Page 2 of Vicious Union

“Dante is here,” a new voice says.

A man steps out of the shadows—one with dark hair and even darker eyes. Dante.

I raise my gun. “Stop right there.”

Dante holds his hands up. “I’m not here to fight. Besides, you guys trespassed onto my property.”

“You really need to do some light cleaning around the place,” Massimo mutters.

Dante turns to him. “Massimo, good to see you again. How have things been?”

“Good, actually. You know, ever since you backstabbed me.”

“It was just business.”

“Enough,” I interrupt. “Dante, we’re here to deliver a message. You need to stop. Stop coming after our family. Stop trying to gain power.”

“Or what?” His eyes gleam with a darkness that sends a chill down my spine.

“Or we’ll be forced to kill you,” I say. “We came here to do this.” I angle the gun at his leg. “So you can’t run away.” I fire.

Dante jerks back time to avoid getting hit. “That’s not fair. I haven’t even done anything in the past six months. Why is Rocco so hell-bent on coming after me? I’m just living my life.”

“You’re planning something,” Massimo says. “Give it up now and leave the city. This is Rocco’s one warning. If you don’t, we’ll find you again, and this time, my brother won’t miss.”

Dante huffs. “Rude. But fine, I’ll leave the city. You don’t have to kill me.”

“I don’t believe you,” I say, tightening my hands around the gun. “You’re not going to just leave.”

“No, I will. I promise.”

His words are hollow to me. “No. This was the warning, Dante. You have to die.” I angle the gun higher toward his head, but Dante is already running away.

Massimo and I share a look before we follow.

We chase him through the building, but Dante jumps out of a window at the last second and manages to escape down an alleyway before we can catch him.

“Dammit,” Massimo mutters. “How’s he so fucking fast?”

“He’s spent the better part of a year and half on the run. Of course, he’s fucking fast. But he knows we’re onto him now, and he knows we’re not messing around. Next time, we don’t chit-chat. We go in for the kill.”

Massimo whistles and raises his eyebrows as we head back to our car. “When did you become so ruthless?”

“I’m just tired of Dante making a mockery out of us. He needs to be dealt with. I don’t care for insolence.”

“Man, the woman you have to marry someday will be one lucky lady.”

I scowl, ignoring his sarcasm as I start the car and drive away.

* * *

I end up at the nightclub my brothers and I own, ready to find a woman to spend the night with when my eyes land on someone vaguely familiar. She’s just as pretty as any other woman here—arguably more so—with her blonde hair and petite frame.

But the longer I look at her the more I’m convinced I am I’ve seen her before.

She’s clearly flirting with a man, running her hand over his chest and batting her eyes. For some reason, that annoys me.

I get up and walk over to her. “Excuse me,” I say to the man she’s talking to.

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