Page 26 of Down & Dirty: Rage

Grim shot Zeke ayou’re a dicklook. “Can’t tell I was being sarcastic?”

“Is that what the fuck that was?”

Grim’s eyebrows rose. “Next time I’ll hold a sign above my head so it’s clear.”

“For fuck’s?—”

Vi raised her palm to Zeke. “Don’t you fucking dare start spouting off about how you’re his president. You aren’t when you’re in this warehouse.” She slapped a hand to her chest. “I’m the boss in here, not you.”

Goddamn.

Rage couldn’t decide whether to be amused or annoyed. Either way, they needed the Shadows’ help andVi was the key to getting it. If she didn’t cooperate, they were screwed.

But with Grim, Ghost, and T-Bone being club members, they also knew how serious this threat from La Cosa Nostra was. They’d all seen the photos of what the Russos did to the Demons years ago.

But really, everyone at that table knew what damage the Mafia could inflict. Violet might not be admitting it at that moment, but if anything happened to the DAMC, it would affect her and her sisters, too. Hell, every single member of her immediate and extended family.

She was simply playing hardball.

She and Zeke might be close, but they liked to break each other’s balls. And Vi had a pretty big set of them. So did Indie and Scarlet.

Those women were raised by a man not afraid of shit.The Beast’sonly points of weakness were his ol’ lady and his three daughters. Because of that, Diesel raised those girls in a way he’d never have to worry about them. Too much, anyway.

That, along with handing off In the Shadows Security to his oldest, ensured the Shadows would always be there to help protect his girls, even when he was too old to do it himself or after he was long gone.

One thing Rage noticed during that whole exchange was that Reaper said nothing. He sat back with his tattooed arms crossed over his chest and his baseball cap pulled low.

But Rage had no doubt the guy was paying sharp attention. Being a sniper, attention to detail was a non-negotiable.

“All right, then. Know goin’ after the Russos ain’t the best idea,” Rage started, “but it’s the only one we got. The Souls got no reason to be anywhere near our territory if they got nobody to deliver that shit to.”

“Going after the Russos could start an endless fucking war, Rage. You know that, right? And you know who’s going to be the losers?” Indie shook her head, her face full of concern. “Not them.”

“You’re a goddamn intelligent specialist, should be able to come up with some fuckin’ ideas,” Zeke growled at her.

Did Reaper actually snort?

Rage glanced over at him, but only saw a blank expression on the man’s face.

With a scowl, Indie ground out, “Christ.Operations…Intelligence…Specialist.Get it right since I earned that fucking title. Figured now that you have a kid, you’d be less of a dick. My mistake.”

“Ain’t part of that bein’ able to assess threats?” Rage asked her.

His cousin turned her narrowed brown eyes to him. “It’s one of many skills I have. Fuck you very much.”

“So do it, then!” Zeke barked.

Christ on a cracker.

Every set of eyebrows around that table rose, except for Zeke’s, and Rage only dropped his head and shook it. If Zeke couldn’t keep his shit tight, he might derail this whole meeting.

Finally, Reaper spoke. “I understand why you’re frustrated. This situation isn’t ideal.”

Ideal? It was a clusterfuck.

“But you can’t go off half-cocked and attack a large criminal empire like La Cosa Nostra. It would need to be well planned out.” He shook his head. “And even then, it’ll most likely be a losing proposition. My suggestion is to just let the Souls run north with their shit. No harm, no foul. They step out of line or do something stupid, the Russos will take them out.”

What the actual fuck?That wasn’t a good solution at all. That was just throwing in the towel.