Page 95 of Bloody Vows
He's wrong.
"Let's start simple," I say, looming over him. "Why tonight? Why my wife?"
Enzo spits onto the concrete floor. "Fuck you."
With one quick motion, I backhand Enzo across the face. His head snaps to the side, and when he turns back, there's fresh blood on his lip.
"That's for making me repeat myself," I say conversationally. "Now, why tonight? Why my wife?"
"Because she should have been mine," Enzo snarls. "Because everything you have should have been mine."
"According to who?"
“According to her father.”
I backhand him again, sending his head snapping to the other side. “Her father is dead. Konstantin rules this town.Irule this town. Whatever deals were made before are void.”
He spits again, this time directly at me. I sigh, wiping my hand across my trousers, and head for the pliers lying on a nearby table.
I’m not at all sad to have to use them.
Two teeth later, Enzo has tears streaking down his face. “What made you think you still had any right to my wife?” I demand again, and blood dribbles from the corner of Enzo’s mouth.
“Sal Envio,” he mumbles. “We had a deal?—”
Now we're getting somewhere. I step, studying him. "What deal?"
He shakes his head, and I move in again. When another tooth clacks onto the floor, Enzo lets out a yowl of pain.
"He promised me that when he took over, I'd get what was rightfully mine! The territory. The respect. The girl." His words are garbled now in his swelling mouth, as if he’s speaking through cotton.
I laugh, and the sound echoes off the warehouse walls. "And you believed him?"
Enzo lets out a low moan of pain. "Why wouldn't I? He had the connections, the resources. He knew her father's operation inside and out."
"You're even stupider than I thought." I shake my head. "You really think Sal would hand over Simone to you? You think he'd let you have the territory?"
Enzo coughs, and blood splatters onto the tarp, followed by another sound of pain. "He promised?—"
"He lied." I loom over him, looking down at his battered face. "Think about it, Enzo. Really think. If Sal wanted to legitimizehis claim to the Russo territory, what would he need to do? What didIdo?"
I can see the wheels turning in his head, can see the exact moment when understanding dawns. His face goes pale. I gave him a little credit earlier for not being stupid enough to try to fight back, but all respect he might have garnered is gone.
"He'd need to marry her himself," he whispers.
I snort. "Exactly. The only way to truly secure the territory is through marriage to the heir. You were never going to get Simone, you pathetic fuck. Sal was never going to be content being a kingmaker. He was going to get what he thought he deserved. He knew Simone wouldn’t have any interest in marrying him, so he used you to draw her in and planned to take her for himself. I’m sure of it." Saying it aloud, it all makes sense. What Simone has said about Sal, what Konstantin has said about him.
He wouldn’t be satisfied serving a man like Enzo. He always planned to take Simone and use her. The thought makes my blood boil.
I’m going to tear him apart for this, piece by piece. He’ll know what suffering means by the time I’m done with him.
"But he said?—"
"He said what he needed to say to get you to do his dirty work. And you fell for it like the desperate, gullible piece of shit you are." I laugh. I can’t help it. There’s some satisfaction in all of this, to seeing Enzo realize that he’s been used. That he’s suffering and will die tonight for nothing.
“You could have lived your soft, pleasant little life,” I sneer. “Married another woman, made babies with her, been rich and fat and happy. Instead, you fucked up. And now you’re going to pay the price for touching what’s mine. Forcovetingwhat’s mine. I’d kill you just for looking at her, and you did so much worse than that.”
Enzo's face crumples, and I can see the reality of his situation finally sinking in. "Please," he whispers. "I'll disappear. I'll leave the country. You'll never see me again."
