Fractured Devotion (Anastasi Family Syndicate)

Chapter 10

I wantedto drive my knife into the disgusting flesh beneath Andrei’s belt. The knife was like a heavy secret against my leg, reminding me that I was still in control. The thinly veiled threat he had made for my disappearing act was meant to intimidate, and it did. His disbelief over my feeble excuse of an extended bathroom break due to a long line barely masked his suspicion. If he got even a whiff of my meeting with Alex, it wouldn’t just be a quick end to our newly reunited relationship but quite possibly our lives.

The quiet exchange between Alex and Massimo was laden with gravity. Massimo’s face was an open book of emotions—shock from recognition, a brief glimmer of relief that quickly darkened into anger, and a poignant sadness that seemed to weigh down his gaze. His subtle nod to Alex was like the silent drop of a pin in the chaos around us, but his eyes stayed locked with mine, communicating a world of emotions and unsaid words. Alex whispered in his ear again, causing Massimo’s gaze to land on Andrei… then me.

Andrei’s voice cut through the silent communication like a blunt blade. “What the fuck is he looking at?” His head snapped in my direction, eyes narrowed with a hint of danger.

“How would I know?” I flipped the end of my hair over my shoulder and shifted toward him. “It looks like he knows you… a friend?” I arched a brow in question.

Andrei wrapped his meaty fingers around my arm. “Did you forget who you’re talking to?”

“Andrei—” I began to act as if I was frightened by his show of dominance, but the unmistakable voice of my brother… a voice that was doing its best not to sound murderous.

“You might manhandle your women where you’re from, but you’re in my town, Andrei. And I don’t care if you work for Aleski Lipovsky or not—I’ll kill you myself.”

The air around us charged with tension, thick with the kind of unease that whispers of approaching storms. Andrei’s grip on my arm slackened, his attention snapping to the man who hadn’t graced my proximity in what felt like eons.

“Massimo Anastasi,” he said, the name rolling off his tongue like a warning. His next words dripped with disdain, an insult meant to provoke. “You couldn’t squash a bug if it was beneath your foot.”

Massimo was no man to be trifled with. His response was swift and fierce, his hand shooting out to encircle Andrei’s neck with a grip that proved he was exactly the formidable opponent he promised.

“What I don’t squash… my brother”s gut. You remember La Lama, don’t you?” Vincenzo’s name, once whispered with reverence and fear, now spoken aloud, seemed to stiffen Andrei’s spine. Massimo’s eyes then turned to me, his words laden with a mixture of pride and warning. “And apparently, genetics provide more than looks. My sister is nearly as skilled with a blade as he is—maybe better based on what I’ve seen.”

I shot Massimo a look, my eyes silently screaming for him to hold back, to keep my secret just that—a secret. Andrei, oblivious to the silent exchange, bragged with a bravado that made my skin crawl.

“A woman won’t best me, I can promise that. Now… why are you really here interrupting my time with my woman?” His arm coiled around my shoulder, yanking me against his thick frame.

“I’ve just been informed there will be no fight with Ryker. It would appear that the ‘Saint’ tripped over a pair of gloves left on the floor of his room and took a rather hard fall. His left arm is broken.”

The revelation left me feigning shock, my hand flying to my mouth in a well-practiced gesture of surprise. The idea of Ryker, nimble and sure-footed as a cat, being felled by something as trivial as gloves scattered on the floor was absurd. Too absurd. As my eyes found Massimo’s, the unspoken understanding between us confirmed my suspicions. This was a charade, a clever ploy devised by my family to shield Ryker from whatever insidious plot Aleski had concocted. My facade of dismay was nothing more than a mask, cleverly hiding the smirk tugging on the corners of my lips. In the grand scheme of things, where every move was part of a larger, more dangerous game, it seemed my family had just made a cunning countermove.

Andrei’s sudden rise sent a jolt through me, my chair teetering precariously. His command was sharp, a no-nonsense bark that left no room for protest. “Stay here.” He didn’t wait for my acknowledgment, already turning away, intent on his next task.

“Excuse me, I need to let my boss know.”

Alone with Massimo, the air between us was thick with tension. “Were you going to stay hidden forever?” His voice held a tinge of frustration, maybe a bit of concern.

I faced my brother and sighed. “I don’t know, Massimo.”

“We’re your God damn family, Carmela. We can help you with this…” His gesture was dismissive of the danger. “This is a dangerous game you’re playing.”

“It’s not a game.” I crossed my hands over my chest, my eyes narrowing into thin slits. “He destroyed me.”

The intake of Massimo’s breath was sharp, a physical reaction to my bitter truth. “How can you say that? Alex nearly died—hell, I think a part of him did die when he thought he’d lost you forever. As much as it pisses me off to say it, that man loves you.”

“He is no better than the men I’ve killed.”

It was a clash of realities—the love that Massimo saw in Alex against the ruthlessness I had witnessed earlier. Where he saw a man broken by love, I saw another tyrant marred from the harsh reality of a woman, changed for the worse—a woman he no longer saw the same. The path I had walked was stained with blood, and I was too far gone to believe in the absolution love purported to offer.

“You’re wrong, little sister. I don’t know what happened when the two of you bumped into each other, but take into consideration it had been a shock. Lord knows I’ve had a hard time reconciling the woman standing before me as my sister. Surely you understand that everything changed him…”—he paused—“Angel of Mercy.”

