36. Matti
Matti
I am finishing untying Siena’s hands when a heavy weight crashes down across my back. Glancing over my shoulder, I see Aurelio. He’s towering over me, a fire poker clenched in his thick, calloused hands.
Without hesitation, I shoot my leg out, my foot slamming squarely into his kneecap. A sickening pop follows as his bad knee, burdened for years by his massive frame, bends backward. His scream pierces the air as he crumples to the ground.
“Security! Where is my security?!” he bellows, his voice frantic and cracking.
I don’t bother telling him I dispatched his guards on my way in. My attention snaps back to Siena, who is blearily trying to untie her ankles from the splintered remains of the board.
Her skin is a mess of blood and bruises—her wrists raw, her cheek sliced, and her hip smeared with crimson. Guilt and fury surge through me, a toxic mix that is becoming all too familiar.
Aurelio groans behind me, and I turn to see him rolling on his back, trying to gain enough momentum to stand. The fire poker is on the floor beside him, his hand twitching toward it. Before he can grab it, I’m on my feet, snatching it and holding it out of reach as I tower over him.
He glares up at me, defiance burning in his bloodshot eyes.
“Your life is worth cazzo now. You fucking let pussy overtake your brain. I’ll make sure you and your bitch are both put down like dogs.”
He swings his arm wildly, trying to swipe at my legs, but I bring my boot down hard on his forearm, a satisfying crunch accompanying his screams.
Without pausing, I bring the poker down across his chest, forcing the breath from his lungs. He wheezes and clutches at his shirt, his face contorted in agony.
I swing again, this time smashing his hands as well as his ribs. Two fingers twist at grotesque angles, and his howls turn shrill. Adjusting my grip on the poker, I point the sharp end down, hovering it over his dick.
“You touch her,” I growl, my voice low and lethal. “You lose more than just your fingers.”
“NO!” Aurelio screams, twisting just enough that my thrust lands the poker in the thick flesh of his hip instead. His cries morph into a high-pitched wail as blood pours from the wound. I raise the poker again, ready to strike, when a man’s voice cuts through my rage.
“MATTI!”
Vin is in the doorway, his face a mask of anguish. It’s a look I’ve only seen once before, when we were kids and he found out his mother was gone. His gaze darts to Aurelio writhing on the floor, then back to me, fear on his face.
I know I can’t dismantle this man the way I want to right now, not with Vin looking at me like that. I throw the poker against the thick wood wall next to Vin, shattering a picture frame hanging there. “Get him the FUCK out of here before I fucking rip his head off!”
Vin steps over the broken frame and makes his way to Aurelio, grabbing him by the collar and grunting as he drags him away from Siena and me. Aurelio thrashes and screams in Italian, his voice a grating rasp.
“What the fuck? Stop fighting me,” Vin grunts. “I’m trying to keep you alive, old man.”
Tommy enters a beat later, his sharp eyes assessing the scene. Without a word, he joins Vin, the two of them hauling Aurelio to the leather couch.
Siena is on the floor against the wall, penned in by the splintered wood plank in the corner, hugging her knees to her chest. Her cheek is red and swollen, her eye is swelling. Bruises are blooming on her torso, and blood drips from the cuts on her ankles and wrists.
I’m fucking pissed at her for hiding the flash drive from me, for making it impossible for me to protect her and keep her safe, but she looks so fragile and broken that I can barely breathe.
I take a step toward her, but she flinches violently enough to hit her head on the wall behind her. Her eyes, burning with hatred, lock onto mine, and I stop in my tracks.
What the fuck? She’s mad at me ?
Fine. If she doesn’t want me, she can fucking take care of herself, and I’ll manage the fucked up situation she’s gotten us into.
But I can’t stop my gaze from raking over her battered body, looking for signs of the worst. The thought of Aurelio violating her in any way sends rage flooding through my veins yet again.
Shrugging off my suit coat, I toss it to her without a word and turn back to the bastard on the couch.
Vin stands protectively in front of his father saying nothing, his hands balled into fists at his side. Vin is the brother I never had, but there’s no fucking way I’m letting Aurelio walk away.
I dive tackle Vin, knocking him back onto his father on the couch behind him, who screams in pain. It’s a sound that gives me a sick satisfaction.
Grabbing Vin around the waist, I drag him to the floor.
He’s pounding his fists into the side of my head, and I’m doing the same into his sides and his back as he tries to shift out of my grasp.
We roll over and hit the heavy claw foot of Aurelio’s desk, as I pound his stomach and chest relentlessly.
Before I can get Vin to submit, Tommy is at my back, pulling me off him.
