Page 90 of Dirty Behavior

Chuckling, I curled my finger tight around the trigger. “Oh yeah, you were never afraid of me?” Running my tongue over my teeth, I smiled. “That's bullshit and you know it. You practically pissed yourself the last time I was here.”

I watched his muscles tighten, hand shaking to keep the gun level. “Fuck you. I should kill you just like I did your father. You know he cried for your mother right before I blew his fucking head off. No balls that one, he had no balls, Dante.”

I wasn't going to let him get under my skin. I knew his games, I knew how he worked. He wasn't going to shake me up from some fucking story he created.

My father wouldn't have ever called for anyone, I knew that. He would have taken the hit with dignity, holding his head up to help make sure the shot didn't miss. That's the type of man he was.

Staying silent, I made sure to keep my arm even with the bulls-eye between his forehead. He didn't deserve a response to his weak attempt at rattling me.

“Maybe your brother will scream for her too when I blow his head off. What do you think?” His head cocked to the side, eyes falling over a lump on the floor behind him.

Looking down, my insides became a living inferno. Sesto was on the ground behind his feet, face bruised and streaked in red.

Licking his lips, Remo turned the gun from me to Sesto. “I'll just take care of him now, put him out of his misery. You can hear it, can't you? The way he can't breathe anymore because we broke his ribs, the way his tongue is vibrating against the roof of his mouth because Gio slammed a gun down his throat. It's a pretty sound, Dante, I kinda like it. But it's his time now. Do you want me to wake him up first?”

“Don't.” Growling under my breath, my lip arched high to bare all my teeth.

My brain had shut down, the world around me going fuzzy. I saw three things in that room; My woman, my brother, and the man who wanted to destroy it all.

He's dead.

“Why not? He shouldn't even be out right now, he got lucky. The fucking cops didn't get there in time to catch him the way I wanted. So, he's got to go at some point. I can't take what's mine if you're all here.”

I saw his thumb start to lift to kick back the hammer, his finger was tightening around the trigger, ready to fire.

Screaming at the top of my lungs, I charged forward. “No!” Slamming into his back, Remo flew forward, tumbling over my brother and hitting the ground.

I didn't think about the gun, it didn't matter. I either threw it or dropped it, but my hands were just as deadly as any piece of cold metal.

Remo rolled to his back as I jumped on him, wrapping my hands around his neck and squeezing down. His face burst, flushing red and slowly morphing between purple and blue. This was what I wanted, to feel his life beat out of his chest.

My hands were going to sell his life to the devil, my muscles were going to force the last breath from his body.

And all of it was going to travel through my bones, burn into my memory and make Ivy's life livable again. She wouldn't have to watch over her shoulder, she wasn't going to have to worry about our child living a sheltered life all because some asshole had a piece of paper that claimed her as his.

The world around me went soundless, a soft humming filled the space between my ears as Remo gagged and bucked beneath me. I didn't look up at Ivy, I couldn't hear if she was screaming or cheering me on.

I felt the small veins in Remo's neck start to pop one by one as my fingers dug deep into his skin. His eyes expanded, the white taking over as his lids retreated into the sockets. The black of his pupils seeped into the dark brown, opening an abyss for his soul to fly free from.

Thunk.

Blackness consumed me, stealing the moment.

I was a ghost, slipping between the lights and falling away.

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