“What about him?”
“He fucked up again.” Achilles sounded significantly less dead inside, uplifted by the news. “Our last promise to leave him alive has officially expired.”
“What’d the bastard do?”
“Killed a Las Vegas pakhan right under our noses. In our territory.” There was a pause. “And dumped his body at our doorstep.” Another pregnant silence. “Most of it anyway.”
“Is that so?” I crouched down and moved an ancient stone, revealing the pack of cigarettes I kept hidden there. I only smoked once every few weeks. Gia didn’t like it but learned to live with it. I was still, at my core, a man accustomed to and enamored with darkness. I lit myself a cigarette, blowing outsmoke. “And what are you telling me this for? You know damn fucking well I’m not participating in this war. I would never jeopardize my wife’s safety.”
“We’re not asking you to, but there’s something else…” He trailed off.
“I’m listening.”
“If we were to retaliate, we might need an ironclad alibi.”
God bless burner phones. Fucker didn’t even miss a beat when he asked this.
“You don’t think he’ll snitch?” I had no respect whatsoever for that cunt, but even I knew he wouldn’t breathe a word if the Ferrantes rearranged his facial features.
“Not him,” Achilles tsked. “His sister, I’m not so sure about.”
I was quiet for a moment.
“Sure. You were all at my estate at the time. I’ll have my guy forge CCTV footage,” I said. “Just as long as there’s no blowback coming for my family.” I wasn’t going to actively kill Tiernan, but I was happy to give his fate a much-needed push. I inhaled my cigarette, smirking. “So you’ve got a death warrant with his name on it?”
“Vello wants him alive, but just barely,” Achilles groused with annoyance. “I’m going to pluck a few body parts, though.”
“Good. Give him a DIY circumcision, and be generous about it.”
Achilles laughed.
“Won’t it mess with your ability to choose the mouthy sister a husband?”
“Nah, I have big plans for her.”
“I’d ask what they were, but I truly don’t care. Oh, and, Achilles?”
“Yeah?”
“If this backfires in any way and makes its way to my doorstep, I am going to personally kill you, your brothers, yourentire family, and the Callaghans combined. Make it clean, you hear me? I don’t want my wife to be saddled with any more bodyguards.”
“Loud and clear, lover boy.”
I killed the call and tossed the still-lit cigarette into the mud, making my way back into the house. I assumed my place next to my wife, who made a face that let me know she could smell the cigarette on me. Nonetheless, she placed a reassuring hand on my back.
“Gia and I were just talking designs for the nursery,” Cal informed me.
“Oh yeah?” I leaned to kiss my wife’s cheek. “Apricity, do you have a color in mind yet?”
“Red,” she said without looking at me, taking a spoonful of her stew. “It reminds me of you.”
I grinned.
My phone pinged again. Dr. Patel.
From: Dr. Arjun Patel, MD
