Page 18 of Cruel Revenge

“And what is Joshua Vitale going to do beyond give us cocaine? I already have a cocaine supplier.”

“Not one with a quality as good as his, and you know it.” I pour another shot for myself as he takes his first. “The businesses are going to crumble if the DEA puts more pressure on us, Aid. I’ve been looking at the numbers and while they’re good now, if all the businesses get shut down, we’re screwed. All the people who work for you, legitimate or not, won’t be able to get paid.”

He collapses onto the couch, dragging a hand down his face. “Fine. Let’s say the worst happens. How long until we’re out of money?”

“If the DEA were to strike all the businesses tomorrow, we have enough clean money to last for maybe six months. Dirty could extend that to a year, but you would have to find someone, and I doubt their cut is going to be small.”

For the first time since Ellie was kidnapped by Noah Rinaldo, Aiden looks utterly defeated. He stares at the bottle of rum on the table like he’s considering throwing back the entire thing.

I wouldn’t blame him if he did, either.

“With the return of the Rinaldos, business has been suffering. You can see that in the numbers as clearly as I can. If we get the Vitale cocaine, we could grow the drug end of things again. Joshua is willing to cut back on all his sellers on the east coast and let us take a monopoly.”

For the first time since I walked into his office, there’s interest shining in Aiden’s eyes.

He leans forward, bracing his forearms on his legs. “He’s willing to take that big of a hit?”

“Not a hit if we start distributing more. We have the connections in place to make it happen, as well as our own outposts.” I twirl the glass on my thigh, watching the palm trees surrounding the neon Miami spin in circles. “We could make this work for us, and it might be the most beneficial decision you could make.”

“And why are you so invested in this?”

“Because this is a chance for us to take back what the Rinaldos stole when they came back to New York. We have a chance to take back the power while they’re still reeling from Noah’s death.”

Aiden sucks his teeth, getting up and pacing over to his desk. He grabs one of the files he was looking through and brings it back over, handing it to me. “This is what the cops found at the laundromat the other day. You’re in the background of one of the pictures.”

My heart races.

I flip through the file, finding the picture of me and holding it out to him.

“I’m not even looking at the place. My phone is in my hand. They’d have a hard time proving I was doing anything other than stopping to read a message. And that is not a crime.”

“You’re right, but this is the kind of mistake that can’t happen. If we get into bed with the Vitales, then you need to watch shit likethis and go unseen. Working with Joshua is asking for Logan to pay more attention to us.”

“Joshua would make him back off. You know he’s the one who pulls the strings in that family.”

I close the file and toss it to the table, waiting for the next hole Aiden tries to poke in this.

Aiden eyes me like he’s trying to figure out if I’m telling him the entire truth or not.

I hate that look. It’s the one he’s given me our entire lives.

If it wasn’t for our younger siblings, I would’ve left the house the day Dad was killed, and I wouldn’t have looked back. I could’ve established an outpost somewhere else, where answering to Aiden wasn’t as frequent as it is now.

He clears his throat. “What else is there?”

“Nothing much.”

“Skyla.”

I shrug. “I have to pretend to be married to Joshua to get him out of a sticky situation with his importer. Not sure what the situation is.”

Aiden grabs the bottle of rum and takes a sip straight from the bottle before setting it back down. “This is too much. You’re not going to marry a man you don’t love.”

“Pretendmarry. Technically, I think I would have to pretend that the wedding already happened, if that makes you feel better.” I can’t help the small hint of amusement that slips into my voice.

He shakes his head. “Not going to happen. I’m a failure of a brother if I let another sister get married for the sake of the family.”

“Once again, not a real marriage.”

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