by Jen Davis
There was a single crack in the headstone right at the top of the cross. The flames that engulfed the cross from the ground were blood red, angry shades of orange, its only goal to destroy while his name suffered its wrath. To others, it would seem morbid and grim, but to me, it was beautiful. That image was a reflection of his soul. The crack, the flames, the red—it was everything he thought he was. But after what happened, him killing his own flesh and blood to save me, I knew something resplendent inside him was waiting to be set free. He just never had a reason to find the beauty he suppressed without even realizing it.
“Please…hurry. I don’t know how much time we have.” Castello hung up and tossed the phone on the bed. His jaw ticked, every muscle in his body pulled tight.
“Fuck!” His fist hit the wall, and I flinched at his furious outburst. Guilt bombarded me, joining hands with the fear that already threatened to consume me. Castello was losing everything. His entire life was on the line, all because of me. Why? Why would he do that? Why would he risk himself for me?
Castello turned to face me, blood coating the knuckles of his right hand. I remained still. I might see him in a completely different light now, but I still had a lot to learn about the darkness he carried with him.
“Why are you doing this?” My voice sounded hoarse and uncertain.
He fell back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. “I don’t know. Right now, I don’t know anything.”
I believed him. I believed he wasn’t sure why he was saving me, just like I wasn’t sure why the thought of being rescued and going home no longer appealed to me.
I shifted from one leg to the other. “How long before Vico comes looking for us?”
“It’s not Vico we need to worry about.”
“Your mother?”
“Yeah.”
My body had been strong long enough. With shaking legs, I sat on the bed. “She really hates me.”
He didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. I saw it the night in the dining hall when she wanted to slice her blade across my throat. Her deep-rooted hatred for me was everywhere—her face, her eyes, the way she fucking breathed. I could see killing me was the only way for her to get relief from the ghosts that tormented her.
“Is she going to kill me?”
The mattress dipped behind me, but I didn’t turn toward him. “She will want to, yes. But it’s not that simple.”
I snorted. “It sounds real simple to me.”
“We have rules, Tatum. Laws of our own that we have to abide by. I’m the Boss, head of this family, and no matter what happens, she can’t go against me.”
“And Vico?”
“He’ll challenge me—especially since I’ve spilled blood of my blood.”
I couldn’t fight the shudder that wracked through me. “Will he win?”
“He might.”
I turned to face him. “He might?”
There was a long pause before he finally answered. “There’s a big possibility that he will win, yes.”
“Because he’ll have your mother’s support.” It wasn’t a question. I knew she’d support anyone who could guarantee her my head on a plate.
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes, my stomach twisted tighter than a vice. “And then? What happens then?”
Another pause, this time more deafening, a shattering silence. I heard him inhale. “Then I’ll join my brother in Hell.”
A tear slipped down my cheek. “And I’ll be right there next to you.”
His phone rang, the sound making me jolt. I turned around as he reached for it, and when he looked up at me with apprehension in his eyes, I knew who it was.
He answered, putting the phone on speaker.
“Madre.”
“Castello, what the Hell are you doing?”
“I’m doing what needs to be done.”
“By saving that wretched woman? The woman who is responsible for your brother’s death?”
“Who says I’m saving her?” His eyes met mine, and I swallowed hard.
“How else can you explain killing Nicollo and assaulting your own brother?”
“Incentive.”
“Excuse me?” Her voice raised, and I could hear the anger that occupied every part of her soul.
“Tatum. I’m using her as an incentive.”
I narrowed my eyes and softly whispered, “What are you doing?”
He placed his finger in front of his mouth, silencing me.
“Incentive for what?”
“The truth. I’m tired of being lied to, and I want the truth.” His eyes never left mine.
“About what, Castello? What are you talking about?”
He stood from the bed. “What are you hiding, Mother?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Castello. Now, stop this madness. It has already gone too far.”
“No. I want the truth. I want to know exactly what happened to Carlo.”
Silence.
Castello and I glanced at each other.
“This is your uncle Gino’s doing, isn’t it? He planted this seed of doubt inside your head.”
“Maybe he did me a favor.”
“Castello, bring us the girl. Let’s put an end to this.”
My heart stammered inside my chest, the thought of being given to that woman causing me to choke on my own goddamn breath.
“Tell me the truth, and I’ll bring her to you. Then you can do the honors of ending all of this.”
Fear ransacked my insides, but Castello placed his hand over mine. With serious eyes and a finger in front of his mouth, telling me to keep quiet, he squeezed my hand.
The other end of the line was silent, and Castello looked down at the phone.
“Madre?”
“Yes. I’m here. Is she with you?”
“She is.”
“Fine. Just know that I’m very disappointed in you, Castello.”
“That makes two of us. Now, the truth.”
She sighed over the speaker. “Carlo was in love with the tramp. He wanted to marry her.”
My heart stopped, and Castello took his hand off mine.
“Your father refused. He said she wasn’t good enough for the man who would run this family and that Carlo needed to find himself a strong Italian woman. Not a filthy American snob.”
