personal offense to that last lame-ass excuse. Each and every one of us.
It would’ve been like a slap in the face for Damian to hear one of his highest-ranked captains say those words.
Because when you join the Novak syndicate, we become your family. Your own family becomes our family, and our full protection is extended to them.
In the mafia, we value those connections. We take care of our women. Take care of our kids. Leland knows that as well as anyone. If he hadn’t been such a slimy little cocksucker, if he’d been loyal to the organization he swore his life to, his family actually would have been safer. We would’ve done everything in our power to protect them from Camilla’s wrath.
Now? He’s basically hung them out to dry. Painted a target on their backs that she’ll be happy to aim for.
“You had my father’s trust.” Hale’s voice is low, but I can feel his anger rising. “Of all the things you could’ve chosen to do when Camilla threatened you, you chose the one that would bring the most damage to everything and everyone you should’ve cared about. You’re exactly what my father despised.”
Leland flinches at the verbal blow as if it were an actual punch. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s better or worse that Hale’s words obviously hit a sore spot. In some ways, it just makes his actions worse. Even though he was a traitor in the end, Leland still looked up to Hale’s father. Respected him. Loved him.
And yet, he chose to betray him.
“The choices you have made have put your family in more danger,” Hale continues. “The choices you have made put everyone in our syndicate in more danger. I don’t know what the fuck you told yourself so you could sleep at night, but you may as well have pulled the trigger yourself.”
With that, Hale backs off and turns to pace the room, unable to say anything else to the traitor.
I watch Leland closely, observing the way his jaw twitches, his bloodshot eyes staring at the concrete wall behind me with an absent intensity. Ciro’s good. He’s well-versed enough in torture to have pushed Leland right to the edge of his breaking point—and the man’s guilt only pushes him further down that path.
But it’s a fine line we’re walking. In only a few minutes, if we don’t keep him from doing it, he’s going to collapse in on himself, his body and mind shutting down. He’ll go to a mental place far, far away from here.
We have to keep him with us. Keep him talking.
“How did Brian get involved in this?” Grace asks suddenly, her voice steady.
I turn around slowly, glancing over my shoulder at her.
Grace.
No matter how much I might despise her parents, I have to admit they named her perfectly. She’s the embodiment of that word, beautiful and delicate. My heart does a strange skip in my chest as I take in the way she stands so confidently, so sure of herself. I know her well enough by now to know that’s not what she feels like on the inside.
Grace has a different type of strength than the rest of us, something I’ve never seen before.
She’d make a good leader.
The thought hits me out of nowhere, pulling me out of my own head for a second. I never thought of it before, but now that it’s occurred to me, it seems as undeniable as gravity. I can see it in her. She was born to be in command.
I know she wouldn’t believe me if I told her, but it’s the fucking truth.
I will tell her one day. When all of this shit is sorted out.
She watches Leland with a hard expression until he realizes she was the one who spoke. I hate the man even more than I already do for the smirk he gives her, the detached sort of cockiness that fills his tone as he talks to her. As if she’s nothing more than a woman who doesn’t belong in a man’s world. That’s outdated bullshit, as far as I’m concerned, and she’s already proven herself to have bigger balls than this asshole.
My fingers flex into fists, itching to plant themselves in his face, but I hold back.
“As far as I know, Brian has always been a dirty cop.” Leland shrugs, his breathing a little ragged but his voice gaining strength. “From day one. I don’t think that guy had a good bone in his body—he joined the force to