Chapter Thirty-Three
Gwen
The wicked smile I plastered across my face was starting to hurt my cheeks, but it didn’t falter.
Not when I was standing in front of the man who splattered my entire existence with darkness. Not when my fiancé bound him to a chair before me, just as he had us bound five years ago in that abandoned building.
Revenge and justice. Sometimes, they had the same definition, depending on the crime. If justice wasn’t served, then revenge would step up to the plate, bases loaded.
The man looked up at me with hatred in his eyes, his lip curled into a snarl, like a wild animal. My wicked smile only grew. “Long time, no see, Romano.”
“You bitch,” he seethed.
Dean’s eyes met mine over the devil’s head, his jaw tensing in anger. He knew I could fight my own battles and was letting me be in control. I clicked my tongue. “Now, now, Mr. Romano. Where are your manners?”
He laughed. “If you think this is over, you are delusional.”
My baseball player drifted around him, his eyes darting to the door. We were in a private box once owned by Cal Matthews. High class for the men committing sins, dealing in actual players and selling women and children. James and everyone would be up here in just a moment.
“Isn’t this Cal’s old box?” I asked, backing up slowly and gesturing to the field behind me. “Great view. I wonder though…is the view from hell going to be this pretty?”
He growled and strained against his bindings. “You are nothing but a worthless whor—”
The devil’s head snapped to the side as Dean’s fist connected with it.
“Insult my fiancé again, and I’ll end you right here,” he hissed, gripping Romano’s hair and yanking it back.
His neck was exposed as he gasped and grunted in pain.
My hand itched to slice it open, to watch his blood flow down like a waterfall, cleansing us of his darkness once and for all.
I looked up to Dean as he came to me. “What happened to me fighting my own battles?”
He trailed a knuckle down the side of my face. “You can fight them, baby girl, but I’ll be sure to end them. No one insults you in front of me.” His deep voice made my heart flutter and the gleam in his hazel eyes reminded me of the life we had yet to live.
The future was bright for us.
For the first time, it was almost blinding.
We made it.
This darkness in our lives was about to be over.
“You were loyal to me, boy. Pussy will only get you so far,” Romano barked, his dark eyes locking on Dean, who scoffed.
“I am loyal to my woman. You can beat me, scar me, starve me…it will never change. I was loyal to her when I met you at the gala. I was loyal to her when I killed your partner. I was loyal to her when I faked my death.” He bent down and got in Romano’s face.
“I remained loyal to her when I was serving you, boss.”
My heart was hammering inside my chest, my soul aching for him. The love I had for Dean Connors would be written in the stars. I opened my mouth to say something, but the door opened. Kay and Haley walked in, hand in hand, and I held back tears.
This was the first time we had been in the same room together since the day I found out I was pregnant with Aiden. My feet gravitated towards them—my sisters. As much as I wanted to hug them, I refrained. There was business to be done and bad guys to put down.
James and Jeremy entered behind them. “Where’s Sullie and Dom?”
Jer tipped his head to the window. “Controlling the chaos,” he answered simply before his eyes drifted to Romano. There was no mistaking the hate in his eyes, the restraint in his tense jaw, and the way he forced himself to stay a few feet away from the man.
James was holding a file—the file—open in a single palm. His eyes scanned the pages as he slowly walked to the mafia king. Dean stepped away and picked up the bat before leaning against the wall.
“Sixteen years I've waited for this moment, Mr. Romano,” James said as he pulled a chair in front of the bound man. He took a seat and snapped the file shut, a bright smile spreading across his face. “Can I get you anything? Coffee? Whiskey? A lifetime prison sentence?”
I couldn’t help but look Haley. Her green eyes were focused only on James, a blush crawling up her cheeks as she watched him in his element.
Romano chuckled. “You Feds are all the same. Intimidating me won’t work.”
James nodded, raising his brows as he cleared his throat. “Right, so the ten shipping containers filled with women and children we've found across the East Coast…surely, your buyers would have something to say about that,” the agent drawled, resting an ankle on one knee.
Ray Romano’s smile faded like smoke in the night.
Then, he snapped.
“You! You motherfucking—” he shouted before he started rambling in Italian. There was a vein popping out on his forehead, and his olive complexion became red with anger.
I suppressed a laugh and looked down at my boots. Hilarious. That was the word to describe the most feared man in the world straining in his bindings and thrashing about when he realized his kingdom was crumbling.
