by Bella J
“Who says I’m saving her?” His eyes met mine, and I swallowed hard.
“How else can you explain killing Nicollo and assaulting your own brother?”
“Incentive.”
“Excuse me?” Her voice raised, and I could hear the anger that occupied every part of her soul.
“Tatum. I’m using her as an incentive.”
I narrowed my eyes and softly whispered, “What are you doing?”
He placed his finger in front of his mouth, silencing me.
“Incentive for what?”
“The truth. I’m tired of being lied to, and I want the truth.” His eyes never left mine.
“About what, Castello? What are you talking about?”
He stood up from the bed. “What are you hiding, Mother?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Castello. Now stop this madness. It has already gone too far.”
“No. I want the truth. I want to know exactly what happened to Carlo.”
Silence.
Castello and I glanced at each other.
“This is your Uncle Gino’s doing, isn’t it? He planted this seed of doubt inside your head.”
“Maybe he did me a favor.”
“Castello, bring us the girl. Let’s put an end to this.”
My heart stammered inside my chest, the thought of being given to that woman causing me to choke on my own goddamn breath.
“Tell me the truth, and I’ll bring her to you. Then you can do the honors of ending all of this.”
Fear ransacked my insides, but Castello placed his hand over mine. With serious eyes and a finger in front of his mouth, telling me to keep quiet, he squeezed my hand.
The other end of the line was silent, and Castello looked down at the phone.
“Madre?”
“Yes. I’m here. Is she with you?”
“She is.”
“Fine. Just know that I’m very disappointed in you, Castello.”
“That makes two of us. Now, the truth.”
She sighed over the speaker. “Carlo was in love with the tramp. He wanted to marry her.”
My heart stopped, and Castello took his hand off mine.
“Your father refused. He said that she wasn’t good enough for the man who would run this family, and that Carlo needed to find himself a strong Italian woman. Not a filthy American snob.”
Castello sat back down and picked up the phone, holding it in front of him. “What happened?”
“Carlo was angry, of course. So he went straight to her father, telling William his plans to marry his daughter. Like us, William wasn’t thrilled. He contacted your father and an agreement was made to keep them apart.”
I got up from the bed, unable to sit still any longer while I heard this woman talk about Carlo, and how he wanted to be with me forever. Every word gnawed at my heart, breaking through my chest.
Castello glanced up at me, and I knew he hated hearing every word. “Go on.”
“We couldn’t keep him from seeing her. Carlo was adamant, kept on telling us how much he loved her. William saw it as your father breaking the agreement, and took matters into his own hands.”
Oh my God.
My knees went weak, and I felt myself fall to the ground. But two arms surrounded me, keeping me from collapsing into a giant heap of despair. My heart was shattered, my body aching as the truth slammed against bone. How could our fathers have conspired to keep us apart? Was my father really capable of cold-blooded murder in a bid to manipulate my life?
Castello tightened his arms, and I leaned back, biting my tongue, fighting the urge to cry out loud as my heartache threatened to rip me open from the inside out.
“Castello?”
“I have to go, Madre.”
He killed the line, then tossed the phone aside, and I let loose. I screamed. My body wailed, the truth breaking through my chest. Castello was right. His mother was right. I—my family was to blame for Carlo’s death, and I fucking deserved to be here. I deserved this family’s wrath, their hate. All this time I sat in that goddamn room feeling sorry for myself, thinking that the Fattores were monsters when in fact it was just karma being a bitch, exacting due payment…from me.
“Tatum, listen to me.”
I couldn’t, I was too busy listening to my soul crack into pieces.
Castello gripped my arms and spun me around, shaking me. “Listen to me, Tatum. She’s lying. My mother is lying.”
My body went stiff, my eyes searching his face. “How do you know?”
He cupped my cheeks in his palms, his thumbs wiping away my tears. “If he really planned on marrying you, why did he lie to you? Why did he tell you his surname was Mancini, and never mentioned me, his twin brother? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe he planned to?”
Castello let go of me and stepped back. “No. Nothing about what my mother just said makes sense. I’m telling you, she’s lying.”
Tears still slipped down my cheek, but I wiped it away with the back of my hand. “If she is, how do we get to the truth?”
His gaze pinned me on the spot, the intensity of his dark eyes knocking the breath out of me—and I knew I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say.
“By handing you over to my mother.”
24
CASTELLO
Like Vico said before, ‘This shit is about to get real.’
Uncle Gino had messaged me to say that he was here at the house with a few other men of the family he had managed to get on his side. Not everyone was in favor of spilling blood for blood. He also warned me that the Fattore household was packing some serious ammo right now since everyone was on edge. He also confirmed that neither Vico nor my mother had shared the news about Nicollo’s murder with anyone. My guess was they were saving it for when they made their final move to put me in checkmate. I had no idea how I was going to handle that little tidbit of information yet, but of one thing I was certain—our family has been divided, and no matter what happens today, we will never stand united again.
I pulled on my suit jacket and straightened my sleeves. I looked up into the mirror and watched Tatum’s reflection as she sat on the bed staring down at the floor.
