Page 110 of Savage Grace

Eventually, I moved out of the way to hover by the sidelines, watching on with folded arms for a while as everybody else seemed to fall into a well-practiced cleanup routine. The whole warehouse buzzed with an energy of light-hearted determination.

Toni headed over after a while, holding out his arms for a hug. I went to him, leaning into my brother and letting out a deep breath of relief.

“You did good, kid,” he said with a smile in his voice.

I chuckled. “Thanks.”

“But if you ever pull something like this again,” he dropped his voice to a whisper, “Iwilllock you in a room to rot for the rest of your fucking life.”

He dropped from the hug, shaking his head at me, looking at me like I was a bit of a stranger. Like he couldn’t quite believe that I was his baby sister standing in front of him.

Maybe that was an issue for older siblings in general. Maybe it was hard to come to terms with the fact that your dumb kid sister wasn’t actually a dumb kid anymore.

But he turned anyway, and I watched Ashe stiffen a little bit as Toni held out a hand.

Ashe took it, shaking it and nodding.

“Thank you. All of you,” Toni turned to address all the Redliners in the room. “I,” he shook his head. “I cannot believe that you did this for my family. I owe you one.”

“You owe us nothing,” Prince folded his arms over himself. “I told you. I’m nothing like King. I have no personal issues with the Santinos, and I never have.”

Antoni nodded once, and so did Sammy and the rest of my family.

“Besides, Zarina is a part of my family now too. She came to us for help. And we help our family.”

Toni’s mouth ticked upwards into a smile. “I guess we’re not that different then.”

“I guess not.”

I pressed my fingers to my lips to hide my little smile of gratification. From the beginning I had been the one to say that all of these problems could be fixed with a conversation. And now, I was vindicated.

I loved always being right.

“We should have a sit down. Soon?” Toni arched a brow.

Prince nodded again.

“Ha, a man of few words. I like that.”

Prince actually smiled then, hiking a thumb over his shoulder. “Well, you should meet my Vice President.”

Freddie held up a hand to identify himself, and then went back to gagging Theo with a ball of some rotten looking material.

“Aw,” I clasped my hands together. “One big happy family.”

“Don’t fucking push it,” Toni pointed a finger at me before draping an arm over Rome and pulling her close. She leaned into him, letting out a breath and letting the tension in her shoulders drop.

I could only imagine what she’d been through over the past few hours, watching Toni in that position and not being able to do anything. But they were together now, and I watched it finally sink in for her at that moment.

“Whatever.”

“That’s the Zarina I know and love,” Toni shot me a finger gun. “The normal one. Not the‘I’ll stab you in the dick’one.”

“I can be two things,” I narrowed my eyes at him.

Rome nodded solemnly, like she agreed whole-heartedly and passionately about the dick-stabbing thing. Toni rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he dragged Rome along with him towards the exit.

Everyone started to file out, except for the few people who had eagerly volunteered to deal with the bodies and what was left of The EA.

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