Page 34 of Sinful Wrath

“Excuse me?”

“You truly thought if you asked nicely enough that Lucia Conti would do as you tell her? Fuck, Mikhail, even I know that would have never worked.”

“I know that now. And I thought a threat to her life would be enough of a reason.”

“Clearly, you are a terrible judge of character. I wonder how long it will take for Massimo to appear on your doorstep ready to chop off your balls for letting his daughter out of your sight.”

“Look, I need you to keep this quiet, and this time, I fucking mean it, Anton. Don’t go spilling this to Alexei. I can’t afford to have him thinking I can’t handle this.”

“Can you?”

“I don’t have a choice.”

“That doesn’t answer the question, Mikhail.”

“It’s the only answer I have.” I hang up the phone.

My brothers are still in the lounge, slowly making their way through a bottle of vodka, when I arrive twenty minutes later.

Dimitri is leaning against the mantel. “How’s your little wife-to-be?”

I shoot my brother a glare as I take a seat beside Danil on the couch, my teeth grinding as I think of the situation with Lucia.

“Not in the mood, Dimitri.”

“Trouble in paradise?” Danil slaps me on the shoulder.

I slap his hand away, ignoring his jab, and put my attention on Alexei.

“Has Andrew called yet with the fingerprint results?”

“No, but it should be any minute.” He crosses his ankle over the knee as he lounges in his armchair.

“Fine.”

Once fresh drinks are poured, and Danil fills me in on what I missed in the few hours I was gone, Alexei’s phone starts ringing.

“It’s Andrew.” He puts the phone on speaker and sets it down on the table. “Go ahead.”

“We ran the fingerprints like you asked,” Zara’s father says. “It seems these guys have got quite a history with the NYPD.”

I glance at Alexei.

I frown. “In what way?”

“Their mafia connections have landed them in quite a bit of trouble over the years. So, I appreciate you taking care of them, Mikhail.”

I keep quiet, my mind racing as I try to think of who they could be linked to.

Alexei is the one to voice my thoughts. “Do you know who they were working for?”

“They’ve got some strong connections to Alfonzo Morano.”

Dimitri looks at Alexei, then at the phone. “Who?”

A deep crease forms between Alexei’s eyebrows. “He’s an old enemy of Massimo’s.”

“It seems Massimo Conti is at the top of his hit list for killing his two sons a few years back,” Andrew explains. “It started a huge territory war that I’m not certain was ever resolved.”

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