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Victor snorts and sits down on the single armchair. “I’m surprised you were willing to have us here at all. In your private, back-up sanctuary.”
“Yeah, well. I couldn’t think of any other venue, and to be frank, I’m sick and tired of traipsing around town. I’ve seen every single fucking wedding-related shop the city has to offer at this point. As long as you two followed my instructions, it’s fine.”
My instructions on where to park, how to avoid all the cameras on the building security, the back entrance few people know about…
I haven’t noticed anybody tailing me so far, but I’m not willing to take risks. Pavone says he trusts me, but I doubt that. He’s just much more preoccupied with the wedding and all the logistics needed to take over Bellini’s organization.
Strangely enough, a lot of Bellini’s former underlings aren’t all that keen on Pavone. I’m kept out of the loop, but I’ve heard enough grumbling among the people at the Bellini manor to know it’s not going as smoothly as Pavone had hoped.
That can only help us. Even if only half of them decide to jump ship to Victor’s side after our attack on Pavone, that’s more than we had before. They may not be that trustworthy, ultimately, but not everyone’s meant to lead, and we’ll have plenty of time and opportunity to test them out. It’ll just be… difficult.
But what about this isn’t?
“Does Pavone actually want to marry Lucia? It sounds like she’s doing all the planning, which is dumb since he has to know she hates him,” Saint says, sitting on the very far end of the long sofa. He clearly wants me to sit far, far away from him, and just for that I settle in directly next to him. Not touching him yet, but close enough.
“Pavone wants the optics of having murdered Lucia’s father and forcing her to marry him,” Victor says. “It’s a very clear warning to any of his allies. If they disappoint him… he’s not above getting rid of them and hurting their families.”
“You think he would have let Bellini live, if we hadn’t derailed everything by kidnapping Lucia?” I ask.
Victor inclines his head at me. “Possibly? You’ve spent more time with him at this point, Angelo. Why don’t you tell us what kind of person he is?”
I scowl at the not-so-subtle dig. “I don’t know, Victor. I spent a lot more time with you, and I still don’t know what kind of person you are.”
“Don’t you?” Victor says calmly. “You and Santino know me better than perhaps anyone else.”
“That doesn’t mean we know you,” I tell him. Familiar rage threatens to spill from me as I remember Pavone’s hints that Victor might’ve had something to do with Nico’s death. Victor had had everything to gain by his assassination, and I don’t trust Victor at all these days. What if he’d just shifted the blame to Ricci and Bellini, letting me take out two people he’d manipulated into killing my brother?
“Victor’s like that,” Saint says defensively. “You know that. He’s been like that forever. But he’s a good guy.”
I need to keep my mind on the end goal. Right now, ensuring Pavone and his entire gang get driven out of the city is the most important thing. Lucia’s right that we need Victor and Saint’s help.
It was easy enough to ignore my misgivings while we were at a restaurant, or while Victor was fucking Lucia. But now he’s here, in my home, and he’s still being his enigmatic self.
“Fine. You want to know about Pavone? He’s the kind of man who will piss on Lucia. Who let all his men piss on her too.” I get up and stalk around the sofa, bracing my arms on the back. And the anger I’d felt about that incident roars up again too, leaving me with a lot of energy that I can’t do anything about.
Maybe I should have asked them to meet me at a club or something, where I could have started a brawl. Instead, I’m in here without any sort of outlet for my rage.
“He… What?” Saint asks, his face paling.
“You heard me,” I growl. “Because she bought all those fucking dresses, including the shitty ones, so he got pissed off. It was your goddamn fault, Victor, for messing them up so she felt she had to get them.”
Most men cower when I get angry. Victor doesn’t even blink.
“If not the dresses, he would have found another reason. After all, didyouhave a reason to fuck her with a gun?” Victor’s lips quirk into a small, amused smile. “Did we have a reason for humiliating her? Pavone wanted to teach Lucia her place. Although his methods are a bit crude.”
“Crude?” Saint repeats. “It’s horrible! How can you just be so nonchalant about it?”
“Because that’s how the great and powerful Victor Corvi is. Remember, he’d have tossed her to all our guards to fuck if she hadn’t agreed to surrender to us,” I say nastily.
Never mind that I wouldn’t have stopped it from happening, not back then.
“I dislike Pavone, and I dislike what he did to Lucia. But I’m realistic enough to know that in Lucia’s eyes, there is no difference between what he did and what we did.” Victor folds his hands over his lap. “If the two of you think she’s going to welcome you back with open arms when it’s over, you’re kidding yourselves. You can cast all the blame at me if you like, but I did not drug Lucia. I did not terrify her with weapons.”
I know he’s right, but that doesn’t make me like him more. I have fun with him and Saint when we’ve got Lucia between us, but without her… all I can see is the asshole who’s been playing all of us and the coward who’s too terrified to give himself what he wants.
I wonder if I can grab one of the guns from the kitchen and get a bullet through him before Saint reacts. I’ll lose Saint’s friendship, but I’m not sure it’s worth much at this point anyway.
“You’re the one who put her in the trunk with all that shit in her,” Saint snaps. “You’re the one who tied her up in the closet.”
