Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
ALESSANDRO
Fuck me.
As I slowly come down from the blinding high of the release, the fog in my brain clears, leaving only the fierce reality of the woman resting against my chest. I cup the back of Sienna's head with my palm, pulling her up to meet me in a deep, bruising kiss.
Seeing her on that bench with Nino had almost fucking killed me.
I’ve never felt this possessive over anything or anyone in my entire life.
The second I walked up and saw him leaning into her space, I saw pure, unadulterated red.
But holding her in my arms now, feeling her heart hammering against mine, I’m reminded of the only truth that matters: she’s mine.
I just have to make sure never to put her in a position like that ever again. I completely shot myself in the foot by telling her to distract him, underestimated the volatile cocktail of my own jealousy.
Gently, I lift her off my lap, helping her adjust the hem of her white tennis dress before guiding her back into the passenger seat.
I pull up my own clothes, shifting back behind the steering wheel.
When I glance over, Sienna is glaring at me, her cheeks still flushed a pretty pink and her breathing still slightly uneven as I crank the engine.
I cut my eyes to her and smirk. "What?"
She crosses her arms, letting out a sharp, indignant breath. "You’re such a brute."
My smirk only widens as I shift the car into drive and pull onto the main road. "You didn't seem to mind the brutality a minute ago."
She rolls her eyes, though the heat in her gaze tells a different story. After a moment of silence, she settles back into the leather seat. "Why did you go off anyway? What did you find?"
"During the first set, I heard Nino telling his wife something about his phone in his gym bag in the locker room," I say, my tone shifting back to business. "So, when Giulia took her call, I went to the locker room to grab it."
Sienna gasps, her eyes widening as she turns fully in her seat to face me. "You stole his phone?"
I reach into the pocket of my sweatpants, pull out Nino’s sleek, unlocked smartphone, and toss it onto her lap.
"What's the plan?" she asks, picking up the device like it's a live grenade.
"From Nino's reaction yesterday, I know he knows exactly where Luca is hiding," I explain, keeping my eyes fixed on the road ahead. "If Nino is actively working with him, Luca will answer a text coming from this number. He won't suspect a trap if it's his inside track."
Sienna stares at the screen, a slow, appreciative smile curving her lips. "It’s a great plan, Alessandro. But his screen will be locked."
I nod toward the device. "Try. Text Luca." I know the older men of the clan are not very adept with phones.
"What should I text him?"
"Text him exactly this: 'Alessandro is sniffing around. We need to meet up.'"
Sienna taps the screen, surprised when the messaging app opens, but after a few seconds, she frowns and shakes her head. "I can’t find Luca's contact or any message thread on here. Nino must have deleted everything, or he uses a burner number he hasn't saved."
With one hand on the wheel, I use my other to pull out my personal phone. I bring up the encrypted file my intelligence team put together and pull up Luca's last known active number. "Type this in."
I read out the digits. Sienna carefully enters them into Nino's phone, types out the message verbatim, and hits send.
The silence inside the car is heavy as the miles roll past. We’re almost at the front gates of the house when the stolen phone suddenly lets out a sharp beep.
Sienna’s breath hitches as she reads the screen. "He responded."
"Read it," I command, my grip tightening on the steering wheel.
"He says: 'That fucking bastard. We need to kill him. Meet me here.'" Sienna looks up at me. "The text includes an address."
A dark, lethal satisfaction washes over me as I park the car in front of the main entrance. A slow, dangerous smile spreading across my face.
"Gotcha."
Sienna looks over at me, the stolen phone gripped tightly in her hand. "What are you going to do now?"
"I’m not sure yet," I lie smoothly, keeping my eyes on the driveway
She eyes me skeptically, clearly sensing the ice-cold shift in my demeanor, but she says nothing.
I’m fucking sure of exactly what I'm going to do, but I have a feeling she won’t like my method. Sienna is sharp, but she still possesses a morality that I abandoned a long time ago. What needs to happen next isn't a negotiation; it's an execution.
When we step inside the house, the cool air of the grand hallway hits us. I turn to her. "I need to find Valerio and handle a few things."
Sienna nods, looking down at her slightly wrinkled tennis skirt. "I need to shower. I'll be upstairs."
The moment her feet clear the top of the staircase, I pull out my phone and text Valerio. He meets me in the foyer minutes later, his face grim.
Without wasting time, I lead him into my study and lay it all out. I tell him everything that happened at the court, show him the text message on Nino’s phone, and explain the address Luca provided. The pieces are finally falling into place.
"We go find Luca tonight," I state flatly, leaning against the edge of my desk. "But before we handle the runaway dog, I’m going to go kill Nino first."
