Page 71 of The Silence Lies

“Who sent you?” he growls.

The second Vulture winks at me, blowing a kiss that Luca notices. Within seconds, a gunshot reverberates around us, the echo bouncing off the concrete walls.

Groans follow in a slur of words, followed by thick blood spilling heavily from the guy’s leg.

Luca points his gun at Tattoo-face.

“You already know, Bianchi.”

“Luciano?” A shiver runs through me. The air around me starts to feel suffocating, along with the chill that settles over me. We already knew the Verdis had recruited The Vultures, but hearing the confirmation only spreads fear through me.

“And the rest,” Tattoo-face adds with a smirk.

Conjuring up all the strength I have, I turn my attention back to him. My fists clench as I approach, anger and authority forcing my steps. I’m close to snapping and pulling the trigger on both of them. It might send a fucking message to those who think they can try to hurt me, but it won’t cut the head off the snake. No, I need to be smart. I need to be clever in how I approach this.

Drawing my own gun out—which I never use— I aim it at Tattoo-face. “Why are you working with The Verdis?”

“Does it matter?” he grits out. “You’re dead anyway.”

My rage snaps. Red hot fury snakes through my veins. “Take them to the basement!”

The twins burst to life, marching toward the sad excuses of men on the floor.

“I need better answers than this cryptic shit.”

“We only need one of them,” Levi suggests, forcing the twins to pause behind our new prisoners.

Levi is right. We only need one of them to get the answers we need. The other will serve another purpose. “Well…” I approach the Vulture with the gunshot wound, pressing the toe of my heeled shoe into the entrance wound.

He cries out, fighting to move beneath me, but Marco has a tight grip on him. There’s no way he’s getting away from me now. “You said the Verdis wanted to send me a message, I say we send one of our own.”

Luca stands beside me, gesturing for two of Greco’s soldiers to join us. “Dump him on their doorstep.”

“That’s hardly a message,” Levi remarks.

“Fine,” Luca spits back, drawing his knife out. With one swing of his arm, blood pours from the man’s throat.

A river of scarlet liquid runs over the man’s clothes, pooling at our feet. I step back to avoid the puddle, while Luca looks on with pride.

“How about now?” He looks far too happy for someone who’s just killed a man. He looks a mixture of sexy and lethal, something that gets me hot and flustered and has me clenching my thighs. Despