* * *
Atticus
I scroll on my phone, searching the security feeds as Finn makes his way across town.
Oliver mutters, “Why in the fuck are there so many people out in this weather?”
I have to agree with him. The traffic and weather are making it take twice as long to get to our house.
“Is the intruder still inside?” Finn asks.
“Yeah. She went upstairs.”
“Fuck,” Oliver mutters. “I knew we should have put cameras up there.”
I’m starting to agree with him. Guess we just thought no one would be stupid enough to break into our fucking house. Not only that, but stay long enough to eat. Judging by the footage in the kitchen, the woman ate my fucking dinner, making me angrier.
“Could this be Peters?”
The city of Chicago is split into three territories. We cover the south. The Di Bello Family covers the north. And Hook and Company cover the waters. Hook and his men have been dealing with George Peters, who recently kidnapped Hook’s wife, Amelia, and set off an explosion in one of my warehouses. Several of my men died, which pisses me off. Peters is rash and careless, which makes him dangerous. And definitely the type to send a woman in to do a man’s job.
Oliver answers, “Could be. I’ll let Smee know.”
Smee is Hook’s Capo, just as Oliver is mine. Only because Finn wanted to just do the hard work, so to speak. He’s the best soldier the Behr Family has, though I would never tell him. Not when it would go right to his big fucking head. He meets my gaze in the mirror and smirks, as if he knows my train of thought.
We finally arrive in our quiet little neighborhood. The other Families don’t understand how we can stay in a place like this, but we manage to keep our personal lives and work separate. Besides, for the most part, we’re neutral in most matters.
Finn turns off the headlights as we cruise to a stop near the detached garage behind the house. The same path the intruder took. As we make our way up the pathway, I notice two things. One, there are muddy footprints, making this person very sloppy. Two, there’s also blood, making me wonder if we were her intended stop, or if this was a last resort.
“You guys seeing this?”
Oliver glances down. “Well, this changes everything.”
Finn pulls out his pistol. “No, it doesn’t.”
Never one to back down from a fight, that one. Finn tests the doorknob, and it opens. He frowns as he moves into the kitchen. Fuck. Pulling out my gun, I follow, Oliver close behind. The kitchen is spotless. We’d never know someone had been here if we hadn’t seen her on the camera. And for the dirty dishes and towels in the sink. I swear I can feel Finn’s cringe from here.
“What kind of monster doesn’t rinse out a dish?” he whispers.
Behind me, Oliver coughs to cover a laugh. Poor Finn. It’s a wonder he can stand to work behind the bar with his borderline OCD tendencies. But we have the cleanest bar in the city, so there’s that. And when he kills, it’s an art form. Sometimes he surprises me in the creative ways he ends a life just so blood doesn’t get everywhere.
We take the secret stairway from the kitchen, since we already know the woman is upstairs. We make our way to my room first, as it’s the closest. Opening the door, I catch a whiff of her scent before I see her small form in my bed. She smells like summer and sweetness. Wait. What in the fuck am I thinking? This woman broke into our house. It doesn’t matter what in the hell she smells like!
Quietly, we creep across the floor. I bite back a groan when I see her up close. She’s asleep, mouth slightly parted. Her lips are full. Kissable. Fuck. Glancing away from her lips, my gaze moves lower. She’s wearing one of my shirts, and I like how she looks in it. But then I realize there’s blood seeping through the cotton material near her shoulder.
“She’s bleeding,” I murmur.
“Yeah, I noticed,” Finn says, looking concerned.
I glance at my brothers, who are both staring at the blonde angel. Looks like she has all of us under her spell. But now it’s time to figure out why in the fuck she’s in our house.
3
Goldie
“Wake up, angel.”
I moan, trying to pull the sheets over my head. I’m so warm and cozy. I don’t want to get up.