Page 57 of Heartless Union

“My dad is dying. If you take me away from him for months, he’ll die before I get a chance to see him again. You can’t do that to me, Rocco. You can’t.”

Rocco whirls around on my dad. “You knew this and didn’t tell me? Some ally you are.”

Dad winces. “I know. But I wanted Lara to be safe. If you knew I wouldn’t be around much longer to be an ally, you wouldn’t have married her. I didn’t mean to deceive. I just wanted her safe.”

“Please, Rocco.” I reach out for him, but he pulls away from me. “Just let my father come with us. You understand. You have to.”

“I don’t have to do anything,” he growls. The anger on his face is not unexpected, but it does hurt more than I thought it would.

I can’t even speak. What is there to say? I’ve already said it all.

“We need to go,” Rocco says, grabbing my arm again and this time, I let him pull me toward the door.

But then the door slams open with a large bang.

And Dante is standing on the other side.

CHAPTER 14

Rocco

The sight of Dante makes my blood boil. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I growl. I don’t want to make any sudden moves in case that prompts Dante to do something. Lara is behind me, and I can’t risk her getting hurt—not after almost losing her once already.

“I’m here because my father wants to see you.”

I huff. “You mean, your father wants to kill me.”

Dante slips a gun out of his jacket pocket and points it at me. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe you’re wrong. You’ll have to come with me to find out. But know this, Rocco. If you try to fight, I will kill your wife.”

“Then you’ll have no leverage against me.”

The slimy smile that passes Dante’s lips makes me want to punch him. “I can still use your sister.”

I freeze. I left Gabriella at my house with my brothers.

Dante laughs. “Oh, don’t worry. I haven’t gone for her yet. But she would make an excellent bride, don’t you think?”

“Keep your hands away from my sister.”

“You’re not the one with the power anymore, Rocco. You lost it all the moment you killed your dad.”

“I didn’t kill him.”

“Oh, my mistake. I guess the spies I had watching your house saw something different then when you slipped your hands around his throat and strangled the life out of him. Why do you think no one wants to follow you? You’re not a loyal man. You killed your own father the first chance you got. Who’s to stop you from killing anyone else who shows you loyalty? Your father’s men don’t want to follow you. They want someone dependable. Like my father.”

I scoff. “My father wasn’t loyal to me. He killed my mother. And your father can talk about loyalty all he wants, but he’s created an uprising. If that isn’t disloyalty, then I don’t know what is.”

The tiny twitch of Dante’s eye fills me with happiness. He can act as cocky as he wants, but he’s just a daddy’s boy who doesn’t know what to do when he doesn’t get his way.

“Are you coming with me or not?” Dante asks. He points his gun at Lara, and Nico positions himself in front of her. “I’ll kill either of them. I don’t care. But you’re coming with me right now, Rocco.”

That just proves Nico was never working with Carlo. Dante wouldn’t be so careless about his life if he were.

I was going to leave Nico behind to possibly be killed. Lara would only think I was a monster after that.

Yes, he did lie about his cancer, but he’s on my side, and I need all the allies I can get right now.

“Fine,” I say, raising my hands up. “I’ll come with. Just leave Lara and Nico out of this.”

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