Chapter 16
SILAS
Damn her.
Damn her and her fucking sexy attitude of defiance.
I think I have found a new unhealthy obsession. It’s for a woman who constantly dresses in black, pushes me away at every turn, and tells me she wants to shove my own cock up my ass. And at the same time, she looks at me with those haunted emerald eyes as if she can see straight fucking through me.
I sent her flowers two days ago, after I left. I sent one of my men to check in on her to see how she did with the body, and when he returned he said that the roses were lying on the ground out the front. Discarded. I really shouldn’t have expected any less from her.
The temptation to dispose of another body just to see her runs through my veins. That is, of course, if I wasn’t already doing it. Sending one Nero member to the grave, as promised, with a message carved in their chest.
Hunting them is easy, though they’ve definitely tightened their activities. That might have everything to do with the phone call I received from Elias Nero to meet him tonight at an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town.
Two cars full of my men follow Valen and me. Although I respect Elias, I don’t entirely trust him. It could be an ambush. One, quite frankly, I invite so I can take out more than one at a time.
But when he called, he sounded serious and down for business.
We pull up toward the warehouse, where a single car idles and only the outlines of two men standing beside it—waiting.
One I immediately recognize as Elias. My lip curls up when I recognize the second. It’s the eldest son, Michalis. They look like brothers, though Michalis is a fraction smaller and leaner. Black hair and brown eyes, with a trimmed beard.
It puts me in a sour mood, knowing that once again, it’s not Apollo who is meeting me. It’s fucking rude.
We come to a stop, and I step out of the car, slamming the door behind me. Valen is on my heels as my men begin to spill out of the car, but I raise my hand for them to wait back.
“Mr. Vescari,” Michalis says, far too chivalrous, as if we’re old friends. I ignore him and look straight at Elias.
“Why am I out here?”
Michalis doesn’t seem at all impressed by being ignored, but I also don’t take kindly to someone who has made passes at my sister. He’s lucky to be fucking alive, and ballsy to speak to me directly.
“I have something for you. It took me a few days to track it down, and I apologize for its condition. I would’ve preferred something more respectful; however, I didn’t want to touch anything.”
My eyebrows crinkle, and I finally look at Michalis, who seems to look … proud of him-fucking-self?
Then it dawns on me. “Is it my uncle’s body?”
Elias slowly nods, obviously on edge as he looks between Valen and me.
“Who the fuck brought him here?” I demand, stepping into his space, but Elias doesn’t step back as he holds his ground. His brother, however, pulls out a gun.
“Don’t!” Elias snaps at him. “You told me if you were coming, you wouldn’t be rash.”
Michalis scoffs. “You seem to forget you’re only the middle son. Besides, we’re doing you a favor. You should be a little more respectful.”
Elias’s eyes close as he sighs, knowing me well enough. My lethal gaze slowly cuts to Michalis, who holds a gun to my head. Valen is behind me now, holding his own up, aimed at Michalis.
“Be more respectful. You killed my uncle, then stole his fucking body from a morgue.”
“Not me,” Michalis growls, all bite for a shitty replacement of the head of Nero when his father passes.
“Then who?” I growl and look back at Elias. The only reason they’re not dead is because I don’t yet know if this is a setup.
“I can’t tell you that,” Elias says quickly, and I grab the collar of his shirt. He seems to let me as he simply watches me.
“Then tell me something that might stop me from blowing both your brains out.” He’s quiet for a moment, and I see it then, that he’s holding his tongue, most likely to protect someone else.
Whoever killed my uncle. I lean in. “Give me the name, and I’ll make you head of the Nero family within the week.
” I click my tongue, promising a bloody vengeance.
“What the fuck,” Michalis says. “I’m the next head. If you’re offering anything to anyone, it should be me.”
Elias’s gaze remains on mine. I have no doubt he wants his brothers out of the way, but unlike the others, he’s not yet willing to cut them down for his own gain.
“Was it you?” I ask him one more time.
“No,” he says simply, and I shove him back, as if his clothes are filthy.
My blood boils, rage consuming me, but among it is a cold relief, that perhaps, even if I’d given up on the body, that maybe it’ll be returned.
That we can have a proper funeral for him.
It doesn’t stop vengeance, but it’s something I can return to my family. To my sister.
If Elias won’t tell me who killed him now, I’ll get my answer in other ways. “If I find out this is a scheme…” I signal to my men to inspect the warehouse. “I’ll fucking destroy your family.”
“You’re already working on it, no?” Elias says matter-of-fact. “This is a peace offering. Your uncle’s death was an accident.”
I scoff. “No it wasn’t.”
“Stop picking off our members. Take the body, and mourn your loss.”
I smile now as the devil that I am. “This does not make us even.”
“No,” Elias says deliberately. “But I’m working on making adjustments within the family where I can.” In the way that he’s looking at me, I think it also suggests that he’s aware of activities happening outside of Boston. We still haven’t seen any movement beyond what we were given.
“Trying to sound like a fucking saint or something?” Michalis pulls his brother back and steps into my face. “You should be grateful we’re doing this much. Our father agreed out of respect to your uncle and their friendship.”
“And where is he, your father? He seems to ignore my invitations as of late.”
“That’s none of your goddamn business,” he sneers, and in one swift movement my knuckles connect with his face, and I hear the sound of his nose breaking.
He stumbles back, blood pissing out as he aims his gun at me once again, but I’m too fast; I disarm him within seconds and tower over him, and I see the fear in his gaze.
Elias doesn’t intervene, though he watches carefully, probably because he knows I can tolerate only so much disrespect.
“You broke my fucking nose,” he cusses.
“You should be more embarrassed for your pathetic, broken ego. Nero is fucked if you’re left in charge.”
“Sir!” One of my men appears in the doorway to the abandoned warehouse. “You need to see this.”
My gaze slides to Elias, who’s watching me expectantly. I look back at Michalis, whose mouth opens and shuts, and I spit at his feet.
As I walk past Elias, he quietly says, “Stop the daily killings.”
I come to a stop beside him. “Tell me who did it.”
His jaw hardens, and he looks ahead. “I can’t.”
“Even if you die for their crime?” I ask simply.
His jaw tics but he doesn’t reply.
I continue stepping forward, the crunch of the dirt path beneath my boots as I get closer to the warehouse. Valen is covering my back as he says over my shoulder, “Sure this isn’t a setup?”
“If it were, our men would’ve already seen something out of sorts.”
“Why do you think Elias organized this? Most would’ve thrown away the body and continued denying their involvement,” he says as we walk through the doors, a few lights swinging gently from the wind that passes through the door, spotlighting the large freezer. My jaw clenches.
“Elias has business sense. He’s protecting someone. But he’s offering this because he knows I won’t stop cutting down his crew. His father seemed to care less. However, he would’ve eventually retaliated. Elias is trying to stop a war.”
“But is this enough?” he asks as we walk to the freezer.
When I open the lid and look inside, my stomach sinks. “No, it’s not.”
My uncle’s body is frozen stiff inside, and my jaw clenches. Whoever was stupid enough to do this is even stupider for hiding. But like Valen said, they could’ve pretended this had nothing to do with them.
What I can’t figure out is how Leonore Graves fits into this—if at all. Maybe one of Nero’s crew was stupid enough to store the body and were told to rectify the situation. So why would Elias go out of his way to return it to me?
He might consider it respectful. But others would be far more ruthless and dispose of the body.
“Keep an eye on the Nero crew. We’ll stop the killings for now. First, we’ll mourn.”
“Will you tell the doc the body has been found?”
I pause. “No. I’m not done with the doctor yet,” I say as I close the lid.