by Rose Harper
Even if I have to cut my own hands off somehow, I’m going to make her regret the day she ever met me. I’m going to bring hell down on her so hard, she’s going to beg the devil for a reprieve.
“Aren’t you even a little curious why you’re here?” she asks, knowing her words will nag at my curious nature. To men like me, knowledge is power. And right now, I need all the power I can get.
But, I refuse to succumb to her will. Even though I want to rip the truth from her dainty little throat, I’ll not falter in my silence. She can fume all she wants, but at least I know one thing: if she’s mad, upset, or allowing her feelings to guide her actions, I’ll eventually have my in. She’ll slip up, forcing her hand.
I remain silent, glaring up at her from her perch on the rickety, worn-down stairs. I take in her posture—rigid in appearance, but no less on edge than she was when I woke up the first time after she drugged me. Camille has always been the epitome of polished and poise, but something about her now leads me to believe it was nothing more than a show—a version of herself to lead us to this very moment in time.
“What? You still giving me the silent treatment?” She cackles, resting against the banister. Her small, perky tits bounce with the effort of her laughter.
Yet, I say nothing. I will give her nothing. She can try all she wants, but it’s all going to end the same way. With my silence and her fuming.
A hard glint enters her eyes when it’s clear I’m not falling for her bait. That even though I’ve found myself in this position, I can still manage to have the upper hand by keeping my silence.
“Sooner or later, you’re going to have to talk,” she says, clenching her fingers around the water bottle. “It’s only a matter of time before you’re too delirious to refrain, or, I’m too fed up and make you talk.”
Ha! I laugh inwardly. Her? Make me talk? That’s laughable. No one can make me do a goddamn thing if I don't want to. She's just too naive to think otherwise.
I need to figure out a way to get out of this mess. Instead of sitting here, waiting for someone to come find me, I need to get myself out of this situation. It’s not that I don't trust my familia and men to get me out of this because I know they can. It’s the fact I’m not waiting around for them to find me. I’m not the leader of the Calvetti family—the most revered family in our world—for nothing.
I’m in this position because I’m the most cutthroat, bloodthirsty bastard this generation has ever seen. I’m the oldest with a head full of fuckedupness that rivals even Carina. If I can’t even get myself out of this, someone needs to just shoot me now, because I’m not even worth a goddamn penny.
Testing the chair, I place my feet against the floor and rear back on the two back pegs. I barely refrain from allowing my smile to pull at my lips. Stupid bitch. The chair isn’t even bolted to the floor. She's nothing more than a newbie trying to be a professional.
I hear her sigh before more wood creaks. My eyes fall back on her, watching her step the rest of the way off the stairs. She makes her way toward me, sashaying her hips from side to side. When she gets within reach, she doesn’t care about the offending smell, nor the threat I pose against her. If anything, it excites her—the proof being her nipples hardening into stiff points.
“I’ve taken almost all I can take of your silence, Mateo. I know you’re absolutely dying to know why I took you and why you're here. So, I’ll save your begging to be for your life and not this piece of information. Because quite frankly, I want to see your eyes flicker with horror—Ah, that will be such a delicious treat.”
I still offer her nothing more than a blink of my eyes in return, which causes her nostrils to flare in annoyance.
“You are here because I was paid a lot of money to take you out of the picture.” Leaning closer, I hold my breath to keep from smelling her. I’d rather smell my disgusting ass every day of the week than have her scent teasing my senses.
“You speak of familia as being the most important thing in this world; that you should die and kill for each other, right? Well, lover,” she says the word with … disgust? “Who do you think wants you dead?”
6
CARINA
I hear the words coming from his mouth. See his lips moving and his arms swinging around his head. But for the life of me, I can’t believe what he’s actually saying. It’s been this way since Mateo was taken, or since they allowed him to be taken from me when the only job they had was to protect him.
If I hadn’t quenched my thirst with those dipshits, Liam and Jake, I’d be half tempted in taking out Mateo’s younger brother. Hell, all his men, for that matter. It wasn’t just Lucio that let him down; it was all of them. They sat there while he was carted off to the devil only knows where.
Not even twenty-four hours after our impromptu ceremony and Mateo is taken. I don’t love him, but I’ve grown fond of his chauvinistic ass. I have to make sure that bigoted man stays in once piece, too. Preferably here, with me. Not out there with some unknown threat Gavino refuses to speak of. A threat none of them wish to acknowledge. Even though I can tell by their expressions they know who it is.
“I shouldn’t kill you, why?” I ask, glaring over my plate at him. It’s the same thing I’ve said over and over the last three days when each search we do comes back unfruitful.
“He told us to leave.” He scrambles around, flustered.
“And that makes it better!” I yell. My anger completely takes me over as I jump from my seat. “You and all his men are worthless. You have one job, Lucio! One! That is to protect the leader of this familia. Now, tell me who it was. Unlike you, I won’t give it a second thought on taking that son of a bitch out.”
Silence envelops us, forcing my anger to boil until it’s almost overflowing. Every person at this table knows I will only allow their silence to last for so long. When it becomes too much, the cataclysmic feelings roaring through me will guide my actions. I don’t care if these are Mateo’s men. I don’t care if they are family. They let Mateo down, and that infraction comes with a price.
