Page 35 of His Queen

“Just watch.”

Anthony struts into the private lounge he had booked for the night after Alexius and I leave. Even on camera, you can see the arrogance draped on his shoulders.

The footage is fast-forwarded to two hours later when the door opens, and Winslow emerges with his arm wrapped around a woman wearing a black coat and matching hat elegantly slanted to the side, obscuring her face.

“Who is that?” I ask, but then she looks up right at the camera for a split fucking second, and I see it. I see those familiar eyes like they’re staring right through the lens.

“Jesus Christ,” I mutter. “Vera.”

“That bitch!” Alexius spits, jerking around. “She left with Winslow?”

“Motherfucker,” I mutter.

“Why the hell would she leave with Winslow?”

“I dunno,” Maximo says, taking his phone out of my hand. “I’m not sure what the hell is going on.”

“Let me break it down for you two,” I say as I begin to pace. “Yulie died of what we suspect is an overdose of drugs that we have no idea how it got in here in the first place. Then one of our girls walked right out of the front fucking door as if it’s just a regular goddamn Tuesday.” My voice booms down the halls, slamming against the closed windows. But not even the hard echo can relay the exact level of rage I’m feeling. “It’s Nunzio fucking Ferrero. He’s fucking with us, smoking us out from the inside of our own goddamn establishment.”

“Nicoli, calm the fuck down.” Alexius levels me with a stare.

“You should have let me shoot him, brother.” I walk right up to him. “I should have killed that motherfucker right here in front of this building in the goddamn parking lot. Then none of this shit would have happened.”

“It’s not going to do us any good standing around and—”

“Can you not see what he’s doing, Alexius? Nunzio knows shit about Caelian that you and I didn’t even know. God knows what else he knows about the rest of us. One of our girls just OD’d on drugs that fucker got in here somehow. Can you imagine if word got out about this? About one of the Dark Sovereign girls dying in her bed with Ferrero poison in her veins?”

“I know,” Alexius murmurs, dragging both hands through his hair, leaning his head down. “I know exactly how it’s going to look.”

“And if that’s not enough to fuck us over until next year, one of our girls left with a man we know is a goddamn snake, and she will suck the balls of any man who has something to offer. Fuck knows what all she’s going to tell them. Things she heard in these halls.” I suck air through my teeth as I try to take a damn breath.

“Nicoli, calm the fuck down.”

“No!” I snap. “You need to fucking worry more, Alexius. How many times are you going to bend over and let Nunzio fuck you in the ass before you step up and do something about it?”

Alexius grabs my collar and yanks me closer, his eyes wide with angered flames. “I will act when I damn well think it’s best. I am fucking in charge here, Nicoli.”

“Then act like it. Say the word, brother, and I will have Nunzio’s head on a plate by dinnertime.”

“You know damn well we can’t do anything rash right now. Let’s say, for argument's sake, Vera is with Nunzio right now. By launching an attack on him now, it will look like sour fucking grapes.”

“Sour grapes? Are you kidding me?” I blurt, jerking free from his hold and stepping back. “Over a woman who betrayed the Dark Sovereign to become the new Ferrero whore?”

Maximo clears his throat. “Alexius is right.”

I roll my eyes. “Jesus, not you, too.”

“All this, Yulie and Vera—it stinks of provocation. He’s doing all this shit because he wants us to make one wrong move.”

I throw my arms in the air before planting my palms against the cold wall, hanging my head down in sheer frustration. “Can’t you two see? He’s already made his move.” I push myself off the wall. “Several moves, in fact, and we’re just rolling over and taking it.” I clench my jaw, wipe my nose, and stare at my brother. “What has to happen for you to finally realize this is no longer about who makes a move or not? This shit between them and us is already going down, and while we’re over here running across broken glass trying not to get cut, Nunzio is running toward us with a goddamn hammer.”

I step up to Alexius, our gazes locked, and I pray to God he can see the seriousness in my eyes. “You’re so worried about making the wrong move at the wrong time. At least that will be one less thing you’ll have to worry about when it’s too goddamn late to do anything.”

If I stay here any longer, I might end up doing something I’ll regret, so I choose to stomp out of there before kicking my brother’s ass. There’s a reason he’s the Boss, that he’s the head of this family and not me. He thinks with his head. I think with my anger. My rage. But sometimes, just sometimes, I wish he would stop overthinking shit and just act. Do what needs to be done. If our father had acted with violence fueled with revenge all those years ago, all of this could have been avoided. The world would have been rid of Nunzio Ferrero. We would have had fucking peace from those fuckers. And now my brother wants to make the same mistake our father did by underestimating our enemies and sitting back, choosing to watch what happens. They choose to be the reaction rather than the action.

“Where are you going?” Alexius calls after me.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of having my balls cupped by an asshole like Nunzio.”

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