Page 48 of Her Cruel Bodyguard

“I think from here to here…” Fabio starts naming the places, but they don't make any sense to me. I close one eye and peek through the opening to see my father smoking his cigar behind the desk and Fabiorubbing his hand over a map.

“They want to give Salvatore some of your father’s territories,” Vittoria whispers. “I know those places and they are good places for the business.”

“We can’t give him that,” my father chimes. “But…” he groans, frustrated as he is unable to come up with something quickly, and I see the stress line on his forehead. “She is his bloody sister, for fuck’s sake,” he smacks the desk. “I swear to the fucking saints, if he wasn’t my son I would have killed the…”

“But he is your son, and this is what we have to do for everyone to go home safe and happy,” Fabio interjects. “Trust me, if he wasn’t your son, this would have been a different ball game,” he drags his finger on the map. “He is fucking lucky,” he grits.

I peel myself away from the door and lean my back on the wall. “This is not good,” I highlight the fucked-up situation I have put everyone in.

“It’s good for us,” Vittoria clasps her hand around my wrist. “We need to get out of here,” she brings her voice down below a whisper. “Your father and Fabio will need more time to deliberate on the territories they intend to hand over to your lunatic brother, which means we have time to do what we have to do,” she hooks her clutch purse under her arm carelessly, as if it doesn’t have a weapon in it.

I twist my hand until we are hooking our fingers, and then we walk side by side down the stairs.

When it matters most, Vittoria is the kind of friend to walk into the fire with you. I smile at her.

“Thank you,” I mouth.

“Oh, please,” she tsks. “You would do the same for me,” she nudges with her shoulder. “And I like the action, things were getting boring around here,” she giggles softly.

“Vittoria, this is not something to like,” I chide her.

You can take the girl out of the fire, but can you take the fire out of the girl? She used to be at the forefront, leading people to start wars for her father or simply going about making trouble.

My father marrying her didn’t take that part of her out. She is still Vittoria Mancuso. She is still as crazy as she came. As trigger-happy as I had been told when she had newly arrived.

But in all of that… I stare at her, wanting to say she has the best heart, but I can’t lie. It’s safe to say she is evil.

“What?” She snits her brows at me.

“You are evil,” I push the door open.

“That’s not news,” she struts out. “People need to be met with the same energy they give. If this were a case of charity, you would be the girl, but this…” she puffs. “I miss this, I love this,” she sighs, smiling.

I nod and smile back.

“Let’s get you baptized.” She tilts her head toward the garage where allthe rarely used cars are. That way, if my father and Fabio come out and need to go somewhere, they won't notice that a car is missing and will think Vittoria and I are in the studio or my room.

It was Vittoria’s idea. She is the evil genius.

She has a lot of ideas. The gun in my sling bag is her idea. The place we will be meeting, too. It’s an abandoned eatery that she said is in the territory of the Teso Clan.

“I’ll do the talking,” I stab my index finger at her as we get to a black sedan car. “And you try not to make this about the both of you.”

“I don’t want to talk to her,” she says, opening the driver’s seat. “I want to beat her. Or maybe kill her,” she mumbles as she settles into the car.

“I heard that,” I climb into the passenger seat and fasten my seatbelt.

She shrugs. “I know you did,” she turns on the car, “Nina knows I want to kill her, and maybe today is not the day I actually do it, but it’s only a matter of time,” she steers us out of the garage.

Good Lord.

“Where is the witch?” Vittoria parks by the abandoned mall. The property is large, with red and yellow serving as its primary colors. The signageis covered with cobwebs and includes a shrimp dressed like a chef.

“What happened to this property?” I unclasp my seatbelt and step out of the car after Vittoria.

“Focus, Eva,” she rolls her eyes at me. “We have your stepson to save,” she winks at me.

“I don’t know about that anymore,” I drop my eyes and inhale. I will understand if Fabio doesn’t want me. Prior to this, his reasons were flimsy and annoying, but now, I am not sure I would want myself either.

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