Page 220 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“Jesus…” he groans. “I think I’m gonna have a stroke.”

“No, but hold that thought. There’s more.”

He rolls his eyes. “Why is Torres so pissed off at you that he needed to come here and tear you apart in my lobby?”

“Because I fucked his sister like a prisoner on death row and I told him so.”

Matteo’s head falls into his hand. “Is there anything else you want to pile onto this shit sandwich?”

“Just one more little thing.” I take a deep breath. “I brought her to the Severinov safehouse because I didn’t know where else to go. Alek walked in on us, ah, well, you know.”

Matteo’s eyes have bulged to the point where I could probably just pluck them out of their sockets.

“But don’t worry. I smoothed everything over,” I say, hurrying to finish before Matteo grabs the spear next to his desk and impales me with it. “I told him everything.”

Matteo presses his fingers together and watches me for the longest minute of my life. I’m convinced when he opens the desk drawer, it’s to grab a gun but instead, he pulls out a joint and lights up.

“Can I have a?—?”

“No!” he rasps, sending out a thin stream of smoke. “You can’t.”

He takes a few more drags and I know he is furious right now because he only lights up when he is so far beyond anger that it becomes the only way to make sure he doesn’t murder someone.

That someone being me in this scenario.

“What did Alek say?”

I shrug. “He told me to talk to you. He knows I fucked up. I know I fucked up.”

Matteo nods. “And what should we do about that? I have ideas.”

“Look,” I say, sitting in front of him. “Things between us haven’t been great, but I’m not trying to mess this up for you or for us as a family. But I want a voice. I’ve earned a fucking voice!”

“You’ve earned a butt-fucking by one of the trannies upstairs at the bar,” he grumbles.

“Yeah, probably.” I snicker. “Although I don’t plan on collecting that punishment.”

“What do you want, Sergio?”

“I want to fix things with the Becerra Cartel. They almost killed Enrico and they tried to kill me and Bruno. Those guys are toxic to our organization. I want to run them the hell outta Vegas, but I can’t do it alone. If they stay here, they’re gonna come after us. It’ll be a bloody war that we don’t need right now. We have our own backup with the other families, but the cartel will try as hard as they can to destroy us. You know it and I know it.”

“And why should I trust you after all of the shit you just caused? How do we know that Torres isn’t going to come after us out of revenge for your snatching his sister? Or for trying to soak him for more than half of his worth?”

“He needs us,” I say. “And we need him, too. But I need you behind it. You’re always telling me to earn my seat at the table. Let me do it, Matteo. Give me a fucking break for once.”

He takes one more drag before snuffing out the joint. “There’s a lot on the line here. A lot of money, a lot of people, and a lot of potential death.”

“I know.”

“You’ve got a plan?”

I nod. “Sure do.”

“You’d better.” Matteo pushes the chair back and stands up. “You get one chance, Sergio. Don’t make me regret this or I’ll be the one cutting shit off next.”

He flings open the office door and stalks back out to the lobby. I follow, a smile tugging at my lips. A small part of me expected to walk out of there with either a black eye or a broken nose. I’m pleasantly surprised to find out that the whole conversing thing actually works, even with two people as stubborn and self-righteous as me and my brother.

But there’s still a nagging feeling in my gut that tells me this isn’t even close to being over. I have to figure out a way to get to the cartel under the guise of some bullshit meeting. They have to be expecting it after their failed attempt to bury us last week on our way back from Sapphire.

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