Page 42 of Vengeance

“What? No! I’m not. I…”

Viper leans over and puts a hand on my face. While caressing me, he asks, “And why not, Bell? What objections do you have about it?”

“I…” None. I have none.

There’s no reason why I can’t play this part. My entire life has been playing a bunch of parts. I can easily become Adelena Fantoni, the heir to Stephen Pray’s empire after we kill him. But maybe that’s it.

“If I do this, I can’t go back.”

“Go back to what?”

“Dele Martin, I guess. Well, not Dele Martin. But just… Dele.” I say.

Because while my mother named me Adele Martin and Isabella came up with Addy Bianchi and I was Dee for a while out of necessity, I built Dele from the ground up. I chose that identity and grew up and into everything that name meant to me. Freedom. Independence. Power. And while I’ve gone by a lot of names to protect myself over the years, I could always go back to being Dele. Addy Bianchi will have served her purpose when Stephen Pray is dead and not trying to murder me. But to become Adelena Fantoni… that’s a life sentence.

I don’t even know why I care. I’ve never been particularly attached to my identity before. But it’s like Phae and I discussed last year. Names have power. The name Dele has always made me feel powerful. Because I decided who she was and what she became.

“Adele. Adelena. You can still be Dele if you want,” Viper says.

“Not like that,” I say. “I mean… There’s no going back if I become Adelena Fantoni. I’m going to be expected to be her. Whoever she is.”

“Well,” Viper says, “They certainly didn’t like her the way Phae decided she wanted her to be, and she didn’t even know the power of the identity she abandoned. The way I see it, no one knows she exists, and she’s a blank slate for you to do whatever you want to do with. I sold Sabino on you to get him to agree to giving you the identity in the first place. So make her whoever you want to be.”

“I’m sure they have some expectation of who they want Adelena Fantoni to be.”

Not even just sure. I have no doubt. Just as the Fantoni family rejected a woman like Phae, no doubt they would reject a woman like me.

“So fuck up their expectations. Trust me when I say they need us more than we need them. Be you, and they’ll adjust.”

“And if they don’t?”

“They will. I assure you.”

I laugh and look down at Bella. I don’t even have to ask if he means he’s going to hold a gun to their heads and made them. That’s exactly what he means.

“This going to take a lot of planning,” I say instead. “I need to make contact with my people.”

“More planning than all the planning we’ve done in the last decade already?”

“No. But I’ve suddenly got a lot less time on my hands,” I say rocking the baby in my arms to make the point.

“Right. Not to mention all the wedding planning we’ll be doing. But I think we can just leave most of that to Sabino’s people.”

I frown. “Wedding planning.”

“We’re getting married while we’re here.”

“Viper. I just had a baby.”

“Exactly. You have no reason to say no.”

“No. I mean my uterus is pretty much an open wound. I’m not marrying you.”

“Of course, not. I’m not that impatient. It’s a little over a month from now. We’ll make sure your doctor clears you first. Is that your only objection?”

“None except for the fact that I never agreed to marry you.”

“No. You didn’t. But you’re just being stubborn because you know that no matter where you go or what you do, all roads always lead back to me. And you know I know this. You just don’t want to give up the last of the power you think you have over me.”

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