3. Von
O h, this bastard was going to regret threatening people I cared about.
I didn’t have many vulnerabilities, and I’d worked hard to hide the few I had. No one knew The Wolf was Armond Zuccaro’s daughter and a major reason I’d never entered into an alliance. The closer someone was to you the more chances they could discover your secrets.
Everything I feared was coming true.
In this one conversation, I could see my worlds colliding, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Serena knew me. I'd gone to parties at her house and stolen quite a few bottles of expensive liquor for my brothers and me to get drunk while all the parents pretended to like each other.
I’d worked hard to keep the Families from knowing exactly what position I held in my organization. I knew if they didn’t have anything to hold over me it was harder for them to threaten me–especially since The Wolf didn’t pick sides.
You wanted weapons and were willing to pay the price, then The Wolf would do business with you. Although, I should have been prepared for this moment since I gave my vow of support to Astin. I figured I’d be safe since everyone would be too scared or dead to try to turn on me. However, Serena was proving not to be either of those things and I realized one fatal flaw in my plan. I should have gone after the witch before finding the twins. Maybe this was my punishment for overlooking a woman because I didn’t think she’d have the balls to play in the deep end with the rest of us cutthroat bitches.
Using the seconds I’d created by surprising Apollo, I used the penknife and freed my legs then launched myself at him. I led with my elbow, catching him in the nose as we collided. He slammed to the floor with a grunt as blood poured over his face.
“You’re going to tell me what you know, right now, if you want to keep breathing,” I threatened, the tip of the knife pressing against his carotid artery.
“There’s no incentive to tell you anything if you’re just going to kill me,” Apollo countered. “How about I tell you one thing, and when you discover I was truthful, I’ll give you another tasty tidbit.”
“This isn’t a negotiation,” I snarled, adding pressure to the knife.
Apollo smiled as he shrugged. “Everything is up for negotiation, my treasure, and if you don’t agree then you’re lying to yourself. I’m sorry to break it to you, but right now I hold all the cards, and I’ve told you what my demands are. Now… make me a counteroffer, or fucking kill me.”
My jaw was clenched so tight it made my teeth ache. The feral wolf inside me knew this man was a snake and it was better to simply cut off his head. Yet my human side, which had grown ever so slightly these past few days, fiercely opposed that decision. If Apollo wasn’t lying, then I had the chance to protect my family and those I considered family. Then again, everyone in my family could handle themselves but my mother. Since we knew this, Mother was surrounded by people who would protect her.
Fuck , who was I kidding?
If a woman like Serena wanted my mother dead, she could easily make it happen. I loved the shit out of my brothers, but they believed they were invincible and didn’t watch for the rats hiding in plain sight. Hell, all it would take was for them to be distracted by a hot piece of ass or the offer of drugs while at one of our clubs with friends. Then there was my father, he knew the evils of this world but could be manipulated by his love for my mother.
My frustration reached boiling point, so to relieve it, I lifted the knife high only to drive it into the floor, nicking Apollo’s neck with how close I’d gotten. To the man’s credit, Apollo didn’t even blink. He held my gaze as if I was all that mattered to him in the world. That is until I punched him in the face twice more as hard as I could before getting to my feet.
Apollo groaned and rolled away from the knife onto his side. “Goddamn it, Von, you have one hell of a right hook.”
“Thank my brother Matteo,” I commented offhandedly as I examined my split knuckles. “He gave me many, many, reasons to practice on him.”
Apollo laughed as if what I said was the funniest thing in the world. While I thought I was funny as shit, what I’d said definitely wasn’t funny enough for that reaction.
“Pull it together, Polly, or I’m gonna use your face as a punching bag again,” I growled out. “This is your only chance, so make it count. Just know if I find out it’s bullshit, or I can’t tie it back to Serena, the world will be rid of one more useless Accardi.”
Apollo shoved himself up so he could lean against the kitchen counter. Slowly he pulled a white handkerchief from his suit, shook it out, then used it to stem the blood dripping from his nose. “It really shouldn’t make my heart flutter every time you threaten to kill me. Alas, what’s a man in love to do?”
I was getting some serious whiplash from Apollo’s personality changes. One minute, he’s a suave, devious con man, and the next he’s raving like a love-struck lunatic. Seriously, he was starting to sound like Bear, talking about how we were soulmates and destined for each other. For Christ’s sake, we fucked once two years ago. What he was talking about was next-level fairytale bullshit .
“For fuck’s sake, please stop saying you love me,” I yelled, then slammed my fist into the closest wall.
The drywall, now cracked and dented under my knuckles was smeared with blood. I paused and then frowned as I looked at the wall in confusion. I grabbed a chunk of the drywall and ripped it away to reveal a layer of steel hidden underneath.
“The hell, is this a panic room?” I demanded, spinning to face Apollo.
He’d moved to lean against the bed holding a box of tissues, which he’d used to shove up both nostrils. Continuing to ignore me, Apollo peeled off his blood-soaked shirt, which revealed a surprisingly chiseled body. It was goddamn irritating how Apollo could manage to look sexy with a black eye, bruised cheek, split lip, and a broken nose.
“Careful, treasure,” Apollo warned, with a smirk and a wink from his good eye. “Your body isn’t as good at lying as your mouth is.”
I crossed my arms and grunted my disagreement.
A slow, sly smile grew on his lips until he winced in pain. “To answer your question, yes this is a panic room of sorts. Although, I prefer to call it a hide out since I’m not one who’s prone to panicking. There are many reasons to have a safe space in my line of work, but it wasn’t until today that I realized my favorite perk of this room.”
“Let me guess, keeping me trapped in it?” I quipped.
