Page 115 of Maddest Temptation

“Why is he doing this?”

He looked at me his black eyes filled with sorrow. “Power. Your father always wanted to be Capo?—”

“Enough,” one of the guards snapped. “Boss will deal with her later.”

Umberto kneeled closer and whispered quickly. “Don’t do anything stupid. Wait for Cassio.” He snapped the last of the tape.

Looking from above, it was still attached to my skin, but it was no longer holding me. If I desired, I could move. Not that I would, I wasn’t stupid, I was seriously at a disadvantage. Even if Umberto was on my side, it was two against many. Or rather one since I had no idea how to shoot.

A commotion took me by surprise and Grigori, his son, and Donato came rushing into the room. They didn’t look concerned or scared, in fact, they looked happy. Eager almost. Like they had accomplished what they wanted. Fear began to take hold once more.

The guards in the room, all five of them, turned their guns toward the door—which I had my back turned to. Slowly, the temperature in the air shifted and a figure surged in my line of sight. I knew it was Cassio even before I saw him. There was this pull, this energy between us that made me aware of his presence when he was near.

Cassio walked into the room like he owned the place, his face stoic and cold. He didn’t look at me, he didn’t even acknowledge my presence. One guard followed him, a gun aimed at his head, but Cassio didn’t even seem to care.

My heart hammered against my chest. He was alone. He walked toward the center of the room and stopped, facing all three men who had plotted against him.

“I am here, let her go.”

Grigori laughed. “Always so entitled.” He shook his head. “I always despised you, boy. So sure of yourself. So arrogant.”

“Are you done complimenting me, Grigori?” He ran his thumb under his lip.

Grigori’s smile fell. “Get on your knees.” He pointed a gun at Cassio.

“I kneel for no one,” he said coldly.

Slowly the gun shifted, and the barrel was facing me. “What about her?”

Cassio looked at me for the first time and for a flicker of a second, I watched his eyes change from murderous to terrified. Slowly, I watched as the most powerful man I knew got down on his knees.

“Tell me, Donato,” he turned toward my father. “When was it that you woke up and decided this is the day I’m going to betray all I have ever stood for?”

“You are a boy!” he snapped. “You have no idea what you are doing,” Donato shouted. “This war, it was consuming us.”

Cassio scoffed. “So, you decided to ally yourself with them.”

“It had to stop.”

“So, you decided to sell your daughter to the enemy in exchange for what? Peace? Come on, Donato, we both know you’re not a man who enjoys peace. It’s bad for business.”

Donato smiled. “I’ve waited four years for this, boy. Four years to take everything from you like you did from me. I was supposed to have been Capo when your father died. Me. Not a drunk child who barely knew what to do.”

Cassio went silent for a while, and I watched as the wheels in his head began to work. “So, you killed Paolo Biancini because you needed his money to fund the attacks on our cargo, and Francesca free to be married again.” He pointed, speaking to himself.

He paused, looked at me, and smiled. “Except she refused to come home and with my protection, you couldn’t touch her.”

“You had to put your nose where it didn’t belong.”

“So, you had Grigori’s men try to take her by force, but it didn’t work,” Cassio said pensively.

“Can we get this over with already?” Grigori’s son complained. “Now that all plans were unmasked, can I fucking marry the girl now?”

“Touch her and you die, Mikail,” Cassio warned, his tone frosty and murderous. A promise of death.

Mikail laughed. “Or what? You’re surrounded. No one is going to stop me.”

Mikail walked my way and Cassio moved, but Mikail pointed his gun at me so fast, even I gasped in shock. “Move and I’ll kill her.” Cassio sat back on his haunches.

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