Chapter 57
NICO
Bruno was never built for pain. He was built for cruelty.
I smiled, a dark sort of anticipation tightening my belly at what was to come. Those males always broke the quickest when the roles reversed.
I leaned back in the chair, watching him struggle, hanging from the same chains he’d put on Emberline.
Blood ran down his arms where the metal bit into his wrists.
His feet didn’t touch the floor. One fancy loafer—still marked by Ember’s blood—was across the room, kicked off during his frantic flailing.
I’d tortured many vampires in my life.
Some for the Brotherhood, some for Gabriel, some for my own purposes.
But I’d never felt the kind of rage I felt right now, looking at this sick bastard hanging from the ceiling. And while I normally kept myself detached from this sort of brutality, today I was fully vested in this fucker’s suffering.
I wanted to fucking taste his pain. I wanted to hear his agony in every scream.
Dante, on the other hand, hadn’t said a word since we dragged Bruno in here.
Those fucking flames hadn’t made a reappearance, but I knew it was only a matter of when, not if, and I had no desire to be inside this room when he changed into… whatever the fuck he was now.
This tight, concrete box would become an oven.
And Bruno was going to burn.
There was a lesson in there somewhere.
“Tell us what we need to know, and I’ll make this quick.
” I kept my voice calm, almost bored. I turned the knife in my hand, letting the light catch along the edge.
“We don’t have a lot of time, but there’s no need for you to suffer for Rocco.
We already have him behind bars, so you’re not protecting him by keeping his secrets. ”
Bruno spat blood on the floor. “Go fuck yourselves.”
His eyes were on Dante, though, which rankled. I was used to being the biggest, baddest motherfucker in the room, and this sucked, losing my crown. Not that I’d argue with the bastard. He’d probably set me on fire.
My chair scraped loudly across the stone, Bruno flinching before I even touched him.
I didn’t rush, my movements smooth as I grabbed his jaw, forced his head up, and gripped the end of the hook protruding from his neck. His eyes were wild now, panic gnawing away at whatever bravado he had left.
“This is for Emberline,” I told him softly, reminding myself not to kill him just yet, that we still needed answers. Didn’t mean he couldn’t suffer, though.
I grasped the metal end and twisted.
After Bruno regained consciousness, he couldn’t stop talking.
“Please… please, I’ll tell you everything.”
“You should’ve started there,” I interrupted.
Blood poured from the wound in his neck, soaking his two-hundred-dollar shirt, his lips almost gray from blood loss.
I traded a look with Dante. He was losing a lot of blood, and we’d have better luck getting information from him than Rocco. Something told me Demente would manage to talk his way out of his predicament, the slippery bastard.
Bruno… he wasn’t slipping out of anything. But we had to make this fast.
“Start talking,” I said. “Tell us about Rocco. His involvement with Giovanni and with Blackwood.”
That name changed everything.
Even through the pain, something sharp flickered in his expression, and I smiled.
“That’s right, we know all about Lord Blackwood. Tell us how he came to be involved, and I’ll end you quick. You have to know you’re not walking away from this. That was his wife you hurt.” I pointed the tip of my knife at Dante.
“You only think you know what Blackwood is,” the coward whined, and when the smell of urine tinged the air, I knew Bruno would give us anything we asked for.
Bruno’s eyes darted between us, desperation turning to calculation. “Giovanni didn’t want Blackwood involved. He took some convincing.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Bullshit.”
“I swear,” Bruno gasped. “He said Blackwood was too powerful. Told Rocco once they brought him in, they wouldn’t control the council anymore.”
The reasoning was solid. Lord Blackwood had a dangerous reputation, and Giovanni didn’t like competition.
“Then why contact him at all?” Dante asked, voice low.
Bruno’s throat bobbed, the hook moving with it. “Rocco claimed Blackwood had the reach, power, and connections they couldn’t match. He said if Blackwood would throw his full weight behind their takeover, he could use the Basin in return.”
Dante’s eyes swung to mine, both of us in agreement.
Blackwood having access to the Basin was a nightmare that could never happen. All vampires were treacherous, but Blackwood was on a whole other level. I’d had my own dealings with him, and his brand of evil was something I never wanted to see again.
“Rocco reached out to Blackwood. You’re sure?”
