Page 30 of Venomous Throne

One look at Isabella, one wrong glance in her direction, and my feet were moving of their own accord. No one looked at her like that and lived.

Chapter 13 – Isabella

I hated this part of our territory. This road led right up to no-man’s-land. The houses grew crappier with each block until the final eyesore was the warehouse my husband used for the good lord only knew what.

I stopped and checked my phone one more time. Franky said that Marco and his crew were nowhere near. The last thing I wanted was to be kidnapped and forced into that dump of a hull. He also gave me the young kid with the scar on his chin’s name.

Vincenzo Gaetani.

His mother was one of the ladies I brought food to. Brownie points to me. While the son might not stand up to the boss, he might side with me when my coup fell into place.

The idea sprang to mind as I walked. Franky begrudgingly was in the middle of compiling a list of the other mothers, wives, and girlfriends of the soldiers. If I couldn’t win the men over, I could make sure their homes had my full support.

This war would be waged on all fronts.

I moved across the street to the last house. Saveria Falone was a hard worker. Two jobs, an active member at church, and she was trying to raise three beautiful children.

All while her husband drank, gambled, and fucked his way through their money.

She didn’t have to tell me the details of her life for me to know them. I heard the whispers. I saw the pain etched in her face. A face that wasn’t much older than mine.

My life might not be a daydream, but it wasn’t her nightmare.

Jason’s shouts flew across the street. I braced myself, standing tall and strong as I faced the door, the last bag of food on my hip as I knocked. Their youngest, a child little more than a toddler, opened the door.

With a blistering smile, I crouched to greet her. “Did you like the coloring book last time?”

Julia smiled back. “Every page!”

“Oh my! So we need another,” I murmured, my voice low and sweet, for her ears only, while the shouts rang out from the interior.

“Justina likes the horse ones. Jacob likes the trucks, but I like the dogs,” Julia insisted.

“I’ll see what I can find,” I said with a wink. “Here, this is for Mommy. Can you make sure she gets it?”

“Yes!” Julia took the package, knowing that it should go straight into the fridge.

I rose, feeling the ache in my chest. If I were ever blessed with a small bubble of light, I would hug it and never let anyone raise their voice around her.

Moving away from the stoop, I wondered if the father wasn’t a problem that a don could take care of. Not kill. Not immediately. But he could use a good roughing up. I wasn’t physically capable of doling out such punishment, and if I was mentally capablewas yet to be determined. But that was what an enforcer was for—

“Hey! You!” snapped a peevish voice.

I stiffened and turned. “Good afternoon, Mr. Falone. How are you—”

“What the fuck do you think you are doing?”

Every drop of my displeasure seeped into my stare. If he was cutting to the chase, so was I. “Helping take care of your family.”

“We don’t want your kind creeping about,” he barked. “Get out of here, puttana!”

“Porca miseria,” Saveria exclaimed, coming up behind her husband. “She’s a member of the church.”

“I don’t care if she’s the pope’s bitch, her kind has no place here.”

“My kind?” I repeated, voice dripping with ice. “What does that mean?”

“He doesn’t mean anything by it, signora,” Saveria insisted. The look in her eye made my heart bleed.