And as always, Reanna was honest with him.
She nodded her head. “At times,” she replied, “yes. Yes, you are.” Bringing her hand up, she placed it against his heart. “But even still, even in those times when I think you are a monster, even in those times when the thought of who you are, and what you do scares me, I love you.” She sobbed softly. “I love you. And I accept you for who you are; I even love you for it. But, Kyle,” she whispered, taking a small step forward, “if this, us, is going to work, you have to accept me, too.”
“I do accept you.”
“Then listen to me,” she cried. “I know what he did was wrong, but I am asking you to please, for me, show some restraint. Real mercy. And don’t let your anger at what he did to me lead you to do something that would make me question whether it was the right idea for me to be honest with you about this.” She gave a shake of her head. “I don’t want that. I want to be honest with you. I need that.”
“You can be honest with me, Reanna. You know that.”
She looked up at him, her eyes boring into his. “Then listen to me,” she repeated sternly. Then she uncrossed her arms before placing one of her hands on his chest once more. “Do what you must to keep him away from me, away from my sister … but do not,” she frowned deeply, “do not kill him, Kyle. Under any circumstances. That isn’t what I want. And if you were to ignore me on this and disregard my feelings …” She visibly swallowed, lowering her eyes momentarily before lifting them again. “I don’t know how I’d be able to trust you again.”
And there it was. His fucking Achilles heel.
Fuck!
Turning away from her, Kyle ran a hand over his face, letting out a frustrated grunt as he did. “Are you fucking kidding me, Reanna!” he snapped.
“I’m sorry, Kyle, but I’m not kidding.”
“Okay, you two …”
Kyle had heard Carter approach, but he kept his back turned, still unable to face Reanna in his anger.
“I’ve been waiting patiently for things to look less intense over here so I could come and scream my congratulations without getting in your business,” Carter continued, “but then I remembered that I’m invasive, and I don’t care if I’m getting in your personal business so—” Her words cut off with a sharp gasp. “Reanna!” she exclaimed.
“Carter,” Reanna sighed, “it’s nothing.”
“What the hell do you mean it’s nothing, Reanna. That’s a big fucking bruise! Oh shit. So sorry, baby … Mama’s so sorry for cursing, Natalia …”
“Who has a bruise?” Nathan’s voice sounded. “Reanna!”
“Oh, God,” Kyle heard Reanna groan. “Not you, too. Guys it isn’t that big of a deal.”
“What’s not that big of a deal?” Mickey came forward.
“Oh, no,” Reanna said firmly. “Not you too. Not you, Mickey, go back.”
“What happened to your arm, Reanna?” he asked, ignoring her plea for him to go.
“It’s nothing!”
“It doesn’t look like nothing, sweetheart.”
“Lucca—”
“It looks like someone has a death wish.”
“Death wish?!” Reanna yelled in utter horror. “No! No, death. What is wrong with you people! Here just … give me, Natalia. I need to feel her innocence in the midst of all this sin.”
“Did someone hurt you, Reanna?” Nathan spoke up again. “Come here, sweetheart, let me see.”
“It’s nothing, Nathan, really,” Reanna replied, her tone softening as it often did when she spoke to Nathan.
“It doesn’t look like nothing, Reanna.”
“It was just … a bad break up is all.”
“With Braden?” Carter asked.
And Kyle could already hear the exact same anger that he was feeling in her voice.
“Are you fuck— are you serious! Braden did this to you?”
“Who’s is this Braden?” Lucca asked.
“No, I think the better question is where is this, Braden?” Mickey said. “Tell me where he lives. I’ll pay him a visit, teach him that it’s immoral for a man to put his hands on a woman.”
“Alright, guys, please,” Reanna said, her voice bouncing a bit. Most likely because she was bouncing the babbling little Natalia in her arms. “I’m fine, really, just stop this.”
“You have tears in your eyes.”
“I’m emotional!”
“Because he hurt you!”
“No!” Reanna snapped. “I’m just emotional, Mickey, alright?”
