Page 42 of Desperate Vows

“He’s bringing little girls into the port.” Dimitris dropped the information on Gabriele.

The man looked at my brother. “Little girls?”

“That’s right.”

“I knew Benoit was into that stuff, but I had no idea Marco was in bed with him.” He switched to Italian, rattled off a few sentences, and went back to English. “I don’t think most of the family knows, but they will as soon as I can call a meeting.”

“What do you think the family’s going to do?” Ari asked.

Gabriele worked his jaw and winced as the doctor stitched up his leg. “They’ll either see it my way, or they won’t leave the meeting.” There was vengeance in his voice.

“You want help?” I asked flatly.

He looked at me. “Help?”

“Benoit and Marco are working together. Benoit killed our little sister and dad. We’ve been too weak to go after him, but if we work together, maybe we can bury both of them.”

Gabriele’s eyebrows furrowed as we stared at each other. “Killed your little sister?”

“I don’t know if he knew she was ours. She was already buried when we found out it was Benoit. One of his girls, a recruiter, had told her how pretty she was and that they wanted her to audition for a movie. Gianna lied and told us she was spending the night at a friend’s house. When Mom didn’t hear from her the next day, she sent us to look for her. While we were gone, cops showed up to inform us that she’d been found dumped by a pier. She’d died of an overdose, and there were signs of excessive lower-extremity trauma. She was thirteen.”

“Ain’t you marrying his daughter? Ain’t that tomorrow?” he narrowed his eyes as he spoke.

“I think they’re playing me.”

Gabriele held my gaze for a moment. “All I know is that it’s a messed-up family. I was at a fundraiser for the mayor years ago and decided to take a look around the place. She couldn’t have been more than seven, and I saw him slap her so hard she dropped to the ground. He just walked away.”

Thea looked at me. “I told you.”

Maybe what I saw in that garden was a show for me. There was a chance she was just going for revenge served cold, but that was one helluva long game to put up with the likes of Franklin.

“So we have a deal?” I asked.

“Accordo.” I didn’t know a lot of Italian, but enough to know that meant deal. He spat on his hand and thrust it out. “Moretti and Kalantzis are united until we settle this.”

I followed his lead and spat on my palm before shaking his hand. “Deal.”

We dropped our hands, and Gabriele crossed his arms over his chest. “We need to be smart about this, Kalantzis. Marco has pull in the Morettis, and until I can call the family, we need to watch our backs. By now, he knows it was your family who saved my life. He’ll be coming for blood. You okay, or do you need help?”

“I’m marrying Claire tomorrow at St. Andrews. I don’t think Benoit will cheap out on security. He’s got a face to keep for the public.”

Gabriele glanced at his phone for a moment before attempting to stand up. Our guys stepped in, helping him off the couch. “Rocco’s got Annalise safe and with her mother. They’re surrounded by security. He’s coming to pick me up and take me to her.”

He shook my hand again.

Our alliances were growing, and with it, we had a chance to finally give Franklin what was due him. My only regret was that I couldn’t do it tomorrow in front of all the people that he’d spent decades trying to impress.

While it was disappointing, knowing that a noose was beginning to tighten around his neck gave me comfort. I couldn’t wait to pull it tight.

Chapter Sixteen

CLAIRE

This was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. I was supposed to be surrounded by friends helping me with my hair and fussing over my dress. My mom was supposed to be telling me how beautiful I looked, and I was supposed to have a father who was giving me away, but only because he wanted to see me fly.

I thought back to the rehearsal dinner the night before. It was excruciating. Trying to fake that I didn’t know what I knew. Kissing Lucas and pretending in front of the priest who was giving us instructions on what would happen during the ceremony. Then sitting between Lucas and Franklin as we ate dinner.

I was wracked with guilt over what my family did to his family. He was still angry because I wouldn’t tell him Franklin was at the restaurant. As soon as Lucas could leave, he did. And he’d left with Franklin. I hadn’t seen him since.

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