Chapter 49 Vin
Vin
This is what matters. This is what I need to focus on. Not the way Sophie’s whole face lit up every time I walked in the room. Not the sound she made when she came on my cock for the first time. I slam my fist on the table, making the coffee cups jump. Both my brothers look up.
“What’ve we got?” I bark.
Matti’s eyes narrow. “You good?”
“I’m fine. What’ve we got on Aurelio?”
Tommy sets down his phone. “Three possible locations. The brownstone in Brooklyn, the warehouse in Queens, or the estate in Connecticut.”
“He’s not at the estate.” I trace the map with my finger, forcing my mind to work the problem. “Too exposed. He knows we’re coming for him.”
“The warehouse, then,” Matti says. “It’s fortified. Lots of exits.”
I shake my head. Something’s not right. Aurelio’s paranoid, but he’s also arrogant. He wouldn’t hide in a warehouse like a rat.
My phone buzzes. Valentina is calling.
I almost don’t answer, but she’s one of our best hackers, and if she might be calling about Aurelio.
“What.”
“Well, hello to you too, sunshine.” Her voice drips sarcasm. “I heard you’re planning the big finale with dear old dad.”
“You want in or not?”
She’s quiet for a moment. “Not.”
That surprises me. Valentina hates Aurelio as much as the rest of us.
“You don’t want to play a role in his final moments? Have your say? Get a shot in?”
She snorts a laugh. “Zero interest in spending one more minute of this life thinking about that fucking fuck.”
“Fine. I’ll call you when it’s done.”
“Vin, wait.” Her tone shifts, losing the edge. “Why did you do that to that girl? That bitch is the nicest one you’ll ever find, she cooks like a God damn dream, and she fucking puts up with your shit. I literally could not build a better woman for you. What’d she do?”
My jaw clenches so hard I hear my teeth grind. “None of your fucking business.”
“So it just ended? Just like that?”
“It wasn’t a fucking breakup. We weren’t together.”
“If you say so.” The pity in her voice makes me want to put my fist through the wall.
I hang up before she can say anything else.
When I look up, Matti and Tommy are both staring at me with the same looks they gave me when I came back from the Irish meeting reeking of Ashlyn’s perfume. The same looks they’ve been giving me since I destroyed Sophie at Siena’s party.
“Don’t,” I say, the word coming out like a warning shot.
“We didn’t say anything,” Tommy says carefully.
“You’re thinking it. Don’t.”
Matti leans back in his chair, arms crossed. “You’re the one who moved into her place. You’re the one who got involved when everyone told you not to. You’re the one who—”
“I said don’t.” I’m on my feet, hands flat on the table, leaning toward him. “We have work to do. Or did you forget we’re hunting the man who’s been torturing us our entire lives?”
“Hard to forget when you’re acting just like him,” Matti says quietly.
His words split me right down the center like an ice pick. I straighten, jaw working, my hands curling into fists.
“Fuck you.”
“You broke Sophie’s heart in front of everyone,” Matti continues, his voice still maddeningly calm. “Grabbed her throat, told her she was nothing. That type of shit doesn’t sound familiar to you?”
My vision goes red. “That’s not what—” I can’t finish the sentence. No way I’m going to tell them that Sophie is different from any of the women my father fucked with and abused. And I’m not ready to admit to myself that I have to marry Ashlyn much less tell them about it.
I start again. “I have to marry for an alliance—”
“We know that, Vin,” Tommy interrupts. “You think we don’t understand duty? We get it. But the way you handled it—”
“Was necessary.” I cut him off, my voice steely. “There can be no connection between her and I. It’s safer that way.”
“Safer for who?” Matti asks.
I don’t answer, because I don’t fucking know.
“Aurelio,” I say, forcing the word out. “We’re talking about Aurelio. Where is he?”
Tommy and Matti exchange a look, then Tommy picks up his phone again, and Matti turns back to his laptop.
Good. This is better. This is what I know how to do.
I may not be the man Sophie needs, but I know how to kill the man who’s been destroying my family.
I study the maps, the surveillance photos, the financial records until Aurelio’s patterns emerge like a ghost. He’s careful, but he’s also predictable. And he’s paranoid.
The brownstone. It has to be the brownstone.
My phone buzzes again. I glance at the screen, expecting Valentina calling back.
But it’s not Valentina. It’s Sophie, her name still saved with the crown emoji I added after the first time I called her regina.
I stare at the screen, thumb hovering over the answer button until it stops buzzing. A few seconds later, a voicemail notification appears.
I should delete it and block her number, make this a clean break. Instead, I slip the phone into my pocket, the unheard voicemail heavy.
“Found him,” Matti says suddenly. “The brownstone. He’s been moving money through a web of shell corps and the one at the center? Registered to that address.”
“Good.” I grab my jacket, check my gun. “Let’s move.”
“Now?” Tommy stands. “Vin, it’s getting dark. We should plan this out better, give the men time to prep—”
“Now.” I’m already heading for the door. “I want this finished.”
Once Aurelio’s dead, once I’m officially boss, the contract becomes active. I’ll marry Ashlyn MacCuinn, secure the ports, and Sophie Bellamorte will just be a memory. A memory I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to forget.
We pile into the SUV, weapons loaded, plans made. I ride shotgun while Tommy drives and Matti’s in the back, both of them silent.
As we cross the bridge into Brooklyn, my hand finds the phone in my pocket. Sophie’s voicemail, still unheard. I pull it out, stare at the notification. Then I delete it without listening.
Some beautiful things, you have to destroy before they destroy you.
The brownstone appears in the distance, windows dark, security lights bright. Somewhere inside, Aurelio Demonio is waiting, no idea that everything ends tonight. All of it.
I check my gun one more time. This is who I am. This is what I was born to do. Not loving Sophie or making her come while whispering that she’s my queen.
“Vin.” Matti’s voice cuts through my thoughts. “You ready?”
I shove Sophie’s face out of my mind. Lock away the memory of her touch, her taste, her trust.
“Yeah.” I chamber a round. “Let’s finish this.”
The SUV goes dark as we kill the lights and coast to a stop two blocks from the brownstone.
Time to become the boss. Time to kill my father. Time to marry a woman I don’t love and spend the rest of my life pretending I don’t miss the one I let go.