Valerio hesitates, a flash of caution crossing his features. He rubs his jaw, pacing a small circle. "Alessandro, killing a council elder... it’ll cause an uproar among the others if they find out. They’re already mad at—"
"Who’s going to tell them?" I fire back, my voice dripping with venom. "And frankly, I don’t care. Nino betrayed not just me, but the entire organization. He backed a rogue member who almost handed us to the feds. If we don’t take him out swiftly, this rot will spread. Weakness invites mutiny."
Valerio stares at me for a long beat, measuring the absolute finality in my eyes. Slowly, he nods. "You're right. Treason is treason."
"I'll make it look like an accident," I add, my mind already mapping out the logistics. "An accidental fall, a sudden cardiac arrest—whatever it takes."c
With that settled, I give him his final orders. "Organize a small, tight team for the raid on Luca's location tonight. Keep it off the grid. I'm heading back out to handle Nino."
Valerio nods and disappears to gather the men, and I turn on my heel, stepping right back out into the heat with a singular, bloody purpose.
In less than thirty minutes, I’m parked a discreet distance away from Nino’s luxurious house.
I get out of the car, adjusting my jacket, and walk up the driveway with my hands casually shoved into my pockets.
I’ve been to Nino's house before—several times, in fact—for formal dinner meetings and various council activities, so I am very familiar with the entire layout.
The house has no security gate at the front entrance because it’s tucked inside an ultra-exclusive, luxurious community for the rich with elite neighborhood security.
Funny. I would never choose to live somewhere like this.
It creates a false sense of safety, and a false sense of safety makes men careless.
Using the lush landscaping for cover, I sneak my way around to the blind side of the house, carefully avoiding the known angles of his security cameras.
Reaching the rear structure, I pull myself up with practiced, silent agility, climbing up onto the glass-railed patio attached to Nino's master bedroom.
I am prepared to pick the lock or shatter the glass if absolutely necessary, but fortunately, the patio door isn't even locked.
Arrogant bastard.
I slide the door open and slip into the air-conditioned bedroom, my footsteps making no sound against the thick plush carpet. Immediately, the muffled sound of running water echoes through the space. I walk in the direction of the master bathroom.
Nino is in the shower.
At first, I hesitate outside the doorway. I really don't want to go in there right now because seeing Nino naked was definitely not on my bingo card for this lifetime. But then I remember I have to make this look like a complete accident.
And what better way to stage a fatal, tragic accident than on a wet, slippery bathroom floor?
Shutting my eyes for a brief second, I take a deep breath, steel my stomach, and walk right in.
The glass shower door isn’t fully closed. The moment my heavy footsteps cross the threshold, Nino turns around, wiping water from his hair. "So, you decided to join me after all?"
I physically gag, a look of pure disgust twisting my features. "Fuck no."
Nino gasps, frantically brushing the water out of his eyes. His jaw drops and his eyes widen to the size of saucers when he realizes it’s not his wife standing there, but me.
He reaches out with a trembling hand to shut off the running shower water. "Alessandro? What the hell... why are you in my house?"
"I'm here to punish you for siding with Luca," I say, my voice deadpan and entirely freezing. "And the punishment for treason, Nino, is death."
Panic seizes him. He moves abruptly, trying to scramble out of the enclosure—I don't know if he was trying to run past me or reach for a weapon hidden in the vanity—but his wet foot completely loses traction on the slick marble tile.
He slips violently.
His body flies backward, and his head strikes the sharp stone edge of the shampoo and soap dispenser-bearing shelf with a sickening, heavy crack. The impact instantly stains the white porcelain with a bright smear of crimson.
"Oh." I stand perfectly still, watching him crash heavily onto the wet floor. Blood begins pooling rapidly around his head as his body goes into a desperate, uncoordinated struggle.
Karma, you fucking angel.
I didn’t even have to touch him.
I stand there with my hands in my pockets, calmly watching him twitch and struggle until the movement slows to a twitch, and then finally stops altogether. His eyes stare blankly up at the ceiling lights.
Perfect. A textbook tragic slip-and-fall in the shower.
I turn on my heel and leave the master bath, exiting the house the exact same way I came in, making sure to wipe down the patio door handle as I slide it shut behind me.
As I jog down the landscaped lawn back to my car, a dark, victorious chuckle escapes my throat. It’s been so damn long since things worked out for me so beautifully and effortlessly like this.
I jump back into the driver's seat and start the ignition, suddenly in a great fucking mood. Thank fuck. Now, it's time to go hunt down Luca.