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His jump in logic is laughable at best.
I close the folder and tuck it under my arm. I’m not about to argue with Marco. Even if I manage to convince him of his daughter’s innocence, he’d only try and take her back from me. And that willneverhappen. Not with the Thomas deal dangling in the air, free for the taking, and Marco slowly being edged out of the picture now that he’s got nothing to offer them.
I’d much rather jump off a bridge with his daughter in my arms than let her go. For any reason.
I glance over to the Ambrosino underboss, Enzo, noticing that his eyes are downcast. It’s obvious he doesn’t agree with his father’s comments about his sister, but standing up for her is another thing entirely. Even during a meeting like this. Underbosses like him rarely, if ever, comment or make remarks that conflict with their don’s ruling. Even if the ruling was outright wrong.
It's something I could never understand.
While my cousin never disrespected me during meetings, she also was not one to hold her tongue. It’s not an frequent occurrence, but I secretly appreciate her for it.
I cross my arms over my chest and regard the cousins instead.
“You’re going to let your boss talk about her like that?”
For following Antonella around the city, I knew that they were usually a part of her guards that made sure no one messed with her while she was out.
Neither of them says anything. Instead, they spit on the floor at my feet.
“She’s a traitor,” one of the cousins pipes up, Bruno I believe. I don’t care enough to remember. “Nothing more than a dirty whore spreading her legs for Irish cock.”
I feel my eye twitch. Oh, if only Ava was here to witness howgoodI am at keeping my cool. She’d be so proud.
“Irish cock often on your mind, is it?” The words boil out of me before I have a chance to correct myself.
Marco either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care, because he shakes his head and says, “I always knew she had ambition, but I never thought she’d use it against me. I should’ve known she’d do something like this eventually.”
I roll my eyes without meaning to. At this point, I don’t care. Perhaps if he hadn’t iced her out so cruelly, none of this would have ever happened. I would never have had the opportunity to get my claws into her and whisk her away so easily if she’d been kept tight against the family bosom like Enzo had.
Though, even if I said any of this, it isn’t like Marco to listen to reason.
I can’t allow him to know that she isn’t involved in any of this, either way. Just in case he does try to get her back in order to marry her off to the younger Thomas son.
“Well,” I start, choosing my words carefully, “Perhaps if she had been given the time to bloom, things might have turned out differently.”
Marco clenches his teeth at me. Somehow, I’ve pressed an unseen button.
“If she’s willing to backstab her own family—her ownfather—just because I didn’t pay her enough attention… well, she deserves every damned thing you want to do to her. It’s the least she deserves for betraying us. Women don’t belong on the playing field. They’re for making more of us. That’s it.”
His words light a fire within me, blazing from the small embers that Marco has been fanning this entire conversation—exploding all at once.
I slap the folder down on the floor between us, watching the photos inside scatter at the feet of the Ambrosino family. Enzo is the first to jump away at the sound.
I wish I could unholster my gun and blow holes through all of them.
While I don’t disagree with traitors getting what’s coming to them, I can’t believe he’d wish that shit on his daughter.
“I can’t wait to pry the Thomas deal from your cold dead fingers, Ambrosino. It will be my pleasure to piss on your grave once I have you six feet under, once the millions I will take from you are in my accounts.”
Marco shakes his head at me. “I’ve been in this business a lot longer than you have, O’Sullivan. Remember that.”
I can’t help but give him a nasty grin.
“It’s funny that you’ve spent so much time trying to make me look bad, but have actually only made me look like the ruthless boss that I am. You’ve gotten sloppy, and I assure you that itwillcatch up with you. Iwillsecure a deal with the Thomas family before you can get your grubby little fingers all over it. I can’t wait to end the empire that you built and sit upon its bones once I’m through with you.”
A small smile graced Marco’s face. “You know, I remember your father telling me the same thing. I wonder where that got him. Oh, right.”
I hold the holster at my hip, making the two cousins react by pulling out their own guns and pointing them at me.