Castello sat back down and picked up the phone, holding it in front of him. “What happened?”
“Carlo was angry, of course. So he went straight to her father, telling William his plans to marry his daughter. Like us, William wasn’t thrilled. He contacted your father, and an agreement was made to keep them apart.”
I stood, unable to sit still any longer while I heard this woman talk about Carlo and how he wanted to be with me forever. Every word gnawed at my heart, breaking through my chest.
Castello glanced up at me, and I knew he hated hearing every word. “Go on.”
“We couldn’t keep him from seeing her. Carlo was adamant, kept telling us how much he loved her. William saw it as your father breaking the agreement and took matters into his own hands.”
Oh my God.
My knees went weak, and I felt myself fall to the ground. But two arms surrounded me, keeping me from collapsing into a giant heap of despair. My heart was shattered, my body aching as the truth slammed against bone. How could our fathers have conspired to keep us apart? Was my father really capable of cold-blooded murder in a bid to manipulate my life?
Castello tightened his arms, and I leaned back, biting my tongue, fighting the urge to cry out loud as my heartache threatened to rip me open from the inside out.
“Castello?”
“I have to go, Madre.”
He killed the line then tossed the phone aside, and I let loose. I screamed and wailed, the truth breaking through my chest. Castello was right. His mother was right. I—my family was to blame for Carlo’s death, and I fucking deserved to be here. I deserved this family’s wrath, their hate. All this time, I sat in
that goddamn room feeling sorry for myself, thinking the Fattores were monsters, when in fact it was just karma being a bitch, exacting due payment…from me.
“Tatum, listen to me.”
I couldn’t. I was too busy listening to my soul crack into pieces.
Castello gripped my arms and spun me around, shaking me. “Listen to me, Tatum. She’s lying. My mother is lying.”
My body went stiff, my eyes searching his face. “How do you know?”
He cupped my cheeks in his palms, his thumbs wiping away my tears. “If he really planned on marrying you, why did he lie to you? Why did he tell you his surname was Mancini and never mentioned me, his twin brother? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe he planned to?”
Castello let go of me and stepped back. “No. Nothing about what my mother just said makes sense. I’m telling you, she’s lying.”
Tears still slipped down my cheek, but I wiped them away with the back of my hand. “If she is, how do we get to the truth?”
His gaze pinned me on the spot, the intensity of his dark eyes knocking the breath out of me—and I knew I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say.
“By handing you over to my mother.”
Chapter 24
Castello
Like Vico said before, “This shit is about to get real.”
Uncle Gino had messaged me to say he was here at the house with a few other men of the family he had managed to get on his side. Not everyone was in favor of spilling blood for blood. He also warned me that the Fattore household was packing some serious ammo right now since everyone was on edge. He also confirmed that neither Vico nor my mother had shared the news about Nicollo’s murder with anyone. My guess was they were saving it for when they made their final move to put me in checkmate. I had no idea how I was going to handle that little tidbit of information yet, but of one thing I was certain—our family had been divided, and no matter what happened today, we would never stand united again.
I pulled on my suit jacket and straightened my sleeves. I looked up into the mirror and watched Tatum’s reflection as she sat on the bed staring down at the floor.
“You okay over there?”
“Sure.” She shrugged. “I’m about to go face to face with a woman who wants nothing more than to see me choke on my own blood. I’ve never been better.”
I snorted. “At least you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”
She caught my gaze in the mirror. “It’s my life I don’t want to lose.”
I turned to face her and glanced down at my shirt she was still wearing. “I’m sorry I don’t have anything else for you to wear.”
“It’s okay. My wardrobe is the last thing I’m worried about.” She bit her thumbnail between her teeth, her face nothing but lines of worry.
“Did you love him?” The question just rolled out of my mouth.
Blue eyes kept my gaze. “I don’t know. I thought I did, but I don’t know anything anymore.”
Her answer didn’t surprise me. All the lies that now suddenly surrounded everything about her and Carlo being together were enough to make her doubt what she felt back then. But I remember how she mourned the “break-up” when Carlo disappeared. I watched her, I observed her, and her heartache was evident in every facial expression and in every bottle of scotch she consumed. It didn’t bother me in the slightest back then, but it bothered me now. It ate at me from the inside, knowing she might have truly loved him, and I had no right to feel that way. I didn’t have the right to lay claim on her…or did I?
Tatum once belonged to my brother, but now she belonged to me. I didn’t know how it happened, but I claimed her—I claimed all of her, which was why knowing she felt something, anything for my brother was the kind of knowledge I could have gone without. Yet I was the one who asked the stupid goddamn question, and somewhere deep inside my chest, I regretted it.
I just nodded, and as I was about to turn around, ready to let the subject go, she spoke.
“Carlo lied to me, and a lie is just as good as cheating. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over that, which is why I need to know why he felt the need to lie. Nothing about any of this makes sense. Your mother’s hate for me is so intense, as if it was me who pulled that trigger, yet after what she told you, it’s clear the plot between our parents to keep me and Carlo apart was the reason he got killed.”
