Page 10 of Brutal Power

“I’m going to fucking murder every single goddamn piece-of-shit motherfucking cocksucking cunt-ass bitch motherfuckers—” Davide’s not exactly rational at the moment and I let him rant and curse until the real doctor arrives to take over.

I step aside with Emilio. Blood stains my shirt. I wash my hands and the water runs red. Poor Emilio looks exhausted and he slumps down onto the couch, watching nervously as the doctor gets Davide cleaned and stitched.

“Tell me what happened,” I press, and Emilio runs through the story. They were out on a routine patrol when they spotted a crew of Santoro street thugs harassing a deli associated with the Famiglia, so they rolled up to chase them off. But a gun got pulled, and shots were fired, and now one of the thugs is dead and Davide’s got a hole in his leg.

“You did the right thing,” I tell him because I can’t help but try to take care of him too. Even though Emilio’s not blood, he’s still a member of this Famiglia. I get him water and make sure he’s okay.

Then I find Simon and fill him in.

“You need to get Davide off the streets,” I tell him as Simon paces across his office. He shakes his head at that.

“Can’t do it. Davide’s my best soldier.”

“He’s also your brother and he’s going to get killed.”

Simon’s jaw works. “I know, Elena, but he’s not going to listen.”

That’s a fair point. Getting shot is only going to piss him off even more, and there’s no way he’s going to back down from hunting Santoro soldiers anytime soon.

“I’ll talk to him then, or I’ll get Stefania to convince him. Just for a little while?—”

“Elena, this isn’t your fight,” Simon says, tone hard.

I give him a look. “Go to hell, idiot, of course it’s my fight. You’d all be dead a thousand times over if it weren’t for me.” I glare at him and he glares right back, and for a second we’re not adults anymore, we’re kids on the playground sizing each other up.

But he breaks the tension first and stops pacing. “Did you talk to Brody today?”

I look up at the ceiling. “Of course, you knew already.”

“He made sure I was good with the plan. Help him out, okay? Make sure he’s happy.”

“You know I’m going to.” I get to my feet and brush my hands off on my pants, feeling sick, tired, and worried. “It’s in my nature, right?”

“Elena—”

“It’s fine. I’m still going to talk to Davide, even if it won’t help, and I’ll do what I can for Brody too. You’ll get what you need, Don Bianco.”

I don’t love the look on his face as I leave his office and guilt swarms me. I shouldn’t have lashed out at him like that. It’s just that I’m tired and stressed, and I don’t want to watch my brothers die, but sometimes it feels like that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Our family has suffered enough—I just don’t want to lose anyone else.

Chapter 6

Brody

It’s a beautiful day at Wolfingham Country Club, and I’m fucking miserable.

Because my fiancée wore one of those little white dresses and it’s so much fucking hotter than I thought.

“You keep staring at me,” Elena says as she loops her arm through mine. We’re on the first hole and walking out toward our shots. She refused to ride in the cart, and it wasn’t like I could let her go walking around on her own. We’re partnered with this ancient couple that can barely shuffle around, which I’m pretty sure Omar did on purpose, that bastard.

“I keep wondering if you put that on just to torture me.”

She feigns surprise and puts a hand to her chest. It draws my attention to her breasts, which are only just visible, which is fucking frustrating, because they happen to be perfect.

“You asked me to dress like this,” she says, grinning like a maniac.

“You know what you’re doing,” I grumble.

Her grip on my arm tightens. “You think I’m attractive, don’t you? Are you going to be all distracted? You’re going to shoot like shit and blame it on my fine ass.”

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