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Strangely, this terrifying man absolutely thrills me.
“I told you I’d make you queen—you thought I meant just at my side.” The air freezes as I understand every hidden meaning he’s ever said. “You’ll be a queen in your own right. We’ll change the world together, my love.” My pulse pounds in my ears. “Paulie can’t know who you are—if he does, he’ll be too interested. He’ll see the potential you have, the power you hold. He’ll go batshit, just like Johnny did.”
“So, what? You’re playing some secret kind of game on my behalf? But never once told me the full story?”
“I have a plan to give you what you want.”
“What do you know about what I want, Dante? All you do is go off and make decisions for me, keep me out of things, play complex games, and refuse to even tell me the rules.”
“You want to rule the Russos.” I open my mouth to argue but his hand tightens in my hair, silencing me. “I can read you better than you know. I’m going to give you everything you want, everything you could ever dream of. We’re going to do it side by side, but you need to trust me.”
“I barely know you! All I know is lies and plans and secrets.”
“But you can trust me. You know that. This? It’s bigger than your father and my family. It’s about us. There is something here, Delilah. There has been since the beginning. But since the beginning, there has been danger at your goddamn tail, nipping at your heels.” His hand moves to my face and brushes a lock of hair behind my ear so tenderly, I nearly give in. “That’s why you have Marco, Lilah. You walked in, and I knew who you were. I knew you were fucking trouble, but the kind of trouble I like a fuckuva lot. But I also know my nephew. He’s power-hungry. Paulie . . . Carmine and I decided it would be best not to clue him in.”
“Carmine knows who I am?”
“Carmine knows all, same as me.”
“So he knows your plans?” Dante sighs.
“His only weakness is me. I’m his blind spot. The son who never lived up to his potential. The consolation prize when my mother was killed, and runner-up once his first choice for heir was gone.”
“So Carmine knows about me, but not your plan? Paulie would want to use me to strengthen ties. You said Carmine is just as power-hungry. Why isn’t he trying to use me?” He doesn’t say anything and I scoff. “Let me guess, you still think he’s all rainbows and butterflies, don’t you?”
I pause, but I can see it in his eyes. The regret. God. I hate this. I hate that these selfish assholes have put us into this position. Put their pasts, their misdeeds, their greed between us and made it our job to unravel.
“Delilah . . .”
“I have the proof, Dante.” His face goes blank, that hand in my hair loosening. “I have the proof you need.”
“Delilah—"
"You said if I had the proof your father was just as poisonous as the rest of them, you'd take him down, too."
"Baby—"
“Johnny Vitale sent me a letter from prison.” Silence hangs in the air with my words before he speaks, a mix of shock and outrage.
“What!?”
“Johnny Vitale sent me a letter from prison. Man has nothing else to lose. I figure he just wanted to clear his conscience. Or maybe take everyone down with him. We all know that even if he doesn’t get life, your father will make sure he gets life.”
“What the fuck, Lilah?”
“Your father told your brother to put the hit on Arturo.” The room goes silent. “Let the world think it was a bruised ego, but he saw the potential of me, Dante.” I put a hand to his face and look in his eyes, trying to tell him everything I know down to my soul is true. “He conspired with Shane Turner.”
The universe shakes as I admit what I haven’t said out loud.
“Seems Shane wasn’t too keen on my mother leaving him for a mafioso. Wasn’t excited to tell the world that his youngest daughter wasn’t his at all.”
“Delilah, I know you want to make all of this make sense, want it to line up, but—" Despite the argument, there’s a battle in his eyes. For some unknown reason, he feels loyalty to that man, but the image is cracking. It’s becoming hard to justify the way he acts.
“In what world would I want my sister—who has sacrificed enough—to have no parents the way I do. In what world would I want to craft some kind of chaotic story in my mind where I need to tear him down and make her an orphan like me, because Dante—Shane’s going down, too. Your father. Paulie sure as fuck is. I’m taking them all down, whether you help me or not. They need to pay.”
“This isn’t—"
“You're right. It isn’t. It isn’t a time for kid gloves anymore. It isn’t time for plans and secrets. It’s time to take action. They need to pay, Dante. For what they did. What they took from me. For what they plan to take. Your brother is an idiot who was greedy and had a big fuckin’ ego, but he wasn’t smart enough to come up with the idea himself.”
