29. Fetch
fetch
. . .
Davian
Few things were sweeter than the squeal of a rat as it thrashed in my grasp.
Now that I’d tasted Sadie, she topped the sweetness chart by a mile, but listening to Lorenzo sing about every way he’d betrayed me was its own symphony worth savoring.
And, boy, did he sing.
What I hadn’t expected was for Zain Ali to be on the other side of Lorenzo’s secret meetings. Zain’s old man had barely been in the ground a month, and his son should be grieving—not making territory plays.
We’d known the Ali family for years, since they carved out a nice slice of territory in the north side of the city. Zain’s pop had gotten along fine with mine, and they’d had an alliance that benefited both of them, but Zain was a young buck whose appetite had always been bigger than his stomach. Without a father figure to rein in his hotheadedness, the new head of the family was bound to make a move.
And I was the lucky one who got to deal with him.
“Pull Dante in on this,” I told Malcolm as we backtracked through the woods, leaving Lorenzo behind in the shed with Shane. “We’re cleaning house and going after Ali.”
Malcolm glanced my way. “What should I say if Old Seb calls?”
My jaw clenched, and I rubbed it. My pop’s stinginess was causing problems, which was just the tip of the iceberg. Lorenzo wouldn’t look elsewhere without a reason, and he claimed Zain had made a better offer. But loyalty meant everything in this city; money alone wasn’t enough for men to stray.
It didn’t add up.
“Tell him it’s business as usual,” I said, leaving it at that.
Malcolm didn’t bat an eye at leaving Seb out of the loop, but he’d always been more loyal to me.
He nodded and took off down a side path to the security building, while I headed for the pool near the main house.
If I was lucky, Sadie could still be swimming.
As soon as I reached the tree line, a happy bark and an odd sight stopped me in my tracks.
I had to be hallucinating, because there was no way Vince was playing fetch with a dog.
But after blinking twice, I could still see Sadie’s giant hellhound running full speed with a stick in his mouth toward my second-in-command.
Baffling me further, Vince easily took the stick from Bear and flung it back across the lawn.
Bear took off like a bullet, chasing after it, while I slowly approached Vince.
“What the hell am I looking at?” I asked him, still not convinced he was willingly playing fetch.
He crossed his arms, and for the first time in my memory, I could swear big bad Vince was pouting .
“Your girl stuck me with dog-watching duty,” he grumbled.
At the mention of Sadie, I looked across the yard to the pool, but there were no signs of any naked pint-sized hostage-taking bakers snorkeling in it.
Pity.
“I thought you worked for me,” I said, amused. We both watched the dog thrash the stick around instead of running back. “Since when do you answer to Sadie?”
He sent me an unimpressed side-eye. “Have you finished cracking Lorenzo yet?”
“Just did. Not who I expected,” I admitted. Part of me hoped we were wrong, but all the proof was there. “Zain Ali got to him.”
Vince’s brows shot up. “No shit? Zain’s already making plays? That was fast.”
It was. Too fast, even.
“Acting this soon means he’s not thinking straight.” I slipped both hands into my pockets.
“All the better for us. He’ll make mistakes.” Vince scowled at the dog, who’d come back and plopped on the grass at his feet. Bear happily gnawed on the stick. “What’s the play?”
“We need to remind Zain why it’s a bad idea to target us.” I wasn’t too concerned. We’d nip this in the bud, and the kid would learn. Part of the job was keeping the ankle-biters in line. “What doesn’t sit right with me is how easily Lorenzo let himself be paid off. Zain can’t protect him from us.”
Vince grunted. “Maybe he didn’t think he’d get caught?”
“Or he wasn’t alone.” I glanced at the security building, frowning. “Have you heard any of the guys complain about pay?”
Vince shook his head. “Nothing. Not even a whisper.”
Lorenzo swore he was the only one working with Zain, but I’d let him spend more time in the shed before I believed that. He’d hold out as long as possible to not snitch on a friend.
“Keep an eye on Seb for me,” I told Vince. “He’s been more unpredictable than usual lately.”
“You got it, boss.” He pulled out his phone and typed something. “Who are you sending to watch Zain?”
“Malcolm’s putting a team together now. They’ll head out this evening.”
Which brought us to the other topic I needed to pull Vince in on. The Ali family was dangerous, and it only made sense to convince Sadie to stick around a little longer.
For her own safety, of course.
What I hadn’t expected was how pleased I was to have another excuse to keep her around.
…Even if it meant putting up with her shoe-stealing best friend, too.
I frowned at the beast in question, who’d stopped gnawing on his stick and was eyeing my shoes with more focus than I’d like. A thick strand of drool stretched down from his muzzle.