His words, though true, stung like I’d walked into a hornet’s nest. I’d be foolish to think I was the only one altered by the events of the last year. My eyes closed, and I willed my heart to slow its pace. My mind flashed to my twin, and I fought back the tears I could feel building behind my closed lids.

“Please, Massimo… this is not the place.” Massimo’s presence was grounding in a way I didn’t expect.

“I know, Piccolo.” His fingers were gentle but insistent beneath my chin, urging my eyes to meet his. “Come back to us. Our family is not complete without you. My children deserve to know their aunt.”

“When this is over,” I whispered, but the resolve in my voice belied the uncertainty in my heart. My eyes flickered past him, catching the approach of Andrei and Aleski. I stepped away, severing the comforting connection with Massimo. “I have to end this—end him.”

Massimo’s gaze followed mine, understanding the unsaid between us as the two Russian men closed in with determined strides.

“I know. But you are not alone,” he whispered, turning to face the new arrivals with a composed front.

“Ella, go to the room and wait for me.” Andrei jerked his head toward the exit, “Go now.” His command was terse, leaving no room for argument.

I took a deep breath, allowing it to fill me with the courage I needed. Nodding, I acquiesced without a word, slipping away from the scene that was about to unfold.

“Mr. Anastasi, I would say it was a pleasure talking with you, but it wasn’t.” I forced my voice to carry a note of irritation. As I glanced back, his dark eyes flickered with something akin to recognition. In that brief look, he conveyed an understanding that I desperately needed. I was in the midst of a performance where the stakes were life and death, and even the slightest misstep could be catastrophic.

I’d just stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for my floor when the man who’d consumed the majority of my thoughts despite wanting the opposite snicked shut the doors, and the metal cage began its ascent to the upper floors. We stared at one another like he was the lion and I was his prey. My eyes followed his hand movement as he slammed the emergency button, halting the elevator’s rise.

“What are you doing here?” I backed into the corner as if the small distance between us would protect me from him.

“Did you think I’d just let you go, let you walk back into the devil’s lair?”

“It’s not your choice.”

Alex’s proximity was a force I had forgotten, his demanding stature unavoidable, insistent.

“You’re right… it’s not. But I’m not going to stand by and let you do this alone anymore.” His presence loomed the past pain and present danger billowing off him in waves that made it hard to breathe. “I lost you once, Carmela… and I nearly died. I know I messed up earlier.” His admission was raw, the gesture of running fingers through his hair a signal of his frustration, his vulnerability. “But seeing you, hearing the things you think you’ve become… I didn’t handle it well.”

He was so close now, his hands on the cold metal of the elevator wall boxing me in, his body a barricade.

“I know you’ve had to do things to stay alive—and it’s changed you. I’m changed, too. We aren’t the same people we were before. But what hasn’t changed is how much I love you. Time, distance… not even death could alter that. Tell me you don’t love me, Carmela, and I’ll step out of this elevator and accept your death wish is unchangeable—a fate I will despise but support because of the love coursing through my body.”

“And if I can’t?” The words were barely a whisper, a confession of my own inability to renounce what my heart refused to abandon.

“Can’t what?” His breath was a caress across my skin.

“Tell you I don’t love you.”

“Then we’ll fight this together.” His words were a vow.

Could I let Alex, the very person for who I waged this relentless crusade, join me in this tumultuous fight? My pulse thundered, a drumbeat of fear and desire. Despite the uncertainty that I deserved such loyalty, one truth cut through the chaos—my love for Alex was as deep and permanent as ever. Compelled by that love, I rose to the balls of my feet and pressed my lips to his, a declaration—an end and a beginning, all at once.

“Together,” he murmured against my mouth.

The sound of the elevator suddenly moving jolted us apart. Alex stepped back, his eyes scanning my frame with raw emotion.

The elevator’s confining space was thick with the weight of fears I needed to voice.

“Are you going to be able to handle me being with Andrei? There are things I have to endure to get him to trust me.”

Alex’s reaction was visceral, a grimace crossing his features, eyes closing briefly as if to block out the image.

“I know, and I can’t promise I won’t lose my shit and take Andrei out, knowing he’s the one touching you… but I’ll try. We need to wrap this up fast, Carmela. We bought some time with Ryker’s injury, but his part was small in a bigger scheme.”

“I’m aware, but with Kronos’s handler out, the power play’s over. They’ve got Kronos in their grip now—you only ensured Ryker didn’t meet his end today. Actually,” I said, sidestepping him to reach the elevator door, “you should probably get them somewhere safe because Aleski plans to take Ryker’s wife, anyway. He has a thing for green eyes, and so do some of his clients. They’ll pay big for her, Alex. Protect her… she doesn’t deserve what he’s planning.”

The elevator doors parted, and as I stepped toward the threshold, Alex’s hand fastened around my arm. “You can’t keep hiding from our family, Carm. It’s not fair—they should know you’re alive.”

“Not now. Dealing with Massimo, Vincenzo, and you is already more than I can take.”

“Soon, baby,” he said, a quiet plea.

Casting a look over my shoulder, I stared into his eyes. “Soon.”

Stepping off the elevator, Alex called out. “Penthouse suite 3.”

Smiling, I ambled down the hallway away from my past… and my future. I should have known he’d be staying in the penthouse. If I had to bet, my brothers had commandeered the other penthouse suites as well. With a plan forming in my head, I knew what I needed to do. Andrei better enjoy the little time he had left because he was about to learn that underestimating a woman would be the thing that ended his reign.