Bruno nodded frantically. “I was there. He set the meeting, made the offer, and told Giovanni about it after. Boxed him in, so he didn’t have a choice.” A short pause, and then, “The boss was clever like that. Blackwood and he swore a blood oath, so there was no reneging.”
Dante and I exchange a look. If Rocco swore a blood oath to Blackwood, that changed everything. Blood oaths were unbreakable, and I couldn’t fucking believe Rocco was such a fool.
“Why bring in Blackwood? Your boss is smart. He had to know that would tip the power balance.”
Bruno clamped his lips together.
I plunged a knife into his thigh. Twisted.
“Why?”
“Because he thought Giovanni was losing control,” Bruno screamed. “His niece betrayed him, Emilia and Severin refused to back him, and then that day at council, he…” His gaze landed on Dante. “He made Marcello look like a fool.” Bruno exhaled, the sound rasping up his throat.
“They’d been planning this for decades, and everything was falling apart.
The boss didn’t know about the poison, and Marcello…
” His eyes shifted away. “Or any of the other plots Giovanni was working on. All Rocco knew was that they were floundering. He thought bringing Blackwood in would give them more leverage.”
“And Ember?” I asked, my voice dropping. “Whose idea was it to kidnap her and torture her? What, exactly, did you hope to gain by taking her?”
Bruno went still, eyes ping-ponging between us as he scrambled for an answer that wouldn’t end up causing him pain.
“Giovanni. Losing the Basin sent him into a rage, and Rocco already had spies planted in the Dominico household,” he choked. “Two of them grabbed her, brought her here, but she never talked. Which is why Giovanni left to…”
“Left to what?” Dante asked quietly, the sound of his voice making Bruno thrash all over again.
“Get the brother. After I softened her up, I was supposed to go to work on the brother.” His gaze drifted to the door, a flash of hope animating his dead eyes. “Should be back any moment.”
Well, that could be a problem or a gift, depending on how you looked at it, but if anything happened to Luca, Emberline would never forgive herself.
I turned slowly to Dante.
Bruno’s words came faster now, tripping over each other. “Giovanni knew the brother was her weak spot. He was going to make her watch…”
“Yeah, that’s not happening. Tell us about these plots of Giovanni’s. The ones Rocco didn’t know about.”
“I’ve said too much already,” he huffed. “I told you everything.”
“Not everything. What other plots, Bruno? You’re the one who opened the door. Don’t be shy, tell us what you know.”
“That’s all you’re getting from me.” The stubborn bastard decided now was a good time to keep his secrets. The next minute, my knife was buried deep in Bruno’s side, blood flooding over my hand like a fountain.
“One more question,” I yanked the knife free. “Why in the fuck do you know so much? You’re a bodyguard, for fuck’s sake. A nobody.”
“Not a nobody.” He tried to shake his head, but it was kind of hard to do with that hook sticking out of both sides of his neck. “I’m not just Rocco’s soldier. I’m his son.”
For a second, I wondered if I’d heard him right. Even Dante blinked.
Bruno started laughing then. “Didn’t see that coming, did you?
” He pinned Dante with a stare full of jealous rage.
“Imagine my surprise when, after dedicating my entire life to my father, he offered you the crown to the Demente empire that night, in front of everyone. All you had to do was marry my sister. He still didn’t think I was good enough, even though I proved myself every day. ”
“So… let me get this straight,” I held up my hand, “You’ve been working with Giovanni for months now, because you… have daddy issues?”
“Fuck you. I started working for Giovanni because he’s a fucking animal,” he sneered at Dante, hate gleaming in his eyes.
“I used every one of my father’s contacts, every single spy and plant to bring you down.
You’re not fit to dine with polite society, much less sit in one of the golden chairs at council. ”
Other than his pupils dilating, Dante didn’t react, but this fucker…
“This male has more honor than your entire bloodline combined. I’d trust him with my life, and I have.
I’m proud to call him a friend, while you…
” I dragged my gaze over him. “Rocco was right. You’re not good enough.
I think we’re done here,” I said, rage burning through me so fast it blacked out my vision.
“Finish up, will you? I’ve got somewhere to be. ”
The second I was through the door, heat and flame exploded behind me.
The first thing I did when I reached the island was check on Emberline, tucked in bed and fast asleep.
“She fed from me,” Gabriel said, and while his voice was calm as the lagoon, there was a fresh bite mark on his wrist, and his eyes were brighter than I’d seen them in a long time.
