Page 52 of Twisted Vows

His unhinged chuckle warns me I won’t like his next words, but I meet his glare head on.

“I knew that bitch looked familiar. Have you been hiding her all this time? She must have a golden pussy for all you gave up for her.”

I gouge a chunk of muscle off his thigh with the shears. A well of crimson springs up and rains on the concrete.

He screams and laughs at the same time.

“Nothing you do to me will save her now, you know that, right,stronzo?”

He devolves into manic cackling. I toss the shears, snatch the construction pin, and grab him by the throat.

“Why’s that, Destin?”

“Do you really think Narciso Vivaldi has anything Seppi Capito wants? I’m tailing the smallest fish in this pond, but you’re so fucking scared it’s pathetic.”

I sink the tip of the pin into his shoulder. He throws his head back and curses in between laughs.

“Who’s backing Narciso?” I ask.

He shakes his head and says, “You’re so fucking dead unless you dump the worthless whore and leave New York.”

I yank the pin out of his shoulder and stab it through his throat. It’s still hot enough to sizzle his flesh and slow hisbleeding. I jerk it around a few times before jabbing it into his guts several times. The squishing of organs will always haunt me, but he deserves the most gruesome death I can provide.

I leave the pin protruding from his stomach and take a few calculated steps toward the table. When I turn around and reveal the shiny axe to him, he gurgles and shakes his head.

“If Narciso is the smallest player, then I’m just wasting time on you. You don’t know shit, do you? Seppi barks, you heel. It’s fucking pathetic.”

His eyes flit between my face and the axe. Regret and hatred shine from his eyes.

“Feral mutts like you don’t deserve to be called men,” I snarl.

I lift the axe with both hands above my head and bury it in his groin. With the handle jutting up from the seat, I lean my hip on the table and light a cigarette. Despite the severity of his wounds, the fucker holds on for several minutes before he gives up the ghost.

As I clean up the mess, I replay his words over and over, frustrated at my inability to get names from him. If Narciso didn’t pull Seppi’s attention to New York City, then who did? Very few people have more power than the Vivaldi family, and I can rule out at least two others of the five founding mafia families, so my options are as vague as before learning of my brother’s involvement.

A pig farm down the road will take care of disposal, but it’s always best to toss smaller pieces into the pens, so I do the heavy lifting in the abandoned warehouse.

I pause with a severed limb halfway in a black plastic bag.

Thisstronzoacted like he knew Mia, but she’s never been to San Francisco. Aurora confirmed she was born and raised in New York.

He must have been confused. I shove his fingerless arm into the bag and snarl, only to pause again.

I thought she looked familiar, too.

Fresh suspicion surfaces. I yearn to deny my doubt, but she often reacts in ways I don’t expect.

My hackles rise as I realize she could ruin the entire life I’ve built for myself. If Narciso and whoever he’s working with have put their sights on Mia Rivera, then she poses the biggest threat to Giorgio, Aurora, and Tristan.

Surrounded by gore and reminded of my origins, I push the love—because I can’t deny what I feel for her anymore—into a tiny box and seal it closed.

I’ll get the truth from my wife, no matter what it takes.

Chapter 15

Emma Lanza

I sigh and flip my pillow overbefore scooting closer to the wall and tucking my blankets around me.

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