Page 24 of Cherished Union

I’m not a man that Adelina deserves. She’s been through fucking hell the past few weeks, and now she’s going to be bound to me. I should feel guilty, that I’m going to fuck her life up even more, but I don’t. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. I’m looking forward to the day I make her mine, yet at the same time, I’m trying to figure out a way to do that but also to keep her at bay.

I have a feeling that if Adelina gets close, she’s going to dig deep and stay there. She has that air about her. She’s feminine and delicate but also has the inner strength she’ll need to have as the wife of a boss.

“How’s Viviana?” he questions, and I roll my eyes. I know damn well that he’s not asking for himself. It’s ma. She’s mad for grandchildren, even though she already has three.

Hayes and Annemarie had their three pretty early on. Harry is fifteen, and he’s dying to learn the ropes and become a made man. Annemarie and Hayes have no problem in him becoming one, but they want to wait until he’s sixteen before he sees the darker way of our life. Something that I respect them for doing. Our ma wanted the same. Hayes and I would shadow Da when we were younger. Unfortunately for Ma, Hayes and I learned what a made man does by the time we hit the age of thirteen.

Lauren is twelve. She’s just like her ma, more into books than anything else. She also wants to be a lawyer, just as Annemarie is. Then there’s eight-year-old Jill, who’s boy crazy even at her young age, something that pisses the men in our family off to no end but the women find funny as hell. Jill takes after Jade, even though she hasn’t seen her since she was three. But there’s no denying the crazy woman is related to the young girl. They’re both vicious when need be, and Jill tries her hardest to boss her siblings around.

“Tell Ma she’s fine. She’s with Adelina and Elio.”

The sooner this wedding is over with the bloody better. It means I can get my ass back to Indiana and have both Adelina and Vivi with me and not have to worry about what that cunt, Aldo, has got planned.

Da’s lips twitch. “I’ll let her know.”

Silence lapses between us, and I know he’s got something to say, so I leave him be until he can spit it out. We’ve a little drive ahead of us. We’re going to see Mick. The man has some information Da and I have been searching for.

“What do you plan on doing with Aldo, son?”

Ah, so that’s what he’s worried about. “Why?” I ask, needing to know if he’s asking as Aldo’s friend or if he’s asking as the father-in-law of Adelina.

“Because I want to know how you’ll take that bastard out. Your ma was in a fucking fit of rage when I told her what happened. She’s wanting to take Natalia out herself.”

I smile. Good. The entire family is outraged by what those fucking cunts have done to their child. No matter that she’s in her twenties.

“I’m sure she’ll have to get through Jade first, Da,” I murmur with a smirk. My sister is bloodthirsty, and she saw the damage those two fuckers wrought on Ade. She wants to take Natalia out, and I’m not going to stop her.

“What about you? Hmm? I know you, son. You are meticulous with the need of revenge. You always have a plan. It has to be perfectly mapped out. So, I’ll ask again, what do you have planned?”

“Let’s just say that Aldo is going to get a taste of his own medicine.”

Da shakes his head. “You’re no fucking fun, you know that?”

My da and I are extremely similar. He knows me too well and vice versa. The only difference is the way we go about killing. Da prefers to get it over and done with. He doesn’t like torturing people. I, on the other hand, have no such problems. Sometimes people deserve to get what’s coming to them, and Aldo will be one who will feel the torture.

“Did Mick tell you what he wanted to see us about?”

“Yes,” I tell him with a grin. “Seems that someone thinks it’s safe to crawl out of the woodwork.”

Da frowns. “Who?”

“Colin,” I respond with a growl. That cunt has been in the wind for six years, and all of a sudden, he’s back. I don’t find it a coincidence that he resurfaces not long after Jade is released from prison and the Masters lose yet another son.

Da rubs his hands together in glee. “He is, is he? Then we’ll ensure that we give him a warm welcome back.”

Fuck yes, we will. “I have Cody, Lewis, Ben, Matty, and Emile already in position at the docks,” I tell him about my men I sent ahead of time. “John overheard,” I grumble. He’s a nosey fucker, but he has mine and Da’s best interests at heart, and as Da’s right-hand man, he does whatever he can to help. “He’s sent Gabriel, Kieran, Alexander, and Cedric with my men.”

Da nods slowly. “You think Mick could be setting us up?”

“I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him. You think I’m going to walk into a trap? Hell fucking no. So our men are waiting, watching, and ready in case anything goes down.”

He shakes his head. “You have always been a mistrustful fucker.”

“Wonder where the hell I got that from?”

He chuckles. My father is extremely distrustful of everyone. Only those who are his closest men are those he trusts implicitly.

It takes us another forty minutes to get to the docks. The moment Da and I slide out of the car, I feel the energy go static. I’m not the only one. Da notices it too.

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