“Please, shut up. It’s unbecoming for a man like you to throw a tantrum,” Jer deadpanned as he leaned back against the wall beside Dean. Now that was a dangerous pair.
“You don’t get to speak to me,” he snapped back. A dark cloud descended upon my friend’s face, and his control slipped. He was off the wall one second, and the next, his gun was pointed directly into Romano’s face.
“I should end this shit right here. Fuck the paperwork,” Jer growled.
James looked to the ceiling and then to us.
Kay was sporting a strange look, as if she was seeing her brother in a new light for the first time. Haley was shifting her weight and smirking, and me? I shrugged. I didn’t care where Ray Romano died.
If he was sent to prison, there was already a hit out on him coming from Dontell, Jer’s right hand in the underground. He would have forty-eight hours.
“Jeremy,” James warned, his voice low.
Dean pushed off the wall, brushing his nose as he stepped up to Jer.
He put on a hand on his shoulder and murmured something in his ear.
Jer pushed the gun into Romano’s forehead, and visions of a gun pressed to Dean’s head while I was tied to a chair— powerless— surfaced.
I blinked them away and folded my arms over my chest.
“Jeremy?”
All heads snapped to the doorway where Casey Gomez stood.
She was in leggings and a graphic T-shirt.
Her face was flushed, and her hair was slipping from her ponytail, as if she had just finished running.
I looked at the man and watched Jer’s demeanor change.
His dark gaze softened as he drank in the sight of her, and the gun fell away from the enemy’s head.
“You,” Romano sneered, and Casey stiffened. “You're the little bitch who hacked into my system.”
Excuse me?
My feet moved, and my hand drifted down to my thigh, where I had my new dagger sheathed.
The blade was against his neck, and my hand was fisting his hair, yanking his head back.
“You need to learn how to talk to women,” I hissed, pressing the blade into his skin.
I heard movement around me, but I had tunnel vision. I only saw this man before me, dying.
My thirst for revenge would be finally quenched.
A big hand landed over mine and lips touched the shell of my ear. “Rein in it, baby girl.”
I yanked the blade away with a snarl and turned back to where Casey stood.
Jer wasn’t near her, but his eyes kept bouncing back and forth between her and Romano.
Kay and Haley ushered her inside and stood around her.
The Mafia King coughed and gasped for breath.
James was still in his seat, and he merely smiled.
“Ms. Gomez is the best for a reason, Mr. Romano.”
“I want my money back,” he spat.
I gaped at the beautiful Latina. She hacked into his bank.
“Your money is evidence in a decades old case,” James deadpanned, flipping open the file. “Now, let’s discuss the matter of your son.”
Evil dark eyes met James’ stern ones. “I don’t have any more sons,” he spat. “My firstborn and my bastard both failed me.”
“You failed them,” Kay hissed, stepping forward, but Dean held her back. Ray Romano turned his head slowly to face her.
“I should have let my men rape you,” he sneered. “You're used to that anyways, aren’t you? Being used like a whore.”
My blood ran cold, and the temperature in the room dropped. My chest felt heavy as I looked at my best friend—my sister. Her sky-blue eyes were filled with tears, her chin was trembling, and yet she still raised it. “You don’t—”
He chuckled. “I don’t what? Darling, who do you think put out the order? Hm? You're the niece of a crime lord in a city that I wanted.”
James slowly stood, Jer frozen in place, Dean’s hand gently falling away from Kay as Romano continued, “It was easy to find boys to do it. Of course, recruiting them was a waste of time, but Ian Matthews.”
“Another word, and I’ll have your tongue,” a deep, angry voice sounded from behind the bar. All heads turned as Collin Stevens rose up, buttoning his suit jacket. A broken sob left Kay, and she tried to go to him, only to be held back by her brother. Guns were raised, and the shouting began.
“Col!”
“You motherfucker!”
“Arrest him!”
“James, stop!”
It was my turn to remain frozen. I couldn’t move. All I could do was watch. James had his gun point at Collin, as well as Jer. My fiancé was studying him, tilting his head to the side as he rested the barbed wire bat on his shoulder. Casey and Haley were in the middle.
“Dean, get the girls out of here!” James barked, stepping forward, his gun aimed at Collin’s face.
The mafia hitman gave away nothing. He stood calmly with his hands in his pockets, his ice eyes scanning all of us.
“Put your hands where I can see them, Stevens!”
“James—”
“Enough, Haley,” he growled.
“No.”