Page 141 of Fortress of the Cursed

“You okay?” He gives me a chin lift.

“I’ll be better when this fucker is dead, and I get Sage back.”

“The soldiers are scouring the grounds now.”

“Why on God’s green earth would I give up my empire to someone like you?” Angelo shakes his head, wiping a tear away from his laughter. “A man who has to hide in the shadows, plotting some sick revenge because his daddy didn’t pay him enough attention or give him what he wanted. Maybe if you’d have earned it like I did, Mario may have been a little more accommodating. You’re a disgrace to our family name, Roberto. I once thought of you as a brother, how fucking wrong I was about that.”

“It was a little hard to get my father’s attention when you were always in the way. Every fucking second I had with him, there you were. Lurking. When he told me that I wasn’t going to be Don, I should have murdered him right there and then, but I knew that would only turn you against me. So I waited. I knew if I let you build this city up and do all the hard work, I could come in and take it all, just like I have already.”

“You think you’ve taken me?” Angelo questions. He shakes his head, looking at me briefly.

“What do you think, brother?”

I look directly at Roberto. “I think he’s a fucking coward.”

Roberto laughs again. “You’re just pissed because I have your girl. Don’t worry, she’s still breathing, though I don’t know for how much longer.”

I start to walk toward him, so anxious to put a bullet in his head, but Angelo shoves me back with force.

“I’ll look forward to having it out with you,” I spit at him. Rage floods through me like never before.

I want this done.

It ends today.

He chuckles once more. “If you kill me, you’ll never find her. I’m the only one who knows where she is.”

I crack my neck, because if I don’t, I will fucking fire. And then we’ll never find her.

Marco stands beside Angelo, staring at Roberto.

“Marco, so nice of you to join us at this family reunion.”

“Funny, I thought you were dead?” Marco replies.

“Strange how things work out, isn’t it?”

“Not as funny as it’ll be when we bury you for the second time.”

“So many threats.” Robert laughs. “But nobody is yet to follow through. You never even worked out it was me until recently, until I wanted you to see my face.”

Angelo shakes his head. “That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve been doing my own undercover operation for a while now. I rounded up the last of your men, and they sung like canaries. Pity about the first couple we interrogated. I should send you the bill for the blood on my suit.”

Rocco makes a satisfied snort.

“Tut tut, my dear Angelo, your empire has been in disarray for quite some time. It seems you easily forget about the little guy, choosing to favor your conglomerates, corrupt politicians, and police. That’s where I stepped in. I took your place in the underworld without you even knowing, or numbers dwindling. Now you have no idea who is working for you or against you.”

“On the contrary, I know exactly who is working for me, and for you, for that matter.”

I’ve no idea if Angelo is bluffing. But I do know that he would have had troops on the ground around the city, gaining intel and faction within the underworld ranks.

It goes without saying that Roberto did gain a lot of his men because some were unhappy with how Angelo runs things, probably the men we ran out of the city. The ones who wanted to deal in underage prostitution and illegal gambling. We all know how well that faired for Yuri Petrov, Katiya’s uncle who shot Enzo. It didn’t end well for Yuri.

And now it is not going to end well for Roberto.

“If that were true, we wouldn’t be here now,” Roberto says confidently.

“You think everybody is loyal to you? Do you honestly think that there wouldn’t be rats in the sewer? You, of all people should know, Roberto, that the thing about mud is it sticks. And once that happens, there is no going back. You don’t know who to trust, you think people are on your side, but how do you really know they didn’t get a better deal? That they weren’t playing you instead.”

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