“And talk to Trey. I don’t want him overstepping.”
“Trey knows where he stands.”
“Make sure he does, or I will. I messed up once, but it won’t happen again.”
I can understand his reasoning with Trey to a certain point, but it still doesn’t stop the anger rising at his insistence that I can’t control the men around me.
“I thought you said you didn’t want to fight me anymore?”
Because I can feel a fight coming on if he doesn’t back down. If I say Trey knows his place, then he should take my word for it.
His mouth opens, but instead of saying something, he laughs. “Fine. I hear you.”
With that out of the way, we both wash and dress for the day.
I’m stuck wearing Sienna’s jeans and her sweater, as well as a pair of her boots. They’re as expensive as my clothes, but it doesn’t feel right that I’m wearing them.
Pulling my hair back into a ponytail, I glance once more in the mirror, satisfied.
“Ready?” Raphael asks with one hand on the doorknob.
Nodding, we head downstairs. Although he doesn’t hold my hand, he stays close as we head into the dining room. For being shot in the leg, it’s not stopping him from getting to where he wants to go.
The grand table is stacked with a variety of weapons and ammunition.
Strolling the length of the table, I run my fingers over each gun. There must be hundreds of them here of all different types.
Raphael pulled through.
He stands with Cristian, who’s speaking to him, but his eyes are on me. I can feel them everywhere I go, searing into me from every angle.
“Father DiMarco has moved base from the church to your estate. There are three brothers, and they have around two hundred and fifty men. I’m not sure how many more they can call on from outside of the city.”
Moving my focus away from Raphael, I turn to Trey who’s standing before me, but not looking me in the eye. Holding his chin high, his hands clasped behind his back, he’s acting more like a soldier than my closest confidant.
“They’ve also got forty men guarding the grounds.”
“How do you know this? Have you not slept?”
The bags under his eyes say I’m right, but the alertness there says I’m wrong.
“I know this because I’ve been up since midday. I had a group of our men go and find out. I would’ve knocked and asked for your permission, but I didn’t want to disturb you and whatever you were doing with Marocchi.”
Venom oozes from lips, making the small hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I won’t ever regret the more intimate times we spent together, seeing as it’s what I wanted at the time, but I can’t keep repeating myself. He knew, as I always made it clear to him, it was, and always would be, nothing more than sex.
“Mila.” I look over my shoulder at Raphael. “We need to talk to the soldiers.”
Jerking my chin, I let him know I’ll be there in a moment and focus on Trey.
“You need to talk to the soldiers, not him. There is no we.”
Sighing, I go to walk away, not wanting to have this conversation in front of everyone, when he latches onto my wrist and stops me.
“You need to stop whatever is going on with him. Just because he bent the knee, doesn’t mean he’s not your enemy. Kisses are all well and good until they suck the life out of you.”
Looking down at his hand, I notice how his skin turns white from the strain of gripping my arm so tight.
“You need to step back. I’ve survived Raphael Marocchi many times, and I will survive him always. If you don’t let go of me this second, you won’t survive beyond this room.”
I barely recognise my own voice, and the anger I felt earlier toward Raphael for interfering in my relationship with Trey turns tide, and is now aimed at Trey.
The blood rushes through my arm as he uncurls his fingers, and I’m faced with the stone wall of Raphael’s chest when I turn to walk away.
“Are you still trying to tell me he doesn’t over-fucking-step?” he growls. I push against his chest until he takes a few steps back.
“I haven’t got time for this. Round up the men and have them head around to the back of the house.”
I leave them both behind and head for the kitchen, surprising myself as to