“You fucking bastard,” Nico gritted, his hands curling around the stack in his hands. I leaned over, glancing at what he was holding.
There was a picture of him and his siblings. There was Zeno, his hair in a bun. Leo, smirking that wicked smile. With them, another heavily tattooed brother and one who looked annoyed to be there. And, of course, the baby of the family. The little sister.
“Nico,” I said, tone careful.
He was vibrating with rage, his breath coming in short, shallow huffs.
“Years. He’s been building this foryears.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, looking at the stack still inside the safe. More family members, I had to conclude. Men, women,children. “But why?”
That was when Nico’s furious gaze cut to mine. His jaw was so tight a muscle ticked before he spoke. “To sell it to the highest bidder.”
“Who would buy it?”
“Our enemies, Blair. People who would use this to pick us off, one by one. It’s all here. Everything they would need.”
Ice slipped into my veins, chilling me enough to shiver.
“What would this be worth?”
To that, he snorted.
“Two-hundred million. More.”
“What?”
“That’s what the Family brings in a year. It’s worth at least that if they could pick us all off and take over.”
Oh, my God.
“Do you have a box?”
“A box?” I parroted, confused.
“I need to pack this all up and bring it to Lorenzo. We do,” he clarified.
“We?” I squeaked. “But… but I didn’t know. I wouldn’t help do something that might harm children. I promise, I had no—”
“Hey,” Nico broke in, tone much softer. “I know that, honey. I’m not saying you’re in any kind of trouble. I promise you, you’re not. But I do think you’re in a lot of danger. More than I realized.”
My pulse quickened as I glanced around like someone might be hiding in the corners.
“Oh.”
“I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. But until I can talk to my boss, I don’t want to let you out of my sight.”
There was no good reason for the way my heart squeezed at his words. At the fierceness behind them.
“Okay. Yeah, I have a box.”
I got up to grab it.
“Can you pile the papers inside? I am going down to my apartment for one minute.” I must have tensed at that, because he held up his hands. “I’m grabbing a gun. That’s it. Literally less than five minutes. I will be back. You will be behind a locked door.”
“Okay,” I agreed, shaking off the fear. “I’ll be right here.”
“Five minutes,” he assured me, rushing out of the room as I started to stack the files, keeping them in their original order, since I was pretty sure Lorenzo was going to want to see exactly what Matthew had compiled about him and his family.
