Page 74 of Cardinal

I could feel his throat bob with his hard swallow as his eyes turned wary for a split second and softened back up with defeat. "Yes, amorina." His voice strained with reluctance, but he still gave in.

Okay, now what?

Do I kiss him? Slap him? Kick him in the nuts with this only chance?

The fact I could probably do literally anything to him right now without possible retaliation was a scary thought because I did not like having this much power.

Freaking out internally, I pulled back and let my body do whatever felt right, which was apparently all the above.

It was as if someone took a reflex hammer to my knee with how fast and hard my leg shot out and caught Luciano right between his legs, causing his face to twist with sheer agony and groans of pain to leave his mouth. Of course, that wasn't enough because down to the ground he went with a hard slap across his poor face. But I mean, I took some mercy on him with how I hauled him back up by the front of his shirt into a very hard and angry but passionate kiss.

I will admit I kind of got out of control for a second there.

Whoops.

Apparently, I could hold a bit of a grudge.

It took me three solid days of giving everyone the silent treatment before I accepted any of their apologies. Well, it was five days until I accepted Sebastian's and Ares's because they were off in Florida and didn't really know about me to really tell me anything. Leah, Aidan, and Evie, on the other hand, took another full week before I relented; the fact they saw me quite often and didn't think to mention any of it to me pissed off and hurt me greatly. Granted, it was Luciano's fault for telling them he'd take care of it, so they kind of thought he would tell me one way or another.

Luciano and I were by no means lovey-dovey again, nor were we back to normal. It was hard to think about returning to 'normal' with him after everything. Every time I thought about letting him back in, my walls would come right back up at the thought of how he deceived and hurt me. It wasn't fair to either of us, but I still questioned his feelings even if I could see them as plain as day in his eyes.

"Juliet baby, are you sure?" Luciano asked after looking through the four photos I handed to him.

I nearly snapped at him in response, but I shut the lid on the boiling pot. "Yes. I can't ever get rid of their ugly faces from my mind." I replied flatly with a scowl.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to doubt you, and that question kind of came out wrong." Shaking his head, Luciano's eyes softened with an apology as he held up a picture. "This man, though. You sure?" It was as if he almost didn't want to believe it himself with the hardened edge of anger in his voice.

Without a word, I nodded my head firmly before my eyebrow rose in question. "Do you have a problem with that man?"

Muttering something under his breath, Luciano slapped the pictures onto the desk and ran a hand through his hair. "Now I do." He scowled deeply as he pulled his phone out and texted someone.

Moments of tense silence later, the door to his office opened, and someone was shoved in, followed by two guards behind him who proceeded to throw him face down on the ground. "Luciano, what is—" No words came out of the man's hung mouth when he looked up from his position on the floor.

Emotionlessly, I tilted my head and spoke up in an almost empty and eerie voice, "I think you just answered that question yourself."

"I-I am so sorry, please. I didn't know you belonged to Luciano. If you did, then I wouldn't have touched you or let any of the other men touch you." Empty apologies filled with nothing but desperation to live.

"You better shut up before I have Luciano rip your jaw off and beat you to death with it." Gruesome? Yeah, but I felt nothing for the scum. I don't think I could have if I had tried my hardest. He brought this upon himself, and who knows how many people he's assaulted over the years.

It was unfortunate to think about, but I was only one of many.

"You aren't sorry. You are only sorry that you are caught. It doesn't matter if I belonged to Luciano or not. You shouldn't have done it in the first place." I sounded like a pompous ass with too much arrogance speaking down to him like some mother belittling her child, but that was the least he deserved.

"Please, spare me." The man begged pathetically as he crawled and cowered at my feet.

Scowling in disgust, I kicked him away and rounded the desk to stand next to Luciano behind the desk. A wicked idea snaked a crazed smirk on my lips as I leaned down and wrapped my arms around Luciano's shoulders and neck. "It's been a while since I've seen you go at a punching bag. Why don't you remind me how hard you can hit, babe," I suggested—more like commanded—Luciano in a saccharine voice, tracing the tip of my finger along his shoulder. "But don't kill him. Just get a quick one in, then cut his pathetic dick and balls off and let him bleed to death."

Luciano whispered with a nervous chuckle to me. "Remind me to never piss you off again." His rough hands swallowed mine briefly to pry my arms off, and his lips pressed a quick kiss to the back of my hands before he returned them to me fully after he stood up.

As Luciano approached the man, the two guards in the room each took hold of the man's arms, holding him up upright and still for Luciano. No matter how much the man begged and struggled, no one paid him any attention, nor did either of the guards let their grip on him falter.

Luciano's casual voice slowly deepened with anger while he spoke and rolled his sleeves up his forearms. "I was going to take it easy on you and put a bullet through your head after I found out about you being a mole for Marley, but that train blew up the moment my girl here gave me your photo after she identified all her assaulters." Smiling to himself, Luciano shook his head in disbelief before throwing a fast punch at the man's face, filling the office with the sounds of his nasally screams. "Then the fact that you've been working for me this whole time knowing." Another punch hit the man's face, and Luciano switched gears.

Sitting pretty behind the desk, I propped my elbows up on the flat surface and watched the man's body jerk and twitch with each hit Luciano delivered. Throughout the next few minutes, the man continued to wail and plead futilely as Luciano turned his insides to mush.

"Darling, I changed my mind a little," I spoke up just as Luciano pulled his arm back to throw another punch. "After you cut his dick off, shove it in his mouth. See how he likes having a dick forced into his mouth while he's begging for everything to stop." Not gonna lie, this want for more scared me. "I wanna see him choke to death on his pathetic thing."

This wasn't me. It didn't feel like me. Never in my life would I ever want harm to someone, let alone ask someone to do it on my behalf.

---