My hand shook where I was grasping Quinn, but I had to be strong and keep my voice level. It didn’t help when they were all staring directly at me. Being the centre of attention had never been something I revelled in.
“I’m no longer aligned with Frank Russo. I do not answer to him. If he wants an heir, he’ll have to find someone else.” I heard collective murmuring amongst my audience. “My loyalties lie here with Quinn.” My fingers trailed down his arm and wrapped around his. “I’m not going to ask you to go against Frank. You may make up your own mind about proceedings, but I’m telling you I’m not going back to him.” I swallowed hard and waved my other hand towards the boys. “I’m remaining with them.”
A solitary person stood up and I recognised it as Vincenzo. His sly smile as his eyes roamed over me made my skin crawl.
“Who took you? We all know you disappeared from your father’s party without a trace.”
“I did,” came Quinn’s voice, “with her help.” He pointed at Isabella who stiffened next to me. I realised then and there, Quinn was throwing her under the bus with us and I couldn’t bring myself to care.
That made Vincenzo’s eyes widen.
“We were told it was Il Diavolo.”
I watched Quinn’s mouth turn up at the sides and he put his hand out as if to shrug.
“He and I are one and the same.”
That made the room shut up pretty quickly. I knew the Syndicate was neutral ground and the fact the man whose reputation was brutal and unforgiving owned it had shaken them.
“Well, fuck me,” murmured Vincenzo.
Then there was a slow clap coming from another person I couldn’t see until he spoke up.
“Mac is going to have a fuckin’ field day with this,” came the very distinctive sound of Colm Moran, a notorious Irish gangster. I knew his leader was Mac McCarthy although I’d never met the man.
Then another man I didn’t recognise spoke, “This is meant to be neutral ground.”
“And it still is, Bennett. No one has ever been in danger here,” Quinn replied. “This isn’t where I conduct business with the families, as you well know.”
Bennett Jerome Michaelson.
I knew that name. Frank hated him with a passion. He ran a gang in Hackney, which is where the boys grew up. No wonder Quinn knew who he was.
The collective group of people in here made me wonder if they ever had any intention of siding with Frank. I knew most of them by face if not name and they were all on his death list. All of them. Frank didn’t like to play nice with other people who he saw as a threat. He wasn’t stupid enough to rock the boat unnecessarily, but he wanted to rule the whole city. That’d always been his ultimate goal.
Vincenzo walked towards us, his eyes roaming over me yet again. I’d known he had a thing for me but I’d never been interested in his advances. Besides Frank would’ve never let me marry into the Italian mafia, no matter our roots.
“You took her and then you turned her?” he asked in a low voice meant only for us.
Quinn eyed him for a long moment.
“No, there was no turning involved.”
“So, this is a thing then? You two?”
He waved a hand between us. I leant forward.
“I think you’ll find it’s a thing between all five of us.”
I didn’t give a shit what he thought about it, but the way his eyebrows shot up was comical and so worth it. Vincenzo’s eyes roamed across our group and then he shook his head and smiled.
“You’ve got balls, Ash.”
I shrugged as Quinn’s eyes narrowed. I didn’t think he liked the way Vincenzo had addressed me so casually, but he was just another person I’d grown up with. Not that it meant I liked him.
“I’ve been told they’re made of steel.”
“Don’t encourage him, little girl,” Quinn gritted out.
That made Vincenzo laugh, throwing back his head.
“I’ve always thought you were a little firecracker under that ice-queen exterior you perfected along with your mother here.”
I glanced at Isabella who was staring at me with no small amount of shock in her features. I hadn’t forgotten she was there. And I’d just dropped a bombshell about my relationship with the boys.
Oh well, fuck it.
I’d go down with this sinking ship if I had to. And I’d go down fighting.
“It is a wonder why you’re here, Isabella,” Vincenzo continued. “Have you run away from Frank too?”
All of us turned to her. I was definitely interested in the answer to this since she’d told me she was leaving him. Whether she’d admit it to anyone else was still up in the air.
“I’ve left him, actually.”
I didn’t react to the news, nor did the boys, but Vincenzo’s mouth hardened into a firm line, all amusement gone.
“I see.”
“I’m here to support Ashleigh. And to confirm Frank has known she’s not coming home for well over a month. He knew she’d turned her back on him because she told him herself when he saw her here with Quinn and the others.”
She’d said that loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. My hand in Quinn’s tightened. I hadn’t been expecting that. For her to throw her lot in with me despite the fact I’d shown her yet again I wasn’t going to leave my boys. I was in this with them for the long haul. And yet here she was, backing me up.
There were loud murmurs from the rest of the people in the room. For Isabella to reveal that little piece of information was huge. It proved she really had left Frank. I hadn’t even thought to talk about that day because it hurt me. The reminder of the way the four of them hadn’t supported me. How they’d let Nate drag me out of the room. I didn’t care it was a ruse, it still
