SWNOVELS His Queen: Chapter 10
The vibrating of my phone disrupts the stillness of the room. I sit up, pensive and alert, and instinctively know something significant has happened—significantly bad.
I reach over, swatting at Maximo’s name on the screen like a fly. “Something tells me this is going to be a real shitty day if you’re calling me at the buttcrack of dawn.”
“We have a problem.”
“God, I hate it when you say that.” I pinch the bridge of my nose to forestall an impending migraine. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Yulie.”
“What about her?”
“She’s dead.”
“What?” I shoot up and stop breathing for a moment. “What do you mean Yulie’s dead?”
“You and Alexius need to get here pronto.”
“You didn’t phone him?”
“I tried. He didn’t answer.”
“We’re on our way. Fuck.”
I’m dressed and out the door in record time. And the best part is I practically did it in stealth mode without waking Mira, which isn’t exactly a feat since she knows the best way to maximize eight hours of sleep. That woman sleeps like a rock. I’d pay top dollar to be able to sleep like her just once a goddamn month.
As I push through the doors and into the hallway, rushing to drag Alexius’ ass out of bed, a nasty chill runs down my back. Maximo didn’t want to go into details over the phone, which means whatever the hell is going on, it’s a fuck-up of massive proportions.
“Alexius, you have to wake up, man,” I say as I storm inside his room, finding him wide awake, perched against the headboard with Leandra riding his dick reverse cowgirl style.
“Jesus. Knock, you asshole,” he sputters, grabbing a sheet and draping it over his wife. “And don’t you dare stop, stray,” he tells her, wrapping her up all nice and tight so I don’t catch a peek.
If this were any other time, I’d grab myself a chair and a glass of bourbon, get my wife in here, and we’ll both enjoy the show. God knows that’s the kind of shit my brother and his wife are into.
“God, it’s humid in here. You two been fucking all night?”
“I’m going to kill you.”
“Maybe later. Right now, we need to get to Myth. So get her off your dick, and let’s go.”
“What’s going on?”
“Maximo called, and we have a mountain of problems coming out of our asses today. Good morning, Leandra,” I say, smiling at the silk-clad figure who doesn’t seem to care that they have an audience because she’s still rocking like a lifeboat on the Atlantic through a level-five hurricane.
“Get out!” Alexius growls, throwing a pillow my way.
“Get your ass over to Myth. And for God’s sake, hurry the fuck up.”
It’s still dark, but the streetlights bathe the empty streets in a dim glow, illuminating the stale city air. It’s not even six in the morning, which means zero traffic through town, allowing me to get to the club in less than twenty minutes. But I am surprised to see Alexius’ car pull up just as I walk up to the entrance, the sun starting to peek out over the horizon, spilling oranges and yellows across the sky.
“Okay, either you finished the job real fucking fast, or you promised your wife some real good pussy licking when you get home.”
Alexius slams his car door, the morning breeze ruffling through his impeccably styled hair.
“I don’t get it,” I start as he stomps across the gravel. “We’re identical twins. We’re basically two walking wet dreams, but I can never get my hair to fall the way yours does.”
“Yulie’s dead,” he bites out, ignoring my comment.
“I know that. And I knew that before you did because I actually answered my phone while you were fucking around. Pun intended.”
“Get off my ass, Nicoli.”
“Jesus, you’re tense for someone who just had sex,” I remark, following him inside. “Does that mean you didn’t finish the job? Because we will not be able to deal with this clusterfuck and your blue-balls attitude today.”
Maximo heads our way, the creak of his leather jacket ricocheting off the walls and through the empty halls. This place is always eerily quiet in the morning. Today it’s even worse, our uneven footsteps echoing off the marble floors. Everything about this place feels unnatural in silence.
“What the fuck happened?” Alexius barks.
Maximo places his hands on his waist, straightening his shoulders. “We were doing an early morning search of the girls’ rooms when we found her.”
“Do we know how she died?” I ask, stepping closer.
“We can’t be sure. But we found this in her room.” He holds out a small bag of white powder.
I raise my brows, disbelief flashing through me. “Cocaine?”
“Yup.”
“Fuck me,” Alexius curses under his breath while running a palm down his face, the color draining from his cheeks.
“Goddammit!” I exclaim. “I knew it was fucking nose candy on Vera’s face last night.”
“How?” Alexius asks simply. “How did it get in here?”
Maximo shrugs, his lips drawn in a thin line. “I’m not sure. But I have our guys looking into it right now.”
“We need to talk to Vera. I bet she has some answers.” I brush past him, but before I can head up the stairs, Maximo’s voice stops me.
“She’s not here.”
I pause, spinning back around to face him. “What?”
“Vera. She’s not here.”
“What do you mean she’s not here? Where is she?”
“She left.”
“She left? You’re saying that like she just stepped out for a grocery run. What do you mean she left?”
“She wasn’t in her room this morning, so we checked the security cameras. She left.”
“With who?”
Lines form on Maximo’s forehead, his gaze cutting from Alexius to me. “You’re not going to like it.”
