Page 21 of Destruction

“Leave Jenna to me. If I need to wake up a judge, I’ll let you know. I’ll drop Cole off with his Uncle Lio, and meet Jenna at the jail to see what I can find out without going that route.” I smile at Keegan, leaning against him.

“You realize Lio is now the Boss, right? I don’t think you can drop Cole off when he’s trying to get all this shit taken care of, especially when he’s waiting on information from me.”

“Mmm…that’s the point. Cole will distract him and give you time to get shit done. There's always someone around to watch Cole if Lio does get distracted. Fuck knows that mansionhas enough staff.” Keegan shudders at the thought of having so many people around, and I chuckle at his disdain. “I’m so fucking glad we don’t live with them. Now, come on. Go deal with the shitstorm. I’ll take care of my part.”

Turning to face him, I lean in and give him a kiss. It’s meant to be a peck, but like always, there’s no holding back with him. He deepens it and I shudder from the desire coursing through me.

Damn. He always makes me feel so alive.

When he pulls back, I start to follow, but he puts his hands on my shoulders, keeping me where I’m at.

“Just one more?” I whine, but he shakes his head.

“You know it’s never one more. Consider that an appetizer to hold you over until we get back. Now, get your ass out of here. We both have work to do.” Standing, I roll my eyes and turn to leave our room, jumping when he smacks my ass. “You know better than to roll your eyes at me.”

“Yes, Sir.” I turn and smirk at him before disappearing through the doorway.

While our house is much smaller than the mansion, it’s not exactly that modest. When I finally make it out the side door and into the garage, I’m more than ready to get this shit done. I briefly consider pissing Keegan off by taking his Camaro, but discard it. That wouldn’t lead to a fun punishment.

Instead, I grab the keys to my SUV. I pat the hood as I head to the driver’s side. While Keegan may enjoy a sports car, I love the versatility of my SUV. Plus, I can fit more tied up bodies in it, despite what Keegan says about the trunk space in his car.

I click the garage door and gun it. Whoever decided to fuck with us is going to find out what a bad idea that was, because from the sound of Lio’s voice? Living isn’t going to be an option.

“How many people can we spare?” I ask Joel.

“Not enough,” he replies. “I’ve already increased security around the most likely targets, and set up advanced scouts that will hopefully give enough notice for people to get the hell out of dodge. Orders that already have buyers is being moved as we speak, and our high-valued inventory is also being moved.”

“I don’t like it. Too much movement can draw attention to us, but we also can’t make ourselves easy targets.”

“I agree.” He hesitates a moment before saying, “You don’t actually think we’re at risk, do you? They’d be stupid to try something like that with us after they already hit the Martellis.”

Instead of answering, I turn to Jude, since this is the perfect teaching moment. “Thoughts? You’re a numbers person, what are our odds?”

He doesn’t roll his eyes at my words, but I can feel his disdain for them all the same. Despite his best efforts, he still can’t hide from me—it’s endearing.

“Not good. Joel’s right in that they won’t hit us the same way, since we’ll be more on guard, but…now is the perfect time to strike. We’re distracted because we’re securing our stash houses, and moving a lot of product at once. If I were them, I’d go after another part of the business.”

And he doesn’t understand why Roman chose him as a Second. His intelligence is part of the reason he’s perfect for the job, along with the knowledge he gained growing up in the household of one of De Luca’s main product distributors; the insights he has will be invaluable to Roman in the long run.

“You’re right. Any ideas of what their next move might be?”

Before he can reply, my phone rings. Pulling it out, I see Hollis’s name on the screen and I meet Jude’s eyes as I answer. “Guess we're about to find out the answer to our question,” I sign. To Hollis, I ask, “How much damage is there?”

His tone is dry.“Enough to keep our lawyers happy.”

Fuck. “Who got picked up?”

“Giulio Ricci and three of his dealers.”

“Fucking hell,” I spit.

Joel and Jude watch me with open curiosity.

“That was pretty much Roman’s reaction, too. He’s already called Sinclair to deal with it. Carter’s getting in touch with everyone else now—Roman wants to delay this week’s distribution and re-supply.”

“Good idea. We’ve already moved all the drugs around. I’ll let my guys know to be on alert. Make sure Carter expresses the need to lie low, otherwise they’ll become training tools for Jude and Benjamin. Speaking of the Martellis, have you or Roman spoken to them?”

Hollis huffs a laugh.“Roman has, yes. Emilio is sending Benjamin your way, and is also bringing you a present.”

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