AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Minutes later, my phone rings. Hoping against hope it’s Matteo, I glance at the screen, but it’s a number I don’t recognize. Normally I don’t answer calls from people I don’t know, but something tells me I ought to make an exception for this one.
“What?” I bark into the receiver.
“Antony. Pleasure to hear your voice.” The sardonic tone is instantly familiar to me. Giovanni Vincenzi.
“Giovanni. What the fuck do you want?”
“I’m sorry, am I interrupting something? Perhaps a romantic moment with yourfiancée? Congratulations, by the way. Sera is quite a prize.”
The way he says the word sends a trickle of ice through my veins. “I don’t want to hear her name coming out of your mouth again.”
“Temper.”
“I ain’t playing fucking twenty questions with you, Vincenzi. Talk or don’t talk, I don’t give a shit.”
“I have Matteo.”
Immediately, I’m upright in my seat, my driving hand gripping the wheel in a strangle hold. “What thefuckdid you say?”
“Your brother is here with me.”
“I am going to kill you, Vincenzi,” I hiss.
Giovanni, the arrogant shit, just chuckles. “Oh, Antony, don’t be such a damn hothead. Matteo is unharmed. He’s just insurance.”
“Insurance for what?”
“Insurance for you being open to a civil discussion. I want to know that you won’t do anything stupid, just in case Sera has gotten under your skin and you think you love her or something idiotic like that.”
My teeth clench so hard they might fucking break off. If Giovanni was here with me right now, there’s no way I could control my rage long enough to hear him out. I would rip his head off his neck before he could get out another word.
“Sera is a means to an end,” I lie. “Where are you?”
“Unimportant. But I called because I want to meet. We have some business to discuss. And that should be done face to face, like men.”
My other hand comes out of my pocket to grip the steering wheel hard as well, leaving the ring. My knuckles are white, all the blood drained from them. They crackle a bit with the force of my grip. “You didn’t need to make an attempt on Carmine Mucci’s life and kidnap my fucking brother to take a meeting with me, you piece of filth.”
“I got your attention, didn’t I?”
“What do you want to talk about? Make it quick.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” he says approvingly. “I want to propose a truce between our families, Antony. To divide up the Mucci territory between the Vincenzis and the D’Agostinos. An end to the bad blood between us. You profit, we profit. Win-win all around.”
Except for Sera, I think. “Interesting.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“Where and when,” I shoot back.
“At one of my warehouses.” He describes the location for me.
“I’m not near there,” I lie again. “You’re gonna have to give me a few hours.”
“Fine.”
“Show up without your thugs, Vincenzi. This is between you and me, understand? No one else.”
“You have my word.”
