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He laughed and pulled me inside, grabbing my bag from my hand and magically slipping my pack from my shoulder. “He’s in the suite with Connor. Seriously, Jer, he’s so damn cute. Between Matias and Connor, I just don’t stop smiling.”
“I’m happy for you, man. You deserve to be happy. And I deserve to be the best uncle ever.”
“Don’t count on it, baby bro.” Orsino appeared at the top of the stairs. “I’ve already earned that title.”
“Ha!” I choked out a dramatic laugh. “You’re the grouchy uncle. I’m the one who will roll around on the ground with them and let them climb all over me.”
Orsino grimaced as if that sounded like torture. “Well, I’m gonna teach them how to shoot a skunk with a slingshot and climb a tree if they miss. So, pretty sure I’ll win.”
“Okay, okay.” Louie turned down the hall to his bedroom suite. “You’re both the godfathers, so you can both be favorites, okay?”
I grunted at the same time that Orsino mumbled something, but we let it go. I’d play the long game on this one. I would be the favorite uncle for sure.
Andro called me home this weekend for Theo’s christening so Orsino and I could both be named as his godparents. Baby Matias would have one over the summer when I was home for good.
Besides, Louie was right. We both had skills to offer our nephews that would make us favorites in our own unique ways. But I would be the top favorite.
“All I know is, my gifts are gonna be way cooler than yours.” I pulled a stuffed frog from my pocket and squeezed it, making an obnoxiously loud crinkly sound. “And piss off Andro at the same time…”
Orsino grabbed the toy from my hand and gave it a squeeze. “Oh yeah. That’s good. He’ll have it out the window in ten minutes, tops.”
2
FELIK
As soon as I saw my brother’s name flash across my phone screen, I had to hold in a groan. He never called for a good reason. Usually, it was to bitch at me for not upholding my duties to my family or not living up to our father’s legacy. Some bullshit like that.
Over the years, I’d let that roll right off my shoulders. These days… It got to me more and more. It was the same old song and dance. I wished, more than once, that he would just leave me the fuck alone.
But what he never did was give up quietly, so I bit the bullet and answered the call. “Hey, Vince. What’s up?”
“What’s up? You know, you’re the only person who asks me that because everyone else in the family knows what the fuck is up. Because they’re here, Felik. Working. For me. Which you should be doing.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned back, pulling off my glasses so I could rub the bridge of my nose without them getting in the way. “Uh-huh.” I liked how he said “for me” and not for the family. Our alpha father would pitch a fit if he heard that. But that man was dead, and Vince had taken over.
He exhaled loudly, dramatically, like he was already tired of this conversation. For the record, I was too. “Well, that changes now, baby brother. I have a bit of a…project that I need you to take on.”
“What kind of project?” I sat forward, ready to turn him down if he expected me to go hunt down some cartel thugs or human traffickers. That wasn’t my style. I wasn’t raised in the family business like my half-brothers were. My omega father was a staff member for the Mennettis until he died when I was just a toddler. I learned just enough to be dangerous and just enough to know that it wasn’t the life for me.
As soon as I was old enough to be shipped off to boarding school, I was whisked away and rarely saw my family. At least, that was how it had been until Vince, my oldest brother, took over last year and was suddenly trying to bring me back into the fold.
I’d made it clear that I wasn’t interested in being one of his guards, and certainly not for the things he was obsessed with, like power and territory and money. I had just passed the bar exam and had resumes out to the most prestigious law firms in the country. I didn’t expect to get a great job right away, but ultimately, I wanted to help men like my omega father.
Men who didn’t have power or territory or money but still deserved to have their freedom, regardless of their class or status.
“Don’t get your panties in a wad, Fee. It’s easy. Actually, I’d do it myself if my face wasn’t so recognizable.”
“Well, spit it out already.”
I could almost hear his grin as he finally said, “I need you to seduce an omega, get information out of him, and bring him to me.”
“Why?”
“What do you care? You claim to have no interest in the business, so now is hardly the time to start questioning me. Just be glad I’m not making you do something that might get your manicured fingernails dirty.” He’d always been a jerk, but now that he had the title of leader of our family to back it up, his ego was intolerable.
“I’ll do it, but…” I couldn’t exactly go into detail as to why I would likely fail miserably at the art of seduction, but I was very likely to fail miserably. “I’m not much of a player, Vince. I mean, is this guy even good-looking?”
“Who the fuck cares what he looks like? He’s a warm hole for your knot. You don’t need to worry about anything more than that. Just get him to like you and bring him home to meet the family. It’s not that hard, Felik. For once, can you just put the family first and do what we ask of you?”
