Twisted Games of Revenge (Sinners of Ravens Hollow #3)

Chapter 30

Maddox is in the kitchen cleaning up the lunch mess when I approach him. He was deathly quiet after the boys told him my news, and I’m worried about him. I lean into the counter beside him, offering him a lopsided smile. His eyes rake over me; the hunger that’s always there still shines through, even though there is a sadness to him as well.

“You were awful quiet at lunch.”

He stops stacking the dishwasher. His hands coming to my waist, he picks me up and places me on the kitchen counter delicately. “What’s there to say, temptress?” He moves in between my legs, pulling me in close as he inhales my hair.

“Something. Anything. I’m freaking out, Maddox, I don’t know how to do this.”

“You have all of us, you will be fine.” He kisses my forehead.

I reach up and cup his chin, looking right into his broken eyes. “Talk to me, big guy, please.”

He drops his head, moving away from me to finish his task, stacking the dirty dishes. I wish I knew how to get through to him. He’s been like this since he found out what happened to his mother and who his real papa is. I understand that was a whole lot to take. No one wants to find out they’re the spawn of the devil. After Dr. Northgate’s revelation, Geovani contacted Catherine, Elisa’s girlfriend, and after she did a little digging around, she believes the story to be true. Ricky had some blood tests run just to be sure, but they too were positive. Knowing he’s Enzo’s, it must have been heartbreaking to hear, especially when I know he despises the man.

“I was a mistake, Harley; I never should have been born.”

Slow goosebumps rise over my arms, and I swallow the lump in my throat. “This baby isn’t a mistake, just a surprise, Maddox,” I try to reassure him. This isn’t the same as what happened to his mother. “And you might not have been planned but your mother loved you and did what she could to try and protect you. And I for one am very grateful she did. I wouldn’t want a life without you in it.”

I know he’s listening to me, but he doesn’t look up. He’s trapped in his own hell. He goes through the motions of putting the tablet in the dish drawer then turning on the machine. It whirls to life, leaving him staring at the appliance.

“He’s going to pay for everything he put your mom through,” I assure him.

He moves back toward me, and his hands come to my hair, lacing their way through the silky strands before he tips my head back so I’m forced to stare up into his broken eyes. His lips meet mine, and he kisses me with all the hurt he feels inside. “How do we not fuck this kid up? You know as well as I do this isn’t a life to bring up a child. The shit we all had to see growing up, I don’t want that for him.”

“We will protect him or her from this.” I smirk back at him. Why does he assume we will have a boy?

“How your papa protected you?”

My hands go clammy because I know he’s right. We can’t hide our child away from this life, they will only end up like me. Clueless and vulnerable. “It will be different because we are different. I’m not like my parents, and you’re not like yours.”

“What if I am like him? This shit is ingrained in my DNA. I have done awful things, Harley, in the name of Moretti.”

“Now you can channel your anger into your fighting.”

He stares back at me for an extended beat. I hear someone clear their throat from behind us and turn to see Alex. He and Maddox have a silent conversation with their eyes.

“What?” I ask, not liking being kept in the dark.

“Go get a jacket and some jeans on. I want to show you something,” Maddox says.

I give him a look but don’t argue. If the big guy wants to let me in even a little bit, I’m not going to fight when he tells me what to wear.

Twenty minutes later, we arrive at The Flamingo Hotel. Maddox parks his bike in the lot, and the two of us go through the back entry. We walk through the lower floor of the club, and when we make it to the far side, Maddox pulls out a key and opens a black door that looks like nothing more than a janitor’s closet. He glances over his shoulder then holds out his hand for me to take. Once inside the dark space, he locks the door, closing us in, then pulls up the flashlight on his phone so we can both see.

“What is this place? It’s creepy as fuck.”

“Yeah, it is. This is where Enzo’s ma died.”

A shiver runs down my spine. “What?” I move in closer to him, clinging to his arm. From the small amount of light we have, I can make out what looks like the remains of a hotel room. The walls are blackened like the place has been torched.

“Enzo wasn’t always the selfish monster he is now. People aren’t born with so much hate and manipulation inside of them. He had it belted into him from a young age, much like Alessandro and the rest of us did once we moved into the Moretti estate. This place is where his life took a turn.”

“What happened here? How did his ma die?” Goosebumps prickle my skin as we walk further into the room, the eerie atmosphere of this place chilling me. I reach out for Maddox’s hand, needing to know he’s right beside me.

“About ten years ago, one of Alessandro’s relatives, Dona Carmela, got in touch with him and Geovani behind Enzo and Carlo’s back. She was sick, didn’t have much longer to live, and she wanted to connect with her grandchildren, make sure we knew our heritage before it was too late. That’s when the truth came out.”

“Enzo’s Spanish grandmother?” I ask, based on the name he said.

“Mexican,” he corrects me.

“What was the big secret? That he was dropped at birth and that’s why he’s a sadistic piece of shit?”

His lips twitch up at the sides, and I know he agrees with me. “Dona Carmela told them everything Enzo had been hiding from all of us about his childhood and his parents that we had never met.”

My stomach sinks, and I’m not sure if it’s the baby or my body is just preparing itself for whatever story I’m about to hear, because at this point, I know his childhood isn’t going to be all rainbows and lollipops.

“Enzo’s papa was a high-ranking member of the biggest Italian mafia family in the south. His mother was from a powerful Mexican cartel family, known for their ruthless violence and control of the drug trade. Dona Carmela said they all knew joining the two families was risky and their marriage was fated to fail. Her daughter, Enzo’s ma, had begged her not to force the marriage, but at the time, it strengthened a very important alliance, uniting two criminal organizations. They didn’t listen to her, and she was forced to marry Enzo’s cruel papa. He was twenty years her senior and completely heartless. Carmela knew she had thrown her precious daughter to the wolves, but she was given no choice.” He shines the light up ahead, and I see what looks like a blood-stained wall.

