Page 31 of Scorned Beauty

“Yes.” I took a sip of scotch. “He beat Vasily Orlov nine years ago, and the Russian wants a rematch.”

This time it was Nico who snorted. “Is he considering it?”

In our huddle were Matteo and Nico, Bianca’s brothers and my cousins who were as heavily involved as I was in the Archer Syndicate, an organization that kept the underworld in check. And the only reason we were ahead of Luca’s hackers in finding out what had happened to Natalya was because an online vigilante we worked with had access to clandestine databases and surveillance.

“Hell no, especially not now.” Besides keeping tabs on Grigori Petrov, I had my hands full unraveling the mystery of Natalya’s disappearance. There were more public cam sightings of her, but we were selective of what information we fed Luca’s team looking for Natalya. I didn’t want to get my uncle’s hopes up and then disappoint him when our leads led to nowhere.

“You need to spar with Ivy,” Nico told Sandro, while shooting his glance over to where the women were chatting.

“Are they still talking about the serial killer on the loose?” I asked.

The Mistress Strangler had seen a resurgence in headlines in the past three months after the unsolved murder cases four years ago. One of my contacts in the feds said that the killer might have gone to jail on a different charge and was recently released. Or it could be a copycat.

“Well, the wives are happy,” Sandro chuckled. “No one wants to be their husband's mistress right now.”

“Yeah, Sonny said the same thing,” I replied. “Fewer complaints from the wives. You wonder if the killer was a woman.”

“So your underboss is handling the wives?” Sandro asked.

I shrugged, but I was on guard with his question because historically, being single was a disadvantage to becoming boss and I couldn’t use Luca as an example anymore. Ma was constantly fielding arranged marriage proposals from otherorganizations, but she had her heart set on a union with the Zahkarov bratva.

The women erupted in oohs and aahs.

“That doesn’t sound like serial killer talk,” Sandro mused. As usual, the husbands were attuned to their wives’ interests and collectively moved toward them.

I followed more leisurely, internally rolling my eyes about how pussy-whipped they were, when Sandro said, “I didn’t know Sloane was dating.”

“He’s hot,” Ivy gushed.

“Hey,” Nico growled.

I found myself shoving Sandro aside to look over Bianca’s shoulder and a vein popped in my temple.

I nearly blurted out, “that’s her neighbor,”but caught myself. I turned around and walked away, whipped out my phone and texted her.

Me

We had a deal.

And when therewas no response.

I’m not done with you.

“Dinner is ready!” Ma announced from the mouth of the living room. Her eyes fell on me. “What are you doing there, Dom, ignoring your cousins?”

“I had to settle a situation.”

“What situation?” Sandro asked. His eyes were studying me intently. If I left now, there would be more questions.

“Nothing that concerns you,” I shot back in a tone so unlike one I’d ever used. Terse. Irritated. I was always the annoyingly cool one.

His brow lifted.

“Hey, don’t be mean to my husband.” Bianca planted herself between us. Normally I would find it hilarious for my dear cousin to think that anyone could be mean to Sandro without consequences. He used to be a deadly contract killer before he became the boss.

I put on my signature charming smile. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Come on, cuz. Let’s see what our moms cooked.”

Sandro, Bianca, and I followed the others to the dining room. “I invited Sloane to this dinner.” Bianca was talking to Sandro. “But she turned me down. She likes Mom’s cooking and usually doesn’t say no.”