“While that’s true, it wasn’t the direction I was going,” Apollo countered, rubbing his hands together excitedly. “My absolute favorite feature is… it’s Bear proof.”
The second the words came out of his mouth he started to cackle and even stomped his feet in delight.
“Get it, because Bear can’t get in here. Oh man, I bet he’s so mad right now. Do you think smoke might be coming out of his ears?” Apollo asked, wiping away tears from laughing. “Fuck me, I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.”
Flicking my hair over my shoulder, I walked to the counter where the rest of the blunt was. “How can you possibly be the famed con artist, Coronis? From what I’ve seen there’s no way you could con a dog into liking you,” I muttered as I took a drag.
Apollo smiled as sweetly as he could. “The answer is simple, my treasure. You are not a mark nor a job. What you’re seeing is the raw and real me. If I thought charming you would get me what I wanted, I would have gone that route. However, I know better. If you discovered everything I said was a lie, then there would never be a chance in hell for us to live happily ever after,” he explained, his gaze so intense it locked me in place. “Why would that matter? Well because I do love you, Von, and one day you’ll realize I’m telling the truth.”
God, this man was giving me the mother of all fucking headaches .
A loud boom sounded as the floor shook, and I was almost knocked to the floor. “What the fuck is going on?” I demanded, clutching the counter.
Apollo got to his feet, tossed his ruined shirt aside, opened a wardrobe, and pulled out a fresh white button-down. “I would bet pretty much anything that was the barnacle you call Bear. It appears he’s reached the limit of being separated from you and has resorted to drastic measures.”
I tried to hide my grin as I agreed with Apollo’s guess. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind the second Bear saw me pull my gun, Apollo became enemy number one and had to be taken out. While the panic room might slow Bear down, he wasn’t alone. Another blast sounded but it pitched me forward where there was nothing to grab onto. I braced myself, expecting to faceplant on the floor, but by some miracle, I stayed on my feet.
I glanced down and found an arm wrapped around my waist. The arm pulled me back until I crashed into their chest. Looking over my shoulder, I found Erik grinning at me. “What? How?”
He simply pointed up where the grate for the air vent was hanging open. “It was a bit of a tight fit, but I figured you were worth getting my new clothes dirty.”
“Impressive,” Apollo said, slow clapping as he approached. “I didn’t think anyone would find an entry point since I ensured all possibilities were welded shut or filled in with concrete.”
Erik leaned closer and loudly whispered in my ear. “Hey, isn’t he supposed to be some super smart con man?”
“After spending time with him, that’s debatable,” I muttered, leaning against Erik who now sat on the counter. “Tell me, Big Red, how did you come up with a plan to best the notorious Coronis?”
“It wasn’t just me,” Erik explained with a smirk. “It was a team effort since I had the grenades, but Bear figured out how best to use them. Oh, since I’m new to the team, can I make a suggestion? We need to start an evil villains’ baseball game because Bear is one kick-ass pitcher. That man has one wicked ass arm on him.”
The visual of Bear dressed in a baseball uniform had me snorting in laughter.
“I’m glad to hear you two are getting along so well,” I commented and gave Erik a peck on the cheek.
“So sorry, I hate to interrupt this moment…” Apollo cut in, stepping closer to us. “... but now that I have, would you answer a simple question?”
Erik nodded with his brows furrowed.
“Lovely, so did you, by chance, have a plan to get out now that you’re here?” Apollo inquired.
“You know what, I’m not sure I like you,” Erik stated as he hopped off the counter. “I’m a trained special ops soldier whose specialty is infiltration. Do you seriously think they’d only teach us to get in and not back out? What good would that do anyone?”
Apollo crossed his arms and raised a brow, clearly unimpressed. “Oh my, is this the moment when the puppy will show his mistress he’s more than a cute little lap dog? Come on, Clifford, show me what you’ve got.”
The energy in the room crackled as Erik stiffened, telling me Apollo had gotten under Erik’s skin.
“Big Red, ignore him,” I said, patting his chest reassuringly. “Apollo’s a dead man walking and not worth your time. In fact, I’m still waiting on information I asked for ten tangents ago. Personally, I think he’s stalling because he doesn’t have anything useful enough to save himself.”
Erik moved so fast I almost missed him grabbing the gun from the back of his pants before it was aimed at Apollo. “This cocky bastard is one of the twins we’ve been looking for, isn’t he?”
“Indeed, this whole wild goose chase he had me on was all to get me to trust him,” I shared. “As you can see, it’s not going well.”
A rather skeptical grunt sounded from Erik as he glanced between Apollo and me. “I’m not so sure, little siren. He is still alive.”
“If he doesn’t give me something in the next five seconds I can fix that problem,” I said offhandedly with a shrug. “Oh, and just to make it clear, I’m done fucking around, I’ll have Big Red do the honors of pulling the trigger.”
For the first time in this entire interaction, Apollo gave an authentic reaction. His brows snapped together as he frowned, glaring at Erik. “Don’t even think about it, you used tampon. The only person allowed to take my life is Von.”
“Then I suggest you start talking, you have until the count of five,” I ordered, then held up my hand as a visual aid so he wouldn’t forget what number we were on. “One…Two…”
“My treasure, don’t be cruel,” Apollo scolded.
“Three… four…” I continued, my gaze boring into Apollo’s as Erik adjusted his aim preparing to take the shot.
“ Fine ,” Apollo roared, throwing his hands out as if he could physically stop the bullet from hitting him. “You want me to prove myself? Well, here it is, Serena has two moles who have infiltrated your family’s business. It’s their job to help the assassin sent to take out your mother and father. Furthermore, those two moles were also instructed to get close to your brothers and kill them once your parents were dead. Serena wanted them alive long enough to feel the pain of being the ones who let in the moles.”