Page 82 of Fall Before Her Throne

Volpe cleared his throat.

“What do you want, Volpe?” I asked, staring at Leona’s reddening cheeks and glistening core.

“Bad news,” he said, staring at the ground. Volpe might act like he hated interrupting, but the hitch in his breath and his white-knuckled grip on the doorknob told a different story.

“What kind of bad news?”

“Greco ordered a hit on my casinos. They’re trashing the place, taking the money, and terrorizing my customers,” he replied. “There’s a sizeable amount of cash in the safe. We can’t let him get it.”

Damn it. My forehead rested on her hip. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, struggling to get control of myself.

“Obi?” Her voice was quiet as her fingers dragged over my scalp.

I reached out a hand and pulled her into a sitting position. This would have to wait.

“Have Cas call our men and meet us there,” Leona said over her shoulder.

“He’s already doing it,” he said. “The rest of the guys are packing weapons.”

“We’ll be right there,” I said, dismissing him. He backed out of the room without another word. I collared Leona’s throat before I let her off the desk, then leaned close. Her pupils dilated. “You’ll get your punishment later. Don’t think this gets you out of it.”

I needed it. She needed it.

Her hands gripped my waist as she pressed a kiss to my lips. She smiled. “Looking forward to it.”

24

LEONA

The car ride was…tense.

Max was clearly on edge. Probably had nothing to do with him walking in on me naked from the waist down and Obi’s head between my legs. Nope.

Obi was pissed that we got interrupted. Ryuji was ready to pick a fight, per usual, but that was probably going to benefit us since we were literally about to walk in on one. Ciel was frustrated to be taken away from his computers even though we’d made great headway. Cas was acting weird because of Max, though he’d laughed out loud when I whispered Max had interrupted me and Obi. Wynn was annoyed because he was in the middle of making dinner—which was now ruined.

That left me. Worried about all of this going sideways and someone getting hurt.

I just wanted Greco to be fucking dead already.

Cas’s palm squeezed my leg while he gave me a knowing look. I let out a sigh and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. Time for business.

We all needed to be thinking straight. We were about to jump into a battle, and if we were going to kill Greco’s men before they could kill ours, I had to focus.

“How did you find out about this?” Cas asked, breaking the silence.

“The waitresses,” Max said without turning around. He had surprised everyone and sat next to Obi in the front passenger seat. Ryuji’s death glare could have killed a lesser man. “As soon as the Camorra arrived, they reached out to me. They’re my eyes and ears in that place.”

“Waitresses?” I didn’t know much about my father’s casinos. Just that he had put Max in charge a couple of years ago, and then Max had run with them. They were a very successful part of the Family business, expanding to multiple locations under Max’s purview. Diamonds, the one under attack, was the largest.

“They serve the high-stakes games and keep the gamblers happy,” he explained. “The casinos make so much money because they’re excellent at their jobs.”

Wynn narrowed his eyes. “What kind of ‘serving?’”

Max shook his head. “Not like that. These women are trained in gathering intel. They serve drinks, but they also make friends with the customers and keep them happy enough to keep playing. Most of the people in these casinos are blacklisted from other places like Atlantic City, so they come to my casinos because we have no limits and we’ll back them with extra cash.”

“The interest rates are exorbitantly high,” Cas said. “We’d always follow up on the debtors and make sure they paid.”

Wynn relaxed. He gave me a tight nod, and I folded my hand into his.