Page 156 of A Beautiful Crime

And as he begins to walk past me he comes to a stop beside me. “Goodbye, Carina.”

I bite down hard on my tongue. The burst of metallic flooding my mouth as I blink past the tears.

It kills me.

After all the years I had wanted him to call me by my name and now he will say it for the first and final time.

Inside I am being torn to shreds but by my face one could never tell.

From my peripheral vision I see him glance at me one last time before acceptance dons his face. Keeping my back to him as he walks away I say what I know will hurt him as much as he hurt me. “Goodbye, papa.”

I hear his sharp intake of breath. I hear the falter in his step. And if I were to look I’m certain I would see heartbreak written on his face. But I don’t spare him a glance. Even if my bleeding heart wants to.

The elevator door softly opens and when I hear it shut the tears I have been fighting break free.

Betrayal.

It’s such a bitter taste.

And so I hold onto the rage. I allow the inferno to rise within me. Because feeling anger is preferred to drowning in my sorrows.

As the fire within me breathes I stalk to the kitchen with a new mission.

Grabbing the knife from the counter I then start my hunt.

Because this knife? It has my fiancé’s name on it.

CHAPTER 34

Constantine

“Itold you I didn’t care for the likes of him, Constantine,” Tao boasts and I can practically see his smug grin from the other line of the phone.

“Si, you did,” I agree dryly before adding sharply, “and I also seem to remember the whereabouts of your sister. If you care to keep gloating you will have a Russian brother-in-law.”

Silence drops over the line. He responds steely, “It seems I don’t have any choice in the matter, do I?”

I smirk at that. Blackmail without fail will always remain triumphant. “Of course you have a choice, Tao,” I remind him, humor in my tone.

He scoffs. “The Triads become allies with you against The Fiore Famiglia and The Irish Mob or I sit this out and my sister becomes the wife to a ruthless heathen. Tell me again how that is a choice?”

“Technically there is a choice,” Rico corrects him in a bored tone. He stands tall and statuesque beside me as Tao is on speaker phone.

Tao sighs frustratedly. “I can’t deal with him today, Constantine.”

I snicker and chance a glance at Rico. Naturally the comment doesn’t offend him. He remains with an impassive face and an even bleaker tone. “Are you agreeing or not? This is a time sensitive matter.” Rico cuts straight to the chase, excluding all pleasantries. I smother a laugh.

I imagine Tao running an exasperated hand through his hair. “Let me get this correct,” he begins before continuing incredulously, “you are to marry Carina at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. After you both have vowed, ‘I do’, we are to start a bloodbath.”

“Well, when you put it like that you’re making it sound as if I am a lunatic.”

He blows out a breath. “If you aren’t aiming for lunacy then I don’t know what you are setting out to accomplish. You are aware you want to open fire in a church?”

I shrug. “Worse things have happened in a church.” And I think of all of the little boys the church has failed. All of the children who were innocent and had left ruined. I think of my very own, Gino, and what the church had done to him. For all the horrors the church has done this is hardly nothing.

“What you are about to do is sacrilegious and you’re so blasé about it all.” He curses under his breath in his native tongue. “You really are the devil.”

I gleam at that. Taking pleasure in living up to my name. I rap my knuckles along my desk wanting to tie up this allegiance in a tight bow. “So, are The Triads aligning with The Donati Famiglia or not?”

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