Page 122 of Vicious Vows

“Get up the stairs!” When I stood and lunged toward her, she hurried up the stairs.

“You don’t intimidate her.” Milo went to the bar, took out three shot glasses, and set them on the table beside the bottle of vodka. “I don’t think you ever have.”

“Are you going to pour?” I nodded toward the glasses. “Three?”

“Since the old man isn’t here, I thought we should drink one for him.” Milo poured the vodka into the glasses. “I just got off the phone with Juan.”

“And?”

He handed me a shot glass. “No one is happy with the Gian situation, but we might have a bigger problem.”

“Of course we do.” I flung my head back and finished the shot in a quick chug. “What is it?”

“Collins is back in Manhattan.” Milo did his shot. “He’s making noise around the docks, looking for someone to work with.”

The rage in my chest threatened to explode into an uncontrollable urge to tear the penthouse apart. Gian may have ordered the hit that almost killed Lissia, but Collins was responsible for carrying it out.

“The other families won’t align with him,” I said. “Not if they’re smart.”

Milo poured himself another round, failing to make eye contact with me. “It’s not the families we deal with you have to worry about.”

“What else?” I slid my glass in front of him.

“Collins is trying to draw you out.” Milo poured me another shot. “In the worst possible way.”

“Lissia?” I clenched my fist as my gut churned.

“He’s promising her to the highest bidder.”

“What?”

“My underground sources have heard rumblings that Collins can deliver a mafia princess who needs to be put in her place.” He handed me the glass. “He’s making it a challenge.”

“What kind of challenge?” I chugged the shot, but the liquid did nothing to calm my scorching rage.

“Whoever can get her away from you and bring her to him scores a night with her before he sells her off.”

“Fuck.” I hurled the glass across the room, shattering it against the wall. “He’ll never succeed, but the fact that he is disrespecting her this way… Disrespecting me. We have to end him.”

“We have to find him,” Milo said. “He’s been elusive since Miami.”

I ran my hand across my jaw. “Is he still working with Gian?”

“After the Feds swarmed the docks, none of us are working right now.”

“Juan is in the process of working around that for us. We’ll be back up and running in a few days.” I gazed out the window at the skyline. “You haven’t heard from Dad today?”

“Not in a few days, but I’m sure he’ll call when he can.”

“It’s odd that we didn’t hear from him today. This is the first time we’ve been separated for a holiday.”

“Juan said he’s working on something and has gone radio silent,” Milo said. “He told me not to worry.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.” I glanced at the shot Milo had poured in honor of our father. “I want him home.”

“So do I, but right now we need to figure out how to stop Collins from coming for Lissia.”

“I’ll protect her at all costs. Anyone who touches her will die.”

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