I pull my gun from inside my suit jacket, a silencer on the end, and shoot the man in the head. Unlike the bastards surrounding me, if the person means nothing to me, I don’t mind making their death quick.
Natalia screams behind Rocky’s palm, and she kicks at him to free herself. In her head, she’s most likely seeing the young man’s fate as her own.
“Your son sure loves to run his mouth to the women he fucks,” I tell Vincent. “Business with the Corobras—drug smugglers all of us agreed not to associate with since they lace their drugs with shit that are killing people in our city.” I tsk underneath my breath. “The other families won’t be happy about that.”
There’s a twinge of recoil from Vincent at my words. From his reaction—a reaction he does his best to mask—my guess is, Natalia was correct about his son doing business with them behind his father’s back. But as a boss, it’s of great importance to display how emotionless we are.
And Vincent, a man who’s been in charge for four decades, usually excels at being unreadable. But not tonight. I catch every flash of anger pass over his red face and the way his hand tightens around the top of his cane. If this were any other man than his son, Vincent would’ve killed him as soon as the words left my mouth.
“What the fuck?” I hear Antonio hiss to his brother, glaring at Vinny.
I haven’t paid another glance at Vinny.
The stupid motherfucker doesn’t deserve my attention yet.
Snapping my fingers, I gesture for Rocky to bring Natalia to me. She paused her struggling to watch the scene but starts back up when Rocky yanks her toward me.
“The code to Vinny’s safe is Natalia’s birthday.” I chuckle, rattling off information Natalia had given me, and this is the moment I finally slip my gaze to a fuming Vinny. “At your home in Brooklyn … Thirteenth Avenue, am I right?”
My eyes flash in victory. Vinny, a few inches taller than his father, is fighting for restraint harder than Natalia is fighting for her life. The man has a temper on him, and I’m hoping he falls right into my trap.
Come to me, motherfucker.
Let me shoot you between the eyes.
But Vinny doesn’t. For the first time in his pathetic life, he uses his fucking brain.
What a shame.
Time to up the ante.
“All this information has come from this one here.” I step to Natalia’s side, causing her to freeze in place, and tap the gun against her temple. “Burly’s Cleaners … through the back.”
I can practically hear Vinny’s breathing from here.
Can feel it whip through the air and sing to me.
“You said fifty thousand dollars, Marchetti.” Antonio interrupts my theatrics with calmness. “Hand over the girl, and this business is over.”
Now, that is a real leader.
I shake my head and press the gun against Natalia’s head simultaneously while ignoring her cries. “I’ve changed my price.”
“To what?” Vincent fumes.
I move my gun from Natalia’s head and point it at Vinny. “Him.”
“The fuck?” The tight cord of restraint Vinny held snaps, and he starts to charge toward me.
I lightly brush my finger along the trigger of my gun, but before I can pull it, Antonio steps in to protect his hotheaded brother from his death.
Antonio aims his gun at me. “Cut the shit before I blow your head off, Marchetti.”
“Do it.” Thrill storms through my body. “There are things I need to argue with my father about in the afterlife.” My tone turns bored. “Plus, my son would become a monster, avenging my death.” I shut an eye. “My guess is, you’d lose at least half your men.”
A sharp laugh escapes me when from the back of the warehouse, four of my men make their appearance. The Lombardi men are the target of their AKs. If the Lombardis want to try to kill me, all three of them will die immediately after.
I never said I wasn’t one to play dirty.
I do what needs to be done.
“Marchetti, this is out of line,” Vincent says, shaking his head. “This isn’t the way we conduct business.”
“It is when your son kills one of my men.” I waggle my finger at him. “That changes the rules.” I smirk and train my gun on Vinny, my eyes directed to Vincent. “I know it’s extreme to tell another boss to sacrifice their son—”
“I’d die before I gave up my son,” Vincent says, stabbing his cane into the concrete as he advances a step in my direction. “If you came here thinking that would happen, you’re crazy.”
“Oh, what I just said is a sliver of what he told Natalia. He gave her so many secrets.” I ignore Antonio’s gun on me and peer at my pawn. “I know where the guns … the cash is.”
“Sweet Natalia.” I say her name as mockingly as possible. “She told me so much, and I’ll fuck more information out of her.” I return my gun to her and slip it underneath her dress and between her legs.
Her body shakes, her teeth chattering, as tears fall down her cheeks. She opens her mouth, but it’s as if she can’t form words. Or she doesn’t want to say the wrong ones. I keep the gun beneath her dress, and she jumps forward when I drag it over her panties. It’s as if that move jerks her back to life, and she returns to struggling with Rocky for release.
“Vinny, Natalia will be in my bed night after night. And each time I spill my cum inside her, she’ll tell me more about your small dick and moan out all your secrets.”
“You motherfucker!” Vinny snaps. Meeting the end of his patience, he darts toward me.
This time, it takes Antonio and Vincent to restrain Vinny.
Vinny bares his teeth at me as Natalia screams at Rocky while squirming in his hold. I grin, loving how Vincent is registering what a hothead his son is. Out of all of us, Vinny and Natalia are the only ones showing their emotions.
Vinny’s gaze isn’t on me.
It’s anchored on Natalia.
His hands are balled into fists, and he looks ready to explode.
A sheen of sweat is visible on his forehead as he stares at her like she’s a toy who’s been on his Christmas list for years. I dramatically yawn before dipping my head down and kissing Natalia’s neck. She thrashes in Rocky’s hold, but she doesn’t have even half the power of him.
This is the moment I realize how much Natalia means to Vinny.
He loves her. He will kill for her. And he will die for her by my hands.
“Cristian, you called me, and we made an agreement,” Vincent says.
Vinny’s temper lessens to listen to his father.
Vincent signals to his dead man and shouts, “I delivered my end of the agreement. Don’t you dare disrespect me with this juvenile game.” He gestures toward my men, waiting for someone to make the wrong move. “You’re wasting everyone’s time. I’ll see the girl on the streets eventually.”
A whimper bursts from Natalia at Vincent’s comment.
“Yeah, bitch,” Vinny spits, his eyes never leaving Natalia. “You wait until I get my hands on you. We’ll have some real fun.”
Natalia goes back to being frozen, still, as she watches her ex stare her down, as if he wants to set her on fire.
Antonio releases his brother to run his hands through his hair. “Jesus.”