Page 70 of The Mafia's Bride

LEX

Nico slams his cane into the wooden floor, the sound harsh to my ears. The soldiers have the good grace to cover their start with a cough, avoiding his eyes.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I can’t help but understand Nico’s aggravation.

Another shipment gone. This time, kept off the books, not told to anyone but those who needed to know. I spent the last few days trying to find a way to trick the rat. They can’t steal something they don’t know about, right?

Wrong. It was still stolen. Gone in the middle of the night, leaving our docks without another word.

As pissed off as Nico is, as angry as I am, it gives us a lead.

It means that someone close to us is behind the theft. Something I don’t think Zio has considered yet. Or if he has, he’s refusing to acknowledge it.

It doesn’t help I’m primed, energy and aggression simmering in my veins.

All because of my wife.

I’ve told her that I own her, but that fallen angel owns my soul just as securely. Just one look, one smile, and I want to bow to her, let her heelswalk over my back while I devote myself to her. I need to hear her voice, hear that fire that cuts into my skin with each quip, see that intelligence as we parry our words and tempers. As drawn to her as I am sexually, it’s her fire, her spark that I miss more. I’ve spent most of my days away from her because of this mess and I need her to take the edge off this aggression.

“God, we look like such amateurs.” He flops back into the couch, old body sinking into the leather.

“No, Zio. I look like an amateur.”

I look like someone who can’t handle the family business. I’ve taken all the tasks from Nico, scheduling, communication, shipments, everything.

I was supposed to be able to handle this. Nico is supposed to trust me to keep the family running, to be the heir he needs.

I can’t fuck this up.

We have just two days until Maeve’s products come in, and if I can’t handle my own shit, how am I expected to handle hers’?

Sighing, Nico coughs lightly. It sounds wet and my anxiety increases, thoughts spiraling toward how this stress is exasperating his condition. “No, Lex. It’s both of us.” He refuses to let me shoulder the blame alone. “Let’s start at the beginning. What do we know?”

He’s always been my hero. He saved me as a child, and he’s saving me now, keeping me focused on the task at hand.

We’re family. Family leans on each other. In this life, that’s extremely rare.

Pulling on my collar, I grab the fountain pen and slowly roll it between my fingers to soothe my mind. “Right. Well, we kept this delivery small, so as to weasel out extra people. We wanted to keep this contained. Only five people knew about the shipment. You, me. Two soldiers, and the one to accept it. And those who are on the ship.”

“Who did we send to accept it?”

“Dom.”

“Look at the soldiers,” Nico directed. Because Dom would have no reason to fuck us over. He’s family. “Check out the ship and its workers.Go into their backgrounds. See who they know. I want to know who they fucked ten years ago. Someone is screwing us over.”

Stealing the products would be stupid but also ill intended. Dom makes too much from the family keeping the shipment in the designated route; more than what those shipments sometimes bring in. It has to be one of the soldiers that’s tipping off the rivals.

Soldiers don’t make shit and they’re easy to bribe. I’ll change that when I’m fully in charge. I’ll need absolute loyalty.

I rub my head, shoulders tensing. It could very well be the ship’s crew. They might want to double dip, get paid by us and take bribes to pad their pockets.

There are too many factors.

“Anyone else?”

“No, Zio.”

Standing, Nico comes closer, tapping my cheek with affection. “Fine. Let’s look at this a different way. A different perspective. Even if it’s a crew member or a soldier. Who would want us to fail?”