“Reanna, sweetheart,” Lucca spoke again, “you do not have to put on a brave face in front of family.”
Reanna pouted. “I’m not Lucca, please,” she whined. “Will you guys just let it go? I already told Kyle, and he’s going to handle it.”
“Do you need our help, brother? Nathan asked.
Before Kyle could turn and reply, Reanna answered for him.
“That’s so very kind of you. Nathan, but no.”
Kyle rolled his eyes, once again running his fingers through his hair.
“… Kyle has everything under control.”
“Are you sure, Kyle?” Mickey asked. “Because I can—”
“No!” Reanna said in a rush, then she laughed a nervous, humorless laugh and calmed her tone. “I mean no Mickey. You’re sweet, and we love you, but Kyle already knows what he’s going to do to get Braden to back off.”
Aside from killing the fucker, Kyle did not know what he was going to do. It was fucking hard trying to figure out something that would get the message across, but also not anger Reanna at the same time.
“Does he know?” Nathan asked, a hint of disbelief in his tone.
He was right to not believe the woman.
“Yes,” Reanna answered, far too confidently.
“Okay,” Nathan replied slowly. “Well, then … what is he going to do, if you don’t mind me asking.”
Reanna seemed all too happy to answer that question, even though she shouldn’t have.
“Anything … but kill him.”
“What!”
They all seemed to voice their outrage at once.
“Oh, Bella, no,” Kyle heard Mickey say, “that is … unacceptable.”
“Mickey, how is not killing somebody unacceptable?”
“Not killing someone isn’t unacceptable when there is no reason, but this—”
“Isn’t enough of a reason to kill anyone,” Reanna cut him off. “Tell them Nathan, you’re reasonable.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I can’t say that. Lord knows I’ve started my share of wars over my wife.”
“That’s true,” Carter agreed. “And when I was attacked a few months after I first moved here, I made about nine or ten people pay for that and made Gianni kill himself …”
In unison everyone voiced their approval and agreement for the path of punishment that each of them were most used to, and that was killing the offender that dare have the audacity to test them in such a way. And, of course, debate ensued after that. Reanna argued her side, and everyone else tried their best to explain to her the ways and rules of the underworld …
“Excuse me!”
Silence … everywhere, even from the innocent civilians passing by when the loud, sharp, deep voice roared filling the entire lobby.
“Hello,” the man shouted again. “Can anybody fucking hear me? Am I invisible?”
Upon turning around and facing the incredibly rude, loud, fucking bastard, Kyle’s eyes widened, unable to believe what they were seeing.
“Here, how about this …”
Guns. A lot of them. And they were all pointing in their direction.
The sound of Reanna’s surprised, fearful squeal was the first thing that had hit Kyle’s ears.
“Oh my God,” she gasped.
But Eric Bonaducci just smiled; a big, sinister smile, even as his gun aimed directly at Nathan. He chuckled, “Can you hear me now?”
Chapter 24 Peace Deal
The S
alerno soldiers immediately began hustling around, clearing the lobby of everyone but the two rival families.
“Jesus Christ, how rude you all are,” Eric Bonaducci chuckled. “We’ve been standing here for thirty whole seconds now, kindly asking for just a little attention. And nothing? Are we intruding on family time?”
The bystanders were gone, so Don Bonaducci’s questions were answered with silence. It was so quiet that you could hear a thin sheet of paper gliding across the black marble floors of the dead silent lobby.
“Hello?” Eric spoke up again. “What the fuck …” Laughing and turning to face his soldiers—and there was a nice amount of Bonaducci soldiers present. Kyle guessed about fifteen — Eric Bonaducci waved his gun in a circle. “They are so quiet, yeah?” he asked his men, all of them chuckling in response. “How fucking rude.” He turned back to face them once more, narrowing his eyes in Nathan’s direction. “I don’t like to be ignored, Don Salerno.” He shrugged. “It makes me feel like you’re not happy to see me up and about after such extensive injuries. Is that it?” he asked Nathan. “Am I right, Don?”
