“Did he say anything else?”
He moved around me and stepped into the kitchen. He opened a couple cabinets and made himself a stiff drink. “You really want to know?” he asked with his back turned to me.
“Yes.”
He turned around and leaned against the counter, taking a sip before he set it on the counter beside him. “Said he was sorry and didn’t mean for any of it to happen. Cried in front of me. By no means do I feel bad for him, but he seemed pretty damn genuine.”
I felt some pity for him…but not a lot.
“The deal was Warren would help him take the vineyard, and then he would take a portion of the profits. But instead, Warren took everything and made Leo a prisoner. If Leo doesn’t comply, he’ll be killed. Now he’s a low-level lackey who does whatever he’s told.”
“What about everyone else?”
“They’re working for Warren. If they refuse, Warren will kill their families.”
“My father would hate that more than being shot.”
He grabbed the glass and took another drink. “Don’t worry about them. We’ll get everything back soon enough.” He stared at me for a while. “I insulted him for a bit, kicked the horse while it was down because it deserved a beating. And then I told him, when this is all done, I’m going to kill him.”
“What did he say to that?”
“Nothing, really. He knows he’s dead, no matter how this plays out. If you and I don’t kill him, Warren will. That asshole is living on borrowed time.”
“Did—did he say where they buried my father?”
He crossed his arms over his chest while he stared me down. “That didn’t come up.”
I gave a nod, knowing Leo would still see to his arrangements despite being the reason he was dead in the first place.
“Once he feeds me the right information, I’ll move in on them with Cosa Nostra, and it’ll be done.”
I tightened my arms across my chest.
“When they’re all dead and we have the vineyard back, you’ll start to feel better.”
“You think?” I whispered.
“I do.”
“I’m not sure anything will ever make me feel better.” I could stand on a pile of dead bodies and wear a crown made of their bones, and I’d still sob from the pain of my loss. I didn’t have a mother…and now I didn’t have a father.
And I didn’t have a brother either.
“Watching me cut off Warren’s head will at least give you closure.”
“When your mother passed away and you hunted down the man who killed her, did that make you feel better?”
He stared at me for a while before he crossed his arms over his chest. “Absolutely.”
“Yeah?”
“They say laughter is the best medicine. They’re wrong—it’s revenge.”
I fell asleep in Wolfe’s arms and woke up in blood.
My father’s dead body was beside me, and even though he was already cold, his eyes moved. They looked at me, silently pleading with me to stop what had already happened to him. It was eerie and disturbing, and I woke up screaming. “Dad! Dad!”
“Baby, baby, baby…” Wolfe grabbed me around the stomach and pulled me into his chest. “Just a nightmare.” He dropped his lips to my shoulder and kissed me, his strong arm squeezing me to him. “It’s not real.”
