Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 109674 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109674 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
I peered down at the gun in my hand. It was Rodolfo’s. There was an R engraved into the barrel. He was loyal. He had been from day one. I should kill him for his mistake.
I shook my head. I didn’t want to kill one of my soldiers. I would burn and kill today, but not him.
“Why were you home? I thought you were at work.”
“I was on the premises, down by the enclosures, when my phone sounded an alarm because someone had opened the basement door. There are surveillance cameras in the stairwell and down in the cellblock.”
“Oh.”
I kissed her, then pulled back. “Don’t try to keep me here.” I backed away, then turned. The moment I was out of the house, I allowed the rage to come forth. Niccolo waited at his car. “Oh shit,” he said when he saw my face. “I’m not sure I want to be in a car with you. What happened?”
I skirted past him and got into the passenger seat. A couple of moments later, Niccolo got in as well, but his expression was cautious.
“Amelia killed Achille.”
The words sounded flat, as if it wasn’t of consequence to me, but the stabbing pain in my chest and the utter sense of powerlessness told a different story. He was gone. Shouldn’t I feel like I had won? Like I was finally in absolute control? He would never be able to manipulate or taunt me again.
And I would never be able to make him pay for what he’d done.
Niccolo’s eyes widened, and he dropped his hand from the button that would have started his car. “Oh damn. That’s not good.”
I grimaced. “Didn’t you tell me over and over again to kill him?”
“I did, until I didn’t because you threatened to rip my tongue out.” He pressed the engine button, putting the car into Drive. “Now I’m almost scared to ask what you did to Amelia.”
I glanced at the mansion, which became smaller as he headed down the driveway. Away from Amelia.
“Nothing,” Niccolo said with a disbelieving laugh. “Wow.”
“Take me to the Bratva hideout where they killed one of our drug dealers.” I’d begin there and then see where my rage would take me next.
Niccolo let out a low whistle. “You’re going to spill blood.”
“Blood and bowels. I need to unleash the rage inside me.”
“As long as you don’t unleash it on me, I’m fine. I have plans for tonight which I’d loathe to cancel because I’m dead.”
“We are family. It would take a lot for me to kill you.”
Niccolo chuckled. “To be honest, for a while I wasn’t so sure.”
“For a while, I wasn’t either, but now I am.” I could kill him, like I could kill anyone I knew, except for Amelia, but I didn’t want to. With Amelia, it wasn’t as simple as not wanting to kill her. I knew I’d be physically unable to kill her. I’d ram the blade into my own heart before I’d kill her with it.
“Should I call for reinforcements?”
“I’ll go in there alone.”
“No, you won’t. I’ll come with you. Madness doesn’t make you invincible.”
I nodded. “No one else.” We left the walls covered with rose tendrils behind, and I felt a mix of longing and relief like I did every time.
“What are you going to do now?”
“About the corpse? Tell trustworthy men to drag it down to the enclosures and feed him to the lions. If anything of him remains, I want them to dump it in the ocean so fish devour it.”
Niccolo smirked then nodded, his eyes focused on the traffic ahead. “All right. Any other plans I should be aware of? Amelia seems to bring change.”
I narrowed my eyes at my cousin, not sure if he was mocking me, but he looked relieved. Change. Maybe it was really time for it. “I want you to find someone who can brick up the entrance to the basement.”
Niccolo nodded. “All right. Noted. So you’ll keep personal prisoners in our official prison now?”
“Yes.” I hadn’t had a personal prisoner except for Achille since I’d killed the last of the other men who’d tortured me a year ago.
Niccolo parked in front of the warehouse that housed two to five Bratva soldiers. I closed my eyes and allowed the rage to come forth. Taking a deep breath, I shoved open the door and got out.
I had a knife and a gun in the holster under my coat. I hoped I’d get the chance to use my bare hands, though. I needed the personal kill.
Niccolo caught up with me, his gun drawn. “I’ll watch your back. I assume you want to do the killing?”
“Yes. I need to.”
With a martial scream, I kicked in the wooden back door and allowed darkness to consume me.
I showered and stuffed today’s clothes into a garbage bag, then I dressed in a flowy white skirt and a short-sleeved white blouse.