Page 78 of Brutal Queen

“Work with Vittoria and put together a proposal for how we can help these women. They can’t stay in the safe house forever. Plan to use most, if not all the funds to set them up in something legitimate.”

Stefano nods. “On it. Any preferences?”

“Just make sure they’re safe. Hell, buy them a cafe to run. I don’t care as long as the pay is fair and they’re under our protection.” I cast my eyes down to the obnoxiously fluorescent sticky note I scrawled my agenda down on. My ‘organisational chaos’ drives Sinclair to distraction, but he can bite me. I have a system, and if he doesn’t like random sticky notes stuck all over the place, he can fuck off back to his tech cave.

I smile, remembering the look on his face yesterday when I told him as much.

“And the narcotics ring?”

“They finished the series of raids last night. Someone willeventually spring back to fill the void, but it won’t be any of the current major players. They’re either in custody or in the wind.”

“And no blowback on us from the authorities?”

“So far, so good. Ignoring the fact that Etta is fucking good at her job—good call there, the woman’s a machine—the police are happy not to open that can of worms. They’d be more likely to send us a thank you basket anyway.”

“And the feds?”

“Too busy taking credit for the multi-agency task force that’s ‘cleaning the streets of poison’ according to their latest press release,” Stefano says, adding air quotes and it makes me smile as I rarely used to see his sarcastic side. The more closely we work together, the more I experience his dry his sense of humour.

“Twats,” I declare.

“You’re not wrong. But they’re happy and contented twats, and they’re staying out of our way for the time being. That won’t always be the case, so enjoy it while you can.”

Sipping my coffee, I let his words sink in. We’re in a unique position right now. There’s plenty we can put in place with little to no scrutiny. We outline some plans to ramp up the weapons operations now that we’ve successfully absorbed the De Luca inventory. There was no way I was letting that go to waste and Luc did a fantastic job coordinating the raids while we were focussing on cleaning up the aftermath from our De Luca offensive.

I’m not sure how long we’ve been at it when there’s a knock at the door. I call out for whoever it is to enter and smile when it swings open to reveal Enzo. Barefoot and jean clad with his sleeves rolled up, I bite my lip as I let my eyes rove over his corded forearms. He pops his hip against the door frame, folds his arms and flexes, knowing full well what he’sdoing. We lock eyes and see the satisfied smirk that confirms he’s teasing me.

“Benny’s up and we’re just sorting out breakfast. You guys want anything?”

“I’ve got another appointment to get to,” Stefano says, looking down at his watch.

I nod at Enzo, telling him I’ll be right there, then turn to Stefano. He’s tidying up some of the papers we were going over and pocketing his phone.

“Are you going to make me ask for an update on the prick that was stalking Doc Em?” I say with a brow so highly arched you could ski down it. I’ve given him enough time to come to me with a progress update and now I’m done pussy footing around.

He starts to talk and falters, like he’s flustered. “Oh, for fuck's sake, I don’t need a blow by blow of whatever the fuck is going on between you and Doc Em. I just want to know that you have that cunt handled.”

“I have it under control.” His voice is low and betrays the emotion he’s so desperately trying to hide. I don’t know who he thinks he’s fooling, but it’s sure as shit not me.

“Past or present tense?” I push.

“Present… but imminently past,” he replies, the pitch of his voice shifting to a tone so low and menacing I pity the idiot who’s triggered Stefano’s wrath.

He may be one of the most even-tempered men I know, but he’s by no means harmless. There’s always been a darkness in him and it’s one I’m more than happy to have at my disposal. He’s not a man to be fucked with.

“Aurora.” He leans in to kiss my cheek as he takes his leave. “I’ll get to work on what we discussed.”

I follow Stefano out of the room and wave him off as I pass the kitchen and detour towards the smell of freshly cookedbacon. I see my family huddled on stools around the kitchen island, fighting like feral seagulls over the rashers of greasy goodness.

Benny snatches the plate out from underneath them and tries to swivel on his stool and walk off with it, but he’s stopped in his tracks by both Nico and Sinclair, who block his escape.

“You know you’re not allowed to eat that,” Nico snaps as Sinclair wrestles it out of his grip. “Not for the next few weeks.”

From the looks of the way he starts tapping his foot and clenching his fists, Benny’s about to unleash his inner brat, so I slide up behind him, wrap my arms around his waist, and turn him towards me. “It’s only for a few more weeks and then we’ll go easy on the diet. But you just had multiple bits of your digestive tract stitched back together.” I stand on tip-toes and pull his face to mine, stroking my tongue across the seam of his lips and coaxing the determined scowl off of his face.

Then I whisper as quietly as I can, “Do as they say. You’ve got enough punishments stored up already. Your ass is going to be red raw when you get signed off by Doc Em.”

“Well, when you put it like that.” He shrugs and gifts me with his most adorable smile before turning to Enzo. “What dull as fuck breakfast am I being tortured with today?”

---