Page 111 of Fortress of the Soul

Angelo walks back into the room, hanging up his call as he looks up at me.

“Well, he can kiss my ass.”

Angelo raises his eyebrow, he heard that. He motions for me to pass him the phone.

“Now you’ve done it,” I mutter as I hand him my phone.

I watch as he, in no uncertain terms, tells Valentina that she needs to wash her mouth out with soap and stop being haughty when she should be packing her bags and making her way over to the hospital.

He puts her on speaker phone.

“...simply ridiculous. I’m running a business, Angelo. I can’t just be moving offices because somebody sneezed or said something that you don’t like.”

“It’s not as simple as that,” he tells her, rolling his eyes at me. “You do know that most people don’t argue with the mob boss, don’t you, sweet sister dear?”

“That’s because they’ll end up six feet under,” she grumbles.

There is no way we can let her back in her office building, not since the caller knew the color and pattern of wallpaper on her walls. That’s what terrified me the most, and from the look on Angelo’s face, he felt the same way.

Once the ransom doesn’t go ahead, there will be further repercussions. To what magnitude, we simply don’t know.

“Regardless of how you feel, Valentina, you will do as I say whether you like it or not.”

“Is that a direct order?” she fires back haughtily as I run a hand over my face. No one could get away with talking to Angelo like this, except maybe her.

“Don’t do this now, little sister. You’ll do it, and at the very least, you’ll learn to like it.”

“Put Enzo back on,” she huffs.

“Don’t even think about giving him a hard time. We’re all tired and stressed out enough without your shit. Just do as I ask, and everything will be fine.”

“I haven’t even done anything. I just want to go to work, Angelo.”

“And so, you shall, in the casino, where you’re safe.”

The phone goes quiet. “You’re such a pain in the ass,” she says.

“Goodbye, Valentina.” He holds the phone back out to me and immediately goes back to making his phone calls.

“He’s not trying to ruin your life,” I say, before she can get a word in. “He’s doing this because he loves you.”

I get that she’s pissed, and it seems as though her brother is screwing with her life, but she should know enough by now that when something is going down, she needs to oblige him and not ask too many questions. It’s hard on her when she doesn’t know the details, and I can’t tell her. If she did, I’m sure she’d be a lot more compliant.

She normally does handle things like this well, as she’s used to the life. But I know she’s just come out of lockdown and with all the stuff going on with their mother, this can’t be easy.

It doesn’t help with our present situation and the fact that we’re sneaking around, and now we will be under the same roof.

Having her in my apartment… it feels kind of surreal. I never, ever thought she’d be in my bed, in my home. And even though I know it’s wrong, and I shouldn’t be thinking this while Angelo is so close to me, I like the idea. I like the thought of her in my house, touching my things, in my kitchen, in my bed. I want to wake up beside her and be the first thing that she sees. I want to be her fucking everything.

And that feeling inside me, how protective I am of her, only surges when I think of anyone who wants to harm her. Angelo may hate me for going against his wishes, but I know I am the best person to keep her safe, even if I did try to argue with him at first.

Nothing is ever going to happen to her while I’m around.

I’ll make sure of it.

21

VALENTINA

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