“You okay over there?”
“Sure.” She shrugged. “I’m about to go face to face with a woman who wants nothing more than to see me choke on my own blood. I’ve never been better.”
I snorted. “At least you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”
She caught my gaze in the mirror. “It’s my life I don’t want to lose.”
I turned to face her, and glanced down at my shirt she was still wearing. “I’m sorry I don’t have anything else for you to wear.”
“It’s okay. My wardrobe is the last thing I’m worried about.” She bit her thumbnail between her teeth, her face nothing but lines of worry.
“Did you love him?” The question just rolled out of my mouth.
Blue eyes kept my gaze. “I don’t know. I thought I did, but I don’t know anything anymore.”
Her answer didn’t surprise me. All the lies that now suddenly surrounded everything about her and Carlo being together was enough to make her doubt what she felt back then. But I remember how she mourned the ‘break-up’ when Carlo just disappeared. I watched her, I observed her, and her heartache was evident in every facial expression, and in every bottle of scotch she consumed. It didn’t bother me in the slightest back then, but it bothered me now. It ate at me from the inside knowing that she might have truly loved him, and I had no right to feel that way. I didn’t have the right to lay claim on her…or did I?
Tatum once belonged to my brother, but now she belongs to me. I don’t know how it happened, but I claimed her—I claimed all of her, which was why knowing that she felt something, anything for my brother was the kind of knowledge I could have gone without. Yet I was the one who asked the stupid goddamn question, and somewhere deep inside my chest I regretted it.
I just nodde
d and as I was about to turn around ready to let the subject go, she spoke.
“Carlo lied to me, and a lie is just as good as cheating. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over that, which is why I need to know why he felt the need to lie. Nothing about any of this makes sense. Your mother’s hate for me is so intense, as if it was me who pulled that trigger, yet after what she told you, it’s clear that the plot between our parents to keep me and Carlo apart was the reason he got killed.”
I glanced her way. “You’re right, it doesn’t make sense. We’ll find out the truth, today.”
I opened my closet door, then unlocked the safe I had hidden at the back. I heard Tatum’s faint gasp when I pulled out two guns.
“I suppose it is necessary for those,” she said behind me as I checked that the chambers were fully loaded.
“Was it necessary when I killed Nicollo?” I tucked them in behind my back before straightening out my suit jacket. Her silence was just as good as an answer. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling—not that any of this was any matter to smile about. But for a woman who relished pain and loved to bleed, she sure was innocent when it came to my world. For some reason I liked that—that she wasn’t a part of all this. She was my escape…the only problem was, I would ultimately be her cross. Just like the cross inked on my back, fire consuming it, I’ll be the cross with her fucking name on it, the blood in my veins being the flames that would want to devour her.
If anyone asked me what the definition of a cluster fuck was, I’d say three words…Tatum, and me. Everything about us was wrong, yet I couldn’t imagine never having her again, not being able to feel her from the inside. And if whatever was about to go down between me and my family turned out in our favor, I didn’t know if I would be able to let her go.
She chewed on her thumbnail again, and I walked over to her, gently easing her finger out from between her lips.
“Stop fretting, little mouse. The look of worry doesn’t suit you.”
Her blue eyes looked up at me. “But chains do?”
“Hmm.” I groaned. “You have no idea how fucking good you look in chains.” I grabbed her hand and pushed it against my now rock hard cock. “You feel that. Not even the probability of death can stop me from getting hard for you, thinking about you in chains while your skin blushes for me.”
I flexed into her palm, before taking her chin in my hand and forcing her face up toward mine. “Your blood feeds the beast inside me, bella donna.”
My mouth claimed hers hard and unyielding, kissing her like it would be the last fucking time. My body yearned and screamed for me to take her, my beasts clawing and scratching against their cages to claim her and never let her fucking go. Unfortunately, from this moment on nothing was a guarantee anymore. The only thing I knew while my tongue swirled and brushed against hers, was that this woman was probably the closest I would come to finding my salvation—if that was even possible for a man like me.
Unable to control it, I shifted and pushed her on her back before settling on top of her. My body roared, my cock aching with a need that was seconds away from consuming me. And by the way she kissed me back it didn’t seem like the threat that hung like dark smoke around us bothered her while I had my tongue in her mouth, and my hard cock rubbing between her legs. But as much as I’d like to rip my shirt off her and show her once again how I ruled her body, we needed to face the shit storm that waited for us downstairs.
With heavy reluctance I removed my mouth from hers and pushed myself up, helping her up too.
“Do you trust me, little mouse?”
“No.” She stood up.
“Good. You shouldn’t.”
There was a hint of a smile on her lips, but I guess the weight of what was about to happen was just too heavy for her smile to reach her eyes.
“Okay. Let’s get this show on the road.”
I walked toward the door, but just as I reached for the lock, she balked.
“What if they’re out there waiting for us?”
I traced a finger across her chin. “My sweet, naïve little mouse. Soon you will learn to trust me.”
