no good. Thanks to Nicky, I was able to weed out the remaining bad eggs.”
“And how did you know they were bad? I just stood there and looked pretty,” Nicoli asked with a shit-eating grin. I'd mistakenly fed his ego with that comment.
“Not to brag, but I’m pretty good at reading people. These two clearly hated you, Stefan, and did nothing to hide it,” I explained as I pointed my gun at the first two guys I'd shot, then moved to point at the other two. “And these two…well, you did say it was lackeys who you’d exchanged with. No offense, Nicky, but it’s no secret our families aren’t friendly. If two of our men repeatedly met with you, a De Luca, and didn’t tell us, it’s obvious where their loyalties were.”
“And you knew it was those two from just looking at them?” The don sounded skeptical.
I smiled. “Was I wrong?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and the corners of his eyes squinted before his lip curled up on one side. No, I wasn’t wrong.
I turned back to the two remaining men, who were now standing and rubbing at their free wrists. I closed the distance between us. “Congratulations, gentlemen. You’ve been promoted. You now work for me.” The guy who'd given the evil eye to Dylan and Samuel turned his stink eye on me. I stepped even closer to him. “Careful,” I warned him in a low voice. Thinking back to all the files I'd gone through on each of Samuel’s and Dylan’s men, I tried to put his face to a name. “Finnegan, is it?”
“Finn,” he corrected in a gruff voice that could rival Dean’s.
“Well, Finn, they were going to kill all of you. It would’ve been a hell of a lot easier, but I decided to spare you. You’re alive right now because of me.” My eyes locked with his dark ones. With it being nighttime, I couldn’t make out the color. “You can glare at me and hate me all you want. I find defiance in a man entertaining. So if you’re looking for attention, handsome, please continue. You have it. I should warn you; I may be a lot more tolerable of your prickly behavior than, say, Samuel, but even I can grow bored and I know everything there is to know about you. Like where your son lives with your ex-wife. Where he goes to school. What nursing home your father’s in.” I took a step back and glanced at the other guy, Gavin, I thought his name was, and let my threat sink in. “You’re both on probation. I’d tread carefully. Really think about what it means to be part of this family and I’d mull over the definition of loyalty.” I waved them off and a few goons escorted them to an Escalade.
I spun on my heel to rejoin Nicoli and my father, who had been quietly watching. Nicoli appeared to be slightly impressed where Stefan was proud. I scrunched my nose and glanced down as my heels sunk into the rocks. “Well, these shoes are ruined. You couldn’t have picked somewhere with a flat solid surface?” I complained to Stefan.
“I’m sure we can get you another pair,” he drawled.
I sniffed. “That’s not the point. It should be a sin to ruin something so beautiful.”
Stefan just blinked at me before his eyes shifted to Nicoli, who was wearing a bemused expression. “My daughter says she would like to set up a dinner for us. I think that would be a good opportunity to get to know each other and maybe settle some differences.”
Nicoli nodded. “I agree. As long as your beautiful daughter can join us, that is?” The don phrased his response as a question. It was clear it wasn’t.
Stefan gave him a fake smile. “Of course. Like she’d let me go without her. She’s my heir, after all.”
His revelation was like a punch to my stomach. Which I had to quickly recover from before anyone noticed. I had to put that on the back burner for now. Now was not the time to question or freak out on Stefan.
“Until then, De Luca,” Stefan said and walked away with his goon squad following. Just before Stefan climbed into his Escalade, he whispered into the ear of a goon, who waved at another to join him. The two goons returned to our group, choosing to stand next to Dean. Stefan glanced back at me one more time before shutting his door and