The Vendetti Coward: Salvatore Vendetti (The Vendetti Famiglia Book 4)

by Sapphire Knight

  She was Irish, that much I picked up on, and I’ve heard the guys murmuring about the Irish. Could she be the reason why Salvatore freaked out before, coming to check on me and Rosa to see if we were okay? That time it’d sounded like a bomb had gone off outside the estate. I was told it was nothing and I was safe. I let it go, but now I’m wondering if that was a mistake and I should’ve asked questions.

  Being Italian I was never impressed

  by magicians. My uncles made people

  disappear all the time.

  - Unknown

  I’m going insane inside with fury. The fact O’Toole was that close to my daughter and wife has me beyond the notion of calming down. Everything inside has me wanting to make sure she never has the opportunity again. I promised myself I’d protect Annabella and Rosa at all costs, and I meant it. I will do whatever necessary to make sure they’re safe.

  I’d never seen Annabella look so fierce. My chest filled with pride at the sight of her holding the gun steady. Then to hear her declare so passionately that Rosa was hers and she’d kill O’Toole…it had the wall around my heart crumbling to pieces for her. There’s nothing sexier than a strong woman willing to go to bat for your child and the rest of your famiglia. In that moment, I knew she’d become mine for a reason; she was destined to be my wife and Rosa’s mother. Had Sof lived, Rosa would have a terrible woman in her life to depend on, and there’s no telling what our lives could’ve looked like in that scenario. With Annabella, Rosa has a future filled with love, happiness, and a mama bear ready to protect her. Annabella is everything I ever could’ve wished for in a wife and in the mother of my children.

  “She has to die,” I declare adamantly, facing Matteo. I’m ready to do it myself if necessary.

  The Capo glowers at the woman tied up, hanging from the ceiling before us. “Not much of a threat now, are you?” he mocks her. “You came for my territory, home, famiglia, and my Empire. Did you honestly believe I wouldn’t find you, torture, and kill you?” He’s not the type to mince words. He never has been.

  Vi joins us, having changed into all black. She’s obviously here to get bloody and prove a point. I still can’t believe how wrong we were when she initially showed up and we assumed she was weak. Matteo offers her a soft look, pulling her to his chest. He caresses her jawline, leaning in to nuzzle her throat. He softly chastises, “Mia Violetta, you should be resting, amore.”

  She presses a kiss to his chin, as she’s too short to reach his lips. She always does it. I think Matteo enjoys he has one small thing over her—his height. She has him wrapped around her pinky finger otherwise. “She came to our home. Our daughter could’ve been outside with me, could’ve been at risk.” Her hand moves to rest on her tummy. “She was a threat to this child. I would like to kill her, husband.”

  The O’Toole fica coughs, spitting blood. She ignores Violet. “The infamous Ruthless can’t kill his own captives? What kind of Capo boyo has no balls?”

  Violet steps forward, slapping the woman harshly. “Be careful what you ask for, puttana. I’m the Vendetti Queen. I’ll kill whomever I see fit. My husband would peel your skin from your bones if he killed you himself.”

  O’Toole laughs in Vi’s face, and the temper ignites in my sister in-law, her cheeks flaming. “Queen?” She laughs again, blood smearing her lips. “Will you slap me to death? You’re a thick Bottaro princess, just like your father was in Chicago. He’s lucky we didn’t get to his arse first.”

  Violet moves to the side table filled with various tools we use for torture and killing. She grabs a medium-sized filet knife, spins around, and takes a few determined steps until she’s back in front of O’Toole. Vi leans forward, slashing the blade upwards, dragging the knife from knee to upper thigh. Our captive screams so loud it has my skin crawling. She cuts off mid-scream, panting through the pain. I nearly expect her to pass out, but she manages to breathe through it and remain coherent.

  Matteo’s head tilts, watching his wife go to work. She’ll be getting fucked hard after the bloodshed. I know my brother well enough to be certain he’s getting turned on witnessing his provocative wife hurt someone who’d mocked him moments prior.

  “Oh wait, you were asking if I’d slap you…” Violet shifts the blade to her left hand then brings her right palm down hard against the filleted skin. The smack is loud enough for us to hear it, blood splattering off the Irish woman’s thigh. She cries out a curse but smartly doesn’t attempt to mock husband or wife again.

