I watch her leave the room like the fucking mesmerized puppy that I am.

"Look at you." Kaen grins. "Ice-cold Elijah's drooling like a teenager. Never thought I'd see the day."

There's something about rubber and glue there somewhere, but I'm not indulging him. "Someone better go after her. She shouldn't be walking around here unsupervised."

"Gage is already on his way."

"Thought you'd be scrambling to go."

"Sharing is caring, Brother."

My eyes roll to the back of my head. Just like these two, to get distracted by a pretty face. Although who am I to talk? Had Kaen not come in when he had, I don't know what would've happened. I doubt she'd let me take it that far, considering her relationship status and all, and I'm not in the business of disrespecting that.

Still, just that much exposure to her was enough to throw all my principles out the window and bring me to my knees. I don't remember the last time a woman made me adjust myself like this, made fire rage inside me like a tempest. Fuck, if I didn't have to meet her father in a minute, I'd excuse myself, too. Rub one out to clear my head, at least. No wonder Rex sent her in first, buttering us up before the main course. And it fucking worked, too.

"She's something else, isn't she?" my brother says.

I breathe in, forcing my mind to settle. Alliance or not, irresistible daughter or not, I'm not letting the fucking old bastard get exactly what he wants. Again.

As I stabilize, I face my brother. "Eyes on the prize, Kaen. She isn't it."

"Not yet," he mutters under his breath as the door opens.

Enter Rex and company.

The patriarch is in a grey suit, white hair pulled back. Pete walks beside him, his broad form leaning on a cane. Nothing new, there—we've met them before. Rex's son, however, is a novel encounter. He's his father's spitting image, albeit with a face less wrinkled by time and more bruised and battered by fists. Interesting choice on Rex's part to bring him along.

Yet, I will say, there's intelligence behind Costa's eyes and a firmness to his handshake that you wouldn't expect when hearing stories about him. He and I are of the same age, but after everything I've heard, I didn't expect to be looking at an equal right now. Thus far, I have been wrong. And that may just be the most interesting thing of all.

When Tiago and Jesse enter, my consigliere brother darts his eyes around the room, noticing Sienna's abandoned whisky glass and eyeing me with an unspoken question. Nodding at him, I turn my attention to the Macheras patriarch.

"Your choice of location is admirable," Rex says, addressing all four of us, "it is good to have it back in the hands of an Adler."

His eyes land on mine when he brings up my family name, the sincerity in them apparent. Say what you want about this old bastard, but he does have integrity. Or, at the very least, cares enough to put on the act.

My head cocks to the side. "That is what Sienna said, as well."

Rex nods, a twinge of a smile curving his lips and eyes circling the room. "Speaking of my daughter. Where is she?"

"Bathroom break," Kaen answers, "should be back any minute."

"Explains where Hawke went," Peter says, exchanging a look with Rex and adjusting his prosthetic leg.

While Costa stifles a mirthless laugh, Tiago steps backward, offering our guests a seat and a drink. As I reoccupy my chair, my eyes fall on Sienna's abandoned glass, the ice sphere in it slowly melting. There's an imprint of her lipstick on its edge. Lipstick that grazed lips which were so close to mine just moments ago.

That woman has me losing my mind, and she's not even here. Fucking A.

Tearing my eyes and thoughts away from her drink to her father, I will myself to focus. I'm no Tiago when it comes to reading people, but I can hold my own well enough. Yet I'd bet Sienna's father, with an expression as blank as the wall behind him, would give even my brother a run for his money.

I don't need to read him to know what game he's playing, though. The hot daughter bait is the oldest trick in the book, and I've fallen for it—for her—like a dumb Trout for a big, juicy worm. Except she is to bait what a venomous asp is to a worm, and I'm no fucking trout.

And when she walks in, my eyes dart to her like magnets to metal. They eye her dark green pantsuit and the way it slims and curves everything in the right places, its low neckline perfectly carving out her assets. Her hair frames them, too, a couple of damp strands sticking to her neck and face, making unimaginable scenes loop in my head. And when her impossibly bright eyes meet mine, it takes everything in me not to open the floodgates and throw everything to Hell.

No fucking trout. The joke of the century.

"Father," she says in her rasp, tearing her eyes from me, "Peter. Costa. I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long."

Gage walks in with a grin nearly reaching his ears, eyebrows rising at me before dropping it. Like with Kaen, I don't indulge him.

"You haven't," Rex tells his daughter, "we've yet to start."

