Chapter 25
ROMEO
> System breach in progress.
> Firewalls collapsing.
> Access not granted. She bypassed it.
> Recovery protocol unavailable.
“Do I even want to know what you did to him?”
Angelo tracks Richard’s mutilated corpse as I drag him to the incinerator.
“The fucker had it coming.”
“And?” He fixes me with a look. “Did you get anything out of him?”
“Wasn’t trying to. This was just because I felt like it.”
I already have everything I could need on Imperium and their family members, but I had a point to make. Richard so much as hinting at a threat toward Gabi earned him a brutal death, and I gave him one.
“You have everything handled with the rest of the council members?” Angelo asks.
“Yes. I’ve established multiple ties to the Bratva—offshore transfers, backdated texts, threats, and encrypted files documenting blackmail. Any connection to us has been scrubbed.”
“Good.” He nods. “They haven’t found the remnants yet, but they’re expanding the search grid.”
A grunt echoes inside the woodshed behind us, and a moment later, Winston’s corpse comes flying out and lands with a heavy thud.
Cristian appears in the doorway, his blood-soaked shirt rolled up at the sleeves.
“Feel better now?” Angelo smirks at him.
“I did it for Marco,” Cristian bites out.
“Nice of you to look out for Marco’s girl,” I taunt.
He shoots me a scathing look. “Hey, how’s Gabi, by the way? She was looking pretty—”
“Finish that sentence, and I’ll throw you in the incinerator.”
“You two are giving me a headache.” Angelo scrapes a hand over his face. “Let’s get these assholes smoking. I have shit to do.”
“I’ll handle it,” I grit out.
“Goddamn, you’re stubborn.” Cristian shakes his head. “Mariella told you to take it easy. All of this could have waited.”
It could have, but I didn’t want to wait.
To my irritation, they take over my job and toss both corpses inside the incinerator and close the hatch. Then Angelo turns to me.
“We need to talk about Imperium.”
I grunt in response.
“Romeo.” He draws in a breath like he’s praying for patience. “You can’t just go on murder sprees whenever you feel like it.”
“Well, if you have a better idea, I’m open to suggestions.”
“We’ll have a meeting this week,” he tells me. “Until we figure out a permanent solution, I need your assurances that you aren’t going to disappear any more of them.”
“Noted.” I offer him a smart-ass salute.
“I’m still fucking pissed about this,” he seethes. “You know how much I despise Ares Stavros. You practically gave him an invitation to fuck with us, and now I have to toss him a bone.”
“Throw it into the ocean. Maybe he’ll play fetch.”
Angelo glowers at me. “When problems arise from this, which they inevitably will, you get to deal with him.”
“Fine.” I shrug.
I don’t mind dealing with Ares. He’s an asshole, and I would have killed him on principle for hurting our sister if our father had permitted it.
But he doesn’t get under my skin the way he does with Angelo.
Playing peacemaker with him is a small price to pay for killing Gabi’s attacker and his fuckface friends.
“One more thing,” Angelo says. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the dick tattoo behind Riccardo’s ear, would you?”
“What makes you think I would know anything about that?”
“Jesus.” He sighs. “Do I even want to know what else you’ve been doing to fuck with him?”
“Nope.” I turn around and smirk as I walk away. “We’ll leave that between me and God.”
“Romeo Aurelio Vitale.”
“I was wondering when you might show up.” I glance up from the lounge as Abella storms out of the elevator and into the penthouse.
“You better start talking before I murder you.” She glares at me.
“Sure.” I shrug. “What would you like to talk about? The weather, politics, religion—”
“You have an hour before Gabi gets home from school to explain what you’re doing with her.”
“Sorry, I don’t kiss and tell.”
She lets out an exaggerated sigh as she comes to join me on the lounge. “She’s engaged to your cousin.”
“I’m aware.”
“You’ve been a total dick to her.”
That one punches me in the gut, and Abella doesn’t miss it.
“I know.” I swallow.
“I get that things have been…complicated.” Her voice softens. “But she’s not a toy you can play with whenever you feel like it.”
“That isn’t how I see her.”
“Then how do you see her?”
I fall unnaturally still, tension crawling through my body as a rough exhalation escapes me.
Abella’s eyes widen, and her jaw unhinges. “You’re in love with her.”
“Bold of you to assume I’m capable of such an emotion.”
“So you’re just covertly living in the penthouse, watching over her for fun then?” She gives me a wry look. “You can’t fool me, Romeo. I know beneath that murderous exterior, you’re secretly a teddy bear inside.”
“You’ve got me all figured out,” I answer dryly. “Don’t tell the others. I wouldn’t want to ruin my reputation as the world’s biggest asshole.”
“You know that’s not what we think of you. World’s biggest smart-ass is a more accurate description. Every family needs one.”
“Good to know I serve a purpose.”
She relaxes against the lounge, circling back to the reason she’s here. “When are you going to tell her?”
“She says she doesn’t want to know. That’s probably for the best.”
Abella watches me as I pull the blunt from my pocket, desperately itching to smoke it. I don’t like this fucking feeling in my chest.
“Well, I can’t hide this from her,” she says. “I’ll tell her I know who Eros is, and whether she wants your identity or not is up to her.”
“I figured.”
“Does this thing have an expiration date?” she asks.
“That’s what we agreed on.”
“Agreements can change—just ask your brother. But don’t wait until she’s walking down the aisle to figure it out.”
“He’s nothing if not dramatic.”
She laughs, but her amusement fades quickly.
“Are you really going to let her marry Riccardo?”
“Not a chance in hell.”
“Sounds exactly like what a man in love might say,” she chirps.
“Maybe you should stage an intervention. Clearly, I’m spiraling.”
“Joke all you want, but I know you’re doodling hearts around her name in your head.”
“Are you charging me by the hour for this psychoanalysis, or is it complimentary?”
“I’ll let you have this one for free.” Abella smirks. “But only because you’ve always protected her, even when she didn’t know it.”
With that cryptic thought, she checks the time on her phone and gets up to leave.
“Hang on a second.” I scrape a hand over the back of my neck. “I need your help with something.”
“Okay. What is it?”
“It’s Gabi.” I blow out a breath. “She’s having some problems at school.”