Page 8 of Falling for the Enemy

If I had to guess, I’d wager that Stefano has ordered his men to kill my sister if his piss-ant brother doesn’t walk out of this sit-down alive. As my only weakness, she’s his insurance policy.

And what an effective one she is.

There’s only one problem.

Since the moment I reunited with her less than a year ago, I’ve had eyes on Carmen. She doesn’t know it, but every move she makes is watched, every step protected. If any of Stefano’s men try to cause her harm, they’ll be dead before they ever get close.

Even so, curiosity still consumes me.

“What is it you want from me?”

A hiss from Angelo follows my question, his eyes clenching shut before popping back open. “Now who isn’t listening?” he taunts, rocking the slightest bit, the pain setting in as his adrenaline wanes. “I already told you, we want the cunt who murdered my nephew.”

I nearly chuckle at the thought of Arianna murdering anyone. If she had a say in his nephew’s death at all, it was likely only by ordering one of her men to handle the hit. I doubt she’d risk ruining her manicure by taking matters into her own pampered hands.

“And what, you want me to kill her?”

“Fuck no. We want you to bring her to us.” He groans, his hands trembling as the mask slips, and the pain I know he must be in starts to really show. “Killing her quickly is too easy. If that’s what he wanted, Stefano would have ordered one of our men to handle it.” He shakes his head. “No, he wants her to suffer first.”

He swallows, his throat bobbing.

“He wants to destroy the empire she controls and force her to watch it all burn while her men die. Then, when nothing but ash remains, he plans to stab her in the heart and watch her bleed out like she did Capone.”

He begins to rock faster.

“And you’re going to help us by doing what La Famiglia can’t, which means distracting her with a second war she’ll never see coming.” He hesitates, his skin paling as he continues to lose blood. “If you refuse, Stefano promises that your sister, along with everyone she loves, will die... painfully.”

My control instantly dissipates.

Enraged over the threat that just fell from his lips, I grasp Angelo’s hair, cranking his head to the side, torquing his neck. “That’s where you’re wrong, DeMeo.” My white-knuckled grip tightens. “No matter what threats you make, I’m no one’s fucking puppet.” Never again, I silently tell myself. “Unlike Melendez, La Famiglia’s will isn’t one I will ever bend to.”

I press the barrel of my gun against the underside of his double chin. “The first mistake Stefano made was sending you here.” His sweat drips down the barrel, tarnishing the polished metal. “The second was having you attempt to hang my sister’s well-being over my head like a guillotine prepared to strike.”

Dark memories surface.

It isn’t the first time someone has tried to use Carmen against me. For years, threatening her life was a tool Melendez used in order to bring me to heel. The day I eviscerated him, I vowed no one would ever use her as a weapon against me again.

I never break my word.

“You piece of shit!” he bellows, the heaviness of the consequences he’s moments from facing bearing down on his shoulders. “Stefano won’t allow—”

“Speaking of your brother,” I interrupt, calmly stealing his chance to speak, just as I will soon steal his pathetic life. “When I find him, he’s the one who will die... painfully.”

Angelo’s eyes bulge, his mounting fear clear. “You won’t touch us!” If he genuinely believes the bullshit that spews from his mouth, he’s a bigger fool than I ever thought. “You try and La Famiglia will come for the cartel—”

“Not since we’ll be coming for them first.”

Despite the lure of its ports, a necessity for a trafficker like me, expanding the cartel’s territory into Charleston and North Charleston, two neighboring cities a little over an hour from the rural county Carmen now calls home, isn’t a move I planned to initiate.

That’s quickly changed.

To protect my sister, La Famiglia must go, and as a result, North Charleston will soon become mine. Charleston, too, if the Russians running it decide to wade into a war that doesn’t involve them.

I’ve never done business with the latter, but I won’t hesitate to spill the blood of every Bratva soldier belonging to the Fallen Kings if they get in my way.

For Carmen, I’ll destroy them all.

Arianna Ivanova included.

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