Page 5 of Fallen

I laughed and let him off the hook, shaking my head. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Barney had a thing for our little Penny. Not that I’d ever say it out loud. If Michael figured it out, he’d probably kill Barney as an example. He’d nearly lost Penny once, during the Massimo war, and since then he’d been hyperactively protective of her. It was annoying as hell.

The things men did when they fell in love.

My smile died at the thought and I put Barney and his potential crush out of my mind. I didn’t have time to sit here and think about another man’s feelings or the extremes Michael Rossi went to over Penny Lane. I was here on a mission. I needed to find Antony Angelis and get him into a room. And then I needed to convince him to make a deal with the Rossi family. An alliance that would help keep us all safe.

“Whiskey,” I told the bartender. When a glass of fine amber liquid slid at me, I caught it and lifted it to my lips. One sip, then two, and I thought I might know what love felt like. This was the best whiskey I’d ever tasted, and I’d tasted a lot of the stuff.

If Antony Angelis had chosen it, he might be my new best friend.

I turned and scanned the room once again, looking for the man I’d been sent to find. I knew the Angelis family only vaguely, and had never met any of them. Antony seemed to be the head of the family but he’d come with two sons and one daughter. The sons were both dark, unlike their father. I hadn’t seen the daughter, but I’d heard she was lighter than her brothers.

I’d also heard that they were inhumanly beautiful. Like angels fallen to Earth.

That description should have made them easy to find, even in a room full of beautiful people.

Still, it took nearly an hour of strolling through the crowd and looking before I finally laid eyes on Antony Angelis. He was in the corner with a pool table, his shirt sleeves rolled up and a pool cue in his hands as he talked with the mayor of the city. He was laughing and gesturing around them, all good humor and smooth talk, and I wondered if he was trying to get into politics himself. He certainly had the right charisma for it. And the rumors were right; he was so far beyond handsome I didn’t have a word for it. Hair like spun gold and eyes that ran so blue they were hard to look at. Wide cheekbones and a square jaw with a dimple in the middle of his chin. Skin that was nearly translucent.

Which shouldn’t have been possible on a man who had to be fifty, given the ages of his children.

I was scowling at that thought, trying to understand why he looked so wrong, when he looked up and caught my eye. His eyes, which had already been brilliant, went at least a shade brighter and seemed to grow even bigger, and I felt my scowl deepen. He returned the scowl, like he was taking my measure as much as I was taking his, and then nodded slightly.

I nodded back, the gesture so instinctive that I didn’t put any thought into it.

But when he turned away again, I felt a tension I hadn’t noticed draining out of my shoulders, like I’d been released from bondage. I released a breath and took another sip of whiskey, trying to get my feet back under me.

There was something very, very weird about that man. And that was saying a lot coming from me, because I’d known some very intense people. My uncle was the head of the de la Roca clan but had not been raised for that position. He was the second son in the family and had grown up shirking his duties and spending his time on street fights and whores. When his older brother was killed in a gunfight outside their family home, Alessandro de la Roca had stepped up to the plate.

That didn’t mean he’d been good at it.

The family quickly changed from a house full of bankers and lawyers to a house full of brawlers. Alessandro encouraged brutal fights even between his highest men, and had anyone he didn’t like killed. The de la Rocas became known as a family that didn’t trust their own and could hardly maintain themselves.

Then my father had undermined his own brother, stolen millions, and fled the country, leaving my mother, me, and my little sister behind to pay the consequences.

Alessandro had been kind, or at least as kind as possible for a man like him, and hadn’t killed us. He’d allowed my mother and her children to live under the de la Roca umbrella despite my father’s treason, and we’d grown up protected by the family. But I’d always known I didn’t belong in my uncle’s organization. Sure, I was good with my fists and even better with a gun, but I had to play second fiddle to Alessandro’s own son, and I didn’t agree with the way the family operated. Even worse, opening my mouth and saying anything would have led directly to my death.

I’d thought I might already be marked for death, regardless, simply because I might threaten my cousin’s position.

When Joseph Rossi called me, I didn’t think twice. I chose to become Joseph’s second in command rather than sticking with my own family, and I’d never regretted it. Joseph didn’t mind the things my uncle had hated about me. I was sharp and protective, and I wanted to lead men. I wanted to be in charge.

And with the Rossis, I was allowed to do it.

“You look like a man who’s come here for a reason,” a voice said suddenly in my ear.

I jumped but forced myself to pause for a moment before turning to the owner of the voice. I was both surprised and not surprised to find Antony Angelis standing next to me, his eyes on mine and his face carefully blank. Fuck, he was even more otherworldly up close. So perfect he looked two-dimensional and yet somehow larger than life.

I set the glass of whiskey down. Perhaps I’d had more to drink than I should have.

“You guess correctly.” I held out a hand and took Antony’s when he extended it. “Duca de la Roca. I’m here on behalf of Joseph Rossi.”

Antony nodded like he’d already known that. “Of course you are. And the Rossis are interested in forming an alliance with my family.”

Okay, what was going on here? Had Joseph already made contact with Antony about this? It wasn’t common knowledge that the Rossis were looking for allies, and even if it was, I didn’t think the Angelis family moved in the right circles to hear about it. They were the only new-in-town family we were reaching out to.

Antony looked at me like he already knew all the things going through my head—which was really fucking annoying—and then gave me a quick smile.

“You can tell Joseph Rossi that I am also interested. And that I appreciate him sending his best man to negotiate the deal.”

He turned and walked away like that was all he had to say on the matter and I frowned again, caught off-guard. What the fuck? I show up expecting to have to work at brokering a deal and find out that Antony Angelis already knows about the deal? And then he agrees to it like it was never in question at all?

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