Page 72 of Blood on Ice

Val put his arm around the slender blond man standing beside him. “This is my husband, Liam.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Liam said as he held out his hand for me to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Whatever Vito has told you about me is exaggerated at best and completely untrue at worst.”

“He hasn’t told me very much, but I’ll keep that in mind.”

Vito frowned him. “I have not said anything disparaging about you.”

“You’d better not,” Val said.

“These are my nephews,” Dom said, turning to the other men in the room. All of them were equally tall and incredibly gorgeous. Two of them could easily be mistaken for twins.

I learned they were Angelo and Devil. The man who was slightly shorter with perfectly styled black hair was Lucien, the head of the family. I hadn’t heard much about him from Vito, but I could tell by the way everyone deferred to him that he was someone to be reckoned with. I was glad he was at least supposed to be on my side.

“Vito was thrilled when you got traded from Vegas,” Devil said.

Angelo grinned. “He’s lucky we were already taken.”

Heat rose to my face, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. Vito returned with my drink and scowled at them “Enough of that.”

“He’s very possessive,” Devil said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do this season.”

“Thank you. I’m hoping this is going to be a really good year.”

“You’re enjoying Boston?” Lucien asked.

It wasn’t easy, but I held eye contact with him like Vito told me to do. “Yes. I’m hoping to stay with the Badgers for a long time.”

Lucien smiled. “That’s good.” He immediately turned to Vito, saving me from needing to respond. “Uncle Dom has explained the situation with Benito, but I’d like to hear a little bit more about it from you since you are the one who saw him, and I’d like Zeke’s take on the situation in Vegas.”

“Can we sit down?” Angelo asked. “Or do we have to stay all formal and shit?”

Lucien gave him a scathing glance, then turned back to me and gestured toward the sofa. “Please, have a seat.”

I sat down on the sofa next to Lucien, and Vito took the chair on the other side of me. The rest of the men settled themselves into the other seats.

Vito explained what happened the night we caught Loony watching me, then saw Benito was waiting outside. When he’d finished, it was my turn.

“You first encountered Benito in Vegas?” Lucien asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell me everything you remember about that meeting.”

I took as deep breath and started talking. “When I realized I needed a loan, I asked a friend I’d gambled with who’d had biglosses and recovered from them. He told me where I could get the money I needed, but he warned me that I better have a way to pay my loan back or I’d be sorry. I swore to myself I wouldn’t gamble anymore, and I was making plenty of money, so I could handle it. I called the number my friend gave me and arranged a meeting. There were two people there when I showed up, Benito and a short round man who wore glasses. Benito hovered behind him like he was his bodyguard.”

“What was that man’s name?” Lucien asked.

“He never told me.”

“Give me a better description.”

“He was wearing a tan suit with shiny gold satin trim on the lapels.” Lucien made a face, and I couldn’t help but smile. “It wasn’t a fashion choice I would make.”

Devil laughed. “Sounds ugly as shit.”

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