Page 76 of Mob Star

“You never mentioned her competitive shooting.”

“How was I supposed to know she’d use it against a mercenary? You’re the one who dated her.”

“In high school.” Shane’s about to lose his shite, but so am I.

“I already had Lorenzo break my nose because he thought I was into his wife before they even got married. Marco’s with her sister now. Their mother made it very clear about our duty being discharged when Michelle married Lorenzo. So, if anyone shouldn’t be pissing in someone’s direction, it should be you leaving me the feck alone.”

We can argue all day and all night, but our parents would skelp our arses if they heard us swear at each other.

Lorenzo broke my nose a week and a half before I met Thea. My nose wasn’t even completely healed when I did. I still had some lingering bruises from our rounds in the boxing ring. My cabinet full of arnica got rid of the bruises on my face. Since there was shite happening that I’d never reveal to Lorenzo, I let him get his punches in. If I’d really defended myself, we’d probably both be dead.

“Can you two stop?” Sean’s glaring at us both. We never make him choose sides, but he doesn’t like being caught in the middle, which inevitably happens to whichever brother isn’t in the argument.

“Fine. In the three days I was away, Elizabeth Russo killed Robert Simms, a man no one’s even injured in, like, forty years. Lorcan is dead, and from the sounds of it, probably shot by Elizabeth. And Marco’s still free. Marvelous.”

Cormac frowns before he speaks. “I don’t think Elizabeth shot Lorcan. From what I heard, it was self-defense for Elizabeth. It was a hit on Lorcan. There’s no way Marco would have taken her to do a job like that. The shooter took him out from the building next to the bar. It had to be from the fire escape. He would never agree to that risk. My money is on Steven. It was a high-power rifle round. Any of the Mancinellis could have fired it, but only Maria and Nicoletta have that kind of aim. They’re no more likely to be there than Elizabeth.”

Nicoletta is Luca, Marco, Lorenzo, and Maria’s mother. She and her daughter are the best shots I know of besides Laura Kutsenko. It’s not surprising they’re all women. They say women are far better shots than men because they have patience men don’t. Those three— apparently along with Elizabeth now —are proof of that.

“And the money Steven stole? I haven’t checked the accounts yet.” I’m certain I’ll be pissed when I do.

“All the money we let him invest. The Mancinellis have a few million more than they did yesterday.” Dillan’s mind is going in at least four different directions right now, coming up with some permutation or another to get revenge for their revenge.

“He only had the money I wanted him to see. He thought he had a far larger share of our portfolio than he did. You know I control three-quarters of it and do the trading myself. I tested him, and he failed.” I shrug.

If he went after our money and Lorcan to defend his sister, then I can’t blame him. But that doesn’t mean I won’t destroy his career. I’ll make sure he loses his license and his job. Shite, if his two sisters weren’t Mancinellis now— it’s obvious Elizabeth and Marco are like two seconds away from walking down the aisle just like it’s a foregone conclusion to me that Thea and I have a future together —I’d tell Dillan to hire Steven as our hitman. We already know he’s done some jobs for the bratva. Internal work mostly. I should have known right away now that I think about it.

“That’s not all. Finn, they hit McGinty’s. The girls got out safe, but no one else did. They already sent their cleaners in, but we know it was them.” Sean grimaces, not wanting to be the bearer of bad news. Our Nana started that bar. It’s my favorite of all the ones I own.

“How bad is it?”

“They didn’t trash it. They went for the men more than damage. But there’s still shite to fix.”

Fucking hell. I nod because there’s nothing else I can do right now.

“Dillan, what do you want to do? Let things go with Marco or keep pushing?” Seamus has plans for tonight, so I can tell he wants this shite wrapped up.

I glance at my watch. I can let Thea sleep for another forty minutes, then we have to go. I’d like to finish this conversation before that.

“No. That ship’s sailed and sunk. Tres J’s wants to go after him. Let’s feed them enough shite to make them step it up. They can do our dirty work for us. We never meant for Elizabeth to get caught in the crosshairs with the FBI and ATF. Is Marco going to deal with them?”

Sean shakes his head. “I don’t think so. I think he plans to do what we did. Make them his bitches and get them to do what he wants to come after us.”

“Then we need to make sure they’re useless. Leak their affair.”

Dillan couldn’t give any more shites about who someone fucks— gay, straight, everything in between, and all around —than any of us. The scandal is Spiegel’s married to Holland’s sister. Hollands is the Director of the FBI, and his sister is the Deputy Director of National Intelligence. Rather suss that a lowly ATF agent suddenly got put in charge of busting an organized crime family that’s controlled a huge chunk of New York for four generations. Not to mention he’s working alongside his lover. It was fine while they were convenient for us. Now they’re not.

Shane cracks his knuckles— drives our mom nuts —as he speaks. “That’ll only keep Marco distracted for a few minutes. He and his family are going to strike back. What are we willing to lose? We can let that dangle in front of them.”

I think about what we have coming and going. I picture our shipments and investments. I consider properties we own. The bratva already went after what we’d thought of as our ancestral home. It’s where our mom’s family lived when they first immigrated to the U.S. What else do our rivals think we value as much as that? That’s what they’ll go for.

“I’m not thrilled to say it after going all the way to Boston to retrieve the shite, but the rugs. Let them think they stole them from us. They can have the nanochips. We don’t need them that much. Seamus, put the word out to their informants. We can watch them scurry back to Luca and Carmine. The whole shipment is worth one-point-seven. I don’t like losing that much, but it’s a small price to pay to get them off our backs. We point them in the Cartel’s direction too.”

The blessing in disguise of chasing those damn rugs was finding out what’s going on with Thea’s family. Knowing it’s Corey means I can protect her better. Thinking about Boston leaves a lingering question for me.

“Why did Rowan think he could come for us? I left him alive for this week. I want him stewing over how we’re going to strike next. Joey and his brothers will go up and finish it for us.”

That means I need to think about who else to assign to Thea’s detail. Part of why Joey’s my first choice to guard Thea is because he’s so good at what he does. He’s not noticeable, but he notices everything. He blends in wherever he goes, so people don’t know he’s about to strike until they’re a breath away from dying. His brothers and cousin are the same way. Their dads trained alongside my dad and uncles. They all worked for Granddad at the same time, and their dads taught them just like my dad and uncles taught us. There aren’t too many men outside my immediate family who I trust as much as Joey, Simon, Fallon, and Ted.

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