Page 162 of Lovely Venom

“What witnesses?” Rhys snaps.

“My plants.” She hugs him again. “Ourplants.”

Rhys dumps his head in his hands.

Raina’s whole body trembles with restrained laughter.

Dirk returns in his charcoal apron stained from past ink jobs. “Tatt is being pressed on the sheet. Needs a few minutes. How about you, sweetheart? I can do a nice butterfly on your—”

Rhys pushes Fallon behind him. “Do not finish that sentence, mate.”

My cousin turns possessive in such a flash that I have to blink to absorb it.

Fallon sighs and flops dramatically into the nearest chair, fiddling with the gold star earrings dangling from her lobes. “You know, most boyfriends are happy to meet Daddy.”

Rhys stares at her. “You’ve introduced other boyfriends to your father? Who?”

“Plenty of boyfriends,” she responds, not realizing that’s waving a red cape at a bull.

“Fallon may not be fully connected to reality, but she knows how to play your cousin,” Raina snickers, voicing my observation.

Jealousy is Quinlan kryptonite.

“And where are these boyfriends?” Rhys folds his arms, a snarl building on his mouth.

“You know what?” Fallon tilts her head as if remembering something. “I don’t know. They meet Daddy and then... They disappear.”

My jaw drops open, and I make a mental note to dig further into Fallon and her father. My da was a capo, Raina’s father heads the Albanian Brotherhood. I think I can handle whoever the hell that is.

Fallon looks to be having some kind of panic attack.

Rhys strokes her face. “Breathe, Fal. When we get home—”

“Not your place. All that blood... I can still smell it.” Her voice drops an octave, distant now.

The smile disappears like it was never there.

“Shhhh.” Rhys puts a finger against her lips. “You got this, Fal. Show me you’re strong.”

“Blood?” Raina whispers. “Do you think...”

“Oh no,” I mutter.

Something happened at his apartment, and she saw it.She’s a witness. It all comes together.

“Maybe I’ll think twice about crawling into your kitchen if you water the plants.”

“And next time, don’t take a nap on my sofa.”

“Good thing I took a nap under that blanket or they would have seen me.”

“They won’t hurt you,” Rhys growls.

“Ares saw me. He doesn’t like me and I don’t like him,” she says, shuddering.

My blood goes absolutely cold. “Ares...”

“Is she talking about AresZervas?” Raina asks me.

“Gotta be. Ava’s brother is the head of the Greek Mafia, and we’re in bed with them.” My throat is vibrating. “Come on. We’ve gotta get them into the tunnel and figure out what the hell’s going on.”