It takes a lot to intimidate me. I grew up in a mafia family, my brothers are both scary motherfuckers, I stood up to our enemy at my parents’ funeral without so much as flinching, and I have a friend who genuinely enjoys torturing people. But somehow Tommy isn’t the scariest person standing in the room right now.
I’m starting to think that maybe I should have waited with Snow and Emerson while this conversation took place, more so for self-preservation than anything else, but now looking at the four men who are taking up most of the space in the room, I’m not sure I can hack this.
Storm and I are sitting behind his desk and having the huge wooden structure between me and them is oddly comforting. Everett has his laptop on his lap to my left, and Tommy and Rayne lurk on either side of us in case someone makes a wrong move.
The other men, the blindingly good looking, scary as hell men, stand in front of us with varying degrees of interest written across their faces.
Tommy steps forward with a strained smile etched across his lips. The only time I’ve really seen him happy is when he’s been kicking the shit out of someone, so I’m not particularly surprised by the discomfort on his face.
“I’ll do a quick round of introductions and then we can get started.” He points to the first man who if I had to hazard a guess I would think is the leader.
He’s dressed impeccably in an expensive charcoal suit and his copper hair is styled to perfection, but it’s his eyes that caught me the moment he stepped foot in the room. One blue, one green, but both as mesmerizing as the other. He’s older than the others, probably falling within his mid-forties, not that that makes him any less attractive.
“This is Crew, he is much like the Storm of the operation, however, does tend to be a bit more… hands on.” He gestures to the next man towering over the others.
He must be six foot seven easily and built with muscle on muscle. His button-up shirt is unbuttoned at the top and sleeves rolled up to reveal tattoos across scarred skin. His dark hair is clipped short on the sides and slightly longer on the top and if I didn’t know better I would think he has a military background. His eyes look like he would rather be anywhere than here, cold, dark and disinterested.
“This is Kaos.”
“Looks like you could deliver some chaos, brother.” Rayne cracks a smile and the other two men follow suit, but not either of the ones who have already been introduced.
“You’ve got that right.” The blonde man with messy hair and deep green eyes chuckles, patting the big man on his back. He’s dressed almost as well as Crew, but without a jacket, his shirt open enough to get a peek at an impressively toned chest.
“This is Bishop.” Tommy gestures, and then moves to the last man, the one I’m most intrigued by.
If I weren’t completely obsessed with Everett, I could definitely see myself lusting after all four of these guys, but there’s something in the last one’s eyes that piques my interest. His wild eyes are as blue as the ocean, and his hair chocolate brown. He wears a pair of tight black skinny jeans and a hoody, much more casual than the other three, and every bit of skin visible is covered in tattoos, including a few on his face. This man looks like he eats girls like me for breakfast.
“And this is Kovu.”
I pray for any woman that gets into bed with any of these men, because Jesus.
“Thank you for coming all this way, gentlemen,” Storm says kindly. “Why don’t we take a seat so we can get to business?”
Crew and Bishop step forward to take a seat but the other two remain standing, their eyes flitting around the room just the same way Rayne’s do when we‘re in an unfamiliar place. “We’re very interested to know why we were beckoned to Chicago by the great Storm Saint James,” Crew’s words sound sincere, but they’re anything but.
“Do you always do business with your women around?” Kaos looks at me dismissively before his eyes track back to my brother.
Storm leans back in his chair and looks over at me for just a moment. “My sister, Wynter, is learning the ropes of the family business to take over if something were to happen to me,” he explains and my head whips around to look at him. Should we be openly telling people that? “And she also happens to be the one the Russos have set their sights on.”
“Ah, so that’s what this is about, protecting your pretty little sister,” Kaos taunts.
Bishop hits the man standing behind him and rolls his eyes. “What loudmouth over here is trying to say is that we don’t do vendetta killings. That’s not our jam.”
“It’s not a vendetta killing,” I say. “We do not want to take out the Russo family because they’re picking on me. I’m a big girl and I can take a lot more than a few death threats, a car bomb, and a bunch of creepy things in a box. We want them dead because they’ve stolen from us time and time again. They kidnapped one of our own. And they killed our parents.”
The men collectively stare at me for a moment as if they’re not sure what to do with a woman putting them in their place, but I’m not done with them yet.
“Up until recently, our families had a truce, or so we thought. The Russos broke the truce. They’ve been actively making moves against us for months, including stealing several shipments of cargo, and trafficking human beings on our turf. Now, if you’re going to waste our time, you can leave.” I stand as if ready to escort them out. It’s a bluff, a good one, but a bluff regardless.
Bishop bursts into laughter and at first I think he’s laughing at me, and by the feel of Everett tensing beside me, I don’t think I’m the only one. “Jesus, I like her.” He points at me. “Putting you fuckers in your place.”
I stare at him for a moment before smiling and plopping back down into my seat. If there’s anyone I can’t afford to look weak in front of, it’s the men in this room.
Once The Legion leaves, we’re all on edge. I’m not sure whether it was the topic of conversation that has gotten to us, or if there’s more to it, but my skin is crawling with discomfort. Their fee is substantial, but then again, we are hiring contract killers to take down a criminal organization, so it was bound to attract a hefty price tag.
We sit in silence for long minutes as we consider the gravity of what we’re about to do. We’re going to war, and in a way we haven’t ever done in the past. We are the bigger organization, we have more firepower and with The Legion on our side, I think we’re going to get through fairly unscathed, but even the possibility of someone I love being hurt is making my palms sweat and chest tighten.
“Those guys were dicks,” Rayne says from where he’s collapsed into the lounge.
I scoff. “You’ve got that right. And I thought you lot were assholes.”
“Careful, dove,” Everett growls beside me and it makes me giggle. It seems like a strange time to laugh, but what’s that old saying, if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry?
“What are we going to tell the girls?” Storm asks.
“Nothing. Snow isn’t in a good place right now, and Emerson is still dealing with everything that happened before the wedding. They’re better off in the dark on this one,” I tell them.
One by one, four pairs of eyes fall on me, surprise filling each of their distinct eyes. “You want to hide the fact we’re about to take out our enemy?” Tommy asks.
“Not completely. We should tell them that there are plans in motion, but I don’t think either of them could deal with the risk we’re going up against here. Every time Rayne leaves the house, Emerson is panicked the whole time he’s away. Snow is barely holding on by a thread. You know she snuck out the other night to go drinking?” I shake my head. Everett was less than impressed when he got the call and had to go get her when he was in the middle of getting his dick sucked. “She’s about as close to off the rails as she’s ever been, and this could really tip her over the edge.”
“I agree. It’s the way it’s always been done for a reason, and while I acknowledge we are making certain allowances in the new generation, I don’t think either of them should be burdened with this stress,” Storm says.
A giddy excitement replaces the bubbling fear. Tomorrow is the day we take out our enemy and finally end their torment on our family.
