Page 91 of Fortress of the King

“You better start talking some sense,” I bark, throwing him back into the wall. “Because I will god damned choke you to death if you’re fucking with me.”

By now, my brothers are making their way down the hallway to us, and Marco is there almost immediately, probably hoping to break us up.

I hold my palm out to him to stop him in his tracks.

“Angelo, calm the fuck down!!” Marco yells.

“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down!” I punch the wall right next to Enzo’s head, the wall taking my fist easily. Thank God it’s not made of stone like the exterior, but it still fucking hurts like a bitch.

Enzo is as strong as me, but I can take him, we both know it.

We stare each other down in the dark. “I tried to call you all afternoon, didn’t I? I said it was urgent, but you were too busy in pussyland or whatever you were doing to bother with taking it seriously.”

“Call me? That’s fucking rich coming from you. If it was that fucking urgent, you should have said so. Allegra came over to the house just as I was leaving. I had more pressing matters than you whining about everything.”

He runs a hand through his hair, something he only does when he’s very nervous. “Angelo, I was with Rayne…”

“Yeah, I gathered that, fuckface.”

“I meant, she hired me.”

I stare at him, stunned. “She hired you? What the hell are you talking about?”

“We better sit down, brother.”

“I haven’t got all night.”

I take a few steps back, and we walk over to the wing-backed chairs, my brothers hovering away from direct earshot, but I’m aware they can hear every word. I plonk down heavily and feel the dread inside me, knowing that somehow it was all too good to be true.

I look him square in the eye as we sit opposite each other.

“You better start making some sense, E.”

He holds his hands up, “Firstly, I’m insulted that you’d think I’d fuck your girl behind your back.”

I growl. “Don’t fucking even go there.”

I want to stand up and punch his head off his shoulders for even being with Rayne behind my back, and I still have no fucking idea what he’s talking about.

“Angelo, cool it, for Christ’s sake,” Marco says from somewhere behind me, because he knows me only too well. “Let the man speak.”

“Stay out of it, Marco, this is between me and him and nobody else,” I bark back over my shoulder.

“You think I would do that to you? After how many years we’ve known each other. We signed a blood oath, that means something to me. If you let me explain –and believe me, you’ll want to hear this– you’ll understand where I’ve been and why I tried to call you a million times.”

I turn around and tell my brothers to fuck off. They slowly, but reluctantly leave, Marco muttering under his breath. My heart is racing with what he’s about to tell me, and I need to digest this first before they know anything about it.

I lean back in the chair and try to regain some kind of composure, the one I’m used to. “So, talk.”

He nods. “Earlier in the week, I had a meeting with Rayne, only I didn’t know it was her then. She went by the name Jessica, and we met up in a seedy bar where she hired me …. “

I stare at him blankly, unable to believe the words coming out of his mouth. “For what exactly?” My patience is growing thin.

“Angelo, she’s in real trouble, you’ve no fucking idea.” I brace myself for impact as he goes on. “She’s being blackmailed. It started early on, just after she was hired. I don’t know who is behind it yet, but she’s just a pawn; she was hired to get information about you.”

“What the fuck?”

“They snatched her sister Mia and threatened to kill her if Rayne didn’t comply.”

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