I glanced her way. “You’re right, it doesn’t make sense. We’ll find out the truth today.”
I opened my closet door then unlocked the safe I had hidden at the back. I heard Tatum’s faint gasp when I pulled out two guns.
“I suppose it is necessary for those,” she said behind me as I checked that the chambers were fully loaded.
“Was it necessary when I killed Nicollo?” I tucked them in behind my back before straightening out my suit jacket. Her silence was as good as an answer. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling—not that any of this was any matter to smile about. But for a woman who relished pain and loved to bleed, she sure was innocent when it came to my world. For some reason, I liked that—that she wasn’t a part of all this. She was my escape. The only problem was I would ultimately be her cross. Just like the cross inked on my back, fire consuming it, I’d be the cross with her fucking name on it, the blood in my veins being the flames that would want to devour her.
If anyone asked me what the definition of a cluster fuck was, I’d say three words…Tatum and me. Everything about us was wrong, yet I couldn’t imagine never having her again, not being able to feel her from the inside. And if whatever was about to go down between me and my family turned out in our favor, I didn’t know if I would be able to let her go.
She chewed on her thumbnail again, and I walked over to her, gently easing her finger out from between her lips.
“Stop fretting, little mouse. The look of worry doesn’t suit you.”
Her blue eyes looked up at me. “But chains do?”
“Hmm.” I groaned. “You have no idea how fucking good you look in chains.” I grabbed her hand and pushed it against my now rock-hard cock. “You feel that. Not even the probability of death can stop me from getting hard for you, thinking about you in chains while your skin blushes for me.”
I flexed into her palm before taking her chin in my hand and forcing her face up toward mine. “Your blood feeds the beast inside me, bella donna.”
My mouth claimed hers, hard and unyielding, kissing her like it would be the last fucking time. My body yearned and screamed for me to take her, my beasts clawing and scratching against their cages to claim her and never let her fucking go. Unfortunately, from this moment on, nothing was a guarantee anymore. The only thing I knew while my tongue swirled and brushed against hers was that this woman was probably the closest I would come to finding my salvation—if that was even possible for a man like me.
Unable to control it, I shifted and pushed her on her back before settling on top of her. My body roared, my cock aching with a need that was seconds away from consuming me. And by the way she kissed me back, it didn’t seem like the threat that hung like dark smoke around us bothered her while I had my tongue in her mouth and my hard cock rubbing between her legs. But as much as I’d like to rip my shirt off her and show her once again how I ruled her body, we needed to face the shit storm that waited for us downstairs.
With heavy reluctance, I removed my mouth from hers and pushed myself up, helping her up too.
“Do you trust me, little mouse?”
“No.” She stood.
“Good. You shouldn’t.”
There was a hint of a smile on her lips, but I guessed the weight of what was about to happen was just too heavy for her smile to reach her eyes.
“Okay. Let’s get this show on the road.”
I walked toward the door, but just as I reached for the lock, she balked.
“What if they’re out there waiting for us?”
I traced a finger across her chin. “My sweet, naïve little mouse. Soon you w
ill learn to trust me.”
The lock clicked open, and I kept my gaze on her face as I opened the door. The fear on her face was toxic, and for the first time I yearned for someone’s trust—hers. But maybe it was better this way, that she didn’t trust me. There was no way I could guarantee her that she or I would come out of this alive.
When the door was open, one of Uncle Gino’s associates stepped into sight, holding a semi-automatic gun in his hands. Tatum moved in behind me, and I fucking loved the fact that she sought my protection.
“Tatum, meet Giovanni. He’s here to safely escort us down to the dining hall.”
Instantly, she paled. “The dining hall?”
“Yes. As you probably guessed, that’s where all our meetings and…events take place.”
I knew nothing I said would have been able to settle her. Even the air we breathed seemed laden with fear and uncertainty. But this all had to be done.
“Come on. Let’s not keep them waiting.”
I let her walk first, following Giovanni. I took the back, making sure she was covered at all times. More of Uncle Gino’s associates stood scattered around the halls. I’d never felt as goddamn thankful for that uncle of mine as I did right now. He made sure there was no way we could be intercepted. Still, every step I took felt like I was a man living on borrowed time. I’d always been the type of man who preferred—no, needed to know all the risks involved. Only then would I make any kind of decision, but only if I was one hundred percent sure the reward outweighed the risk. But that wasn’t the case today. I had no way of ensuring the reward outweighed the risk I was taking now, by leading Tatum straight to them. And that thought alone killed me slowly, each step another stab through my chest.
I watched her while she walked, her head held high. How did she do it? How did she manage to face her demons head-on even though she knew her chances of survival were slim? Putting one foot in front of the other, Tatum walked with confidence, but I knew on the inside she was scared beyond comprehension…and so was I.
After passing each associate, they fell into step behind us, instantly becoming allies. A family that stood vast for so many years got cracked right down the middle within the blink of an eye. It made me wonder if our family was ever that strong to begin with. And now, as we stopped in front of the dining hall doors, I knew life as I’d known it was about to change.