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He steps up onto the platform and grabs the microphone out of Emily’s hands.
“Wow. I won’t lie to you all ... that’ll be hard to beat,” Giovanni begins.
Everyone laughs but me.
“When I was younger, I lost my mother to abuse. She never left because she didn’t want to leave me with a man whose heart was tainted. Growing up in Sicily proved difficult. My mother didn’t have the resources to help us break free of the many trials and tribulations the man threw at us. So my donation will be going toward shelters. Shelters for women, the homeless, the ill—I could go on. Life deals some real shitty cards, and we must use what we have. I want to help the people who feel they have no way out, as my mother did. But I have to tell you, nothing I do would ever come to life without my wife, Nina. My ideas are just that: ideas. But Nina breathes life to them. She’s the reason I do anything. She’s taken half my heart, and my child has the other half. Cheers, everyone. And to Mikhail. The bottom of the chain can befuckingbrutal, but our love for our wives and children makes life worth living. As you implied, loving someone makes you anything but weak.”
I bite down on my teeth in frustration. He’s using my own words against me. Two years ago, I pointed a gun at his head while he was vulnerable. Thinking back on it, I have no idea how I managed to get out of that alive. His men ambushed mine. I told him I’d show him just how fucking brutal the bottom of the chain can be. That’s why I took the clubs. I wanted to prove myself to yet another person who’d doubted me. I called him weak for falling in love. I called his wife his biggest mistake. But I didn’t know what it would feel like to protect Sloane. If I knew that back then, I would have kept my words to myself.
Before Sloane, I never understood how Giovanni could risk everything to be with Nina. I still don’t think I understand to the full extent I could. Nina’s a walking target. Enemies of the Cosa Nostra would take Nina to get to his head.
But maybe that’s why it works. He has something to fight for. He has someone to protect.
Falling in love isn’t weak. Not admitting it is.
I look down at her. She’d be the most important thing to me, but I can’t allow it. Not after what I’ve spent the past two years doing. The target is on my back, and that’s where it needs to stay. If I were to somehow convince Sloane to stay with me, she’d never be safe—especially if I get this property. It’s not the Romanos, Genoveses, or the Koziovs I’d have to worry about. They’d come after me, not her, because she’s their blood. It’s the Clarkes I’m worried about.
The Irish had an alliance with the Bratva and Cosa Nostra for years until word got out that Sloane’s father was sleeping with the Capo dei Capi’s wife. Sloane’s mother betrayed the family. Then my fucking brother had to get involved. He caused all hell to break loose between the three families. The Irish cut ties with the Italians and Russians without looking back. We were deemed unreliable backstabbers. Honor is the one rule men aren’t supposed to break.
Unfortunate for me.
They’ve been living under the radar ever since Kirill killed Sloane’s mother. I know they’re coming for me because I’m taking over parts of their land too. They don’t work in the open like I do. They play with blood, waiting for someone to do the hard work for them.
That’s another reason why this bid is dangerous. They’ll kill me to take it. It’s the easiest way, I’ll give them that, not having to play nice with people they hardly know. I kind of admire them for it. They don’t fool people just to get on their good side. They keep their eyes on the prize, guns drawn, and they’re instantly rewarded.
I look away from Sloane and see Giovanni walking toward me, pulling on his tie. “Go see Lev,” I tell her. “I need to talk toAce.”
Giovanni creeps in closer, and my heart picks up its pace. She needs to get the fuck out of here. I have no idea what she knows about Giovanni, and I don’t need things to change right now.
“Go,” I demand.
Her eyes flood with questions. “Kindly adjust that tone of yours,” she mutters, her arm knocking into mine as she leaves me with Giovanni.
Giovanni watches his sister walk off in the distance before he comes to a halt in front of me. “Your idea of revenge is different from mine.” He lifts his drink as his lips form a small curve.
My head falls back. Everyone around me is pushing every wrong button.
I shift my stance. “Killing her wouldn’t serve any purpose. But I will admit, your sister has been a huge help.”
“Couldn’t have my wife, so you go after my sister? That’s quite the obsession you have.” He clicks his tongue. “Tell me, how does it feel to live in one person’s shadow and then one day the sun breaks through, only for you to fall under another’s?”
“I bet you thought of everything to say back to me after our conversation at the church, huh?” I say with a smug smile. “But I couldn’t tell you. You took care of the only shadow I know, remember? Or do you need a recap?”
“No, I perfectly remember the way he begged for his life right before I scattered his brains across the wall.”
“I’m glad you did.” Giovanni killing Kirill was an act of mercy; the drugs would have been more painful. I lean my head slightly to the side. “Thanks to your act ofkindness, I’m about to own the majority of this city. Towers so tall ... Come to think of it, you’ll quite literally be in the shadows.”
“Her father won’t let you breathe once he finds you. I’d take the opportunity to end you right now, but if I let him, there’ll be another alliance for my family. That’s something you’ll never have.”
“Her father responds to me. And I think you’re forgetting she’s my wife.”
“Is she though?” he says coldly. “Careful, Stepanov. The floor you’re stomping on is made of thin fucking ice.”
Rage boils my blood to see Giovanni stand proudly in front of me after everything he’s done to my family. All the pain he’s created. He wears confidence on his lips as if it were made only for him, and that pisses me off.
I mean, what the fuck? How would he feel if I took his cousin Carlo away from him? Fucking pussy would be up all night wishing his demons away, but they would cloud his vision. Sorrow would flood his eyes and he’d lie in bed for days on end. But me? I take back, and I refuse to let a man beat me when I’m already down.
Giovanni’s threats don’t mean shit to me. Half the crap he tells me is nothing compared to what I’ve heard from my brother. But he’s not here to make me stronger anymore.
