Page 56 of Valley of the Kings

“Do you know what the problemis with you men?”

“By all means, tell me,” he chuckled.

“You continuously underestimate women,” I told him. “You’ve been raised to believe that women are nothing but accessories to this lifestyle.” I leaned my arms on the table. “What I did had nothing to do with Nero. Don’t you get it? Nero Sartori can do or say whatever he wants. He can sleep with as many other women that he wants to. He can order his enemies to kill me once a week if that’s his deal. This isn’t about him; this is aboutme.”I could feel my heart beating faster again, and at this rate, I was bound to have a heart attack from the stress before I was even thirty-five. “This is aboutmyword. This is aboutmyhonor. This is aboutmyintegrity. This is aboutmyloyalty. I did what I did because my word means something tome, even if it doesn’t mean anything to anyone else.” I leaned back in my chair. “So, the next time that you send someone to my office, it better be to kill me, Mr. O’Brien, because I willneverbetray the Sartoris. Not because I love Nero, but because my father promised that his daughter would be everything that a Mafia Underboss deserved, and I am not about to let my father down.”

Declan’s blue eyes regarded me carefully before saying, “Nero Sartori will never deserve you.”

I chuckled darkly at that. “I’ve got news for you, Mr. O’Brien;noman deserves everything that a woman does for him. If she’s lucky, he might actually love her back. Still, even then, he’ll never deserve all of her.”

“I think you might be right,” he murmured.

I stood up, done with this conversation. “Noah said that you wanted to meet me, well…you’ve met me,” I told him. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve had a long goddamn day, and it has nothing to do with my concussion or bullet wound.”

Declan stood up, inclining his head a bit. “My apologies, Mrs. Sartori.”

“You know what? We can quit with the Mrs. Sartori nonsense,” I said. “My name is Kasen. I’m Kasen Milano, and no matter the ring on my finger, I’m no more a Sartori than you are.”

“I think that you’re more of a Sartori than you think,” hecountered.

“Goes to show what you know,” I replied before leaving him to think whatever he wanted.

Chapter 33

Nero~

I slammed the door behind me, unable to believe that I could still feel this angry after just annihilating hundreds of men.You’d think that I’d be tired and that my fury would be spent. However, the second that Rafael had called me to tell me that Kasen was meeting with Declan O’Brien, any tiredness that I’d been feeling had vanished immediately.

Taking the stairs two at a time,I stormed into the bedroom just as Kasen was kicking off her shoes and removing her suit jacket. My wife looked exhausted, but I was too pissed off to take that into consideration.

“What in the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I seethed.

Kasen dropped her jacket on the bed before turning to face me. “Excuse me?”

Her casual tone had me nearly burning down the place. “What in the fuck are you meeting with Declan O’Brien for, Kasen?”

Her hazel eyes looked like they were shooting daggers, but she still looked tired. “And what would you have me do when an Irishman from the O’Briens shows up at my office to inform me that they’re aware that I killed Ryan Buckner?” she fired back. “He said that Declan wanted to meet me, so I met with him, Nero.”

“You should have fucking called me!” I thundered.

“For what?!” she yelled back. “Thelast time that you were called to handle a situation that I got dragged into, you told them to kill me!” She shot me a look that would have leveled a lesser man. “Sorry if you’re not the first person I think of when I need a hero.”

I clenched my fists atmy sides, anger and pride swirling dangerously inside my chest. “If you think that I won’t keep you prisoner in this house, then you’re very mistaken, Kasen. While I’ve done my best to allow you to continue with your career, I won’t lose any sleep if you lose your job.”

She lifted her chin like I hadn’t just slaughtered an entire family bloodline for her this weekend. “Then do it, Nero,” she dared me. “You’re always going to do whatever it is that you want to do anyway, so you can quit with the threats.”

Ignoring that, I asked, “What did O’Brien want?”

“I already told you,” she hissed. “He just wanted to meet me.”

“Bullshit!”

“It’s the truth!”

Taking a step back from her, I let out a low, long, it-better-fucking-calm-me-down breath. “What did he say?” I asked as calmly as I could.

Unaware of how close I was to losing my shit, she answered, “Ask him yourself.”

“Oh, make nomistake,” I snarled at her. “I plan to.”

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