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I lean back in my chair, cavalier in how I stare across the table at him. “You’ve been misinformed, Tony. There was no misunderstanding. Jerry was disloyal, so he had to be taken care of.”
“But is it disloyalty when he’s working with the family who owns this territory?”
“Maybe in the past. Time’s are changing. It’s true the Sorrentino name has been absent in this city in recent years, but we’re here to stake our claim. Tell your papa he’s mistaken.”
“My father’s never mistaken.” He leans forward, elbows on the table and fingers steepled. “You’re asking for bloodshed by challenging us. Is that what you want?”
A slow grin spreads onto my face. “We’ve never been afraid of bloodshed. A little blood’s agoodthing.”
“Is that a threat?” Tony pops out of his chair.
Weapons are drawn before he’s on his feet. His guys and my guys have their guns trained on each other with me and Tony in the middle. For as calm as I am, my reflexes are anything but. As soon as Tony jerked in his chair, I was rising to meet his challenge. A second passes where everybody fumes, glaring at one another.
Tony sneers like somebody’s told a joke. “We’re done here. You’ll regret this, Gio.”
“I’m not a man of regret, Tony. I’m a man of action.”
I storm out of the den with my men swarming behind me. I’m normally in control, but Tony pushed the right buttons. If it’s war he wants, it’s what he’ll get. Violence is my friend. Death is my family. I’ll have thatcabron’shead on a motherfucking pike before he can take his next breath.
Tony doesn’t know the beast he’s just awakened. The bloodlust he’s stirred in me. A current of rage burns in my chest. A flame that will torch his whole world and leave nothing but ash in the aftermath.
I seek out Falynn, blowing through the huge mansion like a tornado. I find her where I left her. Except somecazzofuckhead is speaking to her. Where the hell is Dominico? He was supposed to be guarding her!
To make matters worse, the fuckhead leers. He reaches out and glides his knuckles down the length of her bare arm. I catch only a snippet, “Sweetheart, everyone’s got a price.”
His cranium bounces against plaster as I slam him into the wall. My knuckles are white and tight, twisted up in his shirt, my teeth bared and gaze dark. My bloodlust sets in.
“She’s spoken for,” I tell him in my calmest tone. A warning sign of all warning signs.
“Hey, whoa, calm down. I was just—ARGHHH!”
He weeps like a little bitch when I twist his hand, bending it so far back you’d think he was double-jointed. I’m barely aware everybody in the vicinity is watching, including my men, who edge closer, waiting their turn to take over for me. It’s not every day their boss loses his cool.
“There is no price for this one,” I say.
Crack.
I pull his index finger out its socket and then move onto the next finger. His middle finger rips right out with a merciless yank. He howls and his knees wobble on the verge of collapse.
“You want pussy? Find one of the whores selling it for a hundred a night. You touch her with these grubby little fingers again, I’m chopping them off and mailing them to your mother.”
The fuckhead drops to his knees cradling his hand. My men and I are out of there. Falynn is hauled off along with us. We make it out to the driveway before I give my next order. I’m fuming more than ever, the burn in my chest affecting my breathing.
“Dominico was supposed to be watching her,” I growl to Robby. He’s by my side as we come up on the cars. “He needs to learn a lesson about leaving his post.”
“Got it, Boss. The water buckets?”
“Tonight. Right now. Take him out and do it.”
“Louis’ll follow you back—”
“Don’t. I’ll return my own way.”
“But, Boss—”
I hop into my convertible. Falynn is already buckled in. She hasn’t said a peep throughout my fury. The engine revs up with a bold roar into the warm night. We’re off in a matter of seconds, zipping down the desert highway.
Falynn yelps in surprise when I slam on the gas even harder. The Rolls-Royce darts forward, curving along the steep canyons. The moon tries to chase us from up above, failing as we fly into the darkness.
