Page 88 of A Taste Of Darkness

Matteo shook his head. “Dante is.”

“Is he though?” I let go of Sterlie’s hand, stepped closer to my cousin, and leaned forward against the counter. “You tell me, Matteo. The second my papá finds out I’m back, would it still be Dante?”

He swallowed thickly, fear in his eyes. “Probably. He’s… more powerful.”

“You really think that?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Did Dante manage to escape the mafia, or was it me? Did he ever find me?”

“I…” Matteo looked past me toward Sterlie, but I reached forward and grasped his face in my hand.

“Don’t you dare look at her.”

I heard Sterlie gasp, and all I wanted was to look at her, hold her in my arms, and apologize that she had to witness this. But if I turned my back to Matteo now, I’d have a knife stuck in it a moment later.

“I’m sorry,” he squealed, his voice shaking.

Now that was more like the cousin I remembered. “I’m waiting for a reply, Matteo. Did Dante ever find me?”

“No. But that doesn’t mea?—"

I straightened up again, sighing. “Where do you think your brother is? I bet you know someone sent Pino after Arlo. What do you think happened to him?”

“Plane crash?”

“Or was it?” I chuckled. “What if I told you he’s still very much alive, he just can’t escape his prison? If I had to guess, he’d probably much rather be dead than endure any more of the torture my men keep putting him through. They sent ten of our cousins after Arlo, and all ten of them are now my hostages while all of you believe they’ve died. Does Dante know that?” Matteo shook his head at lightning speed. “Now, who’s more powerful, Matteo?”

“Dante… he’s—” Matteo’s hands balled into fists before he hit them against the countertop and groaned. “He won’t like that.”

I shrugged. “Did he ever like anything I did?”

“No.”

“I want answers, Matteo. Everything you know. I’m sure that’s a lot because everyone talks around you.” He’d always been the quiet cousin. The one everyone trusted with their secrets. Matteo knew everything.

He cleared his throat. “Dante plans to kill Arlo as he believes our cousins and my brother are dead because of him. And Adriana…”

Adriana?

“I overheard her speak to Alessandro about the possibility of you still being alive. I didn’t believe it, but Alessandro did. So… he wants to find you and execute you because of this.” He gestured toward me. “Because you will always be able to take his place and he doesn’t want to lose it again.”

44

MAGIC MIRROR

Sterlie Adams

A soft gasp escaped my lips when Milo hooked my legs around his waist as he picked me up the moment we entered his apartment.

“I asked for your name,” I said. My air supply was cut off when his teeth grazed the shell of my ear.

“You did.”

“You said—” My back hit a wall behind me, and instantly, Milo attacked my neck, kissing, nibbling, biting.

“I said?”

“You said whatever you want my name to be,” I recalled, smiling at the memory that somehow managed to come back to me.

“What did you reply?” His fingers pressed into my skin, squeezing my ass.

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