I widened my eyes in mock fear and scratched at Georgie’s hand half-heartedly.
“The bratva will rule this city. It’s only a matter of time. I burned down that factory to send a message, Katie.” He got bold, his other hand skirted up my thigh. “The Armanellis are floundering to figure it all out. We’ll have the city by the time they do.”
I shook my head. My vision was starting to blur, but I let him continue his perusal while I slid my hand into his pocket and grabbed his phone. Cade would be able to glean information from it.
I kneed him hard in the balls before I passed out, before he got close enough to take real advantage of me, and his grip loosened immediately.
“Georgie.” I wheezed in a breath and rubbed my neck as I stared at him bent over in pain. “I should kill you. I could stab you in the back right now and enjoy seeing your shirt turn red.”
He barreled toward me like a blubbering walrus, still doubled over, but not in any doubt about his own strength. The man seriously thought he could tackle me at that slow pace.
“George!” Bastian’s voice cut through the night air and had us both freezing. My date for the night walked out onto the balcony where the moonlight shined over his dark hair and dark suit. His pace was slow, calm, measured.
Behind him, his right-hand man.
Rome always drew everyone’s eyes. Or maybe just mine. But they immediately went to him like water pulled by gravity down a steep hill. I wondered if he knew that even lurking in the shadows, he was the center of most women’s attention. He moved almost silently, as if he never wanted to be noticed.
Still, I couldn’t look away.
Out on that balcony, there could have been hundreds of people and I would only have been drawn to him. He was the moon among the stars, brilliant in the dark and brighter than every other human around him. His suit was tailored to fit perfectly over his massive arms and chest. He’d opted for all black, as if to match the tattoos that peeked out when he turned or stretched just right.
Together, the new mob boss and his lone wolf advanced on us with malice in their eyes.
Georgie was already scrambling away, shaking with eyes wide. He’d turned from a walrus to a mouse, scared of the predators that had just invaded his space. “I didn’t do anything,” he announced. “She asked me to come out here. I’m done with her. I’ve been done.”
Bastian walked to the edge of the balcony to look out at the gardens below. Then he checked his watch, completely unfazed by Georgie’s explanation. “I don’t want to turn this city into one that bleeds out day and night. The ruler of an empire should breathe life into it, right, Rome?”
Rome stared at me, eyes glistening as black as the sky. “I think a ruler does what has to be done so their empire can thrive. If blood must be shed, let it be the blood that tainted the empire in the first place.”
“Spoken like a man that kills for a living.” Bastian chuckled. “Still, George, I think the place we call home shouldn’t be one where we all live in fear.” He spun on his heel and bent down to Georgie’s level to meet his eyes. “Should it?”
“No. Of course not. I’m here on business like everybody else. I don’t know anything.”
“Is that right?” Bastian glanced at Rome, who cracked his knuckles and then let the rusted chain fall from his sleeve. “I don’t think my cousin is in the mood to get his suit dirty. You know what I mean, huh? Why don’t you just—”
“Bastian!” Another man appeared from the entrance. Tall, blue-eyed, blond, and extremely well dressed. He moved so fluidly across the balcony to Georgie’s side, the only way to describe him was as a snake slithering toward its nest. “Did Georgie introduce himself properly?”
Georgie’s gaze ping-ponged around and settled on the tall man next to him. “Dimitri, I didn’t know if that was official.”
“It is. Georgie is a Vor for my family now.”
I shook my head, floored that Georgie had gotten that far in any mob. It meant they respected him now, that they would miss him if he was gone.
Dimitri continued, “And I see you’ve poached one of our women. Katie, is it?” He stepped forward and held a hand out for me to shake.
He stared at me with eyes of such a pale blue, they were almost white. His skin was light as porcelain under the night sky. As he smiled down at me like he knew me, every part of me screamed to run the other way. Even so, I took his hand in mine and felt dread wash over me. It was like he saw a part of me that was all bad, and I knew at once how dangerous he could be.
I tried to pull back my hand, but he held fast, narrowing his eyes. “Nice to finally meet you.”
I yanked my hand away and wiped it on my dress. “I can’t say the feeling is mutual.”
“But it was inevitable. I’m hoping you and Georgie resolved whatever matter was between you?”
“Other than him trying to cop a last feel? There’s nothing between us now.” I glared at him, and Georgie spat into the night air. “You got what you came here for, huh, Georgie? Why don’t you two be on your way?”
The snake turned his head back and forth, taking in the scene. The cackle he let loose echoed through the silence of the night. “Don’t you know who I am?”
A ball of anxiety grew in the pit of my stomach.