“I won’t let him hurt you,” I murmured. “He’s never getting to you.”
Viktor leant forward and picked up the rose, running his fingers over the note. His eyes went dark like Ash’s did when she was angry. I could see so much of both Viktor and Isabella in Ash now we were all in the same room together.
“Svoloch,” he muttered under his breath.
Then he handed it to Isabella. The blood drained from her face when she looked at the note.
“He’d really… I… Oh god.”
She put a hand to her mouth before placing the rose back on the coffee table and looking at it like it would hurt her somehow. That thing hurt Ash more than anyone else. Her name was on it. Her blood would run if Frank ever got his hands on her. Just like ours would if he got to me and the boys. That’s why we had to do something about this shit once and for all.
It didn’t take long for them to arrive in the room. Eric looked like he was fresh out the shower, Xav was scowling and Rory’s eyes were dark. Ash was still holding onto me so hadn’t noticed we were all here. Much to my surprise, it was Rory who came over first and put his hand on Ash’s shoulder, leaning down and pressing mouth to her ear.
“We’re here, little star, now and forever,” he whispered.
“Ror,” she whimpered, shuddering against me.
“You need me?”
“Always.”
He looked up at me as if asking permission to take her off my hands. As much as I didn’t want to let her go, I had to deal with this shit.
“Go with Rory, little girl.”
He gently pulled her away and took her over to the armchair she’d been sitting in, allowing her to curl up in his lap. Even I had to admit Xav had a point about the way Ash and Rory were together.
Xav and Eric came further into the room, leaning up against Rory’s usual place by the bookcase. I walked around the coffee table, facing Viktor and Isabella.
“This is the fifth and final rose we’ve received. We knew it was coming. Russo wants us gone. All of us.” I stared hard at Isabella. “I realise it’s hard for you to trust me now, but I do have your daughter’s best interests at heart. All of us do. We’re not going to let him hurt her, but we do need to end him. And I think the only way that’s going to happen is if we draw him out.”
Isabella looked up at me, her blue eyes wide.
“Are you suggesting we use my daughter as bait?”
My smile was grim.
“You said you wanted to protect Ash. I’m suggesting we use everything in our arsenal. I don’t know if any of the families will side with him and we can’t risk him declaring war. We’ve tried everything to bring him down, from disrupting his financial chain, taking Ash and others, but nothing has worked. You should know just how powerful your husband is.”
There seemed no point in keeping secrets any longer. I could see Ash’s point last night. Isabella had done what she could to protect Ash. So I had to trust she’d keep doing that. Now she’d left Frank and declared her allegiance to her daughter, I could use her as an asset regardless of my personal feelings towards the woman.
“This is a personal vendetta for all of us. Our lives have been permanently marked by Russo and his empire. The only way this ends is if he’s gone for good.”
“You mean to kill him?”
I nodded. Isabella glanced at Ash who was now sitting up in Rory’s lap, listening to me intently. Her blue eyes were hard and her face full of determination. My little girl knew it had to be this way. We had no other choice.
“Cut off the head of the snake and the empire falls.”
“What about the aftermath? Surely someone else will rise to take his place? His brother hates he was ousted as heir by Ashle… Ash. Gianni is weak compared to Frank. He wouldn’t know how to lead the family. He can barely tie his own shoelaces.”
Ash snorted.
“You think I haven’t thought of that? The wolves will circle the minute Frank dies. They’ll eat up the Russo family and someone else will rise, but it won’t be Gianni. It’ll be whoever claims Russo’s territory. And quite frankly, I don’t care who it is. All I give a fuck about is ending this shit and getting on with our lives. We’re getting out when this is over. No more wars with the families. No more interfering. We’ll be done.”
“And you really think they’ll leave you alone?”
I almost laughed.
“They’ll know we destroyed Frank, something they’re all too fucking cowardly to do. They won’t give a shit if Il Diavolo retires. Let them squabble amongst themselves for all I care.”
The only plan we had was to keep the Syndicate. We’d run our casino and our online businesses. We didn’t need anything else. Those endeavours supported our lifestyle. We had more money than we ever needed so I didn’t give a shit about hoarding more.
All we really needed was each other at the end of the day. The five of us. Our quintet. The only thing which mattered to me.
No one spoke for a long moment. Viktor took a sip of his coffee before placing it back down on the coffee table.
“I agree with Quinn,” he said quietly. “Russo must die. I will not allow him to hurt my daughter. I’m sure you understand why I cannot be directly involved, however, if you require anything
