Chapter 19
ELSIE
Something is off with Michael today. He isn’t the same carefree man who held me yesterday.
I can’t believe I told him all the things I wanted him to do to me. It was the first time I said them out loud. And he gave it all to me without hesitation, and he didn’t think I was weird for it.
But I’ve barely seen him today. He appeared tense all throughout breakfast, staring at his phone like it was about to go off like a bomb.
Then he excused himself and has been in his home office for a couple of hours already.
He claimed he had business to take care of, but I’m not sure if that’s the entire truth.
With an iced coffee in hand, I flip through the channels in the den, bored out of my mind. The house is empty, other than the cleaning staff and the bodyguards watching the estate twenty-four seven. Sophia should be home in a few hours, though, and I always have fun with her.
When I finally find a decent show to watch, someone rings the doorbell, and I almost jump out of my seat.
Heavy footsteps stride closer and I look behind me to find Michael walking toward the door.
“I’ll get it,” he tells me, barely looking my way as he passes toward the foyer.
“You ready?” says a voice I know to be his brother, Gio.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
I hear them shuffle farther away, and I get up, wondering where they’re going. Following them, I slowly tiptoe to see that they’re both heading toward the door that leads to the garage.
“Are you leaving?” I ask him just as they’re about to go.
“Hey, sister-in-law.” Gio grins playfully, but my eyes stay glued to my husband.
He inhales sharply, whispering something to Gio, who leaves us alone, heading out to the garage.
“I have business to take care of. Then I’ll come back, and we can watch a movie or something.”
He forces a smile, but all it does is makes me even more nervous. Something is going on.
He gradually erases the distance between us until he’s right before me, and my body knows it too. Awareness flutters over my skin.
“What kind of business?” I ask in a soft tone, the speed of my pulse increasing from the sudden eerie look in his eyes.
“The kind that involves blood, Elsie.” He stamps out the words like a threat, and the sudden realization hits me.
“Do you mean…” My eyes widen.
“Yes, I’m about to do exactly what you’re thinking, so make sure you stay here.” He reaches for my nape, a strong hand clasping tight around it. “The bar room will be locked anyway, in case you get any ideas.”
He kisses me on the forehead, those full lips perched to my skin as though he doesn’t want to let me go. Seconds trickle by, and he hasn’t moved. His heavy breathing wafts around the space between us.
He gradually shuffles back, pinning me with an affectionate stare. “Go and explore the house. I want you to enjoy yourself while you’re here.”
But the idea of doing anything but thinking about what he’s about to do is unimaginable. “Do…do you really have to go and kill someone? What did they do?”
He’s suddenly on me, holding my face in both hands, pinning me with an intense glare. My stomach flips.
“He fucked with my family, and there’s no coming back from that, little dove.”
He slowly drifts both hands away, and with a final look, he gives me his back and walks out the door.
My husband may be tender with me, but he’s still a killer. And right now, that killer hungers for blood.
MICHAEL
“Who sent you?” I roar, slamming another punch into his face.
“Fuck you!” the asshole laughs.
But he won’t be laughing soon enough. Not when the real fun begins. And that’s when he will tell me who sent him.
Being who we are, there are many enemies. And now that my mother has announced our engagement in the paper, our enemies want to come for my wife.
He was here for her. My little dove. And no one touches her.
He managed to penetrate the electric gate, but only because I let him in. My men were given the word to disarm it. I wanted to see who sent him. I spent all morning watching my men beat him for answers, answers he’s refused to give. And now, with my brother by my side, we will get them.
“You thirsty?” I ask him. “You look really thirsty. Where are my manners?”
I reach for a bottle of my most expensive vodka.
“My mother would be ashamed of me for not treating my guests with the utmost respect. Right, Gio?”
“Yes, Ma would be very upset. So how about you pour our good friend here…” He grabs a fistful of his hair and pulls his head back. “…a drink?”
