DECEPTION | MAFIA ROMANCE | SMUT

CHAPTER FORTY-TW0

"You are such an entitled prick." Hugo's jaw muscles clenched. "I don't know what she sees in you."

I died on the spot.

"What's got your knickers all bunched up around that sorry excuse of a pecker between your legs?" Big Guy's shoulders squared as he thrust himself into Hugo's visible horizon. "It will take more than an insult from you to put a cinch in my armour. You," he flicked the nasion width of the man's nose in a mortifying show of derision, "can spit vitriol all you want, but you are not welcome next door now that sole proprietorship is mine." His head tilted with an accusatory click of the tongue. "Understand?"

Hugo glared silently, ashen-faced and stunned into slack-jawed immovability. "Why did that sound like an accusation?"

Big Guy's stare swept over Hugo with evident disapproval. He all but scoffed at him. "Make of it what you will."

"Fuck you." Hugo's chest puffed out as he strenuously denied all allegations. "I am not a suspect. I am a friend. A good friend, too. Not that you would understand."

"Why do you stress?" Donny, with eyes flashing with mischievous exaggeration, hummed lowly. "The intruder will do anything to forestall discoverability. If you have nothing to hide, walk away and let me do my job. A crime scene is no place for civilians."

"Em..." Hugo tapped my elbow. "I will go home if that's what you want. But please do not fall for this bullshit. I swear to you on everything I have that I am not connected to whatever is happening next door. I am just as clueless as you." He looked soul-destroyed. "You have to believe me."

Of course, I believed him. Brad is punishing him because he is angry at me. "I do," I assured him, and he blew out a relieved sigh. "But Donny is right. You should go home whilst he investigates. I can call you tomorrow with updates."

"Sure." Hugo proactively agreed to leave. Before I could say goodnight, he sealed the departure with a soft kiss on my cheek, something he often did when parting ways, but this time, with Big Guy at my side, furrowing his brows, I really wish he hadn't poked the bear. "I will see myself out—"

"Obviously!" Brad jumped down the man's throat. With a hostile glare and flared nostrils, he motioned violently at the front door. "Go on. Bounce along before I throw you out by the bastard ear."

Hugo embarked on the moral high ground. He did not seize the opportunity to respond to critical remarks or unfair treatment. Instead, with a slight shake of the head, he swung the front door open and stormed out of the flat.

"You are impossible." To diffuse the situation, I pushed myself away from the wall and headed to the closet in Carter's bedroom, knowing Brad and Donny would follow me. "What is your problem? Hugo is a nice guy." I felt the intensity of the man's scowl at the back of my head. "He has only ever been polite to you, yet you cannot find it in yourself to reciprocate. You treat him so unfairly. You hyper-competitive asshole."

"I have no issue with the addlebrained tosser." Brad is too angry to look at me. "You have really tested my patience tonight, sweetheart. I hope you are satisfied."

I will not lower myself to such foolery.

Men with biohazard bags and secured boxes parted to allow us to enter the closet without obstruction or delay. I glowered at the incandescent outline at the end of the hole. It chilled me to the bone, the thought of what lies beneath.

"Put these on your feet." Donny handed over two sets of white disposable microporous overshoes. "Do not touch anything." Then, without further ado, he stepped over uneven bricks one foot at a time and vanished through the hole. "Hurry up."