Page 76 of Sinful Sacrifice

Antonio is third in line for the boss role in the family, right behind Vinny. If I disrespect him in public, it’d make him look weak to the other men.

People need to fear him.

To know if you say the wrong word, he’ll rip your head off.

Driving that fear is what keeps all of us alive.

Lucky for me, the only people at his table are Clara and Amara. Most of the people here are family members, whether blood or business-related. While I’m always involved in every Lombardi-related move, I keep my distance from some of the others. Antonio does as well.

“We need to talk,” I say when I reach him.

Antonio pushes his sunglasses from the top of his head to his eyes, grabs his drink, and follows me toward the pool house. From the satisfied expression on his face, he already knows what this is about.

My strides are long, and as we pass a group of men, I notice Brock’s attention glued to us.

Fucking asshole.

I’ll deal with him later.

I swing the door open, and Pippa springs to her feet off the couch when we enter. Her eyes dart from me to Antonio and widen.

She has no idea what’s happening yet.

She’ll most likely be pissed when she learns, though.

“You sent Brock to her?” I ask Antonio as soon as he shuts the door behind us.

“You have her around my daughter, Damien,” Antonio stresses. “I had to make sure I could trust her.”

I curl my hands into fists.

Us sending Brock to speak with people isn’t anything new. We do it to test their loyalty, to see if they’re trustworthy. If they even entertain the idea of speaking to Detective Kinney, we get rid of them.

I didn’t test Pippa because I was worried. In my gut, I knew I could trust her, but there was still that layer of concern. She despises Cernach, and we’re in the same line of work. She could resent me for that.

But what I’ve hoped is that she knows there’s more to me than the violence. My hatred toward those who wrong me is untamed, but my loyalty and compassion for those I care about are also untamed. It’s a happy medium, in my opinion. I’d rip my heart out of my chest and give it to her if she needed one.

Antonio shrugs. “She didn’t talk and hardly gave Brock the time of day,” he explains as Pippa stares at him, bug-eyed. “Do I feel a little better? Yes. Do I trust her completely?” He looks straight at Pippa. “You know I can’t say that about anyone.”

“You crossed a line, not giving me a heads-up,” I sneer.

“Better I test her than my father.” He motions between Pippa and me. “As soon as you two arrived today, he asked me if I’d sent Brock to her yet. He’d asked me to do it after the funeral. With all the time you’re spending together and how involved you seem to be, she was on his radar.”

Antonio and I have always been straightforward with each other. Neither of us has ever sent Brock to someone without the other knowing.

I point my finger at him. “That’s the last test for her. Do you hear me?”

“You work for us, Damien. It’s been this way for years, and it will always be this way. You get plenty of leniency, given who we are and what you are to me, but that doesn’t mean complete freedom. I don’t even have full freedom. Consider this a favor so she’s more welcome.”

Pippa stands to the sidelines, catching on to every word of our conversation.

Shaking my head, I curse under my breath. “Who was watching her?”

Pippa always has eyes on her—whether it be me, Julian, Emilio, or Luis. One of them saw her talking to Brock and didn’t say anything to me. I might not be able to punch Antonio in the face, but you can bet your ass I’d punch any of them.

“Emilio,” Antonio replies. “I made certain it wasn’t Julian.”

Because he knew Julian would tell me.

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