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“How does a woman look that fucking beautiful after what she just went through?” I ask out loud, not expecting Doc to answer me—and he doesn’t.
He just gives me a smile before I return my gaze to Giana. She’s hooked up to various wires, and a bag of blood hangs from a pole. Doc is force-feeding her body the blood she’s lost. There’s another bag with clear fluid in it and then a machine monitoring her vital signs.
Still, she’s gorgeous. Her dark hair cascades around her, fanned out on the pillow as if put there on purpose. Most of the color is drained from her face, but she’s still the perfect woman I’ve fallen in love with.
“You should let me check you out, too, Dante.” Doc motions to me as my mother walks into the room, but I bat him away.
“Not tonight. I need to take care of something first. We’ll see how I’m feeling in the morning. When she wakes up, call me immediately, okay?” I ask, and both my mom and Doc nod.
“How many?” my mother questions, and I know what she’s looking for.
Casualties. Surely my father has called her. He’s in a meeting with the Underboss, and he’s okay. Not a scratch on him, but he took out several of the cartel members with simple shots to their heads. He’s a lucky bastard. Always has been. I’m proud to call the old man my father. He’s a better man than I’ll ever be, and I’ll go to the grave saying it.
“We lost seventeen men in total. Mostly soldiers, but we did lose a capo, too. Leo is informing their families right now, but we will need you to reach out to their women tomorrow, too.”
My mother always calls the wives, mothers, or closest kin of our fallen members, making sure they know we’ll take care of them.
“Mio Signore…” Mom clasps a hand over her mouth.
I can’t think about them right now. Their blood is on my hands as much as the men who killed them. If it weren’t for me, none of us would have been there. I’ve dragged our family through hell and back since Giana walked into my club that night, and as much as I fucking hate myself for it…
I can’t say I’d take it back.
And I don’t know what kind of man that makes me.
I leave the room and head to the place my father stores captives—his basement, which is soundproofed and guarded with both military-grade armor and several armed guards.
There’s not a chance in hell I’m up for a session tonight, but I refuse to go to sleep before I at least give him a taste of what’s to come.
Seventeen men down from our family.
But most importantly, one from theirs who will never again see the light of day.
Roberto Martínez.
“Please!”Evelina begs, makeup running down her cheeks. “Please, please. You have to believe me. I had no idea. Enzo never let me in on any of his business and I—”
“Enough!” My father’s deep voice echoes in the room, effectively cutting Evelina off.
She sits on her knees in the middle of the room, looking at each of us with fear in her eyes.
One half of me hates that we’ve put that look into her eyes.
She’s someone’s daughter.
But the other half knows this is the only way.
The moment we found out about Enzo being a dirty fucking rat, we knew we needed to get to her. And we did. Before we were even done with handling The Blood Syndicate, Leo had Evelina locked in the suite on the top floor of my parents’ estate. She should honestly be grateful she’s in a fucking suite and not the basement with the other captives.
“We don’t have to believe anything,” my father says as he moves to stand in front of her. “Evelina, you know I loved you like my own, but we have no other choice. We cannot be sure you were not involved. Cannot be sure you didn’t play a part in this. You are his wife! We can’t let you go. This is family business. And we can’t allow more mistakes to be made.Basta!Enough.”
I look from my father to Leo and then Francesco, our Underboss. The four of us stand in a half circle in front of her as she shakes her head. She doesn’t understand that our hands are tied.
I look down at my fresh clothes. It’s been ten hours since everything transpired yesterday, and the moment we all woke up, we knew this would have to be our first order of business. I checked on Giana and then immediately met the men here.
“You didn’t let me finish,” she says as she rights herself, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Enzo never let me in on any of his business but I had suspicions something was happening. I didn’t think he was going against you.” She hardens her stare and looks around the room. “I thought I was the only one he was deceiving at first but then I learned there was much more to his agenda.”
My father lights up a cigar. He doesn’t smoke often, but I know when he does that he’s reaching a breaking point.
