Page 66 of Luciano (Belles & Mobsters 1)

“Someone definitely got lucky last night,” Luca chuckled, still flipping his knife into the air.

“I got lucky last night too,” Raphael chimed in, grinning. “So, it leaves only two unlucky bastards.”

“That’s it,” Luca growled in pretense. “I am getting lucky tonight.”

“Well, let’s get lucky and cut this guy’s finger off,” Cassio retorted. “Unless, he wants to tell us who he works for, and why he stole my shit.”

“I don’t know who hired me.”

“And here I thought we could finish today’s business on a high note,” I feigned distress. “Cut it.”

He tried to resist but it was futile. Massimo was stronger than him and held him still. Luca pressed his knife against his middle finger and cut it straight off while blood gushed all over. I guess he won’t be flipping anyone off. Not that he would get out of this alive.

His screams echoed throughout the warehouse. You’d think we cut off his entire hand, not just a finger.

“Who do you work for?” I asked again, seemingly bored to death.

He pressed his lips together, his refusal to answer. I nodded at Luca. “Cut the other middle finger too.”

Yes, I could be a sick and crazy fucking lunatic.

“Maybe we should just do the entire hand?” Cassio suggested. He looked pensive, as if he seriously weighed the pros and cons to it. “Yes, I like that better.”

Massimo grabbed his other hand and held it still. “You get your fucking blood on me, I’ll bring you back to life just so I can kill you again,” he growled.

I guess nobody wanted to get dirty today.

“King. Marco King!” He pretty much screamed the name.

“Awww, man. Your little brother.” Cassio hated Marco as much as his father. Those two were made out of the same kind of evil. They raped and tortured women for pleasure. Both of them heavy into human trafficking.

“He wanted the shipment and the woman is next,” the pathetic fucker cried out.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“What woman?” I growled. I had a bad feeling that I knew who the woman was.

“I don’t know,” he whined. “He bragged she’s a fucking descendant from some kind of royalty. All I know is that she was promised to him for a while. She is a natural redhead, and he’s into redheads.”

It was Grace; I had no fucking doubt. The cold rage and fear snaked through me. Marco King wanted Grace. “Kill him,” I spat.

Massimo stepped away, then Cassio reached for his gun and fired one bullet.

He slumped forward in the chair. Three seconds of silence. “Yes, it’s time to take the East Coast,” Cassio acknowledged.

“About fucking time,” the rest of us muttered in unison.

Chapter Twenty

Grace

Isat on the property’s private beach. Ella was back at the house, trying hard to find out information about the unknown cousin I had. I didn’t hold out much hope that piece of information would help us. Though it remained to be seen.

I watched Nonno and Matteo play in the sand; Grandpa sat in a beach chair while Matteo shoveled sand from left to right and then right back. Such a simple act, but it filled my heart with longing. I remembered spending time with my parents at our beach home in Connecticut. They always made time for me, helping me build castles in the sand.

All I wanted was to keep Matteo safe, to see him grow up to become a man. Now, I wasn’t so sure if I’d succeed. As messed up as everything was and after everything Luciano had done to me, I still had no doubt he and Nonno would keep Matteo safe. But I really wanted to be part of my son’s life. I just didn’t see any other alternative. There were only two options - run or be killed. Living on the run wouldn’t be a good life to offer anyone, much less a child.

And I really didn’t want to get killed. Despite my conversation with Ella earlier today, the chances of us succeeding in killing my family along with Benito King and his descendants were slim. We weren’t criminal masterminds, and we certainly weren’t killers.

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