58. Enzo #3
Cole tightened his hands into fists. I shook my head at him, hoping he didn’t lose it and cause more problems than we could handle.
“Dante—”
“Just temporarily. Until your tour starts.”
“My family.” Her bottom lip trembled.
“There is more at play here, dear sister,” he said.
“What’s at play?”
“Enemies.”
She frowned at him. “Who?”
“Lorenzo De Luca accumulates them,” Church murmured, leaning into her. I watched, my stomach twisting as he nuzzled into her neck and inhaled deeply. I didn’t know much about them as siblings, just that they were and Dante seemed to bend to her will, but this… this was odd behavior, even for him.
“Even Cole Scott has them. Let me keep you safe.” He twirled one of her red curls around his finger as he whispered something into her ear we couldn’t hear.
I didn’t like how close he was to her.
“If you’re discussing the horsemen, we should be part of that discussion,” I said in a deadly whisper. “Don’t you think, Dante?”
He chuckled that dark laugh of his before slowly pulling away from Rosalie and locking his intensely green eyes on me.
“No, I don’t fucking think you should be. If I wanted you to know the secrets I tell my dear sister, then I’d be whispering them into your ear, not hers. Stay in your lane, De Luca.”
Before I could shoot back a reply, Cole spoke up.
“You stay in your fucking lane.” Cole dragged Rosalie off Church’s lap so fast that she stumbled into him. Stitches and Sin immediately stood. I got up too and went to stand in front of Cole.
“Not in my fucking house. Not with my family,” I snarled at the watchers.
The ghosts. Whatever-the-fuck they were calling themselves these days.
“We made a deal a long time ago. I run the city, you run the hell beneath it. You don’t get to come to my fucking level and start causing trouble. I handle shit here, not you.”
“Sit,” Church said.
His men glared at me for a moment before returning to their seats.
“You’re right, De Luca. We did make that deal. However, I’d like to make a new deal.”
I eyed him wearily. “What is it?”
“I want you to make a sacrifice.”
“Dante,” Rosalie pleaded. “No—”
He held his hand up to silence her. She snapped her mouth closed and stared back at him, her green eyes glimmering with fear and tears.
“When a don isn’t doing his job, he can be removed from power.
” Church adjusted his cufflinks and gave me a dangerous smile as I bristled.
“His underboss, which in this case is Cole Scott, can move into the position. However, I do not like Cole Scott in such a position, so I request you decide what you are going to do. Let Evan take the throne with Anson as his underboss, since Evan is technically the heir to this city. You could become his enforcer if he permits it.”
“What are my other options?” I asked, my hands balled into fists.
“You could die.” Church gave me a lazy look. “The choice is yours. Decide soon, or I’ll decide for you.”
“Evan doesn’t want this life!” I yelled. “He fucking died to leave it. Don’t you dare drag him back to it, you fucking monster!”
Church stood with his men. “Evan is a proven warrior. He fights, and he wins. Anson is even more so, and they have the backing of Klaus Seeley and an entire army.”
“Why are you doing this?” I demanded.
He got in my face, his nose nearly touching mine. When he spoke, it was for my ears only.
“Because you are weak. You are not fit to love my sister. She needs protectors, not men who would abandon her. Who don’t fight for her.
You have had ample time to sort your shit, and yet it remains unsorted.
You have the Virellis breathing down your neck, and yet you continue to let it happen.
I would think you’d be more willing to eradicate them, considering they helped the Ivanovs and my father murder your parents. ”
I stiffened at his words. I had my suspicions, but he was confirming them.
“What do you know?” I demanded.
“That you’re going to give up your part of the city to Constantino and Alessandro De Santis. You’re better at taking orders than creating them.”
“About my parents and the Virelli family!” I grabbed him by his lapels and shook him. “Fucking tell me.”
He smirked at me. “You should already know, but in case you don’t, maybe you should ask Emilio Valetti. Or is it Virelli? I get so confused with all the names.”
My blood ran cold. Emilio wasn’t a Virelli.
He was a Valetti. He was my father’s best friend and my parents’ lover for as long as I’d been alive.
Hell, before I was even born, they’d been with him.
I only found out about it an hour before they were murdered, but I knew Emilio loved them and still mourned their passing.
“I think, Lorenzo, that sometimes we make it so high on the food chain that we forget we were once food. I am only here to remind you of that. Decide. Have a good evening, horsemen.” He shook me off him and went to Rosalie.
I watched as he took her from Cole before kissing her forehead tenderly, then the corner of her lips.
“I love you,” he said softly. “I do what I do for you, sister. Trust me?”
She stared at him for a moment before she replied softly.
“Always, brother.”
Well, fuck.