“Don’t even think about it,” I warned, earning a whine from him before he went back to chomping on his stick. I eyed Vince; he wouldn’t like this. “With the Skulls’ friends knowing Sadie’s address and Ali sniffing around, it’ll be safest for her to stay here until I clear these problems up.”
He glanced up from his phone. “Will it now? I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”
“What did I say about sticking your nose into this?”
That got me an unamused stare.
He sighed, shaking his head. “Fine. I’ll have Maria make up a guest room for her.”
That he even thought there was a possibility Sadie would need her own room was almost amusing.
Except it wasn’t.
At all.
“No need.” I smiled tightly. “She’ll stay with me.”
He did a double take, acting like I’d just told him we’d be requiring all the men to wear tutus and tiaras moving forward. “You can’t be serious.”
“This isn’t something I’d joke about.” I couldn’t believe he was acting like this was some new thing. “She already stayed with me last night.”
Vince’s mouth opened and closed like a damn fish.
“Are you…? Why would you…? Okay, I give up .” Vince’s eyes flashed—and I got the impression he was seriously thinking about swinging at me—before he threw his hands up, startling Bear into dropping his stick. “What is it about this girl? She held you at gunpoint yesterday, man. She pointed a literal loaded gun at you. Is this some kink I don’t know about? Did she blackmail you? Because I just don’t get it.”
I eyed the vein bulging on his forehead. He’d clearly been holding that in for a while.
“It doesn’t matter if you get it or not,” I said, holding his glare. This wasn’t up for debate. “She stays with me. It’s that simple.”
He snorted. “That’s great and all, but how do you plan to explain her to Old Seb?”
Telling my father about Sadie was not on the agenda. “I don’t. I plan to keep her as far away from him as possible.”
“If he sees how serious you seem to be about her, he won’t like it,” Vince warned. “Not to mention, it’ll break poor Daniella’s little heart.”
I muttered a few choice words under my breath. That was a name I hadn’t heard in a while.
“Daniella has nothing to do with this,” I said, not wanting to touch that can of worms. “It’s time Seb realizes that.”
“Come on. Would allying with the Vitales really be so bad? Seb would’ve had you two hitched ages ago if you’d agreed to it.”
“If he wants the alliance so badly, he can marry her himself,” I said. “I have no plans to, and Daniella wants no part of it, either.”
He flicked a bug off his arm, shrugging. “That’s not what I’ve heard.”
For a brief selfish moment, I wished Vince weren’t so good at keeping his ear to the ground. “What’ve you heard?”
“Just that she’s waiting for you to change your mind. Maybe if you actually talked to her?—”
“Talking would give the wrong impression.” Few things traveled between territories faster than gossip, and I didn’t need rumors spreading. “Next time you see them, let Gio’s people know it isn’t happening.”
With a grunt, Vince crouched to get the stick Bear had left on the ground.
“Let me get this straight, because it sounds like you’ve lost your mind.” He stood and pointed the stick at me. “You’re seriously going to turn down an alliance with Gio Vitale because of some doe-eyed baker who wears pink overalls?”
My fingers flexed. He needed to get over his problem with Sadie. Fast.
“I know what I’m doing.” I looked toward the house. “Where is she, anyway?”
It wasn’t like Sadie to pawn her dog off on Vince. I would’ve expected her to be out here, too.
“In the kitchen with Antonio,” he said. “That’s why I’m watching this guy.”
Bear took that as his cue to lie down and roll over onto his back, presenting his belly and panting with his tongue out. It was… sort of cute, I guess.
When he wasn’t growling at me or annihilating my shoes, I could almost see why Sadie called him sweet.
Almost.
But since we’d finished discussing business, I headed for the house. “I’ll be inside if you need me.”
I’d only made it a couple steps before Vince called my name. I looked back at him, eyebrow raised, and he nodded at my shirt.
“If you don’t want your new squeeze asking questions, you might want to change your shirt before you go running off to find her,” he said with a knowing look.
I glanced down, belatedly noticing the blood splatter. I wasn’t sure when that happened during the interrogation, but it was bound to freak Sadie out.
“Good call, but she’s not a squeeze.”
“Of course not,” Vince said, deadpan. His shoulders slumped. “Just… be careful, man.”
I flashed a smile that lacked any humor. You didn’t get where I was by being reckless. “I’m always careful.”
He rolled his eyes before launching the stick halfway across the yard, and Bear scrambled up onto his paws to chase after it in a huge blur of black and brown fur.
I shook my head at the unlikely pair before heading toward the house.
“Have fun playing fetch with your new friend,” I called over my shoulder.
He grunted. “I am not friends with a dog.”