Red Handed by Jessa Wilder

Istormed into my dad’s office, red hair flying out behind me. Bits of rubble fell from the fabric of my ruined dress onto the carpet, and I wiped ash from my cheek as every eye in the room turned to look at me. Ugh.

The room was already full when I entered, despite the late hour. My dad, tall, grey-haired and tattooed, sat behind his huge cherry wood desk, his hands folded in the perfect picture of an old Hollywood gang leader. My mom, from whom I’d inherited my red hair and green eyes, was perched on the edge of the desk wearing a black Dior dress with a matching blazer. My parents were surrounded by three of their security guys. The closest, Connor, turned and beamed at me. I couldn’t muster more than a nod for him.

“Well, that went fucking well,” I snapped, by way of greeting.

“Language,” my mother scolded.

“Leave the girl the fuck alone, Mary,” my dad said. “If she’s going to fuck up jobs like an adult, she may as well talk like one.”

I blinked at him. He couldn’t be fucking serious, right? Right? My dad was an asshole, but blaming me for this was low, even for him. That aside, I was a fucking adult, so the whole thing was typical passive aggressive bullshit.

My dad was the leader of the Mount Summer Mob, named for my great-grandfather’s house on Mount Summer Street in the South End of St. Adrian. Our businesses supported the local economy, and our members policed the area—sometimes literally since we had lots of guys on the force. As long as you didn’t cross the river into the North End, everything was good. The North End was where good men went to die and I went to steal. No one worth a damn lived on that side of the line.

“It wasn’t my fault the hotel got bombed.” I grimaced, my breath still coming in heavy pants from my quick ascent up the stairs to the office.

“You could have gotten in and out faster,” said Dad.

“How? I was in there for less than twenty minutes. You can ask Brian.” I looked furiously to our head of security, who just nodded, mutely. Coward.

“What are you wearing?” my mother asked, eying my outfit as though that was the most pressing thing. You would think I walked in naked.

“Sorry,” I said, not feeling sorry at all. “Next time I’m in a bombing I’ll change before attending the debrief.”

My dad rolled his eyes. “Did you get anything?”

I slammed a bracelet, and a single jeweled necklace down on the desk. It was just so typical of my father to be more concerned with the payday than the fact that I’d been in a literal explosion. It didn’t surprise me, but it was still shitty.

We didn’t even really need the money. We weren’t anywhere near as rich as the Espositos, but we weren’t hurting for anything. Running illegal weapons paid pretty well. My dad was just greedy and liked to fuck with my head.

“Who bombed the hotel?” I asked. “Do we know?”

Here was the problem: the only real enemy of the O’Rourke family was the Espositos and vice versa. I was pretty sure we hadn’t bombed the hotel because I had been inside, and my family liked me. At least a little? Well, I was useful anyway, if not expressly liked. So, that didn’t add up.

My mother opened her mouth to reply but was silenced by a look from my father. “Where’s your sister?” he asked, instead of answering.

I looked at him incredulously. For fuck’s sake. “I don’t know. I’ve been busy. You realize that, right?”

My father raised an eyebrow at me, apparently deciding that question didn’t deserve a response. Fucking asshole. “Someone find Sophie and get her down here,” he barked at the security guys lingering against the wall.

“Yes, sir,” Brian said, tapping at his phone. Two men left, the heavy door slamming behind them. Brian looked up again, his face ashen. “Um…sir?”

“What?” A vein ticked in my father’s neck. This room, already too tight with six of us in here, felt tighter as his simmering rage sucked air from the room.

“There are cars at the front gate requesting entry.”

“Tell them to fuck off,” my dad and I said simultaneously, earning a snort of laughter from Brian. We didn’t get along. Hell, I didn’t even like my dad most of the time, but it was undeniable that he had trained me in his image.

Brian held his phone out to show my father the security feed, obviously being streamed to him by the guard at the gate. “It’s Nicolai and Giovanna Esposito, sir…and their crew.”

I choked. No fucking way. I couldn’t decide if that was impressive or insulting. It was ballsy, that was for sure.

Instead of telling Brian to fuck off again, or possibly shooting him, as I expected, both my parents turned to look straight at me. Both their eyes held rage bubbling just below the surface.

“What?” I feigned innocence.

My mother crossed her arms over her chest. “Did anyone see you at the party?”

“No,” I said, reflexively. “It was a masked ball.”

Even as I spoke, doubt crept into the back of my brain. I was seen—by three people, actually. Surely, though, that didn’t matter. For one thing, those guys—even Nicolai Esposito—didn’t know who I was. For another, even if they did, it wouldn’t bring the entire Esposito family to our door the night they got attacked. This was unrelated. Well, probably not unrelated to the attack, but definitely unrelated to me.

