24. Noah
Noah
“ D umbass,” I mumble when Del falls to the ground, unconscious.
I turn back to Matt and squat to get a better look at the damage from Del’s idiocy.
“Well, the good news is he missed your femoral artery.” Barely, I add silently. “Let me call someone to stitch you up.”
Matt nods, his tan face pale because he’s losing a good amount of blood. He’s also sweating, either left over from the threesome or from the shock of being stabbed.
I collect my clothes thrown everywhere—a chair, the ground, on my father’s desk—and get dressed.
“I’m really sorry about Del,” I say slipping on my jeans sans panties because that asshole tore them. “He has issues.”
Matt waves a hand, looking away to give me privacy—despite having his cock in my mouth minutes ago.
“It’s fine. It was kind of hot.”
Okay, Matt’s a psychopath like us.
Because it was super-hot.
I’m still mad he did it, though.
“I can tie him to this other chair and let you stab his thigh if you want?”
Matt laughs. “No... well... maybe. Rain check?”
He winks at me, and I grab my phone to call the doctor on my father’s payroll.
“He said he’ll be here within five minutes,” I tell Matt.
“Thanks for punching him. That was also sexy as fuck.”
I shake my head. “You’re our level of crazy.”
“Yeah, I guess.” He laughs. “Um, but no offense... I don’t think I want to do this again.”
He runs his right hand over his face, and I notice he’s missing a pinky.
“What happened?” I point at the missing appendage.
His face immediately falls into cold, hard nothingness and he looks away.
“I was punished.”
“What? By whom?”
He laughs, bitter and unamused.
“Who do you think?” I open my mouth, at a loss for words at his sudden change of attitude.
“You really know nothing about how your father runs things, do you?”
“I don’t. I’m sorry.” There’s an uncomfortable silence between us. “So my father did this.”
He clenches his teeth, causing the muscles in his sharp jaw to ripple.
“It could have been worse. I could be dead.”
“Matthew—"
Before I can offer him any assurance that things are about to change, the doctor arrives.
Dr. Hager, an older German man with stark white hair, stitches up Matt, then he takes a look at the dumbass still passed out on the floor.
The doc waves smelling salts in front of his nose to wake him up and checks for signs of a concussion.
He gives Del the all clear before leaving.
“Oh,” I begin and help Del stand. “I forgot to ask what you needed.”
Matt tilts his head.
“You barged in here and caught us fooling around. Did you have a reason? Did you need something?”
“Right,” he stands and hobbles to the door to make his exit. “Your father wanted me to assist you with your plan to take down the Lords.”
Of course, he does. My father refuses to help, so I’m not even surprised he sent Matthew in his place. He wants to make sure I won’t be putting myself in danger.
I’m not about to trust my father’s new head of security.
He’s too... friendly. Too eager to help us out—and fuck us, apparently.
Anyone who’s loyal to my father sees everyone else as the enemy.
But Matt might be different. What he just told me about being punished, the hatred in his voice and disgust on his face… he might truly be on our side.
I want to ask Matt what he did to garner such a harsh punishment, but my attention turns to Del when he grunts. He wipes his nose, which is still bleeding, and dark circles are starting to form underneath his eyes. I grin at the aftermath of my right hook.
“Proud of yourself?” he asks.
“You deserved it.” I turn back to Matt. “We’re meeting Friday morning, nine a.m. White Hall Station. We’ll take the ferry to Staten Island and have a driver meet us to take us to the Lords Mansion. Don’t be late.”
“You got it, boss.”
I raise a brow at Matt, and he blushes. I really like the sound of a man calling me boss. I wonder if I can convince Del for another threesome with Matt if he promises not to hurt him again.
I turn to my puppet who glares at Matt’s back as he leaves the room.
Okay, maybe not.
“Let’s go, Stabby.”
Del follows behind, head down, tail between his legs.
“ W here the fuck have you been?” Del asks when his brother finds us at White Hall Station.
“None of your fucking business, Lance-a-lot.”
“I will fucking kill you,” he warns.
I know Del despises the nickname. Well, he’d told me how Elias used to call him that all the time when they were kids and how he loved it, making him feel like a knight in shining armor.
Then, after Del was forced to kill his mother, Elias refused to use the nickname again. As if he was punishing Del.
“Boys, let's behave. We can’t walk into this meeting with tempers flaring, okay?”
I punch Elias in the arm. “Ow! What the hell was that for?”
