Page 10 of The Devil's Pawn

We not only took out the laundromat and their men, but we torched a warehouse they used for business dealings, killing every member of the Palermo crime family inside.

We’ve been looking for Faro and his brothers ever since the laundromat went up in smoke, needing our pound of flesh. We’ll find them even if we have to burn everything to the ground to do it.

Faro recently tried to end the war he started long ago by making a deal with Dom in exchange for his daughter, but that blew up in his face. None of us will ever accept anything the Bianchis have to offer. Nothing will end the bloodshed.

Nothing but their deaths.

We’ve waited too long for the day when we can make them pay. It’s the only goal we’ve had in the last fifteen years, and I will see it through until my dying breath. Nothing and no one can come between me and my vengeance.

Not even someone as beautiful as Raquel Bianchi.

“So, where are we going?” she asks, oblivious to the trap I’ll be setting soon.

“My place.” I peer over at her, veering my car into the right lane. “Is that okay?”

She shrugs, her eyes drowning in sadness as she glances at me from the passenger side of my powder-blue McLaren Speedtail.

“I have nowhere else to be,” she throws in casually, her lips bending with a scowl.

I kind of hate seeing her upset. It’s probably because I’ve been following her for so long; it feels like I know her.

She doesn’t deserve any of this. Not what her family planned for her, and not what I’m planning. But sometimes life beats down on people who don’t deserve it, leaving the evil ones unscathed. It’s unfair, but it’s reality.

My brothers and I didn’t deserve the shit we got either. Matteo didn’t deserve to never know what it means to live, but he was killed anyway.

When I heard what Raquel said to Chiara earlier tonight, about how she wanted to kill herself, I knew I had to make our introduction today. Give her the opportunity to accept the offer that’ll change her life forever.

If she doesn’t accept, I’ll have no choice but to take her against her will. It’s much easier if she’s not kicking and screaming. Not that it’d matter. None of the men securing my place would give a shit.

When she finds out the real truth about me, it’ll be far too late. She’ll be Mrs. Cavaleri for the rest of her life, whether she wants to be or not.

This is, until death.

I never expected her to want to leave with me tonight. I had this plan of flirting my way into her panties and then letting her know I need a wife, but she’s made things a lot easier…so far.

“Hey.” I reach out my hand for hers, tucking her fingers in my palm. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“No, it won’t.” Bitterness grows in her eyes. “It’ll never be okay.”

“You don’t know that. You never know where your life will take you.” I glance at her in between focusing on the road. “I mean, did you ever expect to meet a handsome man at four in the morning?”

She half laughs, half cries while swiping under her eye. “No, I actually didn’t.”

“So youdothink I’m handsome.” I lift a brow, my lips turning with a grin as I catch the light in her eyes from the smile now on her face.

“You’re okay, I guess,” she giggles pitifully, sniffling and taking her hand back. “A lot better than the man I’m being forced to marry, that’s for sure.”

“It’s funny.” I pause, setting my plan in motion. “You want to get out of a marriage, and I want to get into one.”

“What do you mean?” Her head tilts to the side, eyes laser-focused on me.

“Well…” I make a left turn, cruising down a bare street. “There’s this property I badly want to secure. But the problem is, the owner won’t sell to me.”

“Why?” Her brows furrow.

“I have to prove I’m a happily married man first.”

Her eyes widen. “That’s crazy.”

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