My father stood, his chair knocking into the wall behind him. “You’re sure?”

“Yes. They’re probably just here because they think we bombed them.” I looked at my parents. “We didn’t bomb them, right?”

“No.” My mother handed me her blazer. “Put this on, you’re covered in dust.”

“I don’t know if this is going to cover it,” I deadpanned.

She shrugged. “Stand in the back.”

* * *

Giovanna Esposito sat on one end of our long dining room table, lounging like she owned the place. My father sat on the opposite end, the vein in his neck on the verge of bursting. The situation was, to say the least, tense.

“James,” Giovanna said finally, breaking the longest silence of my life.

“Jimmy,” my father corrected.

Giovanna smiled like a very mean cat. “I know.”

I closed my eyes, half in horror, half in begrudging adoration. Giovanna was maybe fifty, with long black hair worn in a severe bun, and dark red lipstick. She was unusually beautiful, but her black eyes were cruel and calculating. She had changed out of her gala gown and into a white pantsuit. That suit made a powerful statement: I do not intend to spill any blood tonight; I don’t want to ruin my suit. That was likely the only reason she was allowed past our gate with her son and five hulking security guys in tow, all openly armed to the teeth.

The other reason they’d been let in was because Giovanna was leading the party, and not Nicolai. It was a calculated move we could all see from a mile away, but a smart one. They weren’t here to attack. They wanted to talk.

“Get to the point Gigi, we’re growing old here,” my dad spit.

“I assume you heard our party was cut short?” Giovanna’s question was clearly rhetorical.

“We did. Hard not to. The entire city shook.”

Giovanna laughed lightly. “I doubt that.”

Her security shifted behind her, their truly excessive amount of guns glinting in the light from the chandelier. To be fair, our security team was also armed, and I even had a couple of guns strapped to my legs, but still. Nicolai Esposito was packing more heat than I had ever seen one person carry in public. I got the impression that meant his mother was not armed, because he was hovering behind her like a fly over honey. He’d also elected to wear black rather than white. The better to hide blood stains with. Or maybe he just hadn’t changed since the gala.

I had only ever seen Nicolai from far away or on TV, but up close I had to admit he was hot. Okay, ‘hot’ didn’t really cover it. Not that I cared because he was the devil incarnate, but from a purely scientific perspective he was possibly the best looking guy I’d ever seen—and I’d seen a few stupid-pretty men in the last twenty-four hours.

His hair was black, short on the sides and long on the top, still perfectly gelled from the party. He was well over six feet tall and had high cheekbones and a sharp jaw, currently set tight in obvious annoyance. He didn’t want to be here any more than we wanted him here.

I leaned out from behind my mother to stare at him, and he turned and looked right at me. His black eyes were assessing, sharp in the way they drank me in. One eyebrow ticked up slightly. I could have fucking kicked myself. I should not be staring at him, and now he’d caught me. Goddammit.

“Well, how else would we have heard?” my father snapped, jolting me back to his conversation with Giovanna. “I don’t know why you’d want to show up here so soon after unless you had something to fucking say about it.”

Was it my imagination, or did Giovanna’s eyes shift to me ever so briefly? I quickly looked at the floor and stepped further behind Patrick—my designated guard. Not that I couldn’t handle myself, but if bullets started flying, my two Baby Desert Eagles weren’t much compared to the heavy weaponry the security was carrying. Plus, I hadn’t had time to grab a ballistic vest.

“I’m not accusing you of anything, James. Relax.” Giovanna steepled her fingers on the table. “I came to say I think it’s time we move forward with our plans.”

“No.”

I looked up, surprised. This time it was my mother who had spoken, her voice not as confident as the woman across the table, but just as loud.

I glanced back and forth trying to work out the dynamic here. They were all speaking like they knew each other. Well. It was…confusing. This whole thing was confusing.

“I apologize, Mary, but I don’t see any other options,” Giovanna said. “I’m ashamed to tell you we did not see this coming. We would have been better prepared with more manpower on the ground.”

“You have hundreds at your disposal,” my mother snapped.

“As do you, and your men would be better disguised on our side of the city.”

I tried to follow the verbal tennis match. I wasn’t stupid nor naïve to this world, but this was eluding me. They couldn't possibly be talking about joining forces, right? That was ridiculous. Impossible. A complete fucking disaster.

“We were going to wait two more years. I still don’t like this idea.” My mother furrowed her brow.

“Quiet.” My dad put a hand up to silence my mother. “I agree. We should move forward now. It won’t be long until the South Side is targeted.”

