Life was so much simpler a few weeks ago.

“Sir, I swear—”

Bang. The ringing of the gunshot cut off any other words he was going to say. Hot blood splashed across my face and over my hands. I stared down at my hand painted with crimson drops and felt nothing.

A whistle cut through the air, and I looked away from my hand to find Gin waltzing in. His gaze danced over to the body in the chair.

“You’ve been going through them faster and faster. We can’t replace them with how fast you’re disposing of our men.” Gin kicked the chair, and the body hit the ground, adding more blood to the pool already decorating the floor. “Another traitor?”

I nodded. The shit went deep, but all they could give me was the same fucking name. Ramada. He was dead. I’d seen to it myself, and I didn’t make sloppy mistakes.

Giancarlo pulled out a cigarette, and I took one from him. “Think his ghost is haunting us?”

“He’s the last ghost I’d be worried about.”

Gin laughed, but I couldn’t join him. As of late, I laughed even less than before.

“So the cop they mentioned is Ramada or someone he worked with?”

I groaned. “I looked into his former partner already. He’s the one who ratted Ramada out.” His former partner was the straight-laced kind. The only blemish on his record was his partnership with Ramada.

I lit the cigarette and inhaled the smoke holding it as my mind wandered. It went right to Tex, fueling the anger in me and shoving any fatigue I might have felt down. I took the cigarette and pressed the lit end to my thumb to put it out. Releasing the smoke, I called for some of our men to come in and start cleaning up.

“Shit, Enzo,” Gin growled as he stared down at my hand.

I barely registered the sting. “Don’t worry about it. I have to follow up on another lead.”

He grabbed my arm. “You need to sleep.”

Why couldn’t he see I needed to keep busy, or I’d end up doing something reckless? Like storming into the precinct and killing anyone who got in my way in search of Tex. I looked at my brother and his hold on my arm loosened enough for me to break free.

“Enzo, I get that you’re angry—”

“You don’t get anything.” I stepped away from him. “I’m doing what needs to be done for the family.”

I turned on my heels and headed out after washing my hands and face. We each had a job, and I needed to go back to focusing on mine. I’d let so much slip by as I focused on Tex, but that wasn’t the case anymore. Tex had made it clear we were enemies and nothing more.

I ground my teeth. Like every time I thought of Tex lately, I wanted to punch something or kill someone.