Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
JAX
Antsy from waiting for Keane to begin the meeting he insisted we have right now, I light a joint and take a long drag.
“Do you have to do that now? I have shit to do and don’t need your secondhand high,” Dante says.
I blow smoke in his direction. If he doesn’t like it, he can go fuck off. I briefly catch Keane’s disapproving stare he sends me over his shoulder, and shrug.
Leaning back in my chair, legs outstretched in front of me, I ask Dante, “Who the fuck touched my computers?” He’s the one Keane left in charge while we’ve been with Andie.
Dante sits up, elbows resting on his knees. “Enzo. Why?”
I’d throw something at him, but I don’t think he’d appreciate having a lit joint bounced off his forehead.
“Three cameras are out, two of them along the south wall. That shit should’ve been noticed and dealt with immediately. And why the fuck would he be watching porn on my computers?”
I cleaned everything with disinfectant wipes once I saw the tracking log.
“Because he’s bored out of his mind and can’t do anything else after being shot in the gut?”
I flip him off, not amused.
Keane stands at the window, looking out at God knows what. He’s been doing that for the last five minutes. Hands braced on his hips, he angles his head Dante’s way. “Jax is right to be pissed.”
Becoming frustrated, Dante scrubs a hand through his short hair. Even though he’s about the same age as me and Keane, and we’ve known one another for years, Keane is now in charge. Dante is smart enough to realize that if he mouths off, he’ll regret it.
Kellan was born and groomed by Max to be the next Rossi don, but Kellan never wanted the job. Not like Keane. Keane lived, breathed, and killed for Maximillian Rossi. For this life. Andie coming back was a complication he wasn’t expecting. To be honest, none of us were prepared.
Keane may have wanted the Rossi throne, but he wants her more and would give it all up if she asked. But she hasn’t, and I don’t think she ever will. Declan was able to see what Max never could. Andie was born to be a queen. Strong. Fierce. Determined. Smart. Ruthless. It’s why he handed everything over to her and not to Pearson or Liam. She’ll be the reason why Keane will become one of the most powerful men in the country.
“I’m not going to make excuses for him, but we’re a dozen men short, and no one else here is a computer genius,” Dante replies, gesturing at me. There’s an unspoken “ and you both should’ve been here to handle this shit anyway, not me .”
Keane and I have been dropping in almost daily, but I can’t argue that Dante is right. So was Andie when she told Keane he couldn’t neglect his new duties or appear weak, especially during a transition of power. Add in the fact that we took out Carmine and Marcellus—the dons of the Ricci and Barone families, along with most of their men—in retaliation for Andie’s kidnapping, and yeah, the whole thing is precarious as hell. We’re living in a house of cards that needs rebuilding before Alejandro makes his next move.
Okay. That’s not entirely correct. It’s Andie who’s running the show now, and it’ll be her next move that determines the stakes in the cat-and-mouse game we’ve been playing with the Ortiz cartel.
I absentmindedly tap the joint on the desk, letting the ashes fall. Not like it’s going to make it look any worse after Andie carved it up with her knife.
Rolling his head on his shoulders to relieve the tension, Keane blows out a breath. “We need to start recruiting new associates and soldiers. I have a few men in mind that I think will be good capos. I’d wanted you and Enzo to take over in New York, but clearly, Enzo isn’t ready. And Jax, we should get someone else on board who has tech skills to shadow and learn from you.”
I take another hit, hoping it helps dispel some of the annoyance at what he suggested. Me mentoring someone? I don’t work well with others, and I definitely don’t like anyone touching my stuff.
“Get Tessa to do it.”
Keane faces the room, his back to the window. “Tessa doesn’t work for me. You do.”
Dante raps his knuckles against the open palm of his other hand. “Where are we going to find new recruits? It’s not like we have a pool of men to choose from. Levine decimated us when he took out Max and the other capos. He killed even more when his men attacked the house. Once our guys find out she’s his daughter and not Max’s, some of them will turn on her.”
I’m out of my chair, lifting Dante up by his shirt, and slamming him against the wall before Keane has a chance to do the same thing.
“Let them fucking try,” I snarl.
Keane’s hand grips my shoulder, and I release Dante with a shove, rattling a few framed pictures hanging on the wall.
Dante jerks down his now-ruffled shirt. “I was just pointing out a potential future problem.”
Dante is the only person outside our small group who knows that Andie is Declan’s.
“It won’t make a difference after we’re married. And if it does, we’ll deal with it then. We have other things to worry about that need our immediate attention.”
Dante’s stunned look is almost comical. “You’re getting married? To Andie?” Then his brows dip when he does a slow head turn my way. “But didn’t she… you guys both fu—” He thinks about it, mulls it over, then says, “Never mind. Not my business. Congratulations.”
Keane doesn’t say thanks.
“I’m confused though,” Dante continues.
Keane pulls out the leather executive chair and sits down. “About?”
“Where our allegiance lies.”
“With me,” Keane cuts in.
“What about Andie?”
“What about her?” I ask, taking out my knife. It’s a tactile thing, the way I play with it. My version of a fidget spinner.
A loud crack of static erupts from Dante’s earpiece. “Fuck!” He jumps at the sudden noise before lowering the volume to listen to whatever is being said. Pressing the mic, he says, “Repeat that?”
Snapping his fingers at me with urgency, he says, “Get to the courtyard.”
I don’t wait for an explanation. I rush out of the office, Keane right behind me, his Glock already out.
“Where’s Andie?” I shout, hurdling down the stairs three at a time.
“She was in the foyer with Liam and Rafe when we came up,” Keane replies, disengaging the safety on his gun as he jumps the last six steps and lands on his feet in a dead run.
My blood goes cold, my thoughts jumbled. If Alejandro’s men are here…
Rafe and Liam won’t let anything happen to her. My Angel will fight to her last breath. Why didn’t anyone notice the fucking broken security cameras?
We don’t know what’s happened because we dashed out of the room before Dante could tell us.
“You got your comms on?” Keane asks, slightly winded.
“No.”
“Me neither. Dammit.” Spotting Garrett, Keane grabs my arm and pulls me to a stop, but I shake him off and sprint through the French doors that’ll lead out into the back garden.
I jump the hedgerow, searching for faces that don’t belong. Hearing raised voices, I slow my steps and crouch down along the retaining wall of the reflecting pool. My sights lock on Rafe, who is a head taller, and profound relief crashes into me when I see Andie next to him. The relief is short-lived because Liam has his gun pointed at Johnny.
Doing a quick check of the area, I slowly rise and reveal myself, when I’m sure there are no immediate threats. “The fuck are you doing, Liam?”
“What did you do to her the other night?” he growls at me, lowering his gun, and my swift steps falter, not understanding.
At the sound of my voice, Andie turns toward me, but Rafe pulls her back and takes something from her hand. “Baby, let go.”
It’s then I see Mika’s body on the ground, his throat slit.
Andie smiles at me, and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
And the deadliest.
What did you do to her the other night?
I dragged my Angel down into the darkness with me.