Page 62 of Luciano (Belles & Mobsters 1)

The silence followed, our gazes locked. We had never killed; I never thought I’d hurt another human being. It wasn’t me but if it came down to them or us… well, it had to be them.

“I’ll do it,” I murmured. My family had taken so much from me. But even with all that knowledge, the thought of killing them didn’t come easily. “But that’s not going to fix our problem in full though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even with them gone, that agreement of selling me still stands. It has been standing for centuries. Same is true for your parents’ agreement for you. My uncle might have ruined your family, but he sold that agreement to Benito King.”

“What are you saying, Grace?”

Heartbeat of silence.

“We have to kill all the Kings.”

“Are you suicidal?” I understood her hesitation. After all, the King family has been known for their cruelty, ruthlessness and bloodthirst. “We’d have to kill them all at the same time; otherwise, they’d hunt us down. And Grace, they wouldn’t just kill us.”

I watched her expression, fear coloring her features. She was right. They wouldn’t just kill us. They’d make us regret ever being born. The word was they tortured their enemies for years.

“I know,” I murmured. “But what other way could we ensure they never get their hands on us?” I took a deep breath in and then slowly exhaled. “Gabriella, if they get their hands on us, we are dead anyhow.”

“Fuck.” I agreed with that word exactly. Either way, we were fucked, and we’d have to go into a lifetime of hiding. My heart squeezed painfully at the thoughts of not seeing Matteo every day. It made it hard to breathe. Surviving the loss of Luciano was hard. But I wasn’t sure if I could survive losing Matteo.

But he’ll be alive. Luciano will ensure his safety as soon as he finds out he is his son.Matteo’s safety was all that mattered. I wanted him to grow up into a man… a good man. Hopefully, Luciano would respect my wishes not to pull him into his criminal world.

“What about Cassio and Luca King?” Ella questioned.

“What about them?”

“Well, they are the Kings too.”

I frowned. It crossed my mind too. I didn’t know what the deal was with them. How come they didn’t know about the standing agreement between the Romano and the King families? I was certain they didn’t know. Otherwise, they would have hauled my ass out of here the second they saw me.

“I don’t know,” I told her honestly. “They are Benito King’s sons, but it is like they don’t know anything about all this.” We couldn’t waste time wondering what their deal was. “We should probably kill them too.”

Ella’s face portrayed shock. “What if they are innocent?”

“And what if they aren’t, Ella?” I retorted.

“They seem close friends with your husband,” she murmured. “And those five men, including your husband… I don’t think we are a match for them.”

“I know. But what do we do if they decide to enforce the agreement? They are the Kings after all.”

“Jesus, we had dinner with them.”

I blinked at her justification. “So, we should let them kill us because we had dinner with them?”

Rolling her eyes, she smacked my arm playfully. “That is not what I am saying. But maybe we should consider they might not be connected to their father. I mean, you grew up under your uncle and have no connection to him. Maybe they are similar.”

I took a heavy sigh. “Fine, I’ll give you this one. Can you hack into their communication and see what the deal is with them? I don’t think we are a match for Cassio and Luca King anyhow. If their relationship with their father is similar to mine with my uncle, we’ll let them live.”

Ella chuckled, her eyes twinkling. “I swear, woman. You sound bloodthirsty, and we haven’t killed a single person yet.”

“I don’t really like the idea of killing anyone. But I really don’t want to be sold to some criminal.”

“I can tell,” Ella muttered. “You are still trying to get over your current one.”

“I am totally over the current one.”

“Right.”

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