Page 205 of Tangled up in You

That’s all I need to say. We’re all aware of the decades long feud between my dad and the DeLucas. My father committed a crime Michele had to take the fall for, making him lose twenty years of his freedom. Now the man is out, and all good ole daddycould think to save his ass is gift him one of his daughters as payment. Fucking disgusting.

“The only way I can think of to help my sister is to trade her for my dad. We need him alive. At least until Gabi is free. After that… after that, I really don’t care.”

I get a few nods, and Vito pulls me closer to kiss my forehead. God, that feels good.

“Okay,mi reina,” Sal rasps out. “Andale, carnalitos.”

He’s carrying a fucking semi-automatic. I can’t even fathom where the hell he had that thing hidden. The three of them file.out of the library in long, purposeful strides. Vito and I closing the line.

I run a palm over the lapel of his jacket.

“I can walk, honey.”

His searing dark gaze pins me in place. And I shut my mouth and snuggle deeper into his broad chest, a small smile stretching my lips.Fucking psycho. If someone had told me I’d be feeling all warm and fuzzy, hot and bothered, and fucking at peace today, I would never have believed it. But here I am, surrounded by four strapping badasses. Wanted, protected, cared for. I’ll fucking take it. However long it lasts…

DANNI

We stepout of the ridiculously ostentatious library and into a hallway that’s just as fucking laughable. Gleaming dark marble floors, more absurdly expensive rugs, and a grand staircase that would be better suited for a European chateau.A fucking joke.

The moment we step out, Stephane and his men turn our way. Still grinning about whatever the fuck they were talkingabout. But the instant their eyes meet our fucking pissed off expressions, their faces fall.

Stephane rushes to meet us, his eyes shifting from Vito, who’s still fucking carrying Isa, to the rest of our small group.

I’m not exactly sure how I fucking feel about Vito carrying Isabelle bride style. Yeah, I like that she’s safe in my brother’s arms, but I’m also fucking itching to snatch her away and guard her myself.

“What happened? You okay, Isa?”

Before he can get too close, Sal, Misha, and I come stand in front of Vito and Isabelle, effectively blocking access to them.

Stephane starts expression his outrage.

“What the-”

But the words die on his lips as his eyes grow big when they finally take notice of our weapons. How this moron survived this long in our world is an absolute mystery. Dipshit isn’t even observant enough to catch deadly weapons held right under his nose.

I move to stand right in front of him. Toe to toe, towering over him with all my might. Stephane Sinclair is not a small man, but I’m a fucking giant.

“We’re leaving,” I growl in his face. “Out of our way. You and your man.”

“W… what?”

I raise my Glock and pull the slide, the metallic sound resonating in the deafening silence.

“Boss, we…” one of Stephane’s men’s starts.

Fucking douche never gets a chance to finish. I aim at him and shoot. He collapses, holding his leg, and yelling like a pig at the slaughterhouse.

I let my icy gaze roam through Stephane Sinclair and the two other men he still has standing. I’m not fooling myself. All it would take is the press of a button and he’d have an armyof goons descending on us. But we have his daughter, which I hope has some meaning for him. And also Stephane knows it would also take very little for our own armies from all four of our families to fucking invade this place.

“Daniel, I don’t think… Maybe we could go to my study and discuss all this. I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding.”

“There’s no fucking misunderstanding, you fucking cum-dump.”

I move even closer and press the mouth of my gun to his fucking forehead.

“You fucking marked her.”

My tone is lethal, and looking into his eyes, I can tell Stephane understands just how crazy I am right now. How all I want is for him to do or say the wrong thing and give me a reason to fucking pull the trigger.