Page 221 of Chaos Kills

“Oz asked.” I open my mouth to press on the matter, when Levi tacks on, “He knows how I feel about it. But he asked. So, I gave him leverage.”

Ask nicely and you shall receive.

“Let’s just say that out of all those guys, I’m glad he’s the one you married.”

“What?”

My best friend chuckles a bit and dare I ask? “Lev…I think we should call this off.”

“Why?”

I rock my head back and forth even though he obviously can’t see me. “Too much…Matteo said things?—”

“Don’t let him get inside your head again,” he grumbles back. “It’s bullshit.”

“He’s not bullshitting, Lev. He’s desperate. And that kind of shit is dangerous.”

“Astor…” He allows a few beats to go by before muttering, “If something happens?—”

“It’s not,” I quickly cut in. “I just don’t want the extra risk. And for what? It doesn’t matter if I clear my name, it does nothing.”

“You wanted it. You asked Black?—”

“Right, I asked Cairo. Not you.”

Levi’s silence is deafening, but I don’t fill it in with anything. I’ve made alliances with Wharf Bay, and I’m keeping Cairo at arm’s length. I sucked him off because I wanted to, there was nothing more to it.

“You won’t give me a straight answer,” Levi directs calmly. “I don’t know if we’re leaving or staying.”

“I don’t know what to do,” I answer honestly. “Dad fought for this town, and it kills me to leave it. But at what cost if we stay?You? The way you’ll just go out and…I don’t even know what you did tonight. I have zero clue if you killed those guys or?—”

“I didn’t,” he says. “Ozzy did.”

My blood instantly runs cold because I had this gut feeling… There’s something off with that guy. “And you trust him.”

“I do.”

I still don’t get it.

He’s never been a contender. Not a friend or a foe. The only thing that links Levi to Ozzy is that they’re related.

That’s it.

“Is that enough?”

Levi sighs. “I don’t know, but for right now, it’s good enough for me. He shows me the lengths he’ll go. I didn’t even need to lift a finger tonight. All I did was talk.”

“Just…for the video? All that?—”

“All that,” Levi confirms. “Because it’s what you wanted. I would’ve gone a different way, but Ozzy liked this one. It riled De Leon up. He’ll make a mistake and move it.”

“He will?”

“I think so. And Ozzy will follow.”

That’s one way of doing it, I guess.

“When are you coming back home?”

---