Treachery

“What? Are you serious?”

Shaking my head, I cross the foyer, rest my hand on the doorknob, and twist around to face her. “As cancer.”

“You are cancer,” she quips.

My smile widens. “That’s right, and I’ve already started growing on you without you being aware of it.”

Handing her the slip of paper before she can respond, I say, “Next Saturday. Be outside your apartment at seven.”

Her shoulders wither in defeat.

“You’re really going to drag me along, aren’t you? Just for the fun of it?”

Opening the door, I pat her on the shoulder, ignoring the way she jumps away from me the moment our bodies touch.

“You’ll learn to enjoy it, Luca. I promise.”

Stepping out of the door, she spins back, her mouth parting on what I’m sure will be a snarky response. I slam the door in her face before giving her the chance to say it.

Luca is adorable when irritated, but with the unexpected change of plans, I have arrangements that need to be made.

I hear a high-pitched growl on the other side of the door before the thwack of pissed of plastic retreats down the front entry stairs toward the driveway. Laughing to hear it, I pull my phone from my pocket and hit speed dial to call Gabriel.

“I assume, given the short amount of time that’s passed, you didn’t fuck her.”

In the background, the heavy beat of rap music is thumping, raised voices intermingling with the sound of poker chips being tossed across a table.

“Tell Sawyer he owes you the two thousand. Luca walked out of here with her pride intact.”

The hiss of him taking a drag from a joint is loud across the line, his voice strained as he holds the hit in and asks, “What happened?”

“That son of a bitch better have gotten the information I want.”

Gabriel exhales. “Jase says hi, by the way. So did you find out what we need to know?”

This conversation isn’t going to be a pleasant one. “No.”

“Did he say yes? He better have said yes, or I’m sending Ezra over to kick his ass...”

“Fight your own battles, asshole. And toss another hundred in or fold.”

“If I tell you to kick...”

“Okay, both of you shut the hell up. As for you, Ta

Laughing at the mental image, I cross through the room to the stairs, taking them two at a time en route to my bedroom.

“I invited her to the engagement party next weekend. It’ll be more entertaining dragging the information out of her if the entire group is there to do it.”

Gabriel chuckles before taking another drag of his smoke.

“She’s going to hate you once she figures out what you’ve done. You have the patience of a fucking saint.”

He isn’t lying. If, for whatever reason, Luca finds out, any hope I have of getting between her legs again is out the window.

“She’s not going to find out. I just don’t know the entire story about what happened with Everly and Jase. It’ll be easier to corner her if the others are there to back up what little I do know.”

Blowing out the smoke, Gabriel answers, “Whatever, I’m already bored with this conversation and your love life. What’s more important at the moment is that Daddy Warbucks called after I left your place.”

Jerome Gabriel Dane, III, aka Daddy Warbucks, aka Gabriel’s father, likes to think he is the center of the social circle within our families. He also likes to believe that, at seventy-three, he has the pull to make demands and expect them to be promptly followed.

In the past, that may have been true, but not so much now. That asshole has been calling the shots since we were in high school. However, times have changed, and the new generation is all grown up. It’s time for Warbucks and all of our fathers to retire.

“What did he want?”

“What he always wants...”

Behind him I hear a deep growl, a table flip and poker chips flying. Jase laughs and then the telltale thud of a punch or two being thrown. Shaking my head, I tell Gabriel to head into another room so we can finish this conversation before Ezra loses his shit and knocks out everyone around him.

“I’m one step ahead of you,” Gabriel answers, walking as he speaks, the background going silent as he adds, “He wants us to call in a debt.”

Dropping my weight on the side of my bed, I hold the phone between my ear and shoulder while unbuttoning the cuffs of my sleeves. “Who?”

“Ivy Callahan.”

My brows shoot up my head.

“As in Governor Callahan’s daughter?”

Gabriel laughs. I can hear the gears grinding in his head already. If anybody has a bone to pick with Ivy, it’s him. “The one and only. I agreed because she’s such an interesting target.”

“What are we asking for?”

Gabriel takes another hit of his joint.

“It seems her dad is pushing the introduction of a new law that will seriously interfere with our less than legal endeavors. As such, we need dirt on the Governor in order to get him to back off his campaign, as well as bring him to heel. I need you to approach her at the party next weekend and tell her the debt she owes us has come due.”

Unbuttoning my shirt, I pull it open. “Why don’t you approach her?”

He laughs, exhaling loudly.

“It’s your debt to call in. Plus, you know when I chase, I don’t want people to know they’re ru

Dropping the phone into my hand and holding it to my ear, I lie back on the mattress, pinching the bridge of my nose with my free hand.

“Two ru

Another laugh. “Please, as if Luca hasn’t been ru

Gri

“Anyway,” Gabriel says, voices growing louder in the background, “I have a poker game to finish. I’m about to wipe these sons of bitches out of all their pocket change. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

After hanging up, I stare at the ceiling, my mind drifting back to the moment we first started spi