“Targeted by who?” I piped up.

All eyes fell on me and I felt myself flush scarlet. I wasn’t usually the type to get overly embarrassed. Weird.

It was Giovanna, rather than my father, who answered the question. “The Hatter.”

I stared blankly at my dad. That name meant nothing to me, but clearly everyone else in the room was on the same page, based on their grim expressions.

“What?”

“Shut up,” my dad snapped.

Across the room, Nicolai’s eyes narrowed at my father. Without looking at me, he spoke quietly, his voice smooth like warm honey. “The Hatter is the leader of The Trilogy. They’re a large street gang from the southern part of the state. In the last few years, they’ve grown enough to recruit in St. Adrian and start buying up properties on the East End.”

I blinked. a new gang moving into St. Adrian was ridiculous. Unheard of. No one had ever bothered to try.

“As I was saying,” my father growled, shooting me a dirty look. “I agree with Gigi. We should move forward with the plan, or next The Hatter and his crew will target Mount Summer.”

“For all you know, you were being targeted,” said Nicolai, tapping the butt of his gun against the table.

There was silence for a full beat. “What do you mean, boy?” my father barked.

Nicolai’s lip curled into a sneer. He clearly did not appreciate being called “boy,” which was fair. He was in his early twenties at least, well educated, and the head of his family. He ignored my father completely, instead turning to look at me. “You were there tonight, correct? How do we know you weren’t the target?”

My dad, not used to being so overtly dismissed, tapped his fingers on the table in agitation. I smiled despite the incredible seriousness of the situation. If that micro aggression was any indication, Nicolai and my father fucking hated each other. Maybe that was why Giovanna—“Gigi”—was facilitating?

“Well, that’s interesting.” Giovanna smiled. “You wouldn’t be sending your girl to attack us, would you, James?”

“Of course not,” my dad spit. “You know that’s not what this was. Raegan was at the party for unrelated reasons, and believe me, her being seen was not part of the plan and will be dealt with.”

I winced, hearing the threat in his words. Great. My father’s punishments were unpleasant and often creative.

Nicolai’s expression suddenly changed, going from quietly confident to confused. “Who the fuck is Raegan?”

Before anyone could answer him the door to the dining room banged open. Immediately, everyone in the room, myself and my mom included, pulled a gun out of somewhere and pointed it at the newcomer. The only person who hadn’t whipped out a weapon was Giovanna, confirming my suspicion she was unarmed. Though that clearly didn’t matter, since her security was on top of things.

“Jesus Christ!” my sister yelped, putting her hands up. “Can you not?”

My heart banged against my ribs as I lowered my gun slightly, letting out the breath I was holding. My dad slammed his gun back onto the table. “Everyone, this is my daughter, Sophia.”

My sister and I looked a lot alike. Same heart-shaped face, same green eyes and slightly freckled skin. She had dyed her naturally red hair blonde and chopped it to her shoulders, but other than that we could have been twins. Sophie smiled at me as she passed, ignoring everyone else.

“Cute dress,” she whispered. “Love the dust. Very disaster chic.”

I stifled a laugh as, one by one, everyone lowered their weapons. My gaze found Nicolai again. His expression had returned to neutral, but he was watching me. Or, more accurately, watching my hand as I stowed my gun back in its sheath at my thigh and let the fabric of my dress fall back over it. I swallowed thickly as he tore his gaze away from me and refocused on my sister, nodding to her as she sat next to my father.

“Well, this has all been very entertaining,” Giovanna breathed. “But now that we’re all here, can we continue, please?”

“Fine,” my father barked, putting both his elbows on the table.

If I had to guess, I’d say the commotion had relaxed him. Giovanna was genuinely unarmed. His favorite daughter was back in his eye-line, and everything was right in Jimmy’s world for the time being.

“There are two problems at hand,” Giovanna said, her slight Italian accent coming out at the end of her sentence. “The first is that laptops were stolen from several guests at the new hotel Esposito tonight. Obviously, the attack was merely a distraction. A violent one, but a distraction nonetheless.”

“Who’s laptops?” I asked.

“What’s the second problem?” my mother spoke over me.

“The second problem is that The Hatter is getting bold,” my father answered for Giovanna, ignoring my question. “If The Trilogy has stolen information about them,” he nodded to Giovanna, “they’re likely also behind our men going missing over the last few weeks.”

No one bothered to ask how many of our men had died or gone missing. That didn’t seem to matter, which only put me on higher alert.

My mother looked concerned. “If we’re being targeted next, maybe we should relocate for a little while. Move Sophie to a safe house.”

