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“You killed him, didn't you? Didn't you?!” She's yelling from the couch, hands gripping the cushions while her eyes well up with tears. When I don't answer her, she screams at me. “You're a fucking monster, Remy!”
Walking to her, I raise my hand to wipe away the tears that are falling down her cheeks. “Maybe. Good thing we’re getting a divorce.” I lightly pat her cheek at her stunned silence, watching as she tries to piece together everything that's happening. My hand drops from her. “A car will be here in fifteen minutes to pick you up. My lawyer will be accompanying you to finalize the divorce papers.” My eyes leave hers as I turn away. “I suggest you hurry it along, Viva, you won’t like what happens if you’re still here when I get back.”
She yells at my back as I leave the room, voice shaking as she cries, "Fuck you, Remy! Fuck you!"
Chapter Twenty
GAVINO
“Where is he?”
My pulse races as I meet up with some of the made men on guard, swallowing hard as they lead me to the edge of my property. Remy was here to speak with me. About what, I had an idea after hearing the news of Francis Delfino’s death.And it wasn’t good for me.Just the fact that Remy was basically out of his contracted marriage meant that I was running out of time where Beverly was concerned.
Remy gets whatever he wants—he always has his entire life. He has always been everyone’s favorite, even as a child. My father’s favorite, my sister’s favorite. He always had girls obsessing over him and men emulating him. Being Remy’s brother is like being the moon to the sun. Everyone basks in the sun’s glow, wakes up to it, plans their days around it, but they sleep when the moon rises. The few that stay awake are only looking at the stars, not paying attention to the moon, neither caring nor aware of its importance.
Only one person ever looked at the moon, the one personI had first.Beverly wasmine—until he made her his.But I finally got her back, and I wasn’t going to let her go so easily. He had thefamiglia, he had the power, all things I didn’t want or care about. He didn’t get to have her, too.
I feel his eyes on me before I even crest the round in the driveway. It’s dark, but the decorative lamps that sit atop the gate arches cast an eerie glow on the drive, making it light enough to see. When he comes into sight, he’s leaning casually against his SUV, a cigarette held between his lips as he lights it with his zippo. The men standing on guard radiate a nervous energy, eyes flicking to me once I come into view. The men I’ve hired to watch my estate arefamigliamen. They were raised to respect Remy as the futureCapo Famiglia, but they’re also lower-level men. Meaning the money I give them is enough to make them respect memore.
In theory.
I can see from here that his knuckles are freshly cut and bruised, can see the gleam in his dark eyes that he only ever gets after bloodshed. My father raised him to be a predator through and through, and in moments like this, I hated myself for the hint of fear I felt approaching him. I wasn’t naïve enough to think that I could take Remy full on. His reputation of being a monster was well earned and properly titled. And when my eyes finally met his, my feet planting in front of him, I felt the monster he kept on a leash below his skin.
“What a pleasure to see you, Remy.”
Smoke blows from his nose as he watches me, his head tilting like he’s sizing me up. “Cut the shit, Gavino. I’m not in the mood for games tonight.”
I bristled, but did my best to hide it under his heavy gaze. “What do you want, Remy? It’s dark, nearly time for bed.”
“Past your bedtime?” He mocks, taking another drag of his cigarette. He’s wearing only a tee shirt and denim jeans, seemingly unbothered by the cold that I feel nipping my fingertips. “Where’s Beverly? I want to see her.”
I snort. “She is sleeping.” I lie, watching his smoke billow up into the air. “And even if she wasn’t, I don’t have to let you see her. This is my house, Remy. She ismyfiance.”
He chuckles; the sound crawling up my spine, a warning tickling along my skin that makes the hairs on my arms stand on end. Even his amusement comes out as a threat. “Not for long, brother.”
My blood runs cold at his threat, sheer panic racing through my limbs.He can’t take her from me.“The arrangement has already been made. You can’t change it.”
His brow arches as we lock eyes, the moment stretching into a heavy silence before he speaks. “Says you.”
Wetting my dry lips, I sneer. “Says our father, actually.”
His dark eyes pass over me in contemplation, their phantom weight heavy on my shoulders as the corner of his lip tips slightly, an almost invisible smirk. His following hum settles in my bones, rattling me to my core. Smoke billows around him as he takes one last drag before dropping his cigarette onto the ground, his booted foot snubbing it out as he watches me. “Tell Beverly I’ll see her soon.”
My teeth grind together as I fight the urge to say anything else, not willing to buy into his taunting. As soon as his SUV starts up, headlights glaringly bright, I turn, walking back toward my house. Each step I took fueled my anger, burned my heart with a punishing need to make Beverly wholly mine.
I won’t let Remy have her.
She’d be mine.
Even if that required her death.
BEVERLY
I jump as my door is slammed open, startling me from where I sat on the edge of my bed. It’d only been an hour or so since Gavino had left, and I was hoping he’d be gone longer. Much to my surprise, though, he was stomping through my room toward me, his face scrunched in anger. Standing, I braced myself for it, meeting his gaze. “Are you okay? What’s the matter?”
His cold palm snatched out to grip my arm hard, shoving me so that I land back on the bed. “You’re mine, Beverly.” I crawl backward as he rips off his cuff links, the metal tinking onto the wood floor. “You’re mine, and I won’t let him have you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” My pulse raced, my eyes flicking around him toward the door he’d left open.