She nods, turning and blinking as she sees the two men she hasn't before.

"Jesse Porter." My brother stands and offers his hand. "Nice meeting you, Sienna."

Her throat bobs as she shakes that hand. "Likewise."

My consigliere takes her hand next, holding her gaze, "Tiago Andreas."

She nods, face gaining the slightest hint of a rose tint, barely noticeable. She might look like she's in control, but I'm willing to bet she is far from it. I say this as someone who's one touch of hers away from losing my mind.

"Shall we begin, then?" Tiago says to us all as they break apart, and she sits beside Peter.

Meeting Rex's gaze directly across from me, I gesture to him with an open hand. "The floor is yours."

The old man nods, lacing his fingers together and placing them on the table. "I will not mince words, I am impressed. Coming as far as you have in but a year is nothing short of extraordinary."

A corner of my mouth quirks upward, yet I feel no mirth. "To be fair, you haven't left much for competition."

Very slightly, his eyes narrow. "So I believed."

He glances at his consigliere, who nods and begins speaking.

"Few months ago, we found some... problems, should we say. There's always some kinda small thing happenin'; numbers not addin' up, some capos gettin' greedy, you know how it is. But this was more." He looks to Rex, who nods in assent, before facing me. "Five million dollars more."

I frown into the silence that follows, sensing the air around my brothers shift.

"No way you missed five million being drained just like that," Jesse says.

"It wasn't," Sienna corrects, "we found five million. It was wired in chunks to someone I was meant to believe worked for me."

She raises an eyebrow when her eyes meet mine, and I can't help the smirk that stretches on my lips.

"Naturally," she adds, "we assumed it was you."

Of course, we knew they knew our moles. I'm willing to bet the Macherases know that we're aware of their moles, too. Even if they don't know who they are exactly, it would be laughable if they operated like there were none. That we're employing them is only the logical conclusion.

"But it wasn't," Peter says, "everything pointed to a secret donor. Could've been you using a third party, sure, but five million for only one of the informants? Didn't make any sense."

"And so you sent Wallace to us," I conclude, eyeing Rex, "knowing that we'd think he's working for you. Clever."

His gaze remains as unreadable as ever. "I thought it best you find out for yourself."

I lean back, not daring to look away. "And now you want the answers we found for you, is that correct?"

"Hey," Costa snaps, "why don't you learn some ma—?"

Rex's hand flies up, silencing the man.

"Forgive my son," he says as he glares at him, "he has a good head on his shoulders, but a mouth that moves before he can use it."

So there is that childish bravado I heard so much about.

Costa holds his father's glare for an impressive few seconds before he relents, sitting back like a scolded child, which, I suppose, he is. He at least looks like he'd be a challenge, I give him that. There might just be bite where there is bark.

"No harm done," I deadpan, sparing him but a glance before facing his father again. In my periphery, Sienna and Peter sit as though made of stone.

"Regarding the finding of answers." Rex turns his black eyes to me. "You misunderstand."

In the quiet that follows, those eyes travel from me to each of my brothers and back.

"We are not here for our benefit alone," he says, voice breaking the silence like lightning splitting the sky, "it would be foolish of us to disrespect you so."

I exchange glances with Tiago, who leans forward.

"So," he says, "truly a partnership, is it?"

Rex nods. "Both of our families are targets, I assume that is clear. Whoever the shooter is, their ammunition is plentiful, if that man's compensation is any indication. We can face them separately, of course, taking on each other as well as our new friends, while bleeding resources as if from a sliced and hung corpse. Conversely, we can work together. At this instance, you know better than I how much we have accomplished in but a short few days."

I hold his rock-solid gaze with my own. This is a man whose name my father used to smack me for even thinking of mentioning in public. It's a man who had this city in a chokehold, every cop and politician in his pocket. And now he comes to Little Old Me asking for an alliance.

"A generous offer coming from you, Rex," I tell him, "but forgive me if I'm hesitant to work with a lion who eats his own."

My eyes lock with Sienna's for the briefest of moments as I say those words, and I come a hair's breadth away from losing my composure. Not merely from meeting her grey-green eyes, but from the whiplash that Rex's hint of a quirk of his lips emits. Like moving a mountain by an inch.

"There is wisdom in age, Boy," he says, "a wizened lion knows when to pick his battles, and when to pass his mantle on. And to whom."

At that, his children's heads turn to him as if on cue, and the reason for Costa being here becomes apparent. My eyes stay on Rex, but I see, from my periphery, the insult in his son's eyes. History repeating itself is not a concern of his father's, it seems. That can be useful.

