.

“Dex knew the rules, but he broke them anyway. Without repercussions, our world would fall into chaos. King can’t let that happen.”

“Is there another way?” she pleads, damn near breaking my heart with her concern. She’s so sweet. So soft. So innocent.