  Matteo places his hand on her shoulder, and she pauses her tormenting. His attention pins on the woman hanging. “How did you get free?” he questions, his gaze calculating as he stares the Irish woman down. “My brothers would enjoy a chance at you, to make you scream. I’ll grant their wish, should you not cooperate.”

  She huffs. “I killed your man. You saw him.”

  “No,” he disagrees. “I asked how you got free.”

  “I was—”

  There’s a harsh crack raining throughout the room as his hand connects with her cheek. Even with a quick backhand, Matteo hits hard. Her head is probably spinning. “Do not lie to me. I’m no fool. You couldn’t have gotten to Amedeo without help, or near our wives. Now, tell me who.”

  She shakes her head, and Violet slams her hand onto O’Toole’s thigh. “Answer my husband, Fiadh.”

  I pick up from Violet using her name to interrupt. “Fiadh O’Toole. You have none of us fooled. You were in the gardens with my wife and my daughter, with the Capo’s wife. For posing a threat to our famiglia, we should torture you, yet we attempt to have a civil conversation, and you decide to lie?”

  She sputters, “A civil conversation? You Italians are fecking unbelievable.” She shakes her head, muttering to herself.

  Santino moves to the table, grabbing a few tools before approaching. “It’s a shame to have to make such a pretty bird bleed. We could’ve had a lot of fun together, had you not attempted to kill my famiglia. I bet you’ve got a perfect Catholic pussy too—tight and wet. Such a waste.” He snaps his tongue in displeasure as we all do at times.

  He turns and I get a glimpse of the weapons he’s chosen. The Tiger’s Claw, or proper name being the Bagh Nakh from India. It’s a form of a knuckle duster, easily concealed in your palm and made up of four or five metal claws that are used to slash at your opponent. We’ve had several custom weapons made over the years. The ends of the Tiger’s Claws are extremely sharp, a few jagged on purpose. They will cause a great deal of pain, especially on a small woman like O’Toole.

  “Tell the Capo who helped you get free, or I start carving your insides out,” he threatens as Valentino steps into the room with us.

  I crack my knuckles and mention, “This reminds me of something actually. It may be important, or maybe not.”

  Matteo turns to me, his brows raised. He gives me a ‘what the fuck now’ sort of look. Valentino skirts his gaze around the room, gauging everyone’s moods before taking on our tied-up captive. Fiadh won’t look at him… Interesting. “Well?” Matteo asks, and my grin turns feral.

  “I meant to mention this sooner, but when I snatched the Irish cunt, there was a familiar car parked to speak with her. I knew the model as soon as I noticed it.” I stare between my brothers, waiting for the explosion.

  “A familiar car?” Matteo murmurs, his brows furrowing.

  “Si.”

  “A traitor?” he quietly asks.

  I look to the woman. “You want to fill us in, or shall I continue? Your head was in his window, after all.”

  Santino steps directly in front of her. “It wasn’t me. I’ll gut the fucking bitch. Watch me,” he growls, lowering his hands clad in the weapons for everyone to see.

  “No, it’s lie!” Fiadh practically pleads, and my grin grows, knowing I have her where I want her.

  “Brothers?” Matteo questions, looking to each of us. I shake my head no. I’m no longer the coward in this famiglia. His gaze rakes through us one at a time. He gets to V
alentino. Tino shakes his head and Matteo moves to turn back around, but then our brother’s head drops in shame.

  “Cazzo!” Matteo shouts. “Everyone out!” he screams, furious. We move to the door. He points, scowling towards our underboss. “Not you. You don’t move a goddamn step.”

  “We deserve to know too,” Santino sulks, pissed we have to give our brother a chance to explain his fuck-up without bearing witness.

  “Shut up,” Matteo growls. “This is a mess. I’ll hear him out first.”

  “You shouldn’t be alone right now,” Violet says, and Valentino’s mouth drops.

  “He’s my famiglia, my Capo!” Valentino defends.

  Vi shakes her head. “If this means what I think it does, you’ve betrayed us all. Those titles mean nothing, if this is the case.”

  “Fiore,” Matteo softly scolds. “You know I can kill them both myself if needed.”