Nobody could pull off an impassive expression that gave away nothing, and everything all at the same time quite like Nathan Salerno. It was still silent, and Nathan hadn’t responded, and yet, there was so much said.
“So you’re just going to look at me? Look at my men?” Once again he chuckled. “Well, fellas,” he said to his guys, “looks like we can’t get a meeting with the all-powerful king even if we’re standin’ a few feet from him, pointing a fucking gun at his face.”
His men laughed … just laughed in the face of an obvious deadly silence.
They laughed, laughed in the face of an unfathomable amount of force, of power, as if all was right in their world, as if they had nothing to fear. There they stood, lining the lobby, blocking off the entryways; Eric Bonaducci, Niko Bonaducci, and the beaten, swollen-faced David Mitchum. They stood, facing off with a considerable amount of the criminal underworlds’ most notorious individuals, and even still they laughed.
Kyle was just … having a lot of trouble understanding what the fuck they could have been thinking.
“Mr. Don,” Eric sang, once again waving his gun in Nathan’s direction. “Open your fucking mouth and say something. Don’t be disrespectful. What of you, Carterina? Huh?”
Carter’s brow twitched slightly in response.
“No hello, then?” Eric asked, continuing to play with fire. “What about a smile then, beautiful? Give us a little taste of that dangerous beauty, eh?”
And she did. She smiled. A full, teeth baring smile.
And though her smile was indeed beautiful, Kyle saw fear and terror flash through the eyes of every single man standing with Don Bonaducci. Even Eric himself lost a nice amount of that defiant spark in his eyes upon her compliance.
Then she moved.
It was a simple move, not threatening at all. She only lifted her hand to wipe the smile from her face, but every single man, including Eric, Niko, and David, flinched, putting a tighter grip on their guns upon seeing it.
Kyle’s lips twitched with a small smile.
Perhaps they weren’t too stupid after all … well, they had still had their guns pointed at them, but that was soon rectified by none other than Mrs. Salerno as well.
“Eric …”
The soft call of his name by Carterina seemed to surprise him, his eyes widening slightly before he attempted to neutralize his features.
Meanwhile, Carter stepped to the side, motioning behind herself as she did.
“You see?” she asked, pointing to where Reanna stood, holding Natalia fearfully against her chest. “Do you?”
She put extra emphasis on her words that time, signaling that she’d been expecting a response.
Seeming to catch on to that fact, Eric nodded his head, clearing his throat as he did. “I see,” he answered.
“That,” Carter continued after hearing his answer, “is my sister.” She looked back at Reanna, offering her a comforting smile, before she turned back to face Eric. “And that baby, that smiling, babbling baby girl that she is holding,” her jaw tightened as she inhaled a deep breath and pressed a hand to her belly, “that is my daughter.” She stood silently for a moment as if to let it sink in before repeating, “my daughter” once more. “And over there,” she continued, “are my three sons and my God-daughter.”
Aleksandr, ever the smart ass, smirked, offering a wave of his hand, a chuckle, and a ‘hello’ in the Russian language. The other three children paid no mind to what was happening. Maksim had taken out his coloring books, and Sofia still had the cookies; so the three of them where far too occupied to be bothered with being frightened by the Bonaducci clans theatrical display.
“… And there,” she pointed to where Anastacia stood with Camiella bouncing in her arms. “That is my sister.” Then she brought her cold, hazel eyes back to Eric. “Do you see all of them, Eric?” Carter asked, then she waited for Eric’s answer.
The poor dumbass looked hesitant, like he was battling against his unfortunate pride.
“Yes,” Eric answered reluctantly. “I see them.”
