Page 122 of Twisted Roses

I grin at him. “You didn’t think I’d let you get away with what you did, did you? C’mon, Hector. I expect better of you.”

“You… you fucker…” he gurgles, choking on his own blood.

“I guess this settles it once and for all. I’m the type of problem you don’t want, Hector.”

I drive the knife in his throat in deeper. The life leaves him a few seconds later. He goes from thrashing wildly in bed to falling limp amongst his pillows and blood-soaked sheets.

I spend a victorious moment enjoying the scene, even if it’s in the deep shadows of his room, and then I leave. On my way out, a guard almost catches me. I shoot him, my silencer barely making a noise.

A weight is lifted from my shoulders as I slide into my Mustang a couple streets away and drive off.

I’ve plunged the Belinis into another period of chaos by killing two of their leaders. First Giorgio and now Hector. Frausto will potentially emerge the new head of the family, though there’s no telling if someone will challenge him. The most volatile period in a crime family is when it’s cut off at the head.

That’s a future problem. For now, the Belinis will be neck-deep in interfamily politics and power struggles.

Hector had to learn the hard way. I’m not the kind of guy who gives up, and I won’t stop until I win.

Though I take no pleasure in Delphine’s pain, Ernest recently learned the same.

Next up, the man I want to see suffer most. The one who I’ve dedicated my life to destroying. Lucius is due back to town any day now.

I can feel it pulsing in my veins. I’m in the final stretch, rounding out the last lap of what I’ve spent over half my life fantasizing about.

At the finish line is his destruction.

Victory so close, I can fucking taste it.

* * *

“This for someone very special?” asks Vasco, my trusted jeweler. He approaches with a jewelry tray he carefully sets down in front of me. “Here’s the masterpiece I created. Even more beautiful than the original you showed me. Quite exquisite.”

Exquisite is right.

The piece Vasco has designed is exactly what I asked for.

I can’t wait to see it hanging from Delphine’s throat. Until it’s all she’s wearing as I drink in the sight of her equally exquisite naked form. My necklace around her neck at all times, in a way, marking her as mine.

I pick up the one-of-a-kind piece and study it up close. The white gold chain is delicate and light between my violent fingers, connecting to a pendant that I can imagine Delphine gasping at when she sees it—a rose in bloom, with its intricately detailed ruby petals opening up to the diamond in the center.

“Well?” Vasco asks in his thick Italian accent. “Do you like?”

“You’ve never failed to come through for me. Wrap it up.”

“Last Christmas you had me repair a rose necklace that was similar. Same lucky woman?”

“That’s right.”

“Must be love.” He winks at me, clapping a hand to my back, before he does as I ask and packs up the piece.

I walk out of his shop moments later clutching my special surprise for Delphine, feeling like the kind of guy I thought I’d never become—the kind tempted to smile when merely thinking about the woman on his mind.

A man in love.

I’ve slowly stopped fighting it and begun embracing it. I figure it makes me stronger. It’s given me another purpose beyond simple revenge and helped me channel my rage into one specific outlet versus living my life that way in its entirety.

Delphine makes me a better man. A better person.

I’ve evolved in ways I never anticipated thanks to her. I’ve started toying with the idea I could survive my war with Lucius. The ultimate triumph possible would be to live while he suffers; as he dies, I’ll have everything he’s never truly had.

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