Page 190 of Caught in the Crossfire

Cas and Max both started interjecting while Ryuji taunted them back. It only took another moment or two for Ciel and Wynn to chime in before everyone was arguing over one another.

“I’m asking for your trust,” Leona said, voice louder than everyone.

I scrubbed a hand down my face, then caught her looking at me. My arms opened, and she slipped out from underneath Ryuji’s, coming to stand before me. I picked her up and deposited her on the counter before nudging her legs wide and fitting myself between them.

I tucked a curl behind her ear. “Who are the girls you’ve spoken to?”

She grinned. “Fallon. Willow. Zoya. Ximena, Ludmila, Penny, and Claire—those are the girls we met at Willow’s haven. With me, that equals eight of us.”

A chorus of eye rolls and grumbles erupted across the kitchen, especially at the name of Fallon Byrne, but Leona’s eyes didn’t leave mine. Instead, she cupped my cheek.

“I can do this,” she whispered.

“I do not doubt that you can,” I returned, “but I do doubt my ability to keep my composure if anything threatened you in there. The risk is enormous. It is dangerous. We can’t lose you again.”

“This time, we can be the ones setting the trap,” she said softly. Her palm pressed on my shirt over my heart. “We’ll work through all the details, but I need you and the men to keep the exits safe. There will be plenty of important people there, people that we can blackmail and control if we find them in compromising positions.”

She filled us in on how Willow’s girls witnessed multiple prominent people frequenting the sex club, likely to exchange bribes or other business information. It made sense that Arion would immediately try to pick those relationships up again, relying on those connections to keep him safe against the Camorra.

He needed allies, and fast. So, he would invite those powerful visitors to the club as soon as possible.

Ciel was working on tracking down the buyer website, but if we had real blackmail, it could be a powerful tool against the Camorra when the time came.

“Leona can do this, and so can I,” Wynn said. My eyes tracked over the way he stood confidently at the island, much more like himself than he had been since Leona’s kidnapping. No, actually, he looked better. Like he’d finally found peace. “We’ve already made a plan. I’m going to take charge of escorting the workers out of the club and to Willow’s waiting crew. I trust Leona can do her part, with our other allies, inside the club while we focus on containing and controlling the outside.”

“The director of New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority was previously sighted there,” Ciel said. “I’ve already tapped his communications to find an invitation from Vokshi to visit again. He’s planning to this weekend.”

“That’s when we should go,” Wynn said. “We can stop the buyers, throttle the Albanian leadership, and gain power through blackmail. Win-win-win.”

“That only gives us a few days,” Caspian said. “Can we organize everything before then? How long will it take the Camorra to get here?”

“They gave me until the end of the week,” Max said, the first thing he’d said since his earlier outburst.

“Perfect timing,” Leona said with a grin, turning to him. “If we give the Camorra Arion Vokshi without issue, do you think they’ll go home? Leave us alone?”

Max’s brow furrowed while he inhaled and exhaled heavily. He stared at the countertop. “I think I can convince them to, yes.”

“Then it’s a plan,” she responded. She got each of my brothers, and then finally Max, to agree to their participation. Her eyes flared bright while she hopped off the countertop, dragging her hand down my arm. “Let’s get to work.”

The idea of Leona in harm’s way made my heart thunder inside my chest.

Yet if what she said was true, there were people at this club whom we could maneuver to our means. We could earn back some favors I’d already spent and build more power against the Camorra.

It was a necessary risk.

My brain immediately began moving chess pieces on the board inside my head, working through scenario after scenario.

If this plan didn’t work, if they turned on us…would I have what I needed to finally play my hand against them?

62

CIEL

As soon as Max Volpe left, frustrated as all hell, Wynn’s hand clamped around my forearm. He grabbed Leona and dragged us both through the penthouse to his room. My mouth went dry, and my heart hammered in my ribs, when he shut the door behind us.

“Is everything?—”

His lips covered mine, silencing my question. I stepped back, and he pushed forward until my back met the closed door.