Page 32 of Damaged & Deadly

He frowns. “Yeah, alright. Be careful.” With a chaste kiss on my cheek and a sharp jerk of his head in farewell to Cain and Oliver, he strides out the door. Dante lingers a bit longer, his intense gaze boring into mine, and I reach out to squeeze his hand, giving him a small smile before he walks out without a word.

“He’s a chatty one,” Oliver notes when we’re alone. Other than a passing comment here or there, Dante didn’t say a word all afternoon, except that’s just his style. He’s more of a thinker than a talker. He’ll have taken in everything we discussed and is undoubtedly going over it in his head as we speak.

I glance up at Cain, finding him staring out the door after the two men, deep in thought. Pushing up onto my toes, I capture his lips with mine. “I told you they weren’t what they seem.”

He harrumphs, looking unimpressed. “We’ll see.”

I smirk, knowing that even though he won’t admit it, Enzo’s admission is playing on his mind, before moving to grab my helmet from where I left it on the stairs. Lifting my keys from the hall table, I call over my shoulder, “I’ll call you later,” before heading out the door and climbing onto Raven. Revving the engine, I take off down the street.

The cold wind whips at my face as I speed across the city, weaving in and out of the traffic. For the first time in days, weeks even, I feel hopeful. Optimistic. Soon I’ll have my brother back. Cain, Oliver, and Enzo will have their vengeance, and Dante will be free.Your reign of terror is coming to an end, Giovanni. I hope you’re ready to meet your maker.

Chapter 13

As soon as the sound of Red’s motorbike peters out into the distance, I grab two beers from the fridge and hand one to Cain as I walk past before collapsing back onto my spot on the sofa.

Slowly, Cain follows me, clearly deep in thought, much like I am. I’m still surprised that we all made it out of that meeting alive and unharmed. Not a drop of bloodshed. Still, the fact that it was all so… civilized… for men who are meant to be on opposite sides of the battle lines, leaves me with a new set of questions. There’s only one reason why we all walked away today without fresh injuries or bullet wounds. Red. Although Cain and I were armed and ready to fight and defend ourselves, and Red, if needed, we decided to do it her way initially and see how it played out. All it would have taken was one wrong move or word by either Antonelli man, and they would have had a blown-out knee cap to show for it. But, surprisingly, the meeting didn’t go to shit as I’d expected. Cain and I behaved for Red’s sake… and strangely, I think Dante and Enzo did too.

I just don’t know what that means. With all the time she was spending around them before the wedding, I could tell that they had grown on her. While she still remained steadfast in our mission to bring down the Antonellis, the fact she all but begged Cain to spare their lives that day says everything about how deeply under her skin they have gotten.

Red’s an excellent judge of character, and given her prejudice toward all things gang-related, I know she wouldn’t have been easily fooled. They must have done something worthy of her support if she was standing up for them. What’s getting to me is the waytheyreacted aroundher.The intensity in Dante’s gaze. The possessive touch of Enzo’s boot against her shoe. The ownership pouring off both of them had my hackles rising, ready to put my own stamp of ownership on her. I recognized how they both looked at her and behaved, because it’s the same way Cain does. The same way I do. And, honestly, that terrifies me a hell of a lot more than knowing Red had developed feelings for them ever did.

“What do you think about all of this?” I voice aloud, when my own thoughts become too much.

Cain shakes his head, knocking back a mouthful of beer before responding. “I don’t fucking trust them. I don’t trust them to keep quiet about this plan, I don’t trust them to do what they need to do, and I definitely don’t trust them to look after Red.”

“Do you think what Enzo said is true, about Giovanni killing his parents in front of him?”

“I’ve no fucking clue.” Cain mulls it over for a second. “Maybe.”

“He seemed sincere.” When he doesn’t agree with me, I say, “They care about Red, about rescuing her brother. The only reason they came here today was because of her. We might not trust them, but they trust her.”

Cain grits his teeth, anger evident from the tense way he’s holding himself and the tight muscles in his jaw. “Did you see the way they were with her?”

“Yeah,” I sigh, knowing that no matter how much we may dislike it, we aren’t going to rid ourselves of them any time soon. Not without a fight, at least. “They aren’t going to let her go.”

My words only anger Cain further, his entire body tensing to the point where it looks like he’s one wrong word away from snapping.

“What do you think about the plan?” I ask instead, attempting to defuse the situation somewhat.

“I don’t like it,” he spits out angrily. “We’re putting too much trust in those assholes. If they betray us—betray Red—then we’re all dead.” He lets out a long sigh, his shoulders dropping as he swipes his hand down his face wearily. “But without Dante’s access to the elevator, we lose the element of surprise. They’ll see us coming a mile away. Not to mention, rescuing Luc and killing Giovanni ourselves will be much harder.”

I nod in agreement. “All we can do is ensure our men are ready. Marcus and I can get everyone up to speed on the plan and have a backup team ready to move if we are blindsided or betrayed by Dante or Enzo.” I think through what else we need to do in order to protect our backs and ensure this hastily thrown-together plan will go off without a hitch—assuming Red is right in putting her trust in Antonellis, of all people. “I’ll do a weapons inventory and set up surveillance teams starting today, so we will know if either of them pays a visit to Giovanni between now and then.”

Cain distractedly agrees with my plans, still clearly thinking through everything himself. I give him a moment to sort through his thoughts before asking, “Okay, so if we’re doing this, who is our focus? Giovanni or Luc?”

Lifting his head, there’s no doubt or uncertainty in his eyes when he says, “Luc. Red and Luc are the priority. I already put my desire to get to Giovanni ahead of her once, and she ended up married to that apathetic fucker. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

Chapter 14

“You can’t wear that!”

“What? Why?” Dante sputters as I frown at the full suit he’s wearing for our date tonight.

“Because you look like a fucking penguin.” Visibly annoyed, he glowers at me. “A very hot penguin,” I tack on. “But you’ll stand out like a sore thumb in that outfit.”

Tonight, I plan on introducing Dante to my life. He’s the only one who doesn’t know the real me, and tonight is a test of sorts. He seems fully committed to this… to us, although the nagging voice at the back of my head keeps reminding me that he can’t possibly be a hundred percent sure when he doesn’t truly know me.

I chew on my bottom lip while I think. “Hold on.” I put up a finger, telling him to stay there while I dash out of the bedroom and across the hall. I knock on Enzo’s door, waiting until he tells me to come in before opening it.

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