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Then a cold smile stretches his lips.
“Take her.”
42
RICO
Stalking through the hallway, I approach the door that leads down to the basement. Two of my grandfather’s guards are standing outside. They exchange a hesitant glance.
“Stand aside,” I command as I close the final distance.
“Sir, Mr. Morelli has—”
“That was an order.” My voice, pulsing with utter authority, seems to echo down the hall.
The guards exchange another glance, but then quickly move aside as I reach the door. I shove it open and then stride down the steps. My boots thud against the concrete floor as I reach the corridor beyond. I know exactly where Federico will have taken them, so I head straight for one of the doors at the end. Shoving this one open as well, I stalk into the large concrete room beyond.
Six guards whip towards me, raising their guns, before they realize who I am and lower their weapons again. Two men are tied to chairs in the rooms on the other side of the glass walls ahead. The two men who murdered my parents. But I barely notice any of them, because my eyes are fixed on two people by the wall.
Isabella, in only her underwear, is kneeling on the cold hard floor. Her wrists and ankles are shackled and locked to one of the thick metal rings that have been set into the floor behind her. She was glaring up at my grandfather when I burst through the door, but the moment I walked in, she snapped her gaze to me. Her eyes widen in shock as she stares at me.
I drag my gaze up to Federico, who is standing before her.
Rage roars through me.
“Let her go,” I say. It’s not a request.
“Enrico,” my grandfather says. There is a hard expression on his face, but his eyes soften a little when he looks at me. “I was going to send for you later, because I was anticipating this kind of reaction.” He flicks a venomous look down at Isabella. “This snake has managed to fool you into—”
“Do not,” I growl. “Talk about her like that.”
He heaves a sigh. “You’re just proving my point, Enrico.”
With my eyes locked on his, I hold out my hand. “Give me the keys.”
“No. My guards here are going to unlock her chain and then they are going to shackle her to that chair in there.” He nods towards the third room before meeting my gaze again. And when he speaks, his voice takes on a hard edge full of absolute authority. “And then you are going to stand here and watch as I torture her and her two colleagues formurdering your parents. Unless, of course, you want to help me torture them. Which is an acceptable adjustment to the plan.”
“She—”
“Six years, Enrico,” he snaps, cutting me off. His dark eyes flash with both anger and pain as he stares me down. “We have waited sixyearsfor this! Six years to get our revenge. And I am going to carve that vengeance from their flesh and make them bleed for every second of that.” He snaps his fingers at his guards. “Take her.”
I react purely on instinct.
Yanking out my gun, I level it at my grandfather’s head.
The six guards around me immediately point their own guns at me.
I don’t even look at them. All of my attention is focused solely on my grandfather as I lock hard eyes on him.
“Don’t. Touch her.” Power and threats drip from each word as I speak. “Don’t you dare touch her.”
On the floor, Isabella sucks in a sharp breath of surprise. I can feel her staring at me with wide eyes, but I can’t break eye contact with Federico right now.
He is also staring at me. But he doesn’t look angry. With his eyebrows raised, he just looks genuinely stunned.
Waving a hand, he motions for his guards to lower their weapons. They do. I, on the other hand, keep mine right where it is.
“You would really pull a gun on me?” Federico asks. “Your own grandfather. Forher.”
