Page 6 of Revenge of Sin

That’s definitely not today.

The buzz at my door tells me the fucking inquisition has arrived.Not that I didn’t expect it, but it hasn’t even been twelve hours since I brought her here.Nicolo walks in as I open the door, closing it behind him before following me into the great room to the small bar in the corner.I lay the washcloth down on the black marble and pour us each a glass of Dalmar from the crystal decanter and put the top on before handing him a glass.

He gestures to the rag I had on my neck as he takes the amber liquid from my hand.“What’s wrong?”

I toss back a sip of the scotch.“The little wildcat was waiting for me when I walked in.Thought she was still asleep.Decked my ass with that closet pipe laying on the couch.”I leave out the fact that she also gave me a solid wallop to the balls, because there’s only so much I want to tell my younger brother about her little attack.

Nicolo’s eyebrow raises and he fails miserably at keeping that fucking smirk off his face.He does manage to rein it in pretty quick though; I’ll give him that.He takes a pull of his drink and folds himself into the corner of the tan leather couch he always seems to sit on when at my place.“Any word from Massimo?”

I take a seat on the matching stuffed chair next to him and set my glass on the solid mahogany side table that sits between us.

My eyes meet my brother’s as I contemplate his question.“Massimo knows what everyone else was made to think and what we want the world to fucking know.She was here at the casino.Anna overheard me talking on the phone about the billion-dollar bounty on her head and got wigged out.She got into a car.We had our men scouring the highway for the license plate and found it by the side of the road.She was gone when we got there.The same story the soldiers gave Addie before they took her home.”

Nicolo inhales a deep breath and adjusts a cuff link.“Massimo Roselli bought that?”

I shrug.“It’s almost the truth.She did overhear me talking to him about the billion-dollar bounty.She had no clue I was talking to Massimo and not the sick Gallini brother who put it on her head.She did run from me, and even now she thinks I’m the fucking enemy.”My throbbing dick is a testament to that.“I did send soldiers to find and protect her.The only thing not true is the car wasn’t empty.”

His dark brown eyes meet mine.“And that you took what doesn’t belong to you.His sister-in- law.Who is under his family’s protection.Massimo Roselli is no joke.Toughest fucking boss around, aside from you.”

My eyebrow lifts.

He raises a hand to ward off my ire.“Just listen, Vincenzo.I know you’ve got a thing for this woman, but what if all the rumors about her dad agreeing to give her hand in marriage to Barcelo are true?What if she’s officially now the property of Bastian Gallini since his brother is dead and he knows she’s alive?It’s not going to sit too fucking well if they find out she’s alive and sitting pretty in your penthouse in Atlantic City.We’re all fucked then, and we’ve already got the Sarones breathing down our neck.”

I don’t usually pull rank with Nicolo.There’s never a reason to, but in this I will.“I’m not giving her back.She’s not going back to a Gallini after what his fuck of a brother did to her, and Bastian will do a whole hell of a lot more trying to even the score.Massimo can’t know.He’d try to bring her back under his protection and that’s the first place the Gallinis are going to hit.”

There’s a reason the Gallinis headed to Jersey City first.“If they know she’s alive, they also know Massimo has been lying about her being dead for the last six months, and they’re going to want a pound of flesh from the Rosellis too.She’s safer with us.They must be watching and waiting, just biding their fucking time.”

“You’re the boss.”

I set my glass down again harder than intended.“I am the boss, and I don’t like your fucking tone.And she’s staying where she’s at until I can come up with a plan.In the meantime, what’s the update on the Sarones?Fuckers try to hit our club, and we still don’t know who they’re working for?”

He takes a long pull of his drink completely unfazed by my mood.“They’re cracking more and more every day, but I have to say they’re showing some pretty amazing stamina, impressive really.One of them did say something last night that was interesting while I was at the warehouse.He said we could do whatever we wanted to him, but he wasn’t giving up family.”

I take a drink of the Dalmar.It hits just right after a night like last night and a day like today.It’s not every day that you rescue the enemies’ family, and then kidnap her yourself, or lie right to the face of another crime family boss who is bound to come unfucking glued when he learns the truth.

Or almost get knocked out and kicked in the nuts for your trouble.

But not one of those things matters because if Massimo had kept a better handle on her and her friend Addie, they wouldn’t have been traipsing all the way from Jersey City to Atlantic City on their own, with no fucking protection when the Gallini fucks are looking for payback for the loss of their brother in the worst of ways.

I should be focused on the Sarones or even the Gallinis but right now all I can think about is what to do with my sexy little captive.The one who’s riveted my dreams since I carried her half dead out of Barcelo’s hideout.To all the world thought dead.At least until she decided to start living outside of Massimo’s reach and came to Atlantic City to play.

In the DeLuca X Club, with me.

I underestimated Anna Cassone twice now at the most crucial of times, but that won’t happen again.

4

Anna

If I thought the fuckwad was going to deny cozying up with me at the club or getting me to trust him only to lure me out once he’d procured a lucrative deal to hand me over to the Gallinis, I was wrong.Not one fucking word of regret, or even a half-assed attempt at an unfeltI’m sorry, Anna but I don’t have a choice.Not that he would have meant it, but still.

Nothing ...except that undeniable smoldering magnetism that still lingers between us.

Just stared at me with those dark brown eyes that seem to look straight through my soul, turned around, and left.

Heartless bastard.

A tear slips down the side of my face, and then another and another.All that I’ve been through, and I tried hard not to shed one fucking tear in front of my sister while I was healing, but now it all seems like a huge waste of fucking time.