He flips the chair backward until it’s only standing on its back legs. One of my men throws a towel over the man’s head, and when I approach him, I pour that shit all over his face, until he’s coughing and choking like a rat.
“You want more, you motherfucker?”
My man hands me another opened bottle, and I pour that one over his face too. I want him on the brink of death. I want him to look Satan in the eyes right before I yank him back out.
“It’s expensive. Can you taste it? Only the best for my guests.”
Gio laughs.
And once the second bottle is empty, I yank the towel off his face.
“You ready to talk yet?”
He can barely catch his breaths from his gasping.
“Who fucking sent you?” I grab his throat and squeeze until his blue eyes enlarge, his cheeks bright red.
Seconds trickle by, and I grow less patient by the moment.
“Fine. Don’t tell me.” I squat behind the chair to retrieve one of the small-bladed knives lined up on the floor.
“I’m going to cut every piece of you until you’re small enough to fit into my freezer.” I sharply turn his face toward it with the blade, piercing his cheek, drops of blood pooling at the tip of the knife.
His gasps come stronger.
“You don’t believe me?” I tilt his face back to mine, the man no older than me.
If he has kids, then today was the last day he ever got to see them. Because he will die. There’s no coming back for him.
He eyes me defiantly.
“The last man who was inside that freezer couldn’t pay his debt. What do you think I do to people who come after my family?”
He looks at me smugly. I’m gonna take my time with him.
“I’ll take out your eyes first. Then your tongue. Then your fucking teeth, one by one.”
“Fuck!” the man hollers, his resolve breaking. “I can’t! They’re gonna kill me!”
I lower my face to his. “You’re going to die, no matter what.”
The knife slices under his jaw, cutting him clean, blood dripping down onto his lap.
“It just depends how fast you want it to be. Now, you have one more chance.” I straighten. “Who sent you?”
His shoulders rock as he cries, eyes closing as he does.
“Name!”
“F-f-fuck.” He sniffles. “Okay. I’ll tell you. It…it was…” He snaps his eyes to me. “The Bianchis. They told me to get in, get your fiancée, and get out.”
“Motherfucker!” Blood rushes to my head, my fist landing on his face over and over as I roar with rage.
“This is war,” Gio says. “This is a declaration.”
“They wanted to be coy.” I grasp the back of the man’s shirt. “They sent one guy for that reason.”
Agnelo must’ve planned it after we spoke.
“I hope the Cavaleris kill Agnelo soon,” I say. “Because if not, I’m coming for him and his brothers.”
I can be patient when it serves my needs, but I don’t have much left in me. Not after this. But the thing with Raph is not over, and fighting two wars will only cause me to lose good men. The best thing we can do is give the Cavaleris a chance to destroy them.
“What do you wanna do with him?” Gio asks me, removing a nine from his holster and pointing it at the man’s temple.
The asshole weeps, his body shaking in protest.
“We’re going to cut off his head and send it to Agnelo.”
“No!” the man screams. “Please, I’ll do any—”
Pop.
His head slumps downward as Gio puts his weapon away.
“He should thank us for not chopping it off while he was still breathing,” he says, walking off to our stash of knives and getting out a large butcher knife.
Once he’s back, I reach a hand for it. “I want to be the one to do it.”
My pulse is calm, but the wrath inside is blazing. I may not know who’s hurt her in the past, but I can stop anyone else from touching her again.
With the knife in hand, I take his head, blood dripping from his neck once I’m done.
“Make sure it’s same-day delivery,” I chuckle.
We have our own shipping company. Makes deliveries like these much easier.
I drop the head on the plastic lying across the floor.
“I have to get Sophia and Elsie out of the city for a few days,” I inform Gio, who’s already rolling the head into another sheet of plastic. “Maybe I’ll take them to St. Barts until the heat dies down.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“Yeah. Let me go and get cleaned up before I have to pick up Sophia.”
“Go. I’ve got this.”
“Thanks.” I clasp his shoulder.
“Always, brother.”