Page 90 of Dual Destruction

I really wanted to eat my candy. Standoffs always made me hungry, and I was pretty sure the immediate threat was averted. In this circumstance, I was collateral damage, not the direct target. At least, as far as I could tell. I untied the bag and popped a few jelly beans into my mouth and leaned back to watch.

“We were gonna shake down Rosetti for a cut off the top,” Molinaro muttered.

“And you did that by taking a hit out on his kid?” Anthony smacked his son across the face. “You’re a fool.”

“I didn’t!” Molinaro covered his cheek where he’d been hit. “It wasn’t like that.”

I ate another handful of jelly beans.

“No hit,” he said again.

“What?” I swallowed the beans I’d been chewing, drawing everyone’s attention toward me.

“No hit. At least not on Rosetti.”

“Oh. Just on me?” I asked, giving them a fake smile.

“We’ve overstayed our welcome, I think,” Anthony said, casting a quick glance toward the boardwalk.

“We can adjourn to my house,” I offered, twisting the bag back closed. “I don’t live too far from here.”

“I know where you live,” Anthony said.

I threw two hundreds on the counter for the trouble and pursed my lips. “I would be surprised if you didn’t.”

Sage caught my stare, his eyes betraying his confusion over what the fuck was going on. I didn’t know what to tell him, but I was pretty sure shit was about to get really fucking complicated.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Sage

Ididn’t like so many people who wanted us dead in one place, but at least I knew where Golden kept his guns.

Anthony sat down at Golden’s dining room table while his kid stood in the corner looking like someone had put him in time out. The man I didn’t know, who’d had the audacity to press a gun against Golden’s back in broad daylight, sat in the seat I’d come to think of as mine.

Golden leaned against the kitchen island, eyes slowly dragging over every person he’d allowed into his home, then flickering toward where I stood in front of the glass slider. I knew what he was thinking—none of these people was a woman, and while the unnamed assailant might be called Carmen, it was not likely.

“Guns on the table,” I said.

“You first,” the man said.

“Listen.” I pulled my Sig out of my holster and leveled it at him from across the room. “You’re not in charge right now.”

“Plankton,” Golden murmured, and the man did as he’d been told.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you in town before,” Anthony said, no doubt trying to identify the other gunman like I was.

“Not local,” he said.

“Clearly, or you wouldn’t have shown up the way you did.”

He sighed and turned his focus onto Golden. “Are you the one who shot my brother, or was it that boss of yours?”

Golden’s eye twitched in the bottom corner and he licked his lips slowly. I knew it was a tell, but I didn’t think anyone else would even notice the slight muscle spasm. I hated being in company because I wanted to know what he knew; I needed to understand. How could I keep him safe if I didn’t even know who the enemy was?

“I haven’t shot anyone lately,” Golden mused.

“I’m done bullshitting,” Anthony said, turning to his son. “What the fuck were you thinking? You come clean here or you won’t make it out of this room.”