Page 20 of Bones of Revenge and Reckoning

“Yes.”

“Did you screw him?”

I didn’t, but I like to piss Nico off. “Yes. I did. Five times.”

“Gross. You’re a slut.”

“Says the whore. I have to go now. Say hi to Cindy for me. Poor girl.” I give him the finger.

I’m referring to his wife. What that gorgeous creature sees in my disgusting brother, I have no idea. I hang up our video call before he can say anything else.

Fuck him and his handbag company.

I’ve just made a great investment for our family, and it won’t be the last.

And as I get more shares in the board, there will come a day when he and Babbo must listen to me, and then I’ll mold the company and the family into the shape of my dreams. In my image. Not theirs.

The men have been in charge for far too long.

My phone buzzes, and I glance at it. It’s a message from my mother.

Darling. Be at the house on Friday, come for three in the afternoon. Babbo wants to speak with you.

I try to ignore the way my stomach sinks. It’s never good news when you’re summoned to the house this way.

The last time Nico was, he was ordered to marry Yvette.

I wonder what our loving parents will have in store for me.

Chapter 9

Matteo

Present Day

I stare at the woman walking down the street in front of me. I’d recognize that sway, those hips, and that ass anywhere. Renata Andretti.

I know she got divorced. She took her own name back. I know that she’s just been to France for a week. On a yacht with some woman who is her brother’s wife’s godmother.

The idea of Renata in that hedonistic playground had me grinding my teeth down.

What did I think, though? That we could break up as teenagers, and she’d stay preserved for me while I married a DeLuca? As a stupid eighteen-year-old that is exactly what I had thought.

I soon learned that wasn’t going to be the case. I hated it if I heard of her dating anyone. That she got married fucked me up for weeks. I raged. Still, I was the first to marry someone else, as I’m sure she was aware, so at least I won that little battle.

After she betrayed me and fucked my best friend, I went all in with Francesca DeLuca.

I fucking loathed her, but my family wanted an alliance with the DeLucas, and after Renata gave herself to Duncan like a cheap toy, I had no reason not to. It gave me what I wanted, power in the business, a say. My family doesn’t let unmarried sons rise to the top. Clifford wasn’t married, and as the old guard fell apart alarmingly quickly, I stepped in and took their place. Marrying Francesca was a giant public fuck you to Renata too. Then she said it right back and married some playboy.

How Renata could have done that still makes me want to break things.

I wanted her. She gave herself away to Duncan. A pathetic fuckboy.

I grind my teeth as I hang back and watch her. I still want her.

Renata Andretti is the one who got away. The only woman I’ve ever felt anything for. I’m not sure it was love, but it was something. Possessiveness. Lust. Desire. It turned to hate and a burning need for revenge.

I had to play it cool and make sure my family never suspected. They’d have locked me up for a year in the house if they had found out. Literally, not figuratively. They hated the Andrettis with passion like I’ve never known. I don’t. They mean nothing to me these days, the old rivalries gone with much of the old guard’s power. Now, I only hate one of them.

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