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I fall to my knees and begin to sob.
I want Rio.
* * *
Rio
I brought Bianca into a bloodbath.I can’t even turn my head to see if my men got her to safety. Because if I do, I’m dead. And if I’m dead, she’ll follow me into oblivion as soon as Rossi’s men get to her.
Rage burns through my blood, but I will not give in to its distracting effect.
Stay focused. Survive. And then payback will follow as surely as the sun will rise in the morning.
The danger I sensed wasn’t from the Carbone deal. At least I was correct about that. It was Carlos Rossi, waiting in the wings. I will cut him intofucking pieceswhen I catch up with the man who threatened my world. My family. My wife.
I was banking on his fondness for Rina Carlotti to stay his hand, at least in relation to Bianca. She looks like her mother, and Rossi was besotted with the woman when they were younger. I misjudged, and now my family may be about to pay the consequences. Just like before, when my inattention led to my parents’ deaths.
Danelli and two of his men are trying to hustle me out of the area, but I refuse to budge. This is my miscalculation to fix.
Rossi’s second raises his weapon, deathly intent in his gaze. I fire first, straight into Anders’s face. No chance to miss at this range. The body drops, and just like that, the fight is over.
Only it isn’t over, not by a long shot, because Danelli pulls me aside, and his words fill me with dread. “The estate was hit too. Not sure how many are down, or who. It’s chaos out there, apparently.”
“Find out.Now. My brother. My aunt. My cousin. They are all staying at the estate tonight.”
As would Bianca have been, if I had not had the instinct to bring her here.
“Yes, sir.” His expression is impassive, but his eyes are worried. “As soon as I know, you’ll know.”
He directs his men to round up the remainder of Rossi’s crew, herding them into a group and forcing them all to their knees in front of the bar. Then he steps off to the side, talking into his earpiece.
Carbone is dead, caught in the middle of a feud neither of us saw coming. Two of his men are down too, the remaining men he brought with him already on their phones, talking urgently to whoever does their cleanup.
I am unlikely to be their target for revenge. They know Anders too—everyone in the city does—and they know that means it must be Rossi at the heart of this attempted hit.
I stride over to the cowering bastards from Rossi’s crew, all of whom stare up at me with fear in their eyes.Good. I raise my gun and point it at each of them, one after the other. The terror in their expressions feeds my inner sadistic beast. He has been dormant for some time. Pacified by the presence of Bianca.
I took my eyes off the business. And look where that got us. No more.
When I transfer my gaze to the final guy, his mouth is opening and closing as he convulsively swallows, and sweat coats his brow. I grin at him, and he flinches backward.
What does he see in my eyes? His death? My inner beast?
I place my gun at the top of his nose between his eyes and lean down close. “You are today’s lucky one. You get to live and deliver a message to your boss.”
The man lets out a strange groan, but he gives a quick nod.
“Tell Rossi I’m coming for him. I’m coming for his family. His children. His fuckinggrandchildren. His world. I’m going to destroy everything he holds dear. And I’m going to save him for last so he can watch his empire crumble and fall. Got that?”
The man nods again and whimpers, and I grab his arm and lift him roughly to his feet.
“Go, then. Back to your boss. And I will know if you don’t deliver my message word for word. Trust me.I will know.”
As the man scurries off, the sound of feminine sobbing enters my consciousness. I look up then to see Bianca on her knees, one arm wrapped tightly across her middle and the other fisted against her mouth.
Her eyes, staring straight at me, are haunted.
Filled with nothing but horror and revulsion.
