Page 89 of Dirty Hearts

Luc and Pa exchanged surprised glances. Victor had happened over three years ago now, and that psychotic son of a bitch deserved it. It was the only way to end him.

Tonight felt like that. A fight for my life, and my girl’s.

“She knows you did it to protect her,” Luc offered. “It’s shock, Claudius. It can be a lot to take in when you’ve never seen that before.”

He knew what he was saying was true.Iknew what he was saying was true. It just didn’t make me feel any better.

“Can we get on to the more pressing matter here? Like how this happened,” Pa snapped in.

“It’s one of The Four. I don’t know who. Jesus, what if it’s all of them?”

Pa frowned, and Luc tensed.

“Keep your enemies close, boy,” Pa advised. “Keep them fucking close. Don’t have them running around being the boss of you. I told Raphael the same thing. He didn’t listen to me.”

I stilled as he said that. Raphael had been betrayed by one of his best friends. The same thing was happening to me.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I reached for it and answered quickly when I saw it was Dante.

“We got him, boss. We’re heading to the roof of the office.”

“Good. Who’s with you?” This would be the interesting part.

“Gio. It’s just Gio and me. I sent a message to Alex and Jude. They know where to meet us.”

“I’m on my way.” I hung up and looked to Pa and Luc. “You guys okay to stay here?”

“Of course,” Pa replied.

Luc stood as if he was coming with me.

“Where are you going?”

“With you.” Luc nodded firmly.

I laughed and shook my head. “Luc, I don’t have to remind you that you aren’t in the business anymore.”

“This isn’t about business. It’s family. We always have each other’s back.”

I was happy to see that I still had my brother, no matter what.

“I need you to stay here. If she knows you’re here, she’ll feel safe. You too Pa. Thanks for coming.”

I needed to go, and Ava needed people here who could make her feel safe. Right now, I wasn’t one of them.

Luc gave me a reluctant sigh. “You call me if you need me.”

I rested my hand on his shoulder. “You know I will, brother.”

I backed away. Time for business. Time to get to the fucking bottom of this.

There was no way that this was going to be some rerun of seven years ago.

No way in hell.

Chapter 22

Claudius