Page 86 of Twisted Knight

“Tell me more about the man, Emily’s brother… Who was he?”

“Why?” Matteo took a drag of his cigarette. “It won’t help you.”

“I deserve to know.”

“Deserve…” Matteo cocked his head to the side. “Since when do we get what we deserve in life?” He let out a little humorless laugh. “You can’t be that naïve, Domenico; you’ve been around long enough. And you know what I deserve? Not cleaning up behind you and Gianluca, not trying to find stupid excuses because I let you both bend the rules over and over again.”

“It’s because we’re your favorites.”

Matteo rolled his eyes. “Blood will only get you so far, Domenico. Don’t forget your place or misuse my leniency toward you.”

It felt weird to hear him admit it somehow, that he was treating us differently—mostly because I was his brother.

“Tell me, please.”

He let out a sigh of exasperation. “His name was Daniel. He received your details by mail and decided to follow you around. He didn’t know what exactly you were. He only thought you ran a prostitution ring.”

“I see.”

“No, I don’t think you do. If you’d talked to me instead of ignoring what was happening, you wouldn’t have been hurt and he wouldn’t have had to die.”

“I didn’t think it was that important; I thought I could handle it.”

“Indeed, you did. And see how it turned out.”

I rolled my eyes. “Is that why you wanted me to stay behind? To chastise me like a petulant child?”

“No, there’s no reason for me to do that. You think I’m the devil and you think you know best.” He shrugged. “I need you to help me clean up this mess because it’s as important for you as it is for me.”

I knew I would help him because even if he was an asshole, I owed him that much but it didn’t mean I couldn’t taunt him in the process. “I’m not the one in charge; I’ve got nothing to lose.”

“Don’t you?” He nodded. “So far, the rat played with Benny and Savio’s head to kill Luca, had them kidnap his woman and tried to kill you. Don’t you see what all they have in common?”

Luca, that was who.

Matteo nodded at the look on my face. “Helping me is helping yourself.”

It was a bit of a stretch, but at the same time, how could I say no? He could so easily order me if he wanted to.

“I’ll do anything for Luca.”

Matteo smirked. “You’re making me feel so fuzzy inside.”

“Luca told me about the list you have.”

“We need to work through it, and we need to do it soon.”

“Why?

He looked away and I saw his jaw tick as his nostrils flared. “The Italians are coming.”

Fuck!This year was the worst for this. After all the changes, all the rules we bent.

Luca, marrying outside the family, taking me as consigliere. Matteo making a deal with the Russians.

Despite being a sociopathic asshole, I couldn’t help but feel a certain kinship to him. Was it due to our blood relationship? It was probably the case. I didn’t have any family—not a blood one anyway—and somehow, I didn’t want him gone. Another king would not accept what he accepted.

“When are they coming? Why are they coming? Aren’t you the one usually going there for the yearly meetings?”

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