“That’s good,” Carter nodded, “very good.” Clearing her throat, she reached behind her to where she knew her husband stood, opened his suit jacket, and took his hunting knife from its holster. “Because I wasn’t sure if you saw the children here when you began your little,” she smiled, “speech.” Then she looked at him, her eyes daring him to respond as she pointed the tip of the large hunting knife at his men. “It’d be most unfortunate for you to lose your life here today, Don Bonaducci. Because I know that isn’t what you came here to do.” She took a step forward, shaking her head. “You didn’t come here to die … none of you did. And yet …” She sighed, shrugging her shoulder in sadness that almost looked villainous, “… dying is exactly what you’ll be doing if you continue pointing those weapons in the direction of my children.”
Her sharp words swept over the Bonaducci soldiers in a searing gust, each of them looking as if the force of them caused them physical harm as they rushed to holster their guns. Kyle nodded his head, agreeing with their quick action. He couldn’t even call them cowards because the fact was, they weren’t. They just had bad leadership. Shit leadership that would have them pull out weapons that he knew they wouldn’t use, then lead them into a place with too many people that could kill them too damn easily.
Anastacia Stone. Carterina Salerno. Iman Niaria. Katya Laroche. Davina Delavigne. Catsianna Kutnetsova. Mikilo Valente. Kyle himself. Lucca Salerno, and Don Nathan, the fucking Russian Salerno.
What the fuck was Eric Bonaducci thinking coming to this place?
“You hesitate?”
Snapping out of his thoughts upon hearing Carter’s question, Kyle looked up to see whom she’d been talking to.
Niko. And his father. And even David.
Their guns were lowered, but they had yet to return them to their holsters.
“Put them away, please,” Carter repeated.
And though she’d said the words nicely, any idiot would have been able to tell that that was the last time she would be saying them. Kyle had never known Carter for being a woman that liked to repeat herself without dishing out punishment to the idiots who failed to comply with her orders the first time; so her offering such a gift as a repeat of a command was a rare courtesy.
Seeming to wise up, Eric was the first to holster his gun. Once he had it securely tucked, he looked over to his son and David, telling them to do the same.
“Very well,” Carter nodded, handing Nathan back his knife. “I assume you all have business here.”
“We demand a proper meeting,” Niko spoke up, taking a bold step forward as he did.
“Niko,” his father attempted to step forward and take the lead, as a Don should … only to be cut off by Niko once again.
The man got his charm from his mother, Eric Bonaducci’s wife … who was also a bitch. Just lik
e her son.
“We want a proper meeting to negotiate this peace deal, and we want the territory that was promised to us back.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me!” Niko snapped.
Kyle rolled his eyes. God, the man was a fucking whiner.
“You thought we were just going to look the other way after what you did? Going against your word after you assured us of no retaliation during peace negotiations.”
Silence.
“You killed fifteen of our guys.”
“Fourteen,” Kyle corrected in a huff, then immediately wished he hadn’t.
Every single one of his family members turned to face him at that moment, even as Niko continued to rant. Shit.
“… and had the audacity to assault the consigliere of our organization! After you guaranteed him that your men would not raise a hand to our men if we invited you safely into our territory. Did you expect us to just sit on our asses while you fucking Salernos stomp around, acting like you own the whole goddamn world!”
Kyle’s jaw tightened and his eyes closed tightly as he willed himself to remain calm, not to snap. There were no words in any language that were striking enough to describe the grade of hate that Kyle felt in the deepest depths of his being for Niko Bonaducci.
He needed to shut the fuck up.
“You don’t own shit!” Niko shouted. “And you owe us for that stunt you pulled too!”
Knowing that— after his unfortunate reflex correction of his ‘today body count’ –he was now to be the one stepping forward to deal with this fucking surprise invasion, Kyle let out a long sigh, forcing himself to shake off his fury. Nathan wasn’t saying a word; the man was stone. Unmoving. Kyle knew he was purposely fading into the background too, just as Carterina was now doing. Fucking deserting, Kyle.
So much for close allies.
He was not in the right frame of mind to be dealing with this shit. He could still feel an uncomfortable amount of rage flowing through his entire being. Nothing he did would be what this peace deal needed. Why hadn’t he been warned about the Bonaducci’s arrival beforehand? And where the fuck was Dante!
“Hello!”
Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken Page 46