Page 70 of Married to the Devil

Ignazio’s laugh was enormous. I’ll never forget it. For some reason, that afternoon sticks in my head, probably because my father kept making Ignazio crack up. They would discuss business and I’d zone out, not interested, but soon after Ignazio would be howling again and I’d be grinning too, unable to help it. I remember going through the stacks of books at one point, looking for something good to read.

Nothing for kids, unfortunately, Ignazio said to me at the time. But maybe try John’s room if you need something to read.

There were afternoon cookouts, backyard barbecues, block parties and sports when we were young. The community pool, roof decks, running down the subway steps. I always liked Ignazio’s kids. We called them our cousins, back in the day. John, Thomas, and Paul. Three fucking saints.

Now I have to kill them.

I tear the office apart. I feel sick straight to my soul. The thought that my father sat in this room and enjoyed himself, made Ignazio laugh, gave a piece of himself to this place—to that traitor fucking bitch—it threatens to break me.

My father, dead now, for much too long.

I’m breathing hard when I’m done bashing the office. The desk holds nothing interesting except for a worn picture at the bottom of the last drawer. It shows Ignazio with my father, the two of them looking no older than I am now.

I rip it to shreds.

“Looks like you had some fun in here.” Kellan enters, looking around with a smirk. “Want to piss on his bed?”

“I want him found. That’s what I want.”

His smile disappears. “Place is empty. We’re ransacking it now.”

“Look for hiding places. Anywhere he might stash himself or something important.”

“Understood.” Kellan doesn’t move. He stares at the office. He’s eight years my junior, but I’m sure he remembers this place too. “I talked to Paul a few weeks back. Can you believe it?”

“You two always got along.”

“He’s doing good. Married now. Not in the life, you know? We always thought the cousins would end up like us.”

“You know what’s going to happen to him.”

Kellan looks down at his hands. At the tattoos on his fingers. “There’s no mercy for a traitor.”

“Or for the son of one.”

“Paul’s got kids. Two of them.”

“We’ll make sure they’re taken care of. The wife as well. They won’t be hurt, you know that.”

Kellan nods, face set. He’s a man of violence. Always has been. I tried to tame my second-youngest brother but he never wanted a desk. Silas took to talking and politics. Cassian lost himself in blood and hiding. But Kellan likes being on the street, likes being seen, likes smashing and breaking until there’s nothing left to break.

That’s probably why he and Devlin get along so well. My littlest brother is an agent of pure chaos. Probably because he was raised in this shit.

“I wish I knew why.” Kellan drifts to Ignazio’s files. I spared them from the worst of my rage. “What was he fucking thinking? Going after you like that?”

“He probably wanted them to kill me. And barring that, they were under instructions to grab my daughter, to use her against me.”

“She’s a fucking child.” Kellan’s jaw tightens. “That sick bastard. But I still don’t get why.”

“Retirement.”

He stops fiddling with a drawer. “What?”

“Ignazio and the rest of the old guard were all going to be retired.”

“You don’t fucking retire from the family. That’s just… that doesn’t happen.”

“It was going to happen.” I stalk to the window, staring out at the trees across the street. “The world’s changing and Ignazio can’t keep up. He’s been making small mistakes for years. My plan was to force out him and the other leftovers from Dad’s time.”