Page 36 of The Marriage Contract

“I didn’t tell them anything,” my father says. “I only learned about this after the fact. Please, son, sit. Try to slow down. Try to think. You can’t approach this how you need to if you’re in this state.”

I lay my fists on his desk, glaring at him. He flinches away. Now, it’s the second time he looks spooked by me. “I’m in the exact state I need to be. The right mood to tear this city to pieces to find Elena. The right state to destroy the Romanos.”

“We have to be intelli?—”

“Are you telling me tolet them get away with this?”

“No, of course not,” he says quickly. “When they find her, I know you’ll do what you must.”

“So, what are you saying?”

“I don’t want you to domorethan is necessary,” he says slowly. “Find her. Rescue her. Hurt anybody who gets in your way, but as it stands, there have been no deaths.”

“That we know of,” I say, then regret saying it. Putting it into words is like giving it a chance to be real. I slam my fists on his desk. “I don’t want to think about that. Elena doesn’t deserve this. She’s a good person.”

“She seems like a nice girl.”

“Don’t start with that crap now,” I scoff. “We both know what you think of her.”

“I wouldn’t wish harm on any woman, Dario. You know that.”

His phone vibrates. He glances at it.

“What is it? Any news?”

“A text about the land grab.”

“Fuck your land grab! It doesn’t matter anymore. I’d burn the entire deal to ashes if it meant getting Elena back.”

Father frowns but says nothing. I throw my hands up and go back to pacing. I knew I cared about Elena on some level. I knew I liked her sass, but this is something else. This is almost goddamn primal. A rival tribe has taken my woman, and now I’m ready to bleed every one of them dry and make necklaces out of their bones.

“I don’t like that look in your eye, Dario,” Father says.

“I don’t give a damn,” I snarl. “I need lots of men, and you need to tell them they report directly to me.”

“Of course, son.”

“Arrange that now. I should get the word about leads any minute now. I may need access to the chopper, too.”

My father narrows his eyes. “I understand you’re upset, but we can’t escalate this toaerial warfare.”

“I won’t mount a goddamn machinegun to the side, but if the Romanos think they’ve got the jump on us by taking her somewhere outside the city, they’re in for a huge surprise. I haven’t dedicated my entire life to this Family, even when Ihaven’t wanted to, to let some backwater motherfuckers think they can outmaneuver us.”

Father steeples his fingers, watching me closely.

“What?” I grunt.

“You genuinely love this girl, don’t you?”

“Does my answer make a difference to me getting the helicopter?” I snap.

“That wasn’t much of an answer …”

“I love her,” I snap, telling myself this is all part of the game.

“Then you’ll get what you need, son.”

About a minute later, I’m still pacing, when finally my cell phone rings. It’s Paolo. I quickly answer.

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