His eyes bulge just a fraction before trying to school his features. “I, uhmm. I’m sorry? Your father? I’ve never met your father.”
Roman scoffs and stands, swirling the contents of his glass again. He begins pacing behind the chair and I watch how the dealer focuses on every last step. “You know what really gets to me?” he questions, pausing to meet the dealer’s terrified gaze. “Snakes. Liars. Scumbag dealers who were placed into my life by my father with the intention to fuck with me.”
The guy stands, violently shaking his head as he holds his hands up, feigning innocence. “I swear, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just a dealer. Nothing more.”
Roman’s eyes sparkle. “And I’m just a businessman, nothing more.”
The dealer pales, knowing all too well that Roman is so much more than just a businessman—they all are. “Look,” he starts. “I don’t know where you would have heard something like that. Someone clearly has a vendetta against me and wants to see me slaughtered, maybe a competitor. I know Gia Moretti’s dealers are feeling the sting since I’ve been taking their customers.”
Roman laughs. “You think Gia is threatened by a dealer making a measly ten, maybe twenty grand a week in stolen product? You’re a bigger fool than I thought.” Roman leans against the backrest of his vacated chair and focuses his hard stare on the dealer as the wolves stand beside him. “We were at the warehouse last night. We saw you with our own fucking eyes. You signed your own death sentence.”
The glass drops straight out of his hand as his whole fucking life flashes before his eyes, finally realizing that fucking with Giovanni is one thing, but fucking with his sons is an entirely different game.
Roman steps around his chair as Marcus and Levi both stand, blocking his escape, though with Dill and Doe standing by, he won’t even get a step before they’re on him.
Marcus steps around the back of my seat and leans forward, curling his hand around my throat as his lips skim over the sensitive skin on my neck. His thumb moves in a gentle circle, skimming right over the artery in my throat. “When in doubt,” he tells me, a deep, wicked excitement building in his tone. “Always go for an artery.”
A thrill shoots through me and I sit up a little straighter, my eyes wide.
Roman moves in front of the dealer, his eyes deadlier than I’ve ever seen them. “Do you know what happens to men who try to fool us? Men who plot and plan for our destruction?” he pauses, letting his words sink in. “They die by our hands, their throats torn right out of their bodies.”
The man gapes at him and in a last-ditch effort to try and save himself, his fist rears back and he throws a punch right at Roman’s face, but there’s nothing quite like Roman’s reflexes. He catches the man’s fist in his hand, mere inches from connecting with his jaw.
The dealer gasps, fear rattling him as he holds Roman’s hard stare. “Doe,” Roman demands.
And just as Roman releases the guy’s fist and turns his back, Doe bounds past the small fire and launches herself at the dealer, giving him only the slightest warning before slamming into his chest. The dealer screams as Doe effortlessly takes him down.
Savage growls tear through the night as her teeth gnash against his skin, going straight for his throat. She grabs hold of him, her head violently whipping from left to right as blood spurts up around her in a horrendous wave. I gape at the wolf. My precious, sweet Doe who rests her giant head in my lap, who cries for her brother when he’s injured. I knew she was capable of wicked things, but I never thought she could do something like this.
Blood sprays across the pool, splattering in the water as a chilling scream tears from the dealer. He fights against her hold, desperate to get her off him, but she’s far too heavy. Not even one of the boys could force her off, not now. This sweet girl is in the zone and there’s no stopping her until her job is complete.
She keeps at him, the growls and scuffles in the night like nothing I’ve ever seen. Perhaps this is the scene the boys envisioned for me when they told the rest of the world that I’d been mauled by a bear … though perhaps I don’t want to know.
Marcus’ lips move over my skin. “Are you ready?” he breathes. “Any second now.”
And not a moment later, Doe tears the dealer’s throat right out of his body, sending a spray of blood far and wide. She shakes her head, flicking his throat around like a toy before looking back at Roman with a proud stare. Roman nods to her, and with that, she struts away and plops down beside Dill, dropping the throat in front of him like a gift as the dealer’s body convulses and shakes.
28
A heavy pang of regret settles into my chest as I curl my hand into Levi’s, threading my fingers through his. “Are you ready for this?” I murmur, hating how heavy today is going to be.
We stand outside the castle the boys had called not only home for so many years, but their own personal prison. I knew today would come eventually, but nothing can prepare somebody for this, nothing will ever make it okay.
Levi shakes his head. “No, but it has to be done. She’s been suffering up there for too many years. Her body should have been put to rest a long time ago. We owe her this.”
I nod before glancing up at him. He’s been taking it the hardest. He’s always blamed himself for his mother’s death, but he couldn’t be more wrong. Roman and Marcus got more time with her, and have more vivid memories, but Levi was too young and doesn’t get to remember her in the same way that his brothers do.
“Come on,” Marcus murmurs, his tone heavy and filled with a deep kind of pain that tears at my chest. “Standing out here and staring at the castle isn’t going to help put her to rest.”
Roman lets out a heavy sigh and makes his way toward the front door as the early morning sun begins to peek out over the mountains, sending a ray of light shining down over the castle. I’m not into spiritual things or believing in some kind of ultimate power, but if that ray of sunlight shining down on us isn’t some kind of sign, I don’t know what is.
The rest of us follow Roman with heavy hearts right up to the very top of the castle. Memories of my time here assault my thoughts. Some were good, hell some were incredible, but others were so horrendous that just the thought of ever reliving them has me in a ball of sweat. I can’t even imagine how it must feel for the boys having to come back here. Hell, they still have a whole lot of shit they need to move out. Those few loads they took a few weeks ago didn’t even make a dent in the piles of shit they’ve accumulated over the years.
It takes a lifetime to reach the top room of the castle, and as we push our way through, the heaviness hits me in a whole new way. The boys were only kids when she passed, and they never got their chance to say goodbye. Sure, it’s heavy and my heart is plagued with grief, but this is their mom. Whatever I’m feeling right now, they’re feeling it so much harder, and because of that, I need to do everything in my power to be strong for them—even Roman who couldn’t possibly allow himself a moment of weakness.
The room looks just as we left it—creepy as fuck.
Snow White lays in her frozen coffin, her face barely visible through the frosted-covered glass. I hated coming in here the first time, and I hate coming in here now. I’ve only just been able to stomach the fucked-up things the boys like to do in their spare time, but this is a whole new level of fucked up. I don’t know what the hell Giovanni was thinking putting her away in here, but I don’t doubt for one second that the boys will do whatever it takes to make this right.