Page 82 of Corrupted Bride

The happiness doesn’t last.

It never does when you’re the Don.

Nico and Vince are waiting for me at the house. Both look grim and I know the news is bad. I kiss Mari and tell her to go find my mother for a while out in the garden. She looks like she wants to stick around, but doesn’t argue for once.

“How bad?” I say, slumping down behind my desk.

“Where have you been?” Vince sounds annoyed. “We’ve been calling.”

“He was with his wife. Don’t be a dick.” Nico nudges him and gives me a knowing smirk. “At least someone’s getting it.”

I glare at him. “Careful. You shouldn’t talk about my wife that way.”

“Enough.” Vince pushes Nico aside and stands in front of my desk. “It’s bad enough I have to get involved in this. Do you know what happened this morning?”

I hesitate, my anger bleeding away. “I’ve been teaching Mari how to shoot. I didn’t have cell service.”

“Two trucks got taken out early this morning. Both the drivers are dead and the shipments were hijacked. Two of them, Bass.” Vincent falls back into a chair with a groan. “Everyone’s talking.”

If Vince knows, that’s a bad sign. He makes a point of not getting involved in the illicit side of our family when possible.

“Details,” I order, and Nico takes over, talking about the route and what we know about how it all went down. There’s not much though, and that’s what bothers me. From what we can tell, the drivers were hit when they were taking a break at a rest stop, but at different places along their routes.

“They were being followed,” I say, fingers curling into fists.

“Inside job,” Nico agrees.

“Whatever happened, sort it out.” Vince looks disgusted as he stands. “I can’t keep answering questions about this. It looks bad.”

“I will handle it. Don’t worry. Keep your head down.” I dismiss Vince with a nod.

He hesitates, looks at Nico, and meets my gaze. “You have a week, Bass. I doubt we’ll get any more time than that.” He leaves with a grunt of frustration.

Once he’s gone, Nico pours a drink. “You want something?”

“I’m fine for now.”

“Doubt that’ll last long.” Nico raises his glass in a toast and tosses it back. “Carmine’s going to be unhappy.”

“Yes, most definitely. But that’s not what worries me.”

“It gets worse?”

“This is brazen, Nico. Getting hit like this? It takes serious balls and stupid confidence.”

“Stupid being the operative word.”

“Unless it isn’t. Unless whoever’s doing this knows the game.”

“You got someone in mind?”

“Absolutely, but I need proof first.” I turn to the window. “Did you get men on Cruz?”

“I’m on it, don’t worry.”

“He’s a priority. I’ll handle Carmine and this bullshit.”

“You sure?” He holds up his hands at the angry look I throw at him. “Man, we’re all stretched thin, that’s all.”