I grab onto Vin’s shirt with the intention of either taking him up with me or keeping myself in the fight, but Vin takes advantage of the space created between us and pushes both his feet into my chest and shoves me off of him and into Tommy who falls back onto the desk.
As Vin lunges to his feet, Tommy quickly stands and steps in-between the two of us.
“Stop! Fucking stop!” Tommy has one hand on my chest and the other on Vin’s.
Vin and I stare at each other, breathing hard.
“Just take a fucking breath.” Tommy tentatively pulling his hands away from us slowly, turning toward me and then back to Vin with a look that says that now isn’t the time.
From behind him, Aurelio laughs darkly. “Matteo, you disappoint me. Letting some stupid little cunt scramble your brain.”
Tommy rolls his eyes but steps back so that I can see Aurelio, who coughs and hacks heavily into his hand. Vin eyes me warily. I ignore Aurelio and stare back at Vin, our chests heaving.
Aurelio clears his throat and groans, holding his bleeding hip. He waves his hand in Siena’s direction. “Kill the bitch. If only she knows where the flash drive is, then no one will ever find it, and we are done here.”
I lunge forward, baring my teeth, but Vin and Tommy close ranks in front of Aurelio, blocking me.
“We’re not killing anybody today,” Tommy says firmly. “She doesn’t have the flash drive. If she did, we’d have it by now.”
He looks to me for confirmation, but I don’t break eye contact with Vin, the flash drive burning a hole in my pocket.
Aurelio snorts at that. “Ha! Yes, I’m sure she was searched. By Matteo, whose mind was on finding where to put his dick next and nothing more.” His lip curls up at me, and his eyes flash with pain and hate. “Her pussy does taste good, Matteo. I’ll give you that.”
Rage explodes through me, and I shove Tommy so hard that he stumbles back onto the couch next to Aurelio, but Vin quickly steps in front of me, blocking me.
I grab his shirt in both hands, ready to throw him on top of Tommy, but instead of fighting me, he grabs my wrists.
Under his breath, so only I can hear, Vin growls, “Not now. You’ll get your chance. But we need him alive right now.”
We stand nose to nose, glaring at each other.
Tommy, always the voice of reason, gets up from the couch and leans in to us, his voice low. “Take care of Siena, Matti. We’ve got this. We’ll catch up with you later, brother. ”
Vin nods imperceptibly, but he’s tense, ready to pounce if I make a move.
Part of me wants to hand the flash drive over to Vin right now and end this. But Aurelio is a not-so-wild card. He’ll just order her killed right here, and I need to get Siena to a safe place before I take anymore risks with her life.
Right now, that flash drive is leverage.
Aurelio emits a rough, dry laugh and mocks his son. “Yes, ‘brother.’ We will see you later, ‘brother.’” He kicks at the back of Tommy’s leg from where he’s sitting on the couch and roars, “Massacre these vermin! Am I not in charge here? Am I not the head of the family? Do not let them leave!”
“Don’t fucking touch her,” I growl at Vin and move so that I’m standing between them and Siena, but no one makes a move toward me or her.
Vin snarls at his dad. “Shut up, Pop! We’re handling this. Don’t fucking make this worse.”
Aurelio heaves forward, trying to stand, but his eyes flash in pain as he grabs his wounded hip and falls back. “I brought her here for a reason! She will not leave this estate alive!”
Vin keeps his eyes on me. “Shut the fuck up, old man!”
Tommy raises his hand to Vin. “What did you want with her, Pop?”
“I want to see what Matteo is throwing his life away for. Make him face me like a man. And then I want to fuck his little cunt girlfriend in front of him.” Aurelio leans forward heavily on one knee, heaving with exertion, getting the words out, his voice lowering to a raspy growl.
“I want him punished for betraying me. For betraying the family. If he walks out of this room, Tommaso, Vincenzo, you are no longer my sons.”
No one moves. Before this moment, if anyone had suggested that Vin or Tommy would take me out, I would have laughed. But right now, I don’t know which way it’s going to go.
Both have been loyal to Aurelio in the face of their own humiliation and loss. At the end of the day, that’s their father. Being like a brother isn’t the same as actually being a son, and I know if I had to choose between my father and Vin, I’d be torn.
I’m staring at Vin, but it’s Tommy who makes a move first, pulling a gun and pressing the muzzle to my temple. “Don’t do it, Matti.”
“Fuck you, Tommy,” I grit out.
Aurelio grunts and struggles to stand. “Come here, piccolina . It’s time you pay for the trouble you’ve caused.”