The lock clicked open and I kept my gaze on her face as I opened the door. The fear on her face was toxic, and for the first time I yearned for someone’s trust—hers. But maybe it was better this way, that she didn’t trust me. There was no way I could guarantee her that she or I would come out of this alive.
When the door was open, one of Uncle Gino’s associates stepped into sight, holding a semi-automatic gun in his hands. Tatum moved in behind me, and I fucking loved the fact that she sought out my protection.
“Tatum, meet Giovanni. He’s here to safely escort us down to the dining hall.”
Instantly she paled. “The dining hall?”
“Yes. As you probably guessed, that’s where all our meetings and…events take place.”
I knew nothing I said would have been able to settle her. Even the air we breathed seemed laden with fear and uncertainty. But this all had to be done.
“Come on. Let’s not keep them waiting.”
I let her walk first, following Giovanni. I took the back making sure she was covered at all times. More of Uncle Gino’s associates stood scattered around the halls. I’ve never felt so goddamn thankful for that uncle of mine as I did right now. He made sure that there was no way we could be intercepted. Yet still, every step I took felt like I was a man living on borrowed time. I’ve always been the type of man who preferred—no, needed to know all the risks involved. Only then I’d make any kind of decision, but only if I was one hundred percent sure that the reward outweighed the risk. But that wasn’t the case today. I had no way of ensuring that the reward outweighed the risk I was taking now, by leading Tatum straight to them. And that thought alone killed me slowly, each step another stab through my chest.
I watched her while she walked, her head held high. How did she do it? How did she manage to face her demons head on even though she knew her chances of survival were slim? Putting one foot in front of the other, Tatum walked with confidence, but I knew that on the inside she was scared beyond comprehension…and so was I.
After passing each associate, they fell into step behind us, instantly becoming allies. A family that stood vast for so many years got cracked right down the middle within the blink of an eye. It made me wonder if our family was ever that strong to begin with. And now, as we stopped in front of the dining hall doors, I knew that life as I’ve known it was about to change.
Giovanni glanced at me, and so did Tatum. Her eyes spoke volumes, displaying equal parts bravery and terror. If I was able to spare her what was about to happen, I would. I would do anything—give anything if it meant keeping her away from what awaited us behind those doors. But there was no other way. We needed to face these demons…together.
I broke eye contact with her and looked up at Giovanni. I nodded, and he opened the doors.
25
TATUM
The second those doors opened, everything around me went mute. All I heard was the wild beating of my heart resonating through my head. I didn’t know if I would walk out of this dining hall alive. And as I stared at all the faces in front of me, there was one face in particular that I sought out. Hers. Mrs. Fattore.
Sitting in the middle of the long table, flanked by Vico and other men I didn’t recognize, my confidence momentarily left me. Surrounded by all these powerful men, she looked invincible, and even though I had faith in Castello for a moment…that was no longer the case. This woman wanted blood, and blood was what she was going to get…today.
Giovanni stepped in, but I couldn’t move. My body was frozen, like when Nicollo had his disgusting body all over mine—my mind no longer registering anything but red and the hatred that seemed to emanate from almost everyone in the room.
A soft hand touched the curve of my spine and his scent surrounded me. “This has to be done, little mouse. You need to walk inside.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, f
orcing myself to be the little mouse that obeys. “Yes…sir.” I heard him suck in a breath, and I walked.
Vico got up, his one eye swollen shut. “Finally decided to be a man, hey?”
Castello snorted. “How’s the eye, little brother?”
The way Vico’s face hardened, his glare shooting daggers at Castello’s forehead, I was ninety nine percent sure that this gathering wouldn’t last five minutes without bloodshed.
Castello’s mother got up from her chair. “What have you done, son?”
“All I want is the truth.”
“And I told you the truth.”
Castello walked forward all along the table to where Uncle Gino was sitting. “The thing is, Mother, I don’t believe a word you told me.”
Her glare shot to me. “This is your doing. One son wasn’t enough for you? You had to go stick your manipulative claws into Castello as well.”
“You’re one to talk.” Everyone’s eyes darted toward where Uncle Gino sat. “You’ve been manipulating this family for years, and finally someone is starting to see you for who and what you really are.” He shrugged. “Pity it had to be your son, your own flesh and blood.”
“How dare you. Are you not my husband’s brother?”
Uncle Gino got up from his seat. “I was his brother. But he’s dead, and it’s a shame he’s not here to witness this, to finally see what evil runs through your veins.”
She sat back down on her seat, and I looked over to Castello. He was standing tall, proud, confident, but I saw the sadness in his eyes as he stared at his mother. No matter who she was or what she has done, she still remained his mother.
“Castello,” she started. “It is clear that our family has been torn apart by your actions, but you still have a chance to fix it. This wretched woman needs to be buried, tonight.”
My heart stopped, and my stomach felt like it had been filled with concrete.
Castello walked back to me, putting himself between me and his mother, shielding me from her hateful gaze. “We have a deal with William Linscott, and I intend to keep that deal. When he hands himself over to us tomorrow, I will send Tatum home, as per my word.”
