Page 63 of Scorned Beauty

He chuckled. “And risk Margo’s wrath?”

My mouth twitched at this. I didn’t know what dirt she had on either family, but there were enough stories to back up the claim that once you entered a covenant with Margo Winthrop, you never broke it.

What I knew of her was that she had connections in high places. Old money. And the matchmaker role she currently held was passed down from generations. Marriage Ink, her luxury full-service wedding business, was just a front for a secret society that went back centuries.

They’d been trying to bring in new money in the last hundred years. Merge old and new families. The Zahkarovs were descendants of Russian nobility. De Luccis and Morettis were Sicilians. Our ancestors worked the land. Although I heardMargo was already eyeing Luca’s son, Elias. She might not have arranged the marriage between Natalya and Luca, but it was no secret that Luca’s mother was an Italian contessa.

“Come on, De Lucci, I think it would piss off our mothers more if we leave now,” Kirill said. “You’re not escaping this circus without me.”

Neither Kirillnor I wanted to ride in the other’s car. We ended up going to Hoboken in separate vehicles. Thankfully, Trevor was assigned security during our event and I commandeered his Patrol.

Kirill came through though. Sandro was able to get into Sloane’s apartment. But the traffic backup grated on my nerves as Sandro gave me a play-by-play of what was going on.

“The man who was thrown off the fifth floor is Phil Harding. He lives on the ground level. He’s FBI. Did you know Sloane was talking to a fed?”

“Not until four days ago.”

“Fuck, man, was that why you were hauled in?”

Close family knew the FBI picked me up, but I kept the details to myself. Instead of answering him, I asked, “What else?”

“Signs of a struggle. Broken window. The fire escape gate was unlocked.” He paused. “There’s blood.”

I gripped the steering wheel. “And…”

“CSI tech said not enough to bleed out and die.”

“Where did they take Harding?”

“New Jersey Medical. He’s in surgery. I have one of my guys circling the hospital. It’s crawling with cops.”

“Do we know how badly he’s hurt?”

“No.”

My phone pinged with a message from Bianca.

Bianca

What the fuck, Dom? You and Sloane?

Ivy

That explains why she’s been hiding from us.

Sera

I was telling Matteo I suspected she had blocked us.

Bianca

I was feeling terrible because we had to keep this secret about Luca and Natalya from her and I thought that was why she blocked us. But it was you, my prick of a cousin. So what did you do?

I growled at Sandro, “You told the women?”

“Of course. I’m fucked up with guilt, and so is Bianca. But this is Sloane. We knew she understood mob business, so this whole shit was because of you.”

“You don’t have to bury the guilt any deeper.”