“The healers took care of her back.” His jaw clenched, eyes drifting back to the tiny female tucked carefully between white sheets.
“And while I don’t want to leave her, we have to deal with Rocco. ”
I’d filled him in on everything, the stack of letters pinched between his fingers when he pushed open the cell door, the metallic squeal echoing down the stone corridor.
Rocco perched on the edge of the narrow cot, his posture rigid. His eyes flicked between us, calculating—always calculating, weighing the worth of the secrets he held, how far he could push us, what it would take for him to slip out of this situation.
I stepped inside first.
And decided I was done playing games.
The air shifted around me, shadows I usually kept hidden curling faintly at the edges, enough to remind him I wasn’t just some Draconi grunt. I was Severin’s most dangerous soldier, and with good fucking reason.
“Your son is dead, by Dante’s hand,” I informed him quietly, and the cold-hearted bastard didn’t even blink at the news that his own son was dead.
“Bruno told us everything, and we have your stash of letters. We know about Blackwood and Giovanni. We know it all, Rocco. Now what are you willing to give us in exchange for your measly life, because right now, neither of us has the slightest interest in letting you draw air for another moment.”
Rocco swallowed, looking between us, and I could almost read his mind.
He knew the chances of us killing him were low.
But not zero.
“And remember this. While we are two reasonable people who take things like strategy into account, you let your own son put his hands on Dante’s wife, and his mindset isn’t quite as… civilized as ours.” Behind me, Gabriel leaned against the doorway, silent, watchful.
Rocco’s gaze snapped back to me. “You don’t understand what Giovanni was planning.”
“We understand perfectly.” I stepped closer.
“Like I said, we know everything, Rocco. All that remains is for you to decide what you’re willing to give us to save your own skin.
Dante’s currently off on a little recon mission, but he’ll be back any minute.
If I were you, I’d start talking because if we haven’t reached an arrangement by the time he returns, you’ll meet the same end as your son.
Nothing left for the funeral pyre, I’m afraid. ”
He flinched.
“You came here to stall us while Bruno tortured Emberline,” I continued, my voice calm in a way that felt far more dangerous than the rage had.
“That will have a cost, even if you do manage to talk your way out of this.” My eyes dropped to his right hand, the one he used to hold his cane.
“How deep is Blackwood in all of this?” I crouched in front of him so I could see his face.
“Deep,” he admitted. “Too deep to get him out, now that he knows what the Basin can do, how Giovanni is planning to use it.”
Thanking the gods I had the cursed thing hidden away where no one could possibly find it, I straightened up. “Tell us you didn’t swear a blood oath to the bastard, in exchange for his help?”
“I had to; he forced my hand. Told me he wouldn’t throw his support behind me without assurances. Giovanni was losing control. His niece fucked everything up, and even with the Basin, he couldn’t get Emilia’s support, which was critical. Blackwood became a necessary evil.”
Rocco straightened his cuffs. “You’re thinking too small,” he said, his eyes sharp despite the tension humming in the room.
“Kill me, and you only get satisfaction for a moment. Spare me, and I’ll work for you.
” His gaze flicked between us, no longer panicked when he saw me hesitate.
“I’m Blackwood’s go-between. Let me live, and I’ll give you enough to stay one step ahead of them. ”
He shifted his gaze to Gabriel. “Your father just died, and you’re next on Giovanni’s list. He has people in place to assassinate you at your father’s funeral service.” A faint smile tugged at his mouth, “You can take them out before the ceremony, and Giovanni will look even weaker to Blackwood.”
Then he leaned forward, that self-assured smirk on his face, like he knew he had us in his pocket. “Spare me, and I’ll deliver Giovanni to you myself. As an offering.”
“You will back me as Don, and swear fealty to me and to the Dominico family, upon order of death?”
“I will. If you spare my life.”
“That sounds like we have a deal, Rocco. There’s just one thing…” Gabriel stepped forward, and I pinned Rocco’s right arm down to the table.
“I told you if you betrayed us, I would take your head. I’ll settle for your hand.” His eyes swung wildly between us as Gabriel brought the cleaver down on his wrist, severing bone and sinew in one blow. Blood sprayed, and Rocco screamed, cursing us both.
“That’s for selling out Emberline. And a reminder of what happens to traitors.” Gabriel jerked his head toward the door. “Now get off my fucking island and don’t come back.”