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The video cut off. I sat there, trying to breathe as I processed what they’d said. I never had proof of Sal’s plan, and now I did. Right fucking here. I had no clue how it ended up in my office, but I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. If Dante tried to deny anything, here it was—he knew of his father’s plan. He even understood the risks and rewards of it, as he’d said in the video. I had the fucking proof right here.
Moving the mouse to the next file, I clicked on it. The video popped up immediately, but instead of showing me an image of Dante’s library, it showed me one of his room. I recognized it from when I’d gone to the Scarano’s for dinner. Dante came out of the bathroom, dressed in a suit. I knew immediately when this was. It was the same suit he’d worn on the first date we went on. Bile rose in my throat, and I had to force it back down just to take a breath.
His mother was sitting on his bed, hands in her lap. “Mimmo, I know that this isn’t what you want….”
Dante shook his head, reaching for her. “It’s fine, mamma. Besides, what can I even do about it? Say no?” He snorted.
“What you can do is turn this around to your own advantage,” she said so quietly that I almost missed it.
I turned up the volume, replaying the last five seconds just to hear it again.
“How?”
“Your father won’t live forever. If you play your cards right, you can make some changes when he passes. And, with the Rosania family’s support, with that girl on your arm, no one would be able to stop you.”
I hit pause, ice curling in my stomach. Dante had claimed his mother had mostly stayed out of family business, but here she was telling him to not only screw over his father, but to use me as a game piece. For a split second, I almost didn’t feel bad about her death, and then instantly, I felt fucking terrible. Marie Scarano was just trying to protect her son. To look out for him. I wouldn’t have done anything differently if I had been in her shoes. Feeling a heavy weight on my shoulders, I clicked play again.
“I’ll try, mamma,” Dante told her. “Right now, I just have to get through this dinner.”
“Be careful,” she warned. “No woman brought up in a family like that is as innocent as you might think.”
The clip ended, the screen going black. I sat back, my hands trembling. Dante knew about his father’s plan. And when he realized he didn’t want to be a part of it, he followed his mother’s advice and made his own plan. One he didn’t share with me until tonight. Had he always planned for our business to merge with theirs? Or had it just been a spur-of-the-moment thing when my company started to go under?
My hands curled into fists atop the desk. Either way, Dante had played his own game and had used me one way or another. I could tell his father wanted him to play a part in this. Both his father and mother had wanted to use me, but only one had the sense to recognize my potential. Only one had warned Dante that I wasn’t innocent. That I could be dangerous.
And Marie Scarano was right. I wasn’t innocent. I was dangerous. And if Dante thought he could use me for some twisted fucking plot to take over my family, then he was about to get a damn wake-up call. The sick part out of all of this? I’d almost fallen for it. I’d almost believed he was there to actually help me.
How fucking wrong I was.
With a frustrated scream, my arms lashed out, swiping everything from the top of the desk. Papers scattered across the floor. My laptop crashed against the glass wall, a satisfying cracking sound filling my ears. I was breathing hard, panting as I tried to control my fury. I didn’t know who had put that USB here, whether it was Mateo or someone else who wanted me to know the truth, but I’m glad they did it. I’m glad I watched those videos.
Because now I knew everything.
My heart had shattered as I left Dante behind this evening, the pieces scattering along the floor of my car as I raced away. But now? Now they were slowly piecing back together bit-by-fucking-bit. Whatever I felt for Dante was gone now. It had to be. It didn’t matter if he was reluctant to follow his father. It didn’t matter that he’d been trying to help me for real. What mattered is that he had his own game to play and never fucking told me. He never let me know what was in his mind, and that—to me—was worse than anything he could have done.
I felt betrayed. I felt used. I’d thought Dante was different. He’d shown me a side of him that was unlike any man I’d ever known in the mafia. Had it all just been a part he’d played to earn my trust? I’d never fully given it to him, but I was starting to. He must have known I would come around eventually if he kept it up. Had it all just been faked?
The monster he’d revealed had been real. I knew that much. Maybe that was the truest part of himself he’d ever shown me. Perhaps that was the real Dante, and the old Dante was just a figment he’d created to get me on his side. To help him take over for his father and ‘unite’ our families, though I was sure Dante expected to have all the power. I had struggled to even get voted in as Don. Dante would have had no fucking problem taking over both families once our fathers were gone.
“I’ll fucking kill him,” I swore.
I stalked towards the office wall, searching among the piles of papers and keyboard keys for the USB. It was still intact, and hopefully, it would still work. I needed to keep this safe. To be sure that I could show Dante that he couldn’t play me anymore. That I wouldn’t be his chess piece to move around the board whenever he needed to.
This was my ticket to being free from him and his family forever. Honestly, this was more than enough evidence to get my men pissed off enough to take the Scarano’s out for good. Then we wouldn’t even have to worry about our own company going under. I would just take theirs. Instead of the Scarano’s taking over my family, I would take over instead. Whoever had left this USB had been sure to give me the ammo I needed to start and end this war once and for all. The Scaranos were going to pay for ever thinking they could use me. They were all going to fucking pay.
Smiling, I tuck the USB into my purse and switch off the lights. Dante was going to wish he’d never fucking married me. He was going to wish he’d never even met me at all. I’d make sure of that.
TWENTY-SIX
DANTE
Icouldn’t sleep. Despite how she treated me tonight, I couldn’t help but worry over whether or not she was alright. I hadn’t even thought about her going to the docks alone until I was lying in bed. But I guess she wouldn’t be alone if Mateo was there, which he most likely was. Still, I worried.
I worried that she would hate me forever for what happened to her family. I worried that I would lose her before we ever really had a chance to be something. I worried about the Snake taking her out, just as they had my mother and her father. I feared what would become of me if she left for good.
The house felt empty without my mother, and my chest felt empty without Sienna. It was a strange mix to feel hollow on both the outside and the inside. When I got here, I hadn’t known what to do with myself. Neither my father nor my brother was home. I’d heard the television on near Tommaso’s rooms behind the kitchen, but the lights were off, and I hadn’t wanted to bother him. For half an hour, I wandered around the house, taking it all in as if I’d never seen it before. My mother was still here. From the way the kitchen was organized to the rugs still placed around the living room. Everything was in perfect order, just as she’d always liked.
I’d even gone out into the back gardens, noticing how the old, dead plants had already been cleaned out. My mother’s roses hadn’t lasted long, and only a patch of dirt remained where the bushes had been. I didn’t know if my father had them cleared out or if the gardeners had done it on their own. Either way, it felt like a loss.
