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I am consumed by thoughts of revenge.
Dante says that marrying and protecting Christine is all I need to do, but no one has ever hurt the woman he loves. He doesn’t understand the primal need inside me to make Giovanni pay.
Like a predator stalking its prey, I will find out his weakness. I’ll study his routines and habits to find out when and where he’s most vulnerable. Then I will meticulously plan my retribution.
Giovanni Lucatello will soon find out that all of his money and connections offer no sanctuary from my wrath. I will bring him to his knees and revel in the cries of his suffering.
No one hurts Christine and gets away with it. Not now. Not ever.
Chapter 46
Niccolo
1.5 Weeks Ago • February 1st
Ten days. The wedding is in ten days.
Ten days until I stand at the end of the aisle, heart pounding as I wait for my beautiful bride.
Ten days until I place a ring on Christine’s finger and lock her down forever.
Ten days until the bounty on my head raises exponentially.
“Hey. Lover boy,” Dante snaps his fingers at me, bringing me back to the present. “Are we planning our revenge or daydreaming? Get over here.”
I move away from the window, cheeks dressed in a hue of embarrassment. “Sorry. I was just thinking about how much my life is going to change in ten days.”
Dante shoots me an exasperated look. “It’s going to change even more in eleven days when you’re dead if you don’t get the fuck over here and help us figure out the plan.”
I walk over to the kitchen table to find it littered with pizza boxes and empty beer cans; it’s like a frat party threw up in here. “Theplan is simple. The morning after the wedding, Sal and Luc will grab Giovanni. While my wife is having a nice brunch with her bridesmaids, we’ll be beating the shit out of her uncle. By the time we clean up and make it back home, he’ll have bled out in an alley, and all our problems will be behind us. What else is there to figure out?”
“Contingencies.” Dante’s expression remains stern. “What if Sal and Luc can’t find Giovanni? Or worse, what if one of them gets injured? Or there’s an unexpected security sweep at the location where we’re planning to take Giovanni?” He leans back in the chair, his body language rippling with unspoken tension. “What if he takes a shot at you, and you show up the day after your wedding with a black eye?”
Dante thinks he’s so smart because he plans for every eventuality; there isn’t a spontaneous bone in his body.
“If I get a black eye, it’ll be the least of our concerns,” I retort, trying to alleviate the tension.
My brother snarls, “Then why don’t I give you one right now?”
“Touchy, touchy,” I click my tongue at him playfully. “What crawled up your ass and died?”
Dante stands up so fast that he flings the chair into the wall. “You, actually,” he says with a glare. “You were all‘let me be part of the family’and‘I’ll do whatever it takes for Christine’. To the point that you might be bringing the wrath of the entire Castiglione family down on our heads. All because you want to fuck your stepdaughter. I knew there’d be some reconfiguring after Father died, but I didn’t think it would end with us breaking off from the Midwest faction.”
I don’t think I understood half of what he just said. “What Midwest faction?”
He roars like an injured beast. “The fucking Castiglione family, you dumb fuck. You think we’re strong enough to withstand a war? All because you want to protect your stepdaughter?”
Salvatore gets to his feet, anxiously laughing. “Dante, leave him alone. This isn’t his fault. He’s just doing?—”
“Shut up,” Dante snaps at Salvatore before turning his attention back to me. “Do you understand the predicament we’re in? I’m arranging troops like I’m a god damn war General.”
I curl my hands into fists, urging myself to remain calm. Dante and I need to find common ground amidst our frustrations; fighting only weakens us. “I never intended for it to escalate like this, and you know that,” I say, meeting his gaze head-on.
He takes a menacing step towards me, his ire palpable. “Forget your good intentions, Nic. You have no idea the pressure I’m under right now. I’m trying to resolve your issues with the Lucatellos, predict the actions of the Castiglione family when we defy Saverio, and my wife is—“ Dante pauses mid-sentence, his anger biting off his words before they fully form.
“What about your wife?” Luciano chimes in. “Is everything all right with Adalina?”
Dante is strung tighter than a bow. The look in his eyes makes me unsure if he wants to confide in me or kill me. “She’s pregnant,” he admits with a begrudging half-smile.
