Page 126 of The Devil's Deal

“Okay,” Enzo says as I climb up the steps.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Faro asks.

“Talking is now over. Where is she?” Two more steps and then I’m in front of him.

Now that I’m taller, more powerful, he seems like a roach I can step on. Short, round, grays on both sides of his head.

He’s nothing.

“Come. She’s waiting eagerly for your attendance.”

I keep my gun pointed to the floor, not wanting to shoot until I see Chiara with my own eyes. If I take him out now and he’s hidden her somewhere, I may never find her.

Footsteps echoing, I stomp down a semi-dark narrow path, him leading the way. We keep moving until the space widens, opening into a larger, well-lit area. As my eyes adjust, that’s when I see her. Chiara.

But she isn’t alone. Miles is there too, with a gun pointing to the back of her head, her hands hidden behind a chair, blood trickling down her lip.

My heart urges me to run, to get to her—to kill them all—but my mind stabilizes my irrational thoughts. I have to be smart about this.

“Nice to see you,boss.” Miles smirks, planting the barrel against her head, and I catch the sight of the swelling around her temple.

It reminds me of when Cain hurt her. Anger fills my heart to capacity, battering from within my rib cage like an imprisoned animal finding its prey.

“I’m gonna get you out of this, baby,” I assure her. “I swear to you.”

Her chin trembles, fresh tears leaking down her cheeks, weaving with the blood on her mouth.

“Kill him.” She grits her teeth at Faro.

“Shut up, bitch,” Miles says from behind her, pushing the gun harder into her scalp, her head bending forward.

My breathing barrels through me with force.

“I’m gonna kill you nice and slow,” I warn Miles, but he only looks amused.

We’ll see how amused he is when I put a bullet in his face.

“You’re done, Faro.” I point the weapon at him. “Tonight, you die, and after I’m done with you and your puppet there…” I gesture toward Miles with my head. “I’m going to kill every last man in your family until there’s no one left.”

Faro sighs facetiously. “You Cavaleris think you can take everything from me. I made you an honest deal.” His feet plod loudly as he takes a step closer to me, a few feet between us. “But instead of being an honest man, you took her without agreeing to our deal, like I figured you would. You’re exactly like your father.”

His face turns hard, and as he looks at me with a dead look in his eyes, he points a gun at Chiara. “That day I killed that scumbag you called a father, I not only took his youngest son, but the woman he came to fall in love with.Mywoman.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I ask, lifting my own weapon, pointing it at his chest.

“Your father and my wife, they were having an affair almost three years after your ma died. I guess you didn’t know. Why would you?” he scoffs. “You were just a stupid kid chasing after my daughter.”

I growl; if Chiara wasn’t in harm’s way, I’d use the knife at my ankle and slice both of their necks.

“She wasn’t even supposed to be there,” he continues. “But she found out what I planned to do and thought she could beg for their life, but…” His mouth curls up at the corners, the deadpan laugh filling the room. “She was too late. They were already dead. But I planned to kill her anyway, so she did me a favor showing up. I shot her in the back of the head as she cried looking at your dead brother and father.”

My body grows cold at the memory of what I saw that day.

I don’t believe anything he’s saying. My father was never the type of man to fall for a married woman, no matter how bad her marriage was. I never even saw him with anyone after Mom died. I mean, yeah, he was friends with Chiara’s mother, but that was all it was.

At least I thought so.

“After I shot them all, we dumped them together into the dirty harbor where they belong. If you look, you might still find their bones.” His weapon remains aimed at a tearful Chiara.

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