Sickness washes over me. “I don’t like where this story is going. This place is really giving me the creeps, Maddox.” I clutch his hand a little tighter.

“I’m sorry, temptress, but I have to tell you it all. You need to understand where we came from.”

“Does Alex know you’re telling me this?”

Maddox’s head drops. “It was his idea.”

“Oh.” I nibble my lips, wondering why he’s letting Maddox tell me. Shouldn’t he have come as well? But when I look around at the charcoaled space, I get why he didn’t. Maddox is the only one morbid enough to want to come into this haunted hotel.

“The story Dona Carmela told was when Enzo was eight years old, his poor mother feared for her life and that of her three small children, especially her girls. So, she plotted to escape back home to Mexico, seeking safety and a fresh start for her kids under the protection of the cartel.

His mother only got as far as this hotel, a stop for the night, before he tracked her down. Enzo and his sisters witnessed everything; the violence she endured for two weeks before he finally strangled her to death. Dona Carmela didn’t know anything else for certain, but she believed that to guarantee his young children’s loyalty, his papa told Enzo it was her fault for betraying her family and for trying to use the children as pawns.”

All I can see are the little faces of those poor kids having to witness the horror. The violence right here in this very space I’m standing in forces out a silent sob. “I’m heartbroken for him.” My voice is barely audible above the tremor in my chest.

“Who wouldn’t be? It was seriously fucked up. Enzo grew to hate his mother for abandoning him and for causing the rift between the two families. His papa only grew in his bitterness to all women, and eventually, I’m sure that’s what rubbed off on Enzo. Growing up with him, Harley, I started to believe what he was saying. The only woman I had witnessed being nice to me was Ricky’s mother, and he had plenty of lies he made up about her to warp my memory of her. He was so manipulative, and we were so little when we arrived there. Other than Valentina, Enzo resented women in general for as long as I can remember, telling us they were manipulative, and we should never trust a thing to come out of their mouths. All they were good for was a hole to fill when you needed it. He spent years trying to groom the three of us to embrace power and control, just like he had, a speech so practiced I’m sure it came right from my grandfather feeding Enzo’s hunger for wealth and dominance.

“Even to this day, he has a strong hatred for his mother’s cartel and any family ties to them. We don’t feel the same. Alessandro has been obsessed with his Mexican heritage for as long as I can remember. And after his Dona Carmela came to him with this fresh information, he made sure Enzo knew about it.”

“The Day of the Dead masks.” I gasp, finally getting it.

Maddox’s lips curved into a subtle hint of amusement. “Every time he paints his face that way, it’s a fuck-you to Enzo and his grandpa. It’s also why we bought this place and did it up. Enzo hates this place. Understandably, but we needed to right the wrongs of the past. It had sat vacant from the night it had been torched. A haunted hotel, the stark reminder of what his papa did.”

Something clicks for me. It was the boys’ idea to theme the night we finally got our revenge on Dr. Northgate. “The night at the casino.”

“There is always more going on than he can tell you. Alex has his own ghosts to hide, temptress, but he’s trying. We all are for you.”

I look back at him, knowing they are. Gradually, I’m deciphering the Moretti mystery, bit by bit, revealing their inner workings. “Why are you telling me all this now?”

“Finding out you’re having our baby scared the shit out of me. What if I turn into him? I witnessed my stepmother killed right in front of me, and now that I know the truth of the horrors my birth mother endured, I can feel it rotting my insides. I hunger for revenge against Enzo in a way that’s starting to scare me, because I want to destroy every fucking part of him. To tear him apart and make him suffer in the worst way possible. But if I do, I know there will be no coming back. I’ll be just as evil as him.”

I wrap my arms around him, needing to feel his body close to mine. My poor broken man.

He pulls back from me slowly. “Enzo killed his papa. When he was ready to take the throne, he killed him. He has been a fucking psycho ever since.”

I take his hand in mine and give it a squeeze. “Even the fact you’re thinking this over as much as you are, I know you won’t turn into him. You’re different, Maddox, you do care about other people. Me, Ricky, Alex, and I’m pretty sure even Geovani.”

“The thirst for revenge warps ordinary people, distorting their minds until they become merciless and cruel.”

I blink back at him, and I know we’re not just talking about him and the other boys anymore. He’s worried about me. He cups my face, running his finger down the side of my cheek. I lean into his calloused touch, needing to be close to him. I feel the way my heart races, the desperation engrained inside of me to make Enzo and his inner circle pay. At times, it’s all-consuming. I have done unthinkable things over the last few months, all in the name of vengeance. “I will stop when he’s dead,” I promise him.

“Will you be able to?” he asks more seriously.

My heart beats rapidly as I process exactly what he’s saying; he thinks I’m turning into them. But I’m not, am I?

“I don’t want the money or the power Enzo is obsessed with. And I know you could give two fucks about all that shit as well. I just want him to pay for the hell he has brought to my life. For all the pain he has caused so many innocent people in the name of power. He’s sick. I’m not. This is different.” The more I try to defend my actions, the more I get a sinking feeling. I move my hand, so our pinkies are locked. “I promise, when he pays, I will stop, and we can all leave this fucked-up life behind and go find something better. Somewhere safe for our baby to grow up so he or she won’t ever have to know this life that we have.”

He pulls me toward him, kissing my lips softly. “It’s a beautiful dream, temptress. I only hope you’re right.”