“I’m already not liking it.”
“I think you need to see the footage.” He hands me his phone, and Alexius steps in next to me as I press play on the screen.
It’s last night’s footage of me and Alexius with Anthony Winslow. “What are we looking at?”
“Just watch.”
Anthony struts into the private lounge he had booked for the night after Alexius and I leave. Even on camera, you can see the arrogance draped on his shoulders.
The footage is fast-forwarded to two hours later when the door opens, and Winslow emerges with his arm wrapped around a woman wearing a black coat and matching hat elegantly slanted to the side, obscuring her face.
“Who is that?” I ask, but then she looks up right at the camera for a split fucking second, and I see it. I see those familiar eyes like they’re staring right through the lens.
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter. “Vera.”
“That bitch!” Alexius spits, jerking around. “She left with Winslow?”
“Motherfucker,” I mutter.
“Why the hell would she leave with Winslow?”
“I dunno,” Maximo says, taking his phone out of my hand. “I’m not sure what the hell is going on.”
“Let me break it down for you two,” I say as I begin to pace. “Yulie died of what we suspect is an overdose of drugs that we have no idea how it got in here in the first place. Then one of our girls walked right out of the front fucking door as if it’s just a regular goddamn Tuesday.” My voice booms down the halls, slamming against the closed windows. But not even the hard echo can relay the exact level of rage I’m feeling. “It’s Nunzio fucking Ferrero. He’s fucking with us, smoking us out from the inside of our own goddamn establishment.”
“Nicoli, calm the fuck down.” Alexius levels me with a stare.
“You should have let me shoot him, brother.” I walk right up to him. “I should have killed that motherfucker right here in front of this building in the goddamn parking lot. Then none of this shit would have happened.”
“It’s not going to do us any good standing around and—”
“Can you not see what he’s doing, Alexius? Nunzio knows shit about Caelian that you and I didn’t even know. God knows what else he knows about the rest of us. One of our girls just OD’d on drugs that fucker got in here somehow. Can you imagine if word got out about this? About one of the Dark Sovereign girls dying in her bed with Ferrero poison in her veins?”
“I know,” Alexius murmurs, dragging both hands through his hair, leaning his head down. “I know exactly how it’s going to look.”
“And if that’s not enough to fuck us over until next year, one of our girls left with a man we know is a goddamn snake, and she will suck the balls of any man who has something to offer. Fuck knows what all she’s going to tell them. Things she heard in these halls.” I suck air through my teeth as I try to take a damn breath.
“Nicoli, calm the fuck down.”
“No!” I snap. “You need to fucking worry more, Alexius. How many times are you going to bend over and let Nunzio fuck you in the ass before you step up and do something about it?”
Alexius grabs my collar and yanks me closer, his eyes wide with angered flames. “I will act when I damn well think it’s best. I am fucking in charge here, Nicoli.”
“Then act like it. Say the word, brother, and I will have Nunzio’s head on a plate by dinnertime.”
“You know damn well we can’t do anything rash right now. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, Vera is with Nunzio right now. By launching an attack on him now, it will look like sour fucking grapes.”
“Sour grapes? Are you kidding me?” I blurt, jerking free from his hold and stepping back. “Over a woman who betrayed the Dark Sovereign to become the new Ferrero whore?”
Maximo clears his throat. “Alexius is right.”
I roll my eyes. “Jesus, not you, too.”
“All this, Yulie and Vera—it stinks of provocation. He’s doing all this shit because he wants us to make one wrong move.”
I throw my arms in the air before planting my palms against the cold wall, hanging my head down in sheer frustration. “Can’t you two see? He’s already made his move.” I push myself off the wall. “Several moves, in fact, and we’re just rolling over and taking it.” I clench my jaw, wipe my nose, and stare at my brother. “What has to happen for you to finally realize this is no longer about who makes a move or not? This shit between them and us is already going down, and while we’re over here running across broken glass trying not to get cut, Nunzio is running toward us with a goddamn hammer.”
I step up to Alexius, our gazes locked, and I pray to God he can see the seriousness in my eyes. “You’re so worried about making the wrong move at the wrong time. At least that will be one less thing you’ll have to worry about when it’s too goddamn late to do anything.”
If I stay here any longer, I might end up doing something I’ll regret, so I choose to stomp out of there before kicking my brother’s ass. There’s a reason he’s the Boss, that he’s the head of this family and not me. He thinks with his head. I think with my anger. My rage. But sometimes, just sometimes, I wish he would stop overthinking shit and just act. Do what needs to be done. If our father had acted with violence fueled with revenge all those years ago, all of this could have been avoided. The world would have been rid of Nunzio Ferrero. We would have had fucking peace from those fuckers. And now my brother wants to make the same mistake our father did by underestimating our enemies and sitting back, choosing to watch what happens. They choose to be the reaction rather than the action.
“Where are you going?” Alexius calls after me.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of having my balls cupped by an asshole like Nunzio.”