Page 127 of Power & Punishment

Without thinking, I let go of a humorless laugh. “You threatened me and took what’s mine.”

“Yes. But I could’ve put a bullet in her head the second she got too close, like her brother. It’s all about perspective.”

I snap my teeth together, biting back every ounce of violence that begs to be let out of its cage.

I stare at him for a second too long, already letting my anger give away my position. I push through it, knowing the only way to get Mia back is for him to stay alive—which is getting harder and harder to do.

Letting go of all the tension building in my chest, I take a seat on one of the couches in the room.

“You know,” Adrian says, settling into a lone chair sitting perpendicular to my seat. “When I first met you, I thought you had potential.”

“No, you thought I’d be easy to manipulate.”

Adrian replies with a half smirk. “I wasn’t entirely wrong. You are letting a pretty woman derail years of hard work.”

“Honestly, she’s the only thing that’s ever made any of this feel worth it,” I reply honestly. It’s a risk being so candid with him, but it works. His smile falters.

He hums to himself, his eyes going dark with whatever sickness is swimming around in that head of his. I keep beating myself up for not recognizing it sooner. But something I once saw as power is slowly dissolving into madness.

“I was hoping that pathetic little spark burned out a long time ago, but I guess I should’ve made a contingency plan.”

I lean forward, scraping a hand down my pant leg. “Where is she, Adrian? I’m getting tired of your little game.”

His gaze lifts lazily back to mine, that irritating grin back in place. “Game? This isn’t a game, Leo. This is a perfectly curated plan, and I simply had to remove the roadblock for things to progress. But if you decide to keep playing along, then I’ll let you have her back.”

I hold his stare, the temperature in the room dropping despite the crackling fire nearby.

I could just kill him. Use the fire poker I’ve been eying and ram it right through his chest until his heart explodes.

But I’m sure Adrian is already anticipating that and no doubt will kill Mia the second I make a move. “Fine. Start talking.”

Adrian settles deeper into his chair. “Enzo Caruso ruined my life long before he ruined yours.”

I shift in my chair uncomfortably, an odd dread settling on top of a pile of other emotions I haven’t had time to digest.

“Don’t look so surprised,” he muses, turning his head toward the fire. “I didn’t know the details of your plan, but I was able to fill in the blanks pretty easily.”

I don’t answer him. I just sit there and press my sweaty palms into my lap, hoping the feeling will ground me.

It doesn’t

“I built the Caruso empire beside him. Handled the money, the routes, and basically all the grunt work for years. Every dirty little thing that made him powerful was all me, and that bastard sacrificed me to the feds as soon as they got close.”

“But he didn’t let you go to prison,” I mutter.

“Maybe,” Adrian smiles bitterly, “but he didn’t do it out of the kindness of his heart. He killed Marco Bellini with the promise that I would hide in the shadows until the time was right. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be forced into hiding while another man profits off your hard work?”

He doesn’t wait for me to answer, nor does he want one.

“I played the role he wanted. I didn’t have any other choice. Changed my nose, got some hair plugs and started to build a life that he deemed useful enough to let me back into the fold. I became respectable. Untouchable,” Adrian leans forward, his lips crunching together. “But I was done being his bitch. I was just waiting for an opportunity.”

A chill prickles the back of my neck.

“And then you came along,” he says, nodding to me. “You were the perfect solution. Young, angry, and loyal. Smart enough to dismantle Enzo from the inside, but cocky enough to not realize I was setting you up to take the fall.”

My stomach twists violently. Every confession feels like a sick realization.

“It was all going great until you enlisted the help of that Russo boy. He was smarter than I anticipated, but I always underestimated the Russo family. Except for Mia. That one is something else,” he whistles, his gaze darkening.