Page 140 of Wrapped in Perfection

"What is it?" Sergey asks.

"Something you just said."

"What?"

"Why would he rock the boat?"

Sergey shakes his head. "I'm not sure."

My stomach pitches. "Who do you know that doesn't draw the line with women and children?"

The color in Sergey's face drains. "What are you getting at?"

"I'm not sure. But there's only one man I know in all the crime families who I'm aware doesn't keep the boundary."

Sergey shakes his head. "How would Lorenzo even begin to be mixed in with Zamir? The hatred the two families have stems back for generations."

"What if something changed it?"

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure. But what if Lorenzo is mixed up with Zamir?"

The car parks in front of my building.

"That's a pretty large what if," Sergey states.

"Yes."

Sergey leans forward. "Why would he be?"

"I'm not sure what Lorenzo gets out of it, but Zamir would love to have a reason to take us down. What I've been trying to figure out all these months is, why did Lorenzo suddenly get interested in that lot? We were all set to buy it then he swept in, and the mayor sold it to him for a tenth of what we were going to get it for. Why?"

Sergey runs his hand through his hair. "I assumed Lorenzo is in bed with the mayor."

"Yes, but how did he get interested in the property?"

Sergey's eyes widen and his voice lowers. "Zamir's always watching us. Every move we make. I try to forget he exists, minus the one night a year he calls on Boris, but he's never stopped trying to destroy us, has he?"

I shake my head. "No. And he never will."

Sergey shuts his eyes. "Do you remember when Mom couldn't look at me anymore?"

"Serg—"

"No, you don't have to deny it."

"She was filled with guilt. She loved you."

"I still hear her begging Zamir not to make her baby do it. Then I see her face, crying for me and telling me to stop. I smell Zamir's breath on my cheek and feel the blade of his knife on my throat."

I wish I had something to say to take it all away from him. Or I could somehow comfort him. But I have my own memories and don't know what to do with those, and I was ten years older than Sergey.

Sergey swallows hard. "If Lorenzo is involved with Zamir, we're dealing with a much larger problem."

Bile rises in my throat. You can take the entire O'Malley clan and the intricate network of Ivanovs we've developed over the years, but together they may not be powerful enough to go against Zamir. Add in power from the Rossi family, and we're in a position to be destroyed.

"Our entire strategy about how to go about this has been wrong," I tell Sergey.

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