Page 85 of Possessive Mafia Vows

“It’s … perfect,” I manage.

“This calls for champagne.” Nick is back on his feet. “Where’s the steward when we need him?”

He leans over me and kisses my cheek, and it takes all my willpower not to recoil. I feel queasy. His lips have no right to touch my skin, to kiss my face where Kyle’s lips have been.

Unfazed by my lack of enthusiasm, he marches off towards the rear of the cabin where the steward sits. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back with champagne.”

It’s only when he disappears and I’m left alone with my erratic heartbeat and the blood gushing in my ears that I wonder how he knew there was a steward on board.

20

KYLE

Caleb,Bash, and Terry are waiting for me when I enter Caleb’s office at 3 a.m. Their faces are ashen. Their eyes are bloodshot. Bash and Caleb are still suited up, but their ties are loosened, and crystal tumblers stained with whiskey litter the coffee table between them.

They all stand while I close the door behind me.

“What’s going on?” Caleb is the first to speak. “When are they releasing Cash?”

“It isn’t going to be that simple.”

I sit heavily on one of the couches and accept a shot of whiskey from Terry.

“What do they have on him?” Caleb remains standing. He’s running on adrenaline.

I sip the liquid in my glass; it burns, and my eyes water. I’ve had a couple of hours’ sleep in the last forty-eight hours, but more importantly, I’m acutely aware that in putting my brother first, I’ve let Sienna down. She’s currently on our private jet, travelingto Ireland with Seamus, probably having convinced herself that I was never going to make that flight.

Her disappointment cannot come close to matching mine.

“Supplying narcotics, money laundering.” I’m leading with the easy stuff.

“Tip-off?” Bash is a live wire tonight, his facial expression and his muscles twitching in sync with his thoughts.

“Don Dragonetti is working on it.” Pause. “We suspect the Bogrovs.”

“Caelan’s fucking son.” Caleb starts pacing. “Has to be. We should’ve taken him down when we first found out where he came from.”

“Can’t be that hard to track down.” Bash aims this at Terry.

Terry is quiet. He has been a mafia enforcer for almost his entire adult life. He knows how this works. There’s more to come.

“Not to mention the homicide of Luca Benito last month.”

This one sends jagged spears of panic through my chest. The police commissioner’s wrists must’ve been bound with razor-wire and a gun to his temple for him to act on this one, which means that he’ll be satisfied that the NYPD can make the accusation stick.

“What’s Cash’s alibi?” Caleb stops pacing momentarily. His eyes look haunted.

“He was in his apartment.”

“With?” Bash asks.

“With a woman whose name he is currently refusing to mention.”

“Fuck!” Bash stands too.

We all think better on our feet.

“Stupid fucker! I knew this would come back to bite his ass one day.”

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