14. Felik

FELIK

With great reluctance, I pressed a kiss to my mate"s forehead and then slipped out of bed before I turned to walk away.

Jeremiah reached out and gripped my wrist. "Don"t go." His sleepy voice did something to my insides. If this meeting wasn't incredibly important, I would have done exactly what he asked and climbed back into bed with him.

"I have to." I leaned down and gave him a kiss on the lips. "I'll be back soon."

"It"s too early." His words were more mumbles, but I knew what he meant.

I chuckled at how groggy he always was until he'd had a full eight hours of sleep. "It is early, but if we were at home right now, you would be getting up for your Econ class."

Andro insisted that we stay a while longer, so our weekend trip had expanded into a full week. They were able to work their magic to get Jeremiah excused from his classes, so we spent our week lazing about the huge house they all lived in, playing with his nephews, and swimming in the pool.

While Jeremiah stayed current on his classwork, I met with his brothers to learn about their side of the business. They didn"t completely trust me, but we were getting closer.

Our nights were spent with the two of us chatting and making love until the early morning hours. Now that we could be completely honest with one another, it opened up an entirely new side to our relationship.

Today, I had to meet with Vince to convince him that I was going to hand over Jeremiah soon. The Ferrinis had concocted a plan in which I would feed Vince information to gain his trust so we could wait a little longer before he went after Jeremiah.

I wasn't looking forward to the meeting. It was necessary for the next step of our plan. If I waited too long to give my brother something, he might retaliate in a different way, and we didn't need that.

"I"ll see you soon."

Jeremiah's lips turned down in a pout, and it was nearly my undoing. "I really think you should take a guard with you."

"I can"t, love. If I take a guard, my brother will be suspicious."

"Fine." He fully opened his eyes, making sure I knew he was serious. "But you need to contact me as soon as you"re finished."

"I will." I kissed him one last time before getting dressed and heading to the bathroom. He was sound asleep before I came back in. I didn"t bother speaking with Andro or Louie before leaving.

Orsino was the only one in the kitchen, and he wasn"t one for small talk.

Within an hour, I was pulling into my ancestral home, the place I had grown up before being shipped off to boarding school. I hadn't returned since my father"s death over a year ago, and even then, I avoided my brothers as much as I could. I had only been at the house for the memorial service.

This was Vince"s home now.

I got out of my car and buttoned my suit jacket, putting on a professional air, knowing that once I was inside, I would be talking about my mate in a way that grated on my nerves.

The butler greeted me at the door and took me to my brother"s office.

Vince was sitting behind his grand desk like he was some sort of king. "Why the hell aren"t you in Stanford or wherever the hell that omega lives?" He didn't even look up from the notebook he was writing in.

"We came up and visited his family. He wanted to stay longer to be with his nephews. So here we are."

Vince raised an eyebrow. "So the omega is here? I know you"ve been staying with the Ferrinis all week. You must have some good information for me. No way you could have been so deeply embedded without learning something useful."

"I've been confined to just one floor. It"s not as if I have full run of the house, if that"s what you"re thinking."

"Do you have information for me or not? You wouldn't be dumb enough to be staying in their home without getting anything, right?"

I nodded and cleared my throat. "I might have some stuff." I pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to him. "They have an important shipment coming in. There's the address and time. That's all I could find."

"Guns, drugs, or people?"

"Guns and drugs." The Ferrinis might've been the mafia, but they didn"t traffic people. They at least had some ethics among them. Unlike Vince.

The door opened, and my other brother, Cord, came in. He smiled when he saw me. For a moment, it seemed genuine and took me by surprise. "Felik! When did you get here?" He wrapped me in a tight hug.

"Just a few minutes ago." I hugged him back, actually feeling welcomed in my family home. "I"m just bringing Vince up to speed on my little project."

"Project?" He looked between the two of us. "What does Vince have you working on?"

How much of Vince"s scheming was Cord not aware of?

"He"s doing his part to help me take down that fucker Andro," Vince said.

Cord rolled his eyes. "I wish he would forget that fucking mission. The Ferrinis are too big for us to go after. And even if they weren"t, our dealings have always been good. We might not be allies, but we"ve never been enemies. Not till you took over."

"Fuck off and leave the strategizing to me. I run this family." Vince stood up and waved off Cord. "I don"t want to hear your arguments."

Cord shook his head, obviously defeated. Clearly, this wasn't the first time they'd had this argument. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "You"re going along with his scheme?"

I held up my hands in surrender. "I"m just doing what I"m told."

"And what exactly is that?"

I looked to Vince to see if there was something I wasn"t supposed to say, but he was too busy scribbling in his notebook to look up, so I took that as permission to spill. "I"m in a relationship with Jeremiah Ferrini."

"The youngest omega? He"s not even involved in the business!"

Vince scoffed. "He's a Ferrini. That means he's fair game. Clearly, he'll spread his legs for whatever alpha shows him any attention."

My fists clenched because I didn't like hearing my omega being talked about that way.

Cord rolled his eyes then pointed a finger at Vince. "You're gonna get us killed. All of us. Our blood will be on your hands." Then he turned to me, looking at me with more disappointment than I'd seen from anyone in my family in a long time. "I can"t believe you're going along with this, Felik." He shook his head and left.

Was it possible that Cord could be reasoned with? I made a mental note to discuss the possibility with Andro. Cord could be an ally for later. If things went as south as I thought they would and we succeeded in taking Vince out, Cord would be a good replacement for the family.

I certainly wasn"t cut out for the job.

Vince watched Cord walk away and then glanced up at me. "Pay him no mind."

"I wasn"t even listening." I could barely believe the persona I was putting on. If Vince knew me at all, he"d know how fucking fake it was. "I"m gonna head out. I said I was grabbing doughnuts. They'll be expecting me back soon."

"Whatever." Vince didn't seem to care as I left his office.

I considered looking for Cord, but I wasn't sure I could trust him, so I didn"t say a word as I left the house.

Instead, I planned to run the information by Andro. He likely knew more about my family than I did. Either way, I was just happy to be making my way back home, where Jeremiah was.