I was tempted to roll my eyes since only Sophie’s safety was of concern, but my mother had a point. Sophie was the only one on the compound with no tactical training. Maybe she should move.

Nicolai stepped around his mother to face my father more directly. “The most pressing thing right now is that one of those stolen laptops had information on it that could be problematic if it were to see the light of day. Retrieving it is our top priority.”

“So?” My father sneered. He obviously wasn’t that concerned about what the Esposito’s thought was the most pressing issue.

“So, no other business is more important than that.” Nicolai eyed me. “She broke into our hotel without tipping off my security. Twice.”

I winced, my heartbeat kicking up a notch. I didn’t want to ask how he knew about the first time. I was pretty sure it was blonde with a sexy as fuck lip piercing.

Dad crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. “And what of it?”

“Can you do that again?” Nicolai directed the question to me this time.

I waited a beat before answering, unsure what to say. “What, break into a hotel? Was it supposed to be hard?”

Nicolai barked a humorless laugh, his eyes calculating. “I need her. Name your price.”

My stomach churned at his words. He might need me, but I needed to stay the fuck away from him. I needed to go near the Espositos like I needed a hole in the head. Actually, the last time a member of my family got too close to them, they literally got a hole in the head.

“Raegan isn’t part of the deal,” my father argued. “She’s an asset to Mount Summer, and she’s going to stay with the family.”

Nicolai’s lip curled again. “Ah, but what are we doing here, Jimmy? Aren’t we supposed to be becoming one big happy family?”

I coughed and a few eyes turned toward me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

It really sounded like we were talking about an alliance which was so many levels of batshit I couldn’t even begin to fathom it. The rivalry between my family and the Espositos went back generations, well before my father or Nicolai’s parents took over control of the organizations. It was an old feud, steeped in a turf dispute and a gang war that had resulted in casualties on both sides.

The story goes that our great-grandpas were best friends. Raised together, fought in the war together, they were thick as thieves. That was until the heartless backstabbing Esposito betrayed my great-grandfather, effectively stealing the business they’d spent years building. My grandma vowed to take them down, and we’d been fighting ever since. Fighting that had gotten considerably worse in the last ten years. That my parents had any sort of relationship with Giovanna Esposito was news to me, and I didn’t like surprises.

“Quiet,” my father said again.

“Are we really talking about joining forces with them?” I spoke only to my dad. “You can’t be serious. Dad, what about Marcus?”

“Shut your fucking mouth, Raegan,” my father growled at me

“We were discussing the laptop,” Nicolai said loudly. “If you all don’t fucking mind, I have things to do tonight that don’t involve your family shit.”

Giovanna laughed, throwing her son an indulgent look. “True. We conduct most of our business at night, you know. We’re on the clock, so—” She snapped her fingers a couple of times.

My father gritted his teeth at me, silently daring me to speak again. I stepped back, fuming.

“Right,” Dad said, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows.

“As was pointed out earlier, you’ll likely be targeted next,” Nicolai said smoothly. His education and high-born way of speaking was all the more noticeable when pitted against my father, who was blue collar through and through.

“What of it?” Dad snapped.

“I want her.” Nicolai nodded at me. “In exchange I’ll take Sophia too. Our hotels have better security than your compound.”

“I am not fucking going anywhere with him,” I blurted out, my hand falling involuntarily to my gun.

Nicolai’s smile broadened at my words, reaching his eyes this time. Holy fuck, it shouldn’t have been legal to look like that.

Dad seemed to think about it. “Sophie should go to the hotel, but as you can see Raegan would be difficult.”

I seethed. Difficult? I’d show them fucking difficult.

“I want the thieving one or no deal,” Nicolai said flatly. “Consider it a favor. They can move into the hotel until the items are returned and the danger from The Trilogy has passed.”

I opened my mouth again, but this time Sophie reached over and pinched my arm. I glanced at her. “STOP,” she mouthed.

“What if it doesn’t pass?” my mother asked. “How do you plan to handle this?”

“Mary,” my father said in a warning tone. “That’s the whole point of all this, you know that.”

“Exactly,” Nicolai said smoothly. “With twice as many men on the ground it should be no difficulty to be rid of The Hatter. We’ll exterminate them by the end of the summer.”

Giovanna looked up at her son. “But what about—”

“I know,” he cut her off, not elaborating further.

“And while this, um, extermination is going on, Sophie and I are just supposed to hide in your hotel?” I asked, incredulously. “Do I get a say in this?”

“No,” Nicolai and my father said at the same time.

I blinked at the pair of them in stunned silence. Motherfuckers. It seemed like there was one thing they could agree on. Being complete and total controlling assholes.