There’s no edge to his words. If I’d only just met him, I’d think he meant it sincerely enough.

But already, I’m getting to know Raylan enough that I catch the hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

He doesn’t like Dean. And he doesn’t give a damn if I know it.

* * *

6

Raylan

Riona and I take an Uber over to Callum’s apartment, with a detour by the Gallo house. I don’t like us hopping in and out of hired cars. I want to be able to drive Riona myself, in a vehicle I know is safe.

So we borrow one from Dante.

It’s the same Escalade he and I drove around in last time I was in town. I sink down into the driver’s seat, into the dent made by Dante’s bulk. Riona seems similarly at home in the car, setting her water bottle in the cup holder automatically before she buckles her seatbelt.

“Drive around in this car a lot, do you?” I ask her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she says.

“You seem to know where everything is.”

Riona gives an irritated sniff.

“What?” I say.

“There’s nothing romantic between Dante and me.”

“I never said there was.”

She rolls her eyes.

I’m driving us up Lakeshore Drive, the water spooling away beside us on our right. Riona looks out at the lake, which is flat and gray today, almost the exact same color as the cloudy sky.

“I know he was carrying a torch for Simone all along,” I say.

“That’s not why!” Riona snaps. “I mean, I knew he was in love with her. He said he wasn’t, but it was obvious. All I thought was that I hoped it worked out someday. It made me sad to see him hurting like that. There wasn’t anything romantic between us either way. We were just friends. We still are.”

“Alright,” I say. “I believe you.”

“I don’t care if you believe me or not. That’s the truth.” Riona is quiet a moment. Then she says softly, “He respected me. So often men act like you have to prove yourself to them. When I showed up at the jail after they arrested him—you know about that?”

I nod. When the Griffins and the Gallos were fighting with the Polish Mafia, the Polish boss Mikolaj Wilk framed Dante for murder. Riona got the charges dropped.

“Dante trusted me to help him. Even though we barely knew each other. And our families had been enemies not long before.” Riona links her fingers gently on her lap. She has lovely hands—pale and slim with clear polish over the shell-pink nails. “We’re alike in a lot of ways. Disciplined. Hard-working. Unemotional. People respect that in a man. But with a woman, they say you’re cold or harsh.”

“People say that about Deuce, too.”

“They don’t hold it against him, though.”

I think about that. How attributes are viewed in men versus women. How women are criticized for behaviors that might be seen as virtues in men. You see plenty of that in the military—guys getting complimented for their “leadership skills,” and gals getting called “ball-busting bitches” when they give the same orders.