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Alberto doesn’t talk much on account of someone ripped out his tongue (a story I heard from my father years ago), and so we sit there in silence before Nico returns.
I snatch the bag from him the second he walks in the door. “Don’t you say a word,” I warn, and Nico puts a finger to his lips, smiling.
I head upstairs to the master bathroom, taking the test while my head is still spinning. Does Dante even want kids? We haven’t talked about it.
We haven’t talked about much of anything, now that I think about it. We’re too busy being unable to keep our hands off each other.
I stare at the test for a full minute before stalking back into the bedroom, pacing around until the five minutes are up. The timer goes off on my phone and this strange feeling of dread and excitement washes over me.
Positive.
I start to hyperventilate.
19
DANTE
Ican’t believe what I’m about to do. I can’t believe I’m about to partner up with the man who killed my father, but we have a common goal: protecting Mia. I didn’t tell Mia where I was going because I knew she’d be upset. She’s been so worried about me since we’ve both been recovering, and I’ll admit, the stitches in my shoulder still pull like hell. I’m hoping that I won’t pop them today, but I can’t make any guarantees.
I sigh when I arrive at Luca’s, running a hand through my hair. By now, I’m supposed to be coming here to kill him, not to have a friendly meeting where we discuss teaming up to kill Vincenzo Gallo. I haven’t let go of my end goal. Quite the contrary. I’ve just been forced to play a longer game that I thought I would have to.
Usually, one of Luca’s men’s at the door, but today, Luca himself opens it, smiling at me, his suit jacket off and his sleeves rolled up. There’s blood, looking almost like lipstick stains, on his collar.
“You started without me,” I drawl, and Luca throws back his head and laughs.
“Couldn’t help myself,” he admits, leading me to the back of the house. There’s a steel door, one that I’ve never noticed before. Of course, I haven’t taken a real tour of the house or anything, but it seems pretty secluded, in a small room meant for something like laundry in the back of the house. Luca may have had it built specifically for this, for all I know.
“You already picked him up?” I ask, slightly disappointed. I’d wanted to see Vincenzo’s face when I showed up.
Luca shrugs. “Thought I’d save you the time.”
He starts to put in the key code outside the door and I put a hand on his shoulder.
“Wait just a second,” I say. “I want to ask you something.”
“What’s that, son?”
I plaster on a fake smile, hating the way he calls me that now. “One of my businesses was shot up, vandalized. Vincenzo called me about it, told me he heard the gunshots, and saw Ricardo’s car fleeing the scene. When I got there, your insignia was spray-painted on the wall. The hourglass.”
Luca scoffs. “Dante, you know Vincenzo is a liar. He probably did that to keep you out of the house while he went after Mia.”
I nod. “I figured as much, but I had to ask.”
“That sonofabitch,” Luca mutters. “Trying to put a wedge between me and my son-in-law.”
No,I think.You did that yourself when you put a bullet in the backs of my parents heads.
But I keep on that fake, plastered smile. “All right,” I say. “Let’s do this.”
Luca puts in the key code and the door slides open to the right, and a muffled scream comes through the doorway. I peer inside and Vincenzo is tied to a chair, rocking back and forth but making no progress. The chair is nailed to the ground. There’s a drain, curiously, close to the back of the tiny room, just barely big enough to contain a grown man.
“It’s my panic room,” Luca says with a smile. “You like it?”
Panic room isn’t quite the right word. I would call it a torture room, but I grin at him. “I do,” I confess. I especially like the drain in the floor to help with the cleanup, after.
I may have to consider getting one for my place, but I think Mia might protest.
Vincenzo’s got crusted blood around his nose and mouth, and he’s gagged.
