Chapter 9 ARCHER #2
“Don’t ask me for a damn thing,” Minka growls, her gaze shooting from one corner of the kitchen to the next.
“And where the hell is Steve? The whole reason—the only reason—I agreed to come here was so he could recuperate after major surgery. Instead, I’ve got all of you clowns, a baby with judgy eyes, and a lesbian tox tech, who, by the way, is allowed to be a lesbian. It’s fine! I’m not weirded out by it.”
“You sound completely not weirded out by it.”
“I’m not! It caught me off guard, but unlike her,” she points an accusing finger toward the eight-week-old infant in my arms. “I’m not judgmental. Steve?” She cups her mouth. “Steven Morris?”
“Doctor Mayet!” Mary storms through the back door and burns my wife where she stands.
And maybe I made a vow to protect her always…
but I never truly considered a world where I could have to defend her from Mary.
I’m not sure I’m capable. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t escalate an already chaotic and loud morning. ”
“Where is he?”
“Out here. With me. If you’d like to turn the volume down, you’re welcome to join us on the patio.”
“Told you to go out there already.” Smug, Felix cracks eggs into the pan—all twelve of them—before he takes a fork and scrambles the lot. “Why don’t you ever listen to me?”
“Shut the hell up.” Minka raises her chin and drops her shoulders back, proud and petulant. Then she strides past me and the judgy baby and heads toward the back door. “I’ll take my breakfast on the patio, Archer.”
“Yes, honey.” I choke on my laughter. “And I’ll bring your coffee, too.”
Felix watches her go, only half of his attention on the eggs sizzling in the pan and the spring onion Cato slices with fast, vicious snaps of a sharp blade. The other half of his focus goes to Mary as she turns and follows. Finally, he looks at Raquel and holds her stare.
One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three.
“You wanna go out there, too?”
“Yep!” Raquel bounds off the counter and clutches her sister’s hand, dragging her across the kitchen and out the door.
Tension falls on the room like a blanket draped over a person’s lap. But it’s not comfort I feel. Not the good kind of warmth.
“What?” Instinct has me turning and finding an unhappy Micah, his arms folded and his lips pressed into firm lines. Then I swing back around and search Felix’s face, and beside him, an oddly silent Cato. “What happened?”
“Tiia and Roscoe still outside?” Felix’s playfulness is gone, like it never existed, now that the women are out of the room. “Not within listening range?”
Micah shifts toward the door and glances outside, then he comes back again with nothing more than a drop of his chin.
“What the fuck?” I wanted brunch… and Sunday swimming… and fun with my brothers. Not this. “Say it now, Lix.”
“Cordoza called about an hour ago.” He adds the onions to the pan and kills the flame from beneath, setting everything aside and bringing dark, dangerous eyes up to mine. “Says he’s gonna swing by later to talk to us in person.”
“Okay…?” I cast questioning eyes to Cato. Then to Micah. “Not ideal, but it’s hardly the end of the world. What’s the problem?”
“Anthony Agosti turned up dead a few hours ago.” Felix sets his hands on the stone countertop, his jaw flexing under unshaved stubble. “It hasn’t hit the news yet, but Agosti was found swimming in his own blood in the bathtub of his hotel room downtown. Slit wrists.”
“What!?” I stride toward the counter and drop my voice to a low, deadly snarl. “Suicide?”
“Cordoza wants to talk to you,” Micah rumbles, checking the door again before he wanders closer. “He says you and Agosti were having words last night.”
“So?”
“So, if you popped the prick, then we really need to figure out what the fuck we’re gonna say. Cordoza’s pissed because this is messing with business. He’s not gonna sit down and accept this.”
“I didn’t touch the fucker!” I swing my eyes back to Felix. “I didn’t go near him.”
“You had words—”
“Yeah, he’d cornered Minka in the hall, so I told him to beat it.”
“So it’s true?” Felix releases a heavy, shuddering breath and slams his fingers into his hair. “Cordoza said he saw you and Agosti.”
