She had the audacity to flip me off and then put her hands to Bastian’s lapels. “It’s fine, Bast. It’s not like you haven’t all seen a woman before. In particular, you’ve both seen me.”
Bastian whipped around to glare at me just as I cut my glare to him. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Bastian?” I spat at him.
Bastian’s nostrils flared, and I knew he was pissed at Katie or himself. Maybe at the both of them for indulging.
None of it mattered.
Not one single thing carried any weight other than what she’d just revealed. For the first time, real jealousy throttled through me.
Katie was always this wild thing I couldn’t tame, this sort of chemical I knew was too unstable to handle. And I knew that every man that had her wasn’t really going to keep her. No one could stabilize that. No one could control the uncontrollable.
Staring at Sebastian Armanelli, I suddenly wondered if he’d be stupid enough to try.
The idea heated my blood, tightened the muscles in me that I used to kill, and my hand itched to grab a weapon. He may have been family, but Katie was, or had just become,myuntouchable.
“Your crazy is showing.” Bastian nodded toward my hand like he knew I was about to grab my gun.
And while we stood there measuring one another up, the host of all our problems practically skipped back into her dressing room.
“Fuck, man.” Bastian sighed and closed his eyes as if trying to rid himself of the frustration she caused. “She’s intoxicating. It was one time and it didn’t go further than kissing. It probably shouldn’t have—”
I lost it. My fist connected with his jaw so fast I swore in surprise.
Cade grumbled that he wasn’t dealing with us, not that he ever did. He’d been on his phone since we got here. Still, he stalked off to the other end of the boutique.
Mario groaned and pulled at the collar of his shirt while Bastian rubbed his jaw. “Rome—” Mario started.
Bastian cut his gaze to his father. His jaw worked more than it had a moment before. “It’s not your place to handle the situation here anymore.”
“It’s always my place.”
“You’re not the boss anymore. You gave that up, right?” His question was laced with acid because Bastian had never really wanted to be the heir to the throne. He took his place out of obligation, not desire.
Mario nodded solemnly. “Doesn’t mean I ever gave up being your father, though, son. And that goes for both of you. You’re brothers. Remember that.” He stalked off, his loafers clicking on the white tile.
“You’re here to protect and control our surroundings, not inflict harm on me.” Bastian stuck his hands in his pockets, surrendering to any fight.
I shook my head at him. “I answered to your father.”
“And now you answer to me.”
I restrained my immediate refusal. I didn’t belong to a family where Mario wasn’t boss, and Bastian had just crossed a line I knew Mario would never have crossed. “I work with you. I don’t answer to you. Never have. Never will.”
“The family doesn’t work that way.”
“The family doesn’t work any way without Mario at the head of it. You’re going to have to build it from the ground up.”
Bastian nodded. “So I’ve told my father.”
I curbed my retort and turned away from him to school my expression as I realized he agreed with me. “Then, as you build, you should know I take lives. No one ever takes mine, physically or metaphorically. I don’t answer to you. You’re only as strong as your right-hand man, and if I’m going to be that for you, well, you don’t fuck with what’s mine.”
“Meaning Katie is yours?”
I sucked on my teeth. “I’m not sure yet.”
“Be sure, Rome. She sleeps under the same roof as me. She’s either untouchable or not.”
“She’s untouchable in one way or another.”