  She stares at him a beat before nodding in submission. He’s the boss…of us all. We have no say in what he orders. She leaves, and I move to step out behind her.

  “Not you, Two. You brought this to my attention. You bared witness.”

  I nod. “Si, Capo.”

  “You’ll stay and hear him out with me. Without you, we wouldn’t have O’Toole, nor would we know of Valentino’s indiscretions. Clearly, his time has passed, and you were sent home when I’d need you most by my side.”

  I nod, a bit taken back by his acknowledgement. Valentino has been Matteo’s right-hand man for years now. We all knew it would end up being him or Dante once we became closer to Matteo taking over for Romano. This has to hurt him worse than it does the rest of us. It’s a betrayal to the famiglia, to the Empire in the rawest sense.

  The Capo turns to Valentino. “Tell me what I need to know. Why has our fratello brought this to my attention and not you?”

  We take a seat, leaving the woman hanging in the middle of the room. Her torture will be revisited once we hear Tino’s side of this clusterfuck. “It’s not what it seems,” he begins.

  Matteo scoffs, not buying it. “We’ll either be fucking her or killing her. You decide how this story goes.”

  “That’s a problem… Her brother saved my life.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Valentino nods. “Si. Fiadh nearly killed me, and she would’ve, had he not showed up.”

  I think back to Matteo telling me how Tino was hurt and he could never catch the woman. Now I understand a bit more why that was. “Cazzo,” I swear aloud, rubbing my temples as more disappointment fills me. He should’ve told all of this to the Capo when it initially went down. He’d have known what to do. Matteo always knows the answer, hence why he’s head of the famiglia.

  The Capo’s head shakes as he grumbles, “I find it hard to believe a woman as tiny as her got the one-up on you, Valentino. I’ve watched you kill men twice her size. Try again.”

  She bursts out, “He’s not mentioning the part where he was too busy attempting to get into my knickers to pay any attention to me planning on killing his arse. He’s an idiot, that one.”

  “Casanova,” I ask her quizzically. It’s always the opposite; women flock to his angelic features. The pretty boy is never readily turned away by women—well, unless it’s Annabella or Arianna. Those are the only two females I’ve witnessed not fall for his charm with a quick quirk of his lips. My brother doesn’t have to try when it comes to women. They practically drop their panties with a look from him. In fact, it was Violet who gave him the nickname. She teased Dante with it at first. She soon discovered it’s Valentino who deserves it, and even more now with his straight psycho Phantom of the Opera shit he’s got going on.

  Valentino shakes his head at me and casts a glare towards the Irish woman currently mocking him. Even restrained and bleeding, she torments him. “She knew exactly who I was when she threatened me, long ago, on my date, in front of the entire restaurant. After that, I went after her multiple times, and it’s been this cat and mouse bullshit. I tried the Casanova approach on her, but she didn’t fall for it. At least, that’s what I believe, but who knows. She had me fooled at one point that she was going for it, but in reality she was only lying in wait. Serpe,” he hisses his last word, digging his point in.

  “What was that, you bollix?” she yells.

  Matteo’s brows rise.

  I share, “I think she just referred to you as a nutsack, brother.” My eyes briefly move to her. “He claims you’re a snake. So, apparently, you both hate each other, or need to fuck.”

  “Oh feck off!” she calls in return, but it’s directed at Valentino. I’d be lying if I didn’t say this is entertaining to watch him in the hotseat with a female. After him giving Arianna and Annabella grief, this is what he deserves. He may be my brother, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be held responsible at times. We all need to answer to someone, at some point, who isn’t Matteo.

  “Capo,” Valentino sighs, exasperated with O’Toole. I’m loving this even more, watching him with her and how she drives him crazy. This is his payback for all the shit he’s gotten into, but he doesn’t realize it yet.

  “Karma,” I mutter under my breath, but Matteo catches it. The corners of his lips tilt a fraction—not enough for anyone to see unless they were paying him enough attention.

  He says, “If we don’t kill her, we certainly won’t be releasing her. She’ll come back and attempt to finish the job she’s failed at.”

  O’Toole snorts. She needs to be quiet if she knows what’s good for her. Matteo may not kill her, but he definitely won’t make her stay here all that pleasant.

