Page 31 of A Vendetta That Ruins

I sink into his warmth. “Barcelo didn’t even want me, just an heir and my father agreed to his contract.”

Vincenzo whispers against my ear. “Are you sure your father didn’t sign any contract related to children or heirs? Nicolo heard from one of our sources some time ago that your father agreed to give you to Barcelo in the beginning, but Gallini had conditions.”

The moistness of my eyes I’m sure tells him everything that I need to say but can’t find the words because the fact that I’m sterile, can’t have children breaks my heart and crushes my soul. “The only reason he kept torturing my father was to get him to change the contract after he learned I couldn’t have children, but Papa wouldn’t. In the end, Papa did the right thing although it cost him his life.”

Vincenzo’s arm wraps around me.

My eyes meet his. “Yeah, the bastard was always after one thing. He wanted an heir.”

He takes my hand. “Our informant said that if you couldn’t bear children the deal was off. If you could then after the firstborn, the entire state would belong to the Gallinis.”

Tears roll down my cheeks and I wipe them with my fingers as he pulls me close to him. “I’m sorry Anna, but doesn’t this change things? If the elders know the conditions and that Barcelo took your ability to have children, and you’ve married me, there is no way that he has a leg to stand on now,” Vincenzo says. “Right?”

My chest heaves with the weight of everything that’s happened. “It was always the Gallini’s goal to have children conceived of the Cassone and Gallini family. It didn’t really matter how it happened, whether he forced it or I gave it to him as a gift. I honestly don’t think it matters to the elder Gallinis which brother got me pregnant though.”

Vincenzo’s eyes have gone dark. “I don’t know what happened and you’ll tell me when you’re ready, but I will love you no matter what, princessa.”

30

Vincenzo

Anna sleeps peacefully in the late morning hours after an adventurous night and bringing her safely home. The outing did her some good despite the Gallini bastard, but it also brought out all the demons she’s been keeping locked tightly up inside.

I kiss her forehead as she sleeps, then straighten my tie in the mirror and head out to find Nicolo in his penthouse office. He’s deeply engrossed in whatever he’s reading on his laptop when I walk in. He looks up. “How is she?”

“A little shook about Gallini, but she’ll be fine. You know any more than we did last night?”

Nicolo’s jaw tightens. “I think those bastards had a dingy off the side of the shore. I had our soldiers lining the perimeter of every fucking dock we control, and all the private areas up the bay. It’s the only reason she’s alive, Vincenzo. They were going to sneak up to the yacht, take us out and cart Anna away. Fuckers didn’t think we’d be ready for them? Amateur hour if you ask me.”

My chest tightens with unprecedented rage. The Gallini fuckers were far too close. I wait for a few moments, knowing Nicolo will come up with the score but as boss it’s not going to go any farther than here. “We’re going to war. I want all of the Gallinis, the Sarones, and anyone loyal to them flushed out. I want them dead, you understand me?”

Nicolo, my younger brother, looks at me. “We do what we’ve always done, we keep our women safe until we figure out the play. As soon as we can carry out your orders, it will be done.”

I fucking respect the play but I want Gallini’s head on a goddamn platter right the fuck now. “The fact the Gallinis had men trying to reach us from the shore tells us more than anything we’ve known to date. They either have a closer watch on us than we thought, or we have a fucking rat, Nicolo. And I like the thought of the second not one fucking bit at all.”

Nicolo nods. “It’s possible and I’ve thought of that, but something’s off. How would the Gallinis ever think we would take Anna out without backups in place and every entry point to her surrounded? They get a drop on where we’re going to be and then send in three fucking men we mow down as quick as they stand? I don’t understand the play. Something’s off.”

He takes another sip of his coffee and points to the lake shore map he has on the wall. “We scoured the area, three fucking men in total. There were not any others. How the fuck would that ever work? Tell me that? Would you ever send three men in for a job like that?”

Nicolo’s not really asking me a question. My brother, the best underboss I’ve ever known is thinking out loud, trying to keep my new wife and his sister-in-law safe and it makes my fucking chest tighten with emotion as I wrap my mind around what he’s trying to say.

I’ve come to trust Nicolo’s instincts as the underboss of our family without doubt. If something feels off to him, it’s probably fucking off. “I’m still piecing it together but the fact they were that close to us doesn’t sit well at all. But yeah, three fucking men, that’s a slap in the fucking face.”

Nicolo nods. “Exactly, and not one of them alive because every single one of them made it clear they would shoot if we didn’t kill them first. We had to take them down. Just like a fucking police suicide?”

“Someone had to see something, Nicolo.”

His jaw tightens. “The guys on the dock didn’t see a thing. Our men on the shore were watching from all angles, which is the only reason they saw the men drive up and put that piece of shit dingy in the water and tie her off.”

I pace the room. “Maybe they were waiting for more men, and they didn’t come because our guys shot the men to shit.”

“I need more info from our soldiers. Right now, all we have is maybes.”

“I’m sick of this cat and mouse game. We find Bastian, he goes underground, comes up again only to avoid us again. We find him Nicolo, fast, because after last night I want this fucker dead. You got me?”

My younger brother sucks in a breath. “Understood, Vincenzo, but we may not fully understand everything involved. I’m trying to get it sorted, capisce?”

I raise my hand, done with any and all of this foolishness. “Finito!! Understand, finito! I want that fucker brought to me so I can send his soul to the depths of hell, you got me?”