"And by chance that the lion is not being entirely truthful, what then?" I ask.

"Then it is one's prerogative to refuse his cooperation," answers Rex, standing and offering a hand, "whether the risk is worth the reward is up to you."

My eyes go from him to that hand and back. He is right, of course, and we have already decided to work with them. But what he is offering is more than just that, and there is a reason for it that he is not willing to share. And yet, what choice do we truly have? Our chances are infinitely higher if we work with them. And, if we win, who knows if we will emerge in a shape good enough to face the Macheras family?

Standing, I clasp his hand. "You got yourself a deal, Rex."

The old man nods, and my eyes meet Sienna's when we let go. She smirks.

"So," says Rex as we retake our seats, "what have you found?"

I let my brothers explain everything, having agreed on what to share in advance. Kaen's theory of Costa's possible involvement is to stay hidden, at least for as long as he's around. Better not to stir the pond without solid proof, especially after Rex's display just minutes ago.

"And you could not decipher it?" Rex asks about the card that is now on the table.

"I'm afraid not," says Tiago. "Does it look familiar?"

The old man looks to his daughter, who keeps her eyes, as unreadable as his own, on the thing. For a split second, she glances at her brother, who holds a frown, and shakes her head.

"What about the flash drive?" Pete asks. "You said some guys passed one to him?"

Gage pulls it out of his pocket. "S'got nothin'. We got through their encryption, but there ain't nothin' there."

A silent pause that stretches to a length any average person would deem uncomfortable. Then, Sienna leans forward, making it incredibly difficult to keep my eyes off her.

"What did Wallace say about it?" She asks. "Can you remember his exact words?"

Kaen, lying back in his chair without a care in the world, exchanges a glance with me before answering. "'They said it's got a key. I don't know to what, just that it's in there.' I can recite the screams for dramatic emphasis, if you'd like."

"That won't be necessary." She turns to Gage and reaches for the flash drive. "May I?"

He nods. "Keep it. We backed it up in case we missed somethin'."

"Good." She examines it before placing it on the table again.

Then she takes her blazer off and reveals a matching dark green tank top underneath it. When she stands, her toned contours reveal just how hard she's worked for that body. I am positive that I have seen Tiago sculpt her out of marble before.

"Can someone empty my glass?" She asks as she lays her blazer over the flash drive. Costa is the one who obliges, downing it and plopping the ice sphere into his own.

"Thanks." She nods to her brother, taking the empty glass and weighing it in her hand.

Then she hovers it over the covered drive and bashes it against the thing. Once. Twice. Thrice. When she lifts her blazer, the plastic casing is in pieces. Holding the drive's body, she pries it open with her nails. With a click, it opens and, out of its insides, she pulls out a small, thin slip of paper.

"Sometimes you have to think outside the box," she says, "or, in this case, inside a flash drive."

There are women who impress me. There are women who surprise me, even. And then there's her.

She places the paper on the table, showing us an amalgamation of numbers.

"I'm guessing none of this rings a bell," Jesse says after a pause.

"It's a key," says Sienna, "so it's likely a password of some sort."

"Think it's got somethin' to do with the card?" Pete asks.

"It's possible. Either way, they're clues to a puzzle. Looks like someone wanted us to find this."

"That's what we thought, too," I point out, "whoever is behind this is playing a game."

"It would explain why they didn't bother covering their money trail." Sienna nods. "It was bait."

Another pause.

"We can give this to our experts," Pete says, tilting his chin at the codes on the table, "see what they can find. While I do that, I can do some house cleanin'."

Sienna nods. "Wallace is likely not their only mole."

"That's right. And I suggest we don't have our people work together until we get rid of 'em."

"A good idea," Tiago puts in, "I will help. We can take care of it on our end, as well."

Peter nods.

"Meanwhile," Rex says, turning to his daughter, "you can welcome our new friends to our turf, Leandra."

She nods, smiling at us. "If any of you, gentlemen, would like to visit Apollo's, all you have to do is ask."

I exchange a look with my brothers, willing myself not to jump at the offer like a hungry dog at a juicy steak. As much as I want to spend more time with her away from her father, and as perfect as the VIP lounge in her club would be, I need to deal with more pressing matters first. My brothers, on the other hand...

"I might just take you up on that," Jesse says, smiling at her. Tiago's eyes fly up in consideration as well.

"Good," she answers, smiling back, "my friends and I would love to see you there."