Page 86 of Stay Little Fighter

Ryker scowls, looking to Kingston to let me down gently.

“Let me talk it over with the others. I’m not comfortable leaving you completely unprotected, although I know you can handle yourself, but I think having Ronan with us could make Salvatore slip up.”

“Boss—”

He holds up a hand to Ryker. “Like I said, we’ll discuss it.”

The cabin attendant lets us know we need to fasten our seatbelts before Ryker can argue further, and I sigh at the well-timed reprieve.

As terrified as I am that something is going to go wrong, I’m so fucking ready for this to be over.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

DAMON

NOW

I’m not exactly thrilled about being the bait for my father and Mikayla, but I understand it.

They need me to link the families, and without me or Ronan, their partnership is fragile at best.

That’s the thing about arranged marriages that most people don’t understand. No deal is as strong as when there’s family involved. A signature on a dotted line doesn’t mean shit compared to the strength of a mafia marriage, regardless of whether the participants go into it willingly or not.

It was drilled into me over and over as a kid that my duty to my bloodline included marrying Mikayla and ensuring the future generations could flourish from that agreement.

It doesn’t help that Kingston changed the plan at the last minute.

He has Enzo and Corbin meeting us at the airfield and going with Chloe to the safety deposit box her father left for her while Salvatore and his men are distracted.

I agreed to this shitty plan because Ronan would be with her, and I know there’s nothing my brother won’t do to keep our girl safe, but leaving her with two people I don’t know very well has me wanting to call time on this entire plan.

I will not have Chloe getting hurt because we were making rash decisions.

“This is our only chance to get her to the facility, and it could be what we need to burn the Lombardi empire to the ground,” Kingston argues.

He and Ryker have been at it for the last ten minutes, and I hate to admit I’m on the bodyguard’s side on this one.

Who would have thought we would ever agree on anything?

Growth or whatever.

“I don’t give a shit,” he snaps. “It was one thing for all four of us going to the meet and leaving her somewhere safe that we’ve staked out. It’s an entirely different thing to let her fly to another goddamn city without any of us!”

“Guys,” Chloe tries to interject, but Ronan tugs her back against him, murmuring something against her ear that makes her nod slowly.

He’s always been good at calming her down, and I’ve never been more grateful for that than I am right now.

“Isn’t the whole reason she’s here at all because she wanted to be nearby if something happens?” I ask, interjecting myself for the first time since they started bickering.

Kingston sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “That’s why they’re leaving straight away. They’ll be back well and truly before the meet.”

“Then one of us can go with her,” Ryker says.

“No. We need to set things in place to mitigate as much risk as possible. You know this. This is how we do things, how we’ve always done things.”

“That was before!”

“Changing how we do things now could get us killed, Ryker. Don’t tell me you don’t know that because I know you do. You’re not a fucking idiot, so don’t act like one.”