  Valentino explodes, jumping to his feet. He spins to face her. “Silenzio! Just shut your mouth, woman! You will die if you don’t shut the fuck up!” We both stand with him, my hand going to his shoulder to get him to calm down.

  Matteo rubs the back of his neck and says, “Ignore her outbursts. We’ll figure this out. Cris needs any information you may have on her or her brother. No more secrets. This woman attacked the estate. Our home, Valentino, our famiglia,” he says adamantly, attempting to rub it in so Valentino grasps the severity of O’Toole’s offenses. “I need to speak to Salvatore for a moment.”

  Our brother exits without a backward glance.

  Matteo lowers his tone so it won’t carry. “She’s dug into him deep. I’ll work on getting the rest out of him.”

  I nod. “Amedeo is dead, a made man of the Empire. She has to pay for this. We need blood for blood.”

  “I know. If her brother really saved ours, then it complicates things.”

  “I can get Violet back in here if you want. I’ll watch her to make sure she doesn’t kill the Irish woman, only tortures her.”

  “I don’t want my wife anywhere near her. She’s more emotional than usual from the bambino. She may end up hurting herself rather than punishing our prisoner. I won’t compromise her health for anyone.”

  “So what do we do then?”

  “We’ll see if Valentino has more information on the brother. Maybe Cris can dig further into their organization. I don’t only want to cut the head of the snake off the Irish. I want them all out of my fucking city. They will pay for threatening my famiglia, for turning against the Empire, and killing made men under my hand. This is unacceptable, and I won’t tolerate it in my city.”

  I nod, completely agreeing with him. Any other enemies lying in wait need to witness the consequences of going against the Empire as well. “You’re working on Tino. Cris is working on more information. Vi needs to be closed out. What do you want me to do?”

  “Send Luciano in with her. He won’t hurt the O’Toole fica too badly. He’ll play but not bleed her out. Santino is too much of a loose cannon right now. I need you to recharge, in case there’s another development. I don’t know how badly this will effect Valentino, and I need one person aside from me with a clear head. I refuse to allow the Vendetti Empire to fall because of overgrown emotions. We must be harder than ever. Ruthless. Capisci?”


  “Si. Let’s kill them all.”

  Don’t be afraid of what hasn’t

  happened yet. Learn to love what is.

  - Claire Wineland

  “You were fierce,” I proclaim.

  “I had to be.”

  “No. You could’ve cowered and cried in fear. You stood up and put famiglia first. You remained between Rosa, Violet, and the threat. You are Vendetti through and through, Annabella.”

  She shrugs the praise off as I tuck her against my body. My chest squeezes ridiculously tight at the notion of what she’s done, and from what she’d said earlier as well. Violet told me all about how Annabella called Rosa hers, how she claimed her without anyone telling her to do so. I’d caught bits and pieces of the tail end of their altercation, but it took Vi approaching me and Matteo in private to let me know just how resilient my wife was in my absence. I was incredibly prideful, while Matteo commented how she was a smart addition to our famiglia, saying he was proud she shared our last name.

  I lift her chin, pressing a tender kiss to her lips. I’ve attempted to keep my distance from her, adamantly so in the beginning, and still a bit lately, not wanting to put her in danger. It’s useless, it seems, as it appears the beautiful woman is unwavering when it comes to breaking down every wall I try to erect. I don’t know how it’s possible. She was my daughter’s nanny, our hired help…and then my betrothed. Yet, day after day, I’m falling a bit more for her charm. “You’re enchanting, tesora.”

  A flush spreads over her cheeks, her chin attempting to dip at my compliment. “You’re being sweet,” she notices softly. “I don’t know how to say no to you when you’re like this.”

  “Mm, good thing I’ve given you no reason to deny me then.”

  “Deny you?”

  I nod, cupping her cheek, my lips ghosting over hers as I say, “You know what I want, bellissima.” My tongue dips in, coaxing her lips to open for me. I dive in, kissing her aggressively, showing her just how badly I’m craving that sweet little pussy she’s got hidden away. I’ve been so tense with everything going on, then the thought of her getting hurt, it set me even more on edge. When I heard that she claimed my daughter as her own, I knew I had to sink my cock deep inside her warmth.