Whether it be with their life or something just as valuable is completely up to them. All I know is they better tell me what I want to know or I’m going to start busting skulls.
“We don’t know who it was,” Gavino finally says, his admission causing vehemence to slice through me.
Resting my knuckles on top of the table, I command his attention as I loom over his seated form. “Say what?”
“The person driving the car … we don’t know.” His eyes turn toward mine. However, I can’t be bothered by the misery I see within his bottomless depths. It’s eating him up inside, knowing he left Mateo to fend for himself. And it should. It should completely fucking destroy him for what he’s forcing Mateo to endure.
Growling under my breath, my eyes trek over everyone sitting at the table. I’m standing where Mateo usually stands when he calls a meeting, further solidifying my place within this family. Since he isn’t here to give orders and think of ways out of this mess, it’s left up to me to guide this family on the right path.
And I take my job very, very seriously.
I didn’t lie when I said my job is now to protect every person in this house. I may loathe the very ground that most walk on, but I know Mateo loves them, so that, in turn, means I have to tolerate them. But this kind of insubordination is not going to fly with me.
“Well, who the fuck do you think it is? Have you had everyone checked out? Is anyone missing? I may have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night, dipshit. You always start with people that make themselves scarce. Now, tell me, who hasn’t been here?” I demand.
Silence envelops the room. Tension rises a notch higher every second no one spills their guts. My dominant hand twitches with the need to grab up the knife and wreak havoc on everyone in here. I crave to end all of them because it’s clear they have no use if they allow the most important person in their familia to be taken.
It isn’t until Gavino curses, an
d my eyes jerk to his that I see a look of pure unadulterated hatred swimming in his eyes. His thunderous expression causes the scars on his face to make him appear more menacing than he actually is.
“I didn’t start putting shit together until you said that,” he states, and in a fit of rage, slams his fisted hand down on top of the table.
“You know who it is, don’t you?” I inquire, clenching the back of the chair so tightly my fingers turn white.
“Yeah, and you’re really not going to like where my mind headed, either.”
“Tell me.”
“It had to be someone who had access to our cars. Someone who could move around without anyone noticing their movements. They could go anywhere, do anything and none of us would be the wiser.”
“I don’t like where you’re going with this,” I growl. If I could, there would no doubt be smoke rolling out of my nose right now from the flames burning inside of me. I feel like a furnace, and Gavino’s words are adding more wood on the fire.
“Camille,” he grinds out, hitting the table again. “The bitch was right under our noses and we didn’t even see it coming.”
My entire world stops. The breath freezes in my lungs. “Say what?” I scoff. “I fucking told you to check her ass out, Gavino. I. Told. You. And yet, you didn’t, did you?”
Unbelievable. If he weren’t Mateo’s brother, I’d kill his ass right here and now. May still do that if Mateo isn’t returned alive and well soon.
Scoffing, Gavino replies, “I thought you were just blowing smoke out of your ass. You were new here, and not to be a bastard, but I don’t take orders from newbies. Especially those who aren’t the boss.”
The smell of death lingers in my nose even now, and I can feel the need rise in me to cause more bloodshed. It’s a force to be reckoned with, and Gavino and all the other men are treading on thin ice.
Just hours after Mateo and I said our “I dos, he’s taken. And Gavino sits here, nonchalantly, knowing he never did what I asked and look into Camille. If I ever do anything to Mateo’s men, I vow right now, this son of a bitch will be first.
The memory of how Liam and Jake fell apart so easily at the tip of my knife comes back full force. I’ve given everything up for this family. My freedom. Yet, he still thinks I’m a newbie. That I haven’t proven myself enough to this family to earn a title better than that.
Fuck that straight to hell.
I put my entire life on the line to protect them from the shooter that claimed Vinny’s life. Almost jumped to my death to get a clear shot at the target.
“Screw that!” My anger laden voice booms. “Marriage or no marriage, I command every goddamn person’s respect that sits at this table. If I don’t have it, I have no qualms about slitting your throat and burying you in the backyard. You think I was bad before?” I ask, scoffing.
I lean closer to him. To most people, the scars that pepper his face coupled with his scowl and fierce eyes would be intimidating. But not me. I’m too far into the level of crazy that I just might go toe-to-toe against Gavino.
“You haven’t seen shit yet, Gavino. I don’t care what you all have to do—how far you have to go. You all will bring my husband home, or so help me— right here right now—I will hand deliver your body to your families in motherfucking pieces. Do you understand?”
We continue to stare at each other, battling the other with an unbreakable gaze. If he thinks I’m playing, the joke’s on him. I’m deadly serious. Mateo better be here, in one piece, before the streetlights come on tonight. Or so help me, all these assholes are going to hell, and I’m going to be the Reaper that takes them there.
I’m done sitting around, watching them idly twiddle their dicks while Mateo’s life is in danger. This. Ends. Now.
“Got it,” he replies.
