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“I know,” I say darkly. “Mom’s a good person. If she did this, she must’ve believed there was a reason.”
“Or maybe, no matter how good a woman is, there’s always a chance they’ll stray.”
“No,” I snap. “I don’t accept that. I don’t believe it. There are good women out there. I’ve found one, and when this is over, I’m going to marry her. You’ll be my best man and soon an uncle. We’ll have it all: the Family back where it belongs and the Shanks in the dirt.”
“Amen to that,” he says.
I smirk over at him. “Then you’ll find a woman of your own. You’ll stop chasing tail. You’ll settle down. Our children will grow up together.”
“Wait a sec…” He smirks, too, though I can tell it takes tremendous effort. “How soon areyouplanning on having some little Elios and Ellas?”
“As soon as I can,” I tell him, thinking of my curvy virgin and the texts we sent earlier.
“You’ll have a head start on me, then.”
“It’s not a race,” I tell him. “Anyway, maybe that’ll be good. My sons and daughters can look out for yours.”
He reaches over and claps me on the arm. “Seeing you like this, I’ve got to admit, makes me wonder. If a cold, grumpy, moody prick like you can start smiling because you found the right lady, maybe it’ll work for me, too.”
I laugh. “But you’ve never been cold, moody, or grumpy.”
“True,” he grins, “but I am a prick. You can’t argue there.”
We laugh together, and then one of our men knocks on the glass door to the balcony. We turn. It’s Matteo, one of my father’s oldest and most trusted operators, often working as the doorman to the apartment.
“Russel says he’s ready to make a deal,” Matteo tells us. “It didn’t take long to break him. He’s given us several locations for copies of the video.” When Matteo saysvideo, he looks down respectfully. He’s the only man who knows the nature of it. The other men only know we’re trying to extract information from the dog.
“And the digital copies?” Luca says in disgust.
“He’s given us several passwords to several accounts. I’ve taken the liberty to delete them.”
Luca rubs his hands together. “There’s no way to be sure he’s given us everything.”
“We’ll have to move him, keep him prisoner for a while. Maybe up to a couple of weeks, to be sure.”
“And what, wait for the video to release?” Luca says.
“But if we’ve deleted them, he can’t release it,” I reply.
“I don’t trust the bastard,” Luca growls.
“Neither do I, but he’s taken a beating. He’s taken some cuts, too.”
Darkness flashes across my mind, across my soul. We’ve had to do nasty things to the prick to make him squeal, but I’d do much, much more after what he did to my woman. Nobody gets to threaten her. Nobody gets to torment her. She’s under my protection now.
“He’ll take a bullet, too,” I go on, “and I’ll pull the goddamn trigger.”
“Sir,” Matteo says. “I’m sorry, but is that the wisest move? You’re acting don…”
He’s right. Typically, the don wouldn’t pull the trigger himself. Risking prison time for the man in charge isn’t a good move, but the circumstances are different here.
“He broke into my girlfriend’s house,” I tell Matteo.
Shock registers on Matteo’s face, but he’s too experienced in the life to outright question the don.
I smirk, leaning forward. “You heard me right. He tried to blackmail my woman. He tried to make her life hell. Nobody gets to threaten her. Nobody gets to make her feel weak or small.Nobody.”
Matteo nods, fear flickering in place of the shock as he steps backward, frowning as if he thinks I will leap athim.
