Page 11 of Revenge & Ruin

“Now,” I say as I unfurl my hand in front of her, revealing the earpiece I snagged from her when she first flung herself at me. “Shall we have a little wager about who’s on the other end?”

I don’t wait for her reply as I connect the device to my ear and tap the receiver button.

“Issy? What the hell is going on? Pick-up has been abandoned. The fuckers boxed us in. Where are you?” a sharp, male voice immediately crackles into my ear.

“Leon Natali.”

The line goes silent.

Isabella squirms beneath me. “Don’t give him a fucking thing, Leon!”

“Teo Vitale,” the voice replies, entirely devoid of its previous emotion.

“I should thank you for delivering such an…exquisite gift to the new don of the Guild, Natali. You’ve far surpassed any of our other previous allies.”

“Give her back, Vitale, or I swear to God I will burn your precious Guild to the ground.”

I let myself chuckle at that one. “Is that really how you want to speak to me? I thought youwantedan alliance.”

“I wantnothingfrom you except my sister’s safe return.”

“That’s a pity because?—”

I’m cut off by my own grunt as Isabella’s leg collides forcefully with my back.

“Stay still,” I growl at her as I attempt to wrestle her back to neutrality. It takes a moment, and by the time she stills, we’re both breathing heavily. My other leg is now clamped down over the back of her knees.

“Get. Off. Me,” she grits out.

“So you only like it when you’re on top? Is that it?”

Suddenly, Leon lets out an ear-splitting roar in my ear.

“YOU SICK BASTARD! IF YOU’VE SO MUCH AS TOUCHED HER, I’LL?—”

It suddenly clicks that I’ve found Leon’s weakness.

“You’ll do what, Leon?” I pant back. “Drive into a hotel full of people who will kill you without so much as an order from me?”

The woman writhing beneath me, about ten seconds away from clawing at my skin, has made him show his hand so plainly that I’d feel embarrassed for him if it wasn’t taking all my concentration to wrangle her into submission.

“You’ll be dead before anyone so much as touches me.”

Threatening Isabella makes him lose all sense of self-preservation. If I can just utilize this to my advantage…

“You want to try it and find out? Or do you want to hear my offer?”

There’s a beat of silence before he responds. “What do you want?”

“A few things really, but a lot of those are for Isabella’s ears only,” I goad him through the phone.

The desired effect is immediate and deafening as Leon roars so loudly I’m certain Isabella can hear it, despite the tiny speakers in the phone.

“But from you,” I continue, ignoring his outburst. “I want the current and future locations of Ida Natali.”

Isabella stills beneath me. “Don’t you fucking dare, Leon.”

“And because Isabella here has put me in such a good mood. I’m going to give you twelve whole hours to get me this information.”

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