Page 97 of Forced Proximity
I unwrapped my muffin and started to eat it as I listened to him talk.
“Okay, so don’t interrupt.”
I didn’t, causing him to say, “Hello?”
“You told me not to interrupt,” I teased, spraying pumpkin muffin on my steering wheel.
I wiped it off with my hand as he sighed. “Anyway, I think I’m going to break your brother out of prison.”
There was a long moment of silence on my end and then, “I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you correctly.”
“No interrupting,” he reminded me.
I closed my mouth, chewing through a muffin that now tasted like ash in my throat.
That didn’t stop me from taking another bite, however.
“I’ve been looking into his case, and I think that he was robbed,” he said. “I know that there should’ve been several other reasons that he shouldn’t have had to serve a lifetime sentence, but it’s looking like the justice system is keeping him there for another reason.”
I didn’t know if I was supposed to say “what reason would that be?” or not, so I kept my mouth chewing, even though I barely tasted the food.
“Did you know that your brother was part of The Seven?”
I didn’t know what “The Seven” was, so of course I didn’t know what that was.
“I know you didn’t.” He laughed. “Anyway, so your brother is part of The Seven. It’s an organization. Not a crime family, per se, but a sort of hierarchy of men that kind of, sort of, run the area.”
“My brother is someone who would run an area?” I asked.
“Have you heard of Sascha Semyonov?”
My belly clenched as I pulled onto the highway. “Yes.”
Everyone had heard of him.
He was a badass.
A criminal one, but still a badass.
I wouldn’t want to get anywhere near the man, even if he did seem somewhat friendly.
I’d met him two times. Once at the hospital when his daughter was born, and once when they brought her in for pneumonia when she was sick.
Both times, he was highly intense and scary as fuck. That didn’t stop me from going all gooey seeing him be so sweet and focused on his daughter.
“Your brother is kind of like what Sascha Semyonov is. Though, he wasn’t as out and open about it as Semyonov.”
I started to slow down, but the car behind me honked, and I resumed my speed.
“You’re telling me that my brother runs a criminal empire?”
“Not in so many words,” he said. “He’s just a guy that kept the area he was in under control. He did illegal things, sure. But not in a danger to women kind of way. In a danger to men kind of way. If that makes any sense.”
“Just spit it out,” I grumbled as I flipped on my turn signal and headed toward the big McMansion that Finnian owned. “You’re talking around in circles, and I haven’t had enough coffee or sleep to deal with the hesitation.”
Finnian chuckled. “You said you weren’t going to interrupt.”
I growled, causing him to laugh.
