Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Sensing the observation, the guys looked at Christopher, then me, before deciding to make their way out of the store.
“What was that?”
“The thrills of being a business owner,” I said, video-calling my brother-in-law’s number.
“Alara, not a good time.” Brio was panting and sweaty, and there was a streak on his cheek that looked suspiciously like blood.
“Just two seconds, I promise. Someone is here claiming to be the bagman, but I’ve never seen him before. I just need a confirmation.”
I turned the phone to frame the stranger.
“No fucking shit! Chris!” Brio called. “I thought I heard something about you being back, but wasn’t sure.”
“I’m back. And trying to do my job. But…” He waved back at me.
“Yeah, she’s got some brass balls on her. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll be back to you in a second,” he called as someone groaned in the background. “Alara, he’s solid. Chris, we gotta link up.”
With that, he ended the call.
Christopher shot me the smallest of smirks.
“Why didn’t someone else tell me you were—” I started.
But the door flew open so fast it confused the chime.
Then there was Leondro. Leo. Brother to Nico, Cesare, Gavino, Zeno, and Lore. Second oldest, in birth order. My personal favorite of the brothers.
Yep.
I had favorites.
When you studied an organization as hard as I studied the Costas, it was impossible not to be partial to some of them.
While Nico was the overprotective big brother of the group, Leo was just as protective but with more of a go-with-the-flow personality. Like all his brothers, he was tall and dark-haired. His eyes were dark, too. But he was a little more bulky, thanks to a gym addiction, and he had these amazing dimples that looked like slashes down his cheeks if he smiled big. Which I could usually get him to do.
He was also the bagman I’d been dealing with for almost a year.
As soon as he flew in, his gaze slid to the gun on the counter, to Christopher, then back to me.
“Gave him a friendly greeting, I see,” he said, his smile quirking up.
“You know me, the welcoming committee,” I said, getting a chuckle out of him.
“Fucking subway ran late. Then I had to help some chick carry her stroller up the stairs because her shithead husband was too distracted by his phone to do it. Sorry to feed you to the wolves like this, man.” He clamped a hand on Christopher’s shoulder.
“It’s okay. I was getting… a history lesson, I guess. Why the fuck did you let Renzo marry your sister?”
“Oh, shit. You’re really out of the loop. They love each other. Not saying it wasn’t a whole thing back then, but they’re happy, building a family, all the shit.”
“So, who is this?” I asked, flicking a hand at Christopher.
“A cousin. Second cousin or something. I dunno. The family tree is confusing as fuck.”
It wasn’t.
I had a chart.
With pictures.
Quick facts.
Coffee orders.
I took my hobbies seriously.
But to an outsider, it would probably look like a cop’s whiteboard in the bullpen… or a serial killer’s stalker board in their basement.
“And I don’t know him because…”
“I was called to my hometown. Had a bunch of family shit going on.”
“Years-long shit?”
“Yes.” There was something almost a little haunted in his face when he said it, making me decide not to press. I did want to know his story, but I wasn’t in the business of pressing my finger into barely healed wounds.
“So, are you the bagman from here on out?”
“You can say it, sweetheart,” Leo said, giving me that dimpled smile, “you’re gonna miss me.”
“I’m just worried that if you don’t show up every week, I’m never going to get you to take me to the range again.”
“Nah, I’ll remember, kid,” he said. “Or Chris can take you. He’s probably a better shot than me.”
“I probably need the practice just as much as she does,” Christopher admitted.
“It’ll all come back,” Leondro assured him. “Anyway, Alara is our biggest pain-in-the-ass client.”
“I wear the badge proudly,” I agreed, doing a tiny bow.
“And that giant rat under her arm is Tuna Roll.”
“He survived a life on the streets,” I told Christopher. “And he has been angry about it ever since.”
“I got a nephew like that,” Christopher said, dragging a little laugh out of me.
“Teenager?”
“I think he might be possessed by a demon sometimes.”
“Bet you were a piece of work as a teenager.”
“You knew me as a teenager.”
“Nineteen, going on twenty. Doesn’t count. I need to know what that fifteen-sixteen mark was like.”
“I was angry,” I admitted. Though most of the anger was hiding sadness. I got very good at covering up hurt with hard.
“So, same as now,” Leo teased.
“Careful. My gun is sitting right here.”
“It sure is. And I’d be really scared if I was two inches from the muzzle. But we both know you’re not hitting anything further away than that.”