Page 29 of Dangerous Men (Fortune City Mafia #1)

ALEC

This trip is a nightmare.

The windows of the sterile meeting room I’m in overlook Empire City’s east midtown, a picturesque view that I can’t appreciate.

My head throbs from one of the worst headaches of my life, made worse by the dull artificial light beaming down from the ceiling.

I’ve been stuck in this spot since seven this morning, working diligently through lunch, and now the sun is setting behind the skyscrapers.

And in all that time we’ve discovered fuck all.

I’ve been listening to Dave—one of the men who manages our new Empire City clubs—walk me through the money we’re currently losing in our underground business dealings here.

The contracts that keep falling through with little to no explanation.

The money that is mysteriously disappearing, sliver by sliver, as our earnings trickle their way up to me.

It’s not nearly enough to put a dent in our operations here, but it’s just enough to not go unnoticed.

And over and over we keep hearing the same thing.

Employee after employee admitting that they’ve started paying protection money to someone calling themselves Dante.

And that money is coming out of our cut.

I roll my shoulders, trying to work out some of the tension creeping into my muscles. Someone is encroaching on our turf. Someone is working against us.

But no one has produced a shred of evidence that would convince me this is the real Dante, back from the dead.

The whole thing makes me nervous, and I’m never nervous.

I’m lucky to have my brothers by my side, but in situations like this, the pressure sits with me alone, weighing me down. I’m the one always in control, the one who keeps things organized and moving forward. I don’t have the luxury of going off the rails like the others do.

Ashton flits about, flirting and fucking and fighting, and never taking anything in his life seriously.

I love him—he’s family—but he’s an unfocused mess when he’s left to his own devices.

I couldn’t ask for a better right-hand man, but without direct instructions, Ashton would never manage to accomplish anything on his own.

His brother Sebastian sits behind an emotional fortress that grows more impenetrable by the day.

He’s as stoic as I am, but he’s so disconnected from his feelings that I don’t think stress even registers for him anymore.

I get it—it makes sense after what he’s been through—but nothing ever seems to touch him.

Cold and emotionless as the numbers and research he spends his days staring at.

And Viper, well…Viper is simply Viper.

We all have our demons. Viper rose above his when he was still a kid and became something even demons should be afraid of.

Which means figuring out who’s behind this minor turf war and what to do about it falls to me.

Today has been full of strategy meetings trying to do just that, but it’s not enough.

I need to understand who it is that’s trying to turn our connections against us, and why they’re using Dante’s name to do it.

We might own this territory now, but someone is slowly cutting us off from some of our low-level connections. Someone is trying to undermine us.

But the way they’re going after us is little more than a nuisance, and Dante would know that. If he were alive and wanted to hurt us, he’d go over something bigger. Something we actually care about…

“Sir…?” Dave asks, cautiously. At my irritated scowl, he falls silent.

I’ve mentally checked out from this meeting, but these guys aren’t giving me any information that I don’t already know. Anger is slowly taking me over.

I hate wasting time.

I hate being in Empire City.

And more than anything right now, I hate not having my delicious Sydney quivering underneath my tongue.

Over the years, there have been a few women in my life who stayed long enough that what we had could be considered a relationship. But it was always casual. They knew when I called them it would be for a night or two of fucking, but that was all. Pleasurable, but transactional.

But with Sydney? My woman in red? I can’t get enough of her. I want her surrounding me in every way possible. I want her hair wrapped around my fist and to feel her panting in my ear, sure, but I also want to wake up with her in my arms. I want to take care of her.

Protect her.

And right now, I want to hear her screaming my name, begging me for more .

Slow , I remind myself. She wants to take it slow .

I sigh heavily, wishing I weren’t needed here. Wishing I were back with her.

Sebastian, that fucker, has ignored every message I’ve sent asking about her over the last few days. Though, that’s not unexpected. I trust him to tell me if something were wrong, and that’s enough. Silence from him means there’s nothing to report and no reason to worry.

Still, I can’t help but wonder what she’s doing right now.

“Everything you’ve given me is next to useless,” I say. There’s enough of an edge to my voice that it makes Dave flinch. “Did you at least get the surveillance pictures I asked for?”

The one thing Sebastian did send to me today was a short list of suspects to keep an eye out for. I had them sent to our security department, making sure they combed the security footage available from our clubs to pinpoint if any of them were showing up to cause trouble.

“Uh…yes, sir. Of course, sir.” Dave shuffles with the papers in front of him before pulling them out.

“We got those pictures back this morning, but there was nothing new in them. There’s no one matching Dante’s description, but we pulled some of our regulars, and there was only one potential match to your list—” He stills as I rip the pictures out of his hand. My breath catches.

Fuck.

Of all the names on Sebastian’s list, this is the one I least expected.

“Annika,” I mutter, fighting to keep my face blank.

There’s no denying it’s her. The camera caught her full, upturned face, her eyes fixed on the lens as though she was staring right at me.

I refuse to show any sort of reaction in front of these people. I need them to respect me. Fear me. I’ve worked to curate a very specific image of myself. But I can’t help myself as I process this new information. There’s no amount of control that could keep me from reacting to seeing her.

Now it makes sense.

Because there is one obvious person who knew enough about Dante’s organization to come after us. One person loyal enough to that asshole that they might have actually cared when we wiped him off the face of the Earth.

But we’d left her alone. And over the years, she dropped off our radar completely. Out of sight, out of mind. Isn’t that exactly where she did her best work? Annika excelled at being a ghost. At pulling strings behind the scenes.

She looks good, I admit as I stare down at the picture. She always did. Statuesque, beautiful, with flawless pale skin. Her white-blonde hair is shorter now, cut in an abrupt bob just below her ears. If I didn’t know that this woman was made of pure evil…

Annika loves a long game. She’s methodical and ruthless. The sort of woman who knows exactly how to break people down and doesn’t care how long it takes. And she’d know nothing would unnerve us more than the hint that Dante might still be in play. Might still be alive.

This information changes everything. And now I'm left with the impossible task of relaying this to my brothers. How do I bring up a ghost that we’ve agreed to never mention again?

How do I break this little piece of information to Sebastian?

“Everyone out,” I command with a finality in my voice no one would dare argue with.

They pack up and head for the doors without a word. But I know they’re still waiting outside in the next room, staying close by so I can call them back in here if I need them.

I sit frozen in that spot as the minutes tick by, watching the sun as it disappears over the horizon and darkness creeps over the city.

My city.

Annika was always loyal to Dante, but so were we all at one point. We made a mistake thinking she would join us in breaking away from him. Trusting her was a mistake.

Under all her charm and beauty, there’s no moral compass at all. Just like her father.

I release a heavy breath. Annika’s return is a problem I won’t be able to solve in one night. And as much as I hate the idea of uprooting our peaceful dynamic, if she is back and hellbent on revenge, I need to let my brothers know. All of them.

Because if Sebastian finds out from someone else, it’ll cause an even bigger issue. And an unstable Sebastian is the last thing we need right now.

But what do I need?

My thoughts stray back to a specific little temptress. Maybe I could use a bit of a distraction to help work through this issue. Yeah…that’s exactly what I need right now.

With a smile growing on my face, I take out my phone and snap a picture.