“Yeah! Talking! For two fucking seconds. Then it was done. Agosti was alive the last time I saw him, and I haven’t been alone for a single second since then.” Rage rolls over me like waves, wafting from my pores until Zora turns fussy, clenching her fists and kicking her little feet.
She feels my anger. My worry. My fucking disgust at the thought of Cordoza coming to my home to discuss a matter that has nothing to do with me.
“I left, Lix. I left New York. The family. The business. I stand with you when you need it, but I’m not part of that world anymore, and I’m definitely not whacking puny dicked mobsters at my own brother’s wedding.”
“You’d tell us, right?” Chewing on the corner of his lip, Lix grabs a stack of bowls and sets them on the counter. “I didn’t care for Anthony, which means I’m not gonna cry at his funeral. But if you popped him, you’d say so, wouldn’t you?”
“No!”
Stunned, his eyes flicker wide. “No?”
“No, I wouldn’t tell you, because you still subscribe to the New York rules.
For as long as you don’t know, you can’t be punished for what your brother supposedly did.
But no, Felix.” I lean closer, gritting my teeth.
“I didn’t kill him. I’ve been in bed all night with my wife.
Now I’m up, and I was kinda hoping to spend the day hanging with my family.
I was gonna fire up the grill a little later.
Swim in the pool. Hold my baby niece for a few minutes before she doubles in size again.
Ya know, pretend we’re a normal fucking family for once.
” I sling my gaze around to Micah. “You said he slit his wrists. Why would Cordoza assume anyone hit the prick—least of all me—when the scene is so clearly suicide?”
“He’s a suspicious man by nature.” He drags a stool away from the counter and perches on the edge, one foot on the bar at the bottom and the other on the floor.
“I don’t know what he’s thinking. I haven’t been to the scene, and I haven’t seen the dead prick.
All I know is that the wife got back to their room around three o’clock this morning.
That’s when she discovered him. She came out screaming to hell and back, but before anyone could call the cops, Cordoza’s men circled and took control of the situation. He’s dealing with it in-house now.”
“Let’s just have a good day.” Felix fills a bowl with steaming scrambled eggs and slings it across the stone until it comes to a stop in front of me. “If it wasn’t you, and it wasn’t any of the rest of us—”
“And not that we’ve asked, but I doubt it was Tim,” Cato adds. “Seeing as how he’s busy macking on his new bride.”
“It wasn’t Malone,” Felix declares solemnly, filling another bowl.
Then a third. A fourth. “We have a relationship with Cordoza now, and no matter what words he thought he saw last night between you and Agosti, this has got nothing to do with us. He’ll come.
He’ll ask. You’ll tell him it wasn’t you, and that’ll be the end of that. ”
“Sure. Nice and easy.” I scoff. “Because the world I left half my lifetime ago is notorious for intelligent, rash decision-making and a fair judicial system.”
“It’s gonna be fine.” He leaves the last of the eggs in the pan and wipes his hands on a towel.
Striding around the counter, he sweeps Zora clear out of my arms and kisses all over her face.
Her cheeks. Her eyelids. Her plump lips and the triple serving of chin beneath.
“We’re with family today, and that doesn’t happen often.
Best of all, this is ZoZo’s first vacation where all her uncles are together again.
” He looks to Cato. “Don’t forget the coffee, or Mayet will riot.
Mary will come in and cook us something better in a second. ”
Wrinkling my nose, I look down at the steaming bowl and spy portions of eggshell sprinkled throughout the fluffy scramble.
“Let’s go outside and see Mommy, Zo.” Felix stalks toward the door, like Cordoza’s imminent visit isn’t an axe hovering over my neck.
He appears relaxed. Unfeeling. But I see the tension in his shoulders.
The clench of his jaw. “I keep forgetting who is the prettiest one, Zo. You or Mommy. I look at her, and I’m in loooove.
But then I look at you, and I can’t think of anyone on this planet who could be so beautiful. ”
“Come on.” Cato meanders around the counter, brushing my shoulder with his. “Cordoza’s a reasonable dude. It’s gonna be fine.”
“Yeah…” I shove the bowl of eggs away and release a tired grunt. “Sure it is.”