“You went to Sage’s parents’ house uninvited.”
“ That’s where you’ve been?” Del asks.
“What the fuck is this asshole doing here?” Elias avoids his brother’s question and stares Matthew down, as if that will scare my father’s head of security away.
“Gio sent him to help.”
“More like sent him to spy,” Elias scoffs. “And what’s wrong with him?”
He points at Matthew’s leg, noticing him limping slightly as we walk with the crowd to board the ferry.
“I stabbed him,” Del answers.
“It was a threesome, Puppet. We invited him to join. You’re just a jealous asshole,” I sigh and turn to Matt. “I’m still so sorry.”
He smiles at me but narrows his eyes at Del.
Matt is definitely not as harsh as Vershun was.
Vershy wouldn’t have hesitated to kill Del for what he did.
Of course, we never would have invited Vershun to join us for a threesome.
Vershun was closer to my father’s age while Matthew is a few years older than us and looks like he could be a Hemsworth brother.
We find our seats outside along the side of the ferry away from other passengers. Thankfully, it’s not too crowded, and we can have some privacy.
“Okay,” I begin, “let’s go over the game plan.”
“We’ve been over it a million times,” Elias whines.
“Boo hoo you big baby. We’re going over it again,” Del says, picking a fight with his brother. I give his leg a squeeze in warning.
These men, I swear.
“I reached out to Finn O’Connor for a meeting, telling him I have information on who may have killed Cillian.
He’s still under the impression that it was a home invasion gone wrong.
At least, we think that’s what he believes.
We have connections across the four other boroughs that he doesn’t, so he was quick to accept this meeting. ”
After Cillian’s body was found, Finn went on the news vowing to find his killer. He put on a show, the grieving Staten Island business owner who has already lost too many of his loved ones. We expected him to blame the other mobs but surprisingly, Finn went along with the cops’ motive.
We know better though. He’s up to something.
“Then, once inside, we threaten to turn him over to the FBI on racketeering charges. He has the choice to either hand over control of the Lords and work with us as a united crime syndicate or get locked up for the rest of his life.”“This is not going to end well,” Del says.
“He’ll never believe Gio agreed to become one merged mafia. ”
“A mighty mafia,” I add.
“He’s going to fight back,” Elias adds, ignoring my mighty mafia comment. It’s a fun name and they know it.
“Look…” I sigh and rub my temples. I can feel a headache coming on.
“It’s time for this rivalry between the three organizations to end.
We already have an advantage over the Lords.
The underworld believes The Empire and the QBM will unite once Del and I are married, which has the Lords on edge.
So, we go in and offer him a deal or threaten to turn him in to the FBI.
He knows we have connections there. He knows Gio is desperate enough for power to do something this unprecedented.
And if he refuses and opens fire, then we fight back and kill him. ”
I shrug as if we’re not about to walk into the viper’s nest. If I’m honest, I’m terrified.
“Your father was under the impression you were going to stay out in the car with me,” Matt says, frowning.
“Yeah, about that. Change of plans. I’m not staying in the car.”
Matt takes out his phone—certainly about to call my father—and Del snatches it from his hands and tosses it overboard into the New York Harbor. Matt takes a second phone out of his other pocket, holding it away from Del this time, only for it to be seized by Elias.
Matt stands, ready to throw punches.
“Sit down and shut the fuck up,” Del orders, and I squeeze my legs together at the demanding tone. “Unless you want to be tossed over the side next?”
Matt clenches his jaw, and he scans the area, seeing passengers about thirty feet away. A few eyes turned our way at Del’s outburst. Matt shakes his head and slowly sinks back down to the metal bench seat, deciding not to make a scene.
The plan I told my father involved me staying in the car with Matt while Del and Elias barged in with a team of Empire and QBM cronies to shoot up the mansion and kill Finn. Instead, we’re doing it my way by blackmailing him into turning over control.
I’m also hoping we can ask Finn about the Christmas Eve murders during this meeting. He might have evidence to help us with our investigation.
After a thirty-minute ride, the ferry docks at St. George Terminal on Staten Island.
I lead the men out of the station and find our driver. He’s one of a few dozen QBM and Empire soldiers who have already arrived on the island to prepare for this meeting. They’ll be hidden on nearby properties, waiting for our call if things go south.
The SUV takes us to the hilltop community of Emerson Hill and turns into the driveway of a massive estate.
The Lords Mansion.