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I pushed myself up off the carpet and walked across the room. I forced my hands out in front of me like I was being handcuffed. “I assume you want to restrain me?”
Armani raised an eyebrow, while my uncle just ignored me. “Doubt it. Your uncle tells me you’re pregnant. You won't try anything. Not unless you want Luka to get shot in the head and then your baby will be fatherless.”
“Isn’t that the plan?” I said to Roberto.
“It’s for your own good, you know. It’ll give you the closure you need.”
“No, and it won’t give you the semblance of closure that you’re desperately clinging to. I know it won’t. Luka is a good man. But in the end, you’ll never see that side of him. Because you choose not to.”
I thought to myself that when Luka killed both of these men, they would still think he was evil. He would just prove it to them. That was on them. Not me.
This was their fault.
“Why do you want him dead?” I said, turning to Armani. I needed to hear them say it.
He smiled and it made my skin crawl. “Because I want blood and money. My needs are very simple.”
“You want war.” I spat at them.
“War is inevitable.” Roberto said before hobbling out of the door.
27
Luka
Adrenaline coursed through my body. My legs were bouncing by the time we arrived at the restaurant. My father put his hand on my knee. “Luka, be patient. We have to let him show his hand and be sure she's okay before we make any moves.”
I nodded, but my knee continued to bounce. The driver came around and opened the door for me and I slid off of the leather seat. My trusty knife was strapped to my leg as usual, but I also hid a 9mm in my pants. While I hated to actually use a gun, I would use it if I needed to. It wasn’t as personal as I liked, not close enough to the kill. If I was going to end a person’s life, I needed to be intimately involved.
We arrived at the restaurant first, which didn't surprise me. They closed down especially for meeting. We sat at a long table in the middle of the dimly lit room, waiting for the Irish to arrive. Marco was in the unmarked car parked across the street. It was just my father and I and two men of our security team inside. They stood behind each of us, protecting our backs. We waited anxiously for at most fifteen minutes before Armani walked in, alone.
“Luka, good to see you again.” He extended a hand to me and I shook it. Clearly we were going to pretend that he didn't have Vienna. Pops and I decided to just play along.
He wrapped his arms around my father. “What can I do for the both of you?” He asked as he stepped back.
Pops sat down while the rest of us stood. His body language made it very clear that he was in charge of this meeting, no matter what Armani had to say.
“Sit.” My father extended a hand to the seat next to his. Armani sat down looking smug. I just wanted to pummel him. Wipe that fake fucking smile off of his face.
“What has brought us here?” Armani asked us.
My father put his hands in steeple. “You tell me.”
“What does that mean?” He questioned.
“Tell me about Roberto. Tell me about how you’ve been watching out family. Watching me.” I said to him barely maintaining restraint. I just wanted to kill him but then we may never get Vienna back.
He looked surprised. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ve been watching us and reporting back to the Agnellis, and now you’re trying to run guns, taking business from your own men.”
“My men? I’ve been selling here for a decade.”
“We know that’s a lie.” I watched him wince. He knew he was caught. But that was dangerous too, a wild animal backed into a corner had the tendency to act out. “You’re trying to start a war, we know it.”
He shook his head. “It’s not just me.”
My body tensed. I could easily fly over this table and have my hands on his throat in a second. It would only take a few seconds for me to crush his windpipe. But even though he was putting on this facade of being alone during this meeting, I knew it wasn't true. He had to have more men on us, or worse, he would kill Vienna. I wasn’t willing to take that risk.
