“Honor among criminals? Seriously?”
“As hard to digest as that is, honor is everything to them.”
“It scares me that you know that.”
His eyes glint hard and he steps closer to me, anger crackling off of him. “You want more truth? Well, here it is. It should comfort you that I know about their rules and honor, because if I disrespect them, they will kill my Hunters. More truth: I am a part of that honor circle. Without hesitation, if the mobs or the cartels disrespect me, I will not hesitate to kill any one of the criminal asses reporting to them, leaving the world a better place. And if I don’t act that decisively, and they don’t fear me, I can no longer protect anyone.”
“You’re testing me, to see if I can handle this world, can handle this life. I told you: yes. But do not lie to me, directly or indirectly.”
“You held a gun on me, Ella,” he says, the anger he had not shown in the shower now front and center.
“But I didn’t shoot you,” I say, repeating his words.
“And that means what?”
“It means that you shook my trust, but you didn’t destroy it.”
He snags my hip and pulls me to him. “I did not lie to you.”
Like lightning, my anger shifts. “Tell me later,” I say, my throat thickening. “After you cancel this meeting.”
“You just said you can handle this, as long as you have the truth. So here is the absolute truth. There will be times I walk out of the door that are high risk. Saving Enzo was high risk. Meeting Raul Martinez is not. He wants something from me. If I’m dead, I can’t give it to him.”
“When it’s high risk, will you say it’s high risk?”
“Will you accept that it is, without doing what you’re doing right now?”
“Yes. I will. Unless it’s on a night I tried to stop one of your men from bleeding to death.”
“Fair enough. Then I will tell you.”
“Swear to me.”
“I do.”
“How is a cartel even in Italy?”
“They’re the mafia’s source of drug distribution.”
“Niccolo’s source of drug distribution,” I say of the mob boss, and the man we both think I know far too intimately. “He owns this city.”
“But he doesn’t own us. The Underground is far more powerful than you understand right now.”
“You mean you are.”
“Yes. And I didn’t get that way by being stupid or nice.”
“Is Adriel going with you?”
“Yes.”
“You know that once he’s back in The Underground, he’s not getting out.”
“His father and Enzo’s were best friends. I can’t keep him out of this.”
“I’m not suggesting th
at you do. I’m just making sure that beyond the moment, this is what you want.”