Page 37 of Don't Break My Heart
They glare back at me, fresh fury raging off them. They don’t like it when I call them out on their bullshit.
“How doyouknow Dante?” I toss back at them.
“We grew up with him,” Orlando says, seething. “That’s how I know how dangerous he is. You don’t know what he’s thinking.”
“Or what he is capable of. I have done business with him for years; he’s not a man I want you to get messed up with,” Romeo adds, his hand coming to my hip, his fingertips digging in possessively.
I glare at the two of them. Of course they gang up on me over something like this, using their oversized frames to try and intimidate me. This is when two is not better than one. Like this I know I stand no chance. They are so fucking infuriating, trying to control me and everything I do. Fuck them. I try to buck off the tree and get away from them, but their grip on me only tightens. “You’re both being total assholes right now. I need to hear what he has to say before I sign anything. Did you know he is Daisy’s brother?”
Something dark and dangerous flashes in Romeo’s eyes. “Of course we knew,” he clips.
I stare back at the two of them, confusion swirling all around me. Why didn’t they tell me if they knew? It seems like important information. But I guess that would have to mean including me like I’m their equal, and these assholes still don’t see me like that. “Why is she family, but he an enemy?”
Orlando pushes off the tree, running his hands through his hair. “You don’t know this world. You can’t even begin to understand what we’re all up against.”
“Then tell me,” I snap back, so fucking sick of it. “I’m not some dumb bimbo who won’t understand. Let me in. I can help.”
Romeo glances over his shoulder then turns back to me, looking nervous all of a sudden. “We need to go,” he says, his hand coming to mine, when the two of us have stared at each other for a ridiculous amount of time, neither of us backing down or really getting anywhere. “We can talk in the car,” he adds, more for Orlando’s benefit than mine.
I glance past him and see his ma and brother are watching us. They must be why he suddenly wanted to leave. They already hate me, probably shouldn’t go making a scene at their papa’s funeral.
“Romeo’s right, this isn’t the place.” Orlando wraps an arm around my shoulder like we’re not in the middle of a fight, and the five of us move toward the car as a group. I have gone from feeling sick to just plain angry. Controlling assholes. I wouldn’t even be fighting this if I didn’t think it was important. But something in my gut tells me I need to trust Dante.
Once we’re all safely inside, Orlando turns back to me. “How do you see this playing out, treasure?”
“I have no idea, Orlando. That’s why I need to go to this club tonight and find out what he wants.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Onyx snarls from the driver’s seat, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror, deadly serious.
“Stop fucking wrapping me in bubble wrap. I get it. You assholes want to keep me safe, but for fuck’s sake, I think I have proven I’m not some damsel in distress. I can hold my own. Who shot the fuckers who snuck into our villa? Who drove a fucking motorbike for the first time and got Orlando to safety when he was shot? Who fucking killed Syd? Me. Give me some fucking credit, because if you don’t, none of you are going to like the consequences,” I seethe, anger vibrating off me.
Romeo takes my hand in his, and I glance his way, ready to pull it back. “Dante is a powerful man, doll face. He’s approached you because he knows you hold the key to everything he wants. The longer you take to make up your mind about signing the business over to Valentine, the more risk you’re under.”
I straighten my shoulders, pulling my hand free. I clasp them together as I stare out the front of the car. He doesn’t get to touch me right now, not when he’s still treating me like some precious doll. “Either we all go together and I have your protection around me, or I go alone. Either way, I’m making this meeting because I know whatever Dante has to say is important.” My voice is calm and controlled. I’m done with fighting them over this shit. Either they are with me or they’re not. There is no in-between. No touching me like they love me but keeping me in the dark. I deserve more respect than that.
“Where does he want to meet?” Orlando says after some time.
Surprised, I turn to him and hand him the business card Dante gave me with the address on it.
“For fuck’s sake,” he grumbles. But something in his face tells me this time I’m going to get my way. And that gives me all the info about Dante I need. They trust him, or it wouldn’t matter how much I beg, they wouldn’t let me take this meeting. He might be dangerous, but they trust him.
Chapter 17
Thefiveofusline up at the dimly lit club just before eleven. Orlando grips my hand with a vice-like strength. On my other side is Romeo, and behind us is Reef and Onyx. The tension has hit a new all-time high between them and me, with not one of them talking to me on the car ride over here.
They’re pissed.
More than pissed, they’re furious that I wouldn’t let this meeting with Dante go. I know their papa said Dante is the enemy, but from all accounts I have seen, it was their papa that was the evil motherfucker destroying all their lives, and if he’s done the same to Dante and his family, then he has every reason to hate the Morettis. I don’t trust him as far as I could throw him, but I want to hear what he has to say.
We pass the bouncer on the door, a burly man with his face covered in tattoos. His piercing eyes rake over me in a way that makes me step closer to Orlando. With nothing more than a nod from Orlando, he lets us inside. This place isn’t like The Voliera; it’s grimier, darker, the scent of cheap perfume and cigarette smoke lingering in the air. There is also an eeriness that gives me the creeps. Skinny girls who look barely legal dance on the raised stage to a hypnotic beat, their eyes empty in a way that sends a shiver slithering down my spine.
“Who owns this place?” I whisper to the boys as we pass the run-down bar.
“You,” Onyx snaps back.
“Us, our papa used to,” Romeo responds quietly.
Sickness fills me, and I know they can see it written all over my face. They must. A club like this is my worst nightmare.
