Page 81 of Brutal Devil

“Harsh.”

“Regretfully, I cannot complete your request at this time, milord,” Basil says.

And I can’t quite restrain my snicker, followed by a groan of delight as the mouthwatering aroma ofZiaMaria’s cooking reaches me. Saint sets it on the table in front of me, and I waste no time digging in.

“You see?” Saint sounds amused. “I knew you’d need the whole piece.”

He’s not wrong. I’m totally going to eat this whole damn plate of delectable homemade sauce and pasta with gooey, rich cheeses.

“Do you know when he’ll be back?” I ask when I’m halfway through and a food coma is starting to set in.

“Priest, I presume?”

Saint is once more clicking away at his laptop, frowning at something on his screen. I wonder what he’s doing, but I also know that if I ask, the probability of a truthful response is less than one percent.

“The man who kidnapped me and is holding me here against my will,” I say pointedly. “Yup. That’s the one.”

“Soon. For now, you’ll have to settle for me, Jessica Fletcher.”

I roll my eyes at his antics and finish the last few bites of lasagna. Like his older brother, Saint Andriani is starting to grow on me. But I’m not going to allow that to change my mind.

The sooner I can get the hell out of this place and far, far away to the other side of the country, the better.

Chapter 20

PRIEST

When I get back to the safe house, it’s late. I don’t have any more answers tonight than I did last night. And when I walk into the living room, it’s déjà vu. Saint and Luna are all chummy and cozy, watching another crime drama, only this time, they’re awake.

“That’s not how that gun sounds when it fires,” Saint is telling her with an air of authority. “It really fucking annoys me when they don’t even bother to do a little research.”

“What would it actually sound like?” Luna asks.

It occurs to me that they’re sitting closer together on the couch than they were last night, and for a second, I see red.

Before my brother can answer her, I storm into the room, pick up the remote, and turn off the narrator’s droning reporter voice.

“Time for bed, wife,” I tell Luna, ice dripping from my words.

Saint looks at me like I’ve grown a second head. But he can go fuck himself. His reputation with women precedes him. He could charm a nun out of her habit in ten seconds flat. I don’t like the comfortable air between the two of them any more than I like the empty bottle of wine on the coffee table.

“Time for bed?” Saint repeats. “What is she, five?”

He’s lucky he’s my own flesh and blood, my consigliere, because no one else could speak to me that way without getting a bullet in his skull.

I stalk to the couch, running on caffeine and adrenaline and some kind of possessive caveman energy that scares even me. “No, but she’s my woman, and when I tell her it’s time to go to bed, she’s going to go the fuck to bed.”

“Jesus.” Saint runs his fingers through his hair, glaring at me. “Calm the fuck down.”

He’s not getting out of this easily. I’ve been running myself into the ground out there, and I entrusted him with my wife, a woman he’s looking entirely too familiar with right now.

“You talk to me with disrespect again, and I’ll fuck you up,” I warn him.

Saint stands instantly, a gleam in his eye. “You want to go? Let’s fucking go.”

“Wait!” Luna jumps up, standing between us. “What is wrong with you two Neanderthals?” She pins me with a glare. “First of all, your brother is right. I’m not a child, and you don’t get to tell me when it’s time for me to go to bed.” Then she turns to Saint with the same look in her eye. “And you, fighting with your brother? That’s the last thing either of you needs right now.”

She’s not wrong. I can’t afford to go to battle with my own flesh and blood on top of what’s going on beyond the safe house.