Page 42 of Blood in the Water

“What’s up?” I said as he handed me one of the men’s wallets. He had a New York license. “Fuck me,” I breathed through clenched teeth when I saw his address. It was within my father’s territory. “Do you know anything about this? Why men who live inourterritory are fucking sex traffickers?”

He glared at the dead bodies. Wynn had done fine work. One bullet, right between the eyes, for each of them. “Why would I know anything about this?”

“You never heard Max talk about this?”

“I think we’ve established he didn’t tell me shit about fuck,” he growled, running his hands through his hair. “But I know your father would never do this.”

“I feel like I’m going to be sick,” I said as a sudden nausea rolled through my body. I dropped the wallet and stumbled to the wall. Max had not only taken everything I knew from me but also gotten involved in selling people. He was responsible for the rape and assault of these ten women and maybe dozens or even hundreds of others. How the hell had I been so self-absorbed that I missed what a vile person he really was?

“I just don’t get it.” Cas slid his arm around my middle and pulled me to his side to keep me steady. I leaned against his chest and drew in an unsteady breath. Already, some of the whirling pressure in my head waned. “Why would the Five Families sanction the hit against you and the Don ifthisis what he was doing?”

I looked up, my mouth suddenly dry. “What do you mean?”

Cas pinched the bridge of his nose. “The Families were there the night of your birthday. They all conveniently left once Max started taking over. If they felt like there was a threat to one of the Dons, they would have fought. They would have eliminated the threat. But they let Max do whatever he wanted, and not one of them tried to help us. It only makes sense that they knew his plans and chose to do nothing.”

I gasped and reached out to steady myself on Cas’s arm. After the attempted hit on us, I figured Cas would run right to the Tommasos, but we’d gone to the Irish instead. I didn’t realize it was because he suspected the other Families had turned against us. I just thought it would be easier for Max to locate us if we moved within Italian circles. But the entire mafia being involved changed everything.

Why would they let Max do this? Why would they let him kill my father and then try to kill me?

Another shard of pain cracked down my heart. Those men were supposed to be my father’s friends and business partners. I’d known most of them my entire life. Still, they betrayed us.

Suddenly, my list of people who needed to die grew even longer. This was one line we did not cross.

“What are we going to do about him?” Cas murmured against my hair as he jerked his head toward Wynn. The assassin stood against the opposite wall, a respectful distance from the women who still huddled together while Claire spoke with them in a low voice.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t trust him.”

“Why not? He killed all these scumbags, and he’s helping the women.”

“And we have no idea why. He’s an assassin. He works for hire. Maybe he was going to kill them and then take the womenfor a client. Maybe the ‘team’ he called is actually his own brand of traffickers, and he’s just poaching new victims.”

“I don’t think he is, Cas.” None of that rang true in my body. Ishouldhave hesitated to take Wynn at his word, but for some reason, Iwantedto trust him.

It wasn’t just the attraction, which yes, I could admit that he was gorgeous.

He wasn’t the first person I was attracted to, but hewasthe first person that had such a magnetic effect on me. He looked at me straight in the eye, with an honesty to his voice. I had a gut feeling that we were meant to work together.

“Leona,” Cas said, linking his fingers with mine. “Don’t make any decisions that put you at risk. Please. I’m trying to keep you safe.”

I squeezed his hand. “Let’s see what he has to say. We’ll see whether he’s telling the truth about his team, and then we’ll meet with him. I’m not making any promises, but based on this—” I gestured to the bodies, “—we need him if we’re going to take on Max. You can at least admit he’s good at his job.”

Cas sighed heavily but grumbled, “Fine.”

I stepped away and walked back over to the women. Claire had done an excellent job keeping them calm. We’d get them home and out of this shit. I would make sure of it.

Once she was taken care of, I wanted to speak with her more. Hear who took her, how, and when. Maybe she’d be able to give us more information, and we could keep taking these fuckers out. Wynn obviously knew what he was doing, so hopefully he’d help.

Max would pay for this.

16

CASPIAN

It took over an hour for the Shadow’s team to assess the victims and then get them to safety. Leona had insisted on staying until every single one was triaged. I stared, arms folded across my chest, as the Shadow hovered on the edge of the warehouse.

He didn’t look like much. Too pretty. Too serious. Something about him just pissed me right the fuck off.