Nodding once, I stand to my full height. Peering over the rest in attendance, my eyes pass over my brother’s. His eyes shine full of what I can only vaguely determine as pride. He sits taller, shoulders pulled back with a haughty look resting on his face as his eyes flick toward Gavino a few times.
He doesn’t need to get too fucking confident. He’s in just as much trouble as these men. He wasn’t there when I needed him the most. Again.
Narrowing my eyes on his, a brief flicker of unease passes over his features before he shrouds it. “And you … Where were you when I was getting manhandled by those two dipshits?”
He looks taken aback by my anger being directed toward him. Trust me, it’s been festering for the past three days, and until now, I didn’t know how to approach the topic. I figured he would try to lie his way out of it, or, even worse, be involved with it in some way.
“I was in the study. You know, where I said I was going to be.”
Walking around the table, my hands trail over the top of the chairs as I make my way toward him. His eyes never leave mine, and mine never leave his. But, I can see his shoulder stiffen more than usual, his ire rising the closer I come to him. Good.
“A Reap who has been trained sufficiently would have heard anything within a mile radius of them. The music you were listening to may have been loud. You may have been distracted with Vinny’s laptop, but your goddamn distraction almost cost me everything! I. Almost. Lost. It. Luca. Do you know what happens when I lose it?”
Shaking his head, I go on. “People die. Innocent people. You may have a conscience, but when I’m in that state, I don’t. I don’t think. Don’t feel. Don’t take the time to mull over what’s right or wrong—I simply kill anything in my path. If you had been in front of me when that was happening, I would have ended you and not thought twice about it.”
“Princess …” he says, trailing off.
“Don’t princess me,” I retort, shaking from the wrath buzzing inside me. “Let me ask you something, Luca. You’ve been keeping tabs on me, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you ever wondered why our mother wore things that covered her from her neck all the way down to her knees unless it was mostly dark?” I quirk an eyebrow in question.
Cocking his head to the side, his brows furrow in confusion. “No. I didn’t think about that. But now that you mention it … why did she?”
Stopping next to him, I place my hand down on the smooth wood of the table, while resting my other on the back of his chair. I bring my face close to his, and his eyes shift between mine as he stares up at me. I can only imagine the things going through his mind right now. But I’m positive he won’t guess the right answer. No one will. It’s been my dirty little secret for as long as I can remember. It’s the reason she hated me, loathed the very ground I walked on.
“Daniel pushed me over the edge one too many times. He provoked me. Wanted to see how vicious I could get when that switch was flipped. Our mother? He put her in my path when it happened.” Bringing my face closer to his, my lips resting against the shell of his ear, I whisper, “I carved her up like a turkey. From her collarbone down to mid-thigh, I engraved every demon I have into her silky, nearly perfect flesh. The words death, kill, and blood were stamped into her flesh until there wasn’t a single place without a scar. Do try to test me with another excuse, dear brother, I fucking dare you.”
Jerking back from me, his eyes flit between both of mine. He can look all he likes, but I speak nothing but the truth, and I will continue to do so until the day I die. She hated me because of what I did but loved my father because of what he allowed Rossi to do. Because he allowed him to torture me when she wasn’t strong enough to do it herself. I only wish I could have been the one to end her.
Clearing my throat, I do an about face and return to the head of the table. I can feel my brother’s eyes beaming in the back of the head as I do. Only I don’t allow myself to acknowledge any of them—least of all him—until I’m back at my seat, glaring down at all of them.
They wanted a leader? Well, now they have a queen. They will either bow before me, or I’ll kill them all.
“Here’s what you’re going
to do,” I order. “You are going to find the address of where Camille is stashing Mateo. If I know anything about her, she hasn’t killed him. Her superficial complex won’t allow her to until she makes Mateo do the one thing he’s never done before. Then you motherfuckers are going to sit back and watch a master handle your dirty work. You never know, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two.”
“What might that be?” Dom asks as he sits forward, resting his forearms on the table.
Meeting his eyes, I ask, “What’s that?”
“Mateo? What’s the one thing he hasn’t done?” he asks, lips pressed into a thin line.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“No.”
I groan. Idiots, I swear. “She wants him to beg. You and I both know he’s too proud for something like that. At best, he’ll try to seduce her to get his way.”
“And worse?” Giovanni asks.
“And worse …” I say, drawing in a deep breath. Meeting his eyes, I frown, hard. “He will detach himself emotionally when he goes for her blood. He won’t be the same Mateo you all know and respect. He will be something far worse than I could ever be.”
“There’s something worse than you?” Lucio asks, huffing.
“Yes.” I tilt my head toward him. “He will be emotionless, unhinged, closed off. And above all—have access to anything and everything he could possibly want.”
7
MATEO
Retching, the bile rises up my scorched throat. The smell. The taste lingering on my tongue. It’s nauseating, disgusting. It’s just a reminder of my current situation, which forces me deeper down the hole of the maddening, bloodthirsty craze sweeping through me.
My stomach is in knots, clenching every time I think of where I am and who has me within their clutches. It’s steadily driving me insane. Almost to the point I can barely differentiate between reality and fantasy. Because someone would have to be living in a fantasy world to lock someone like me up like this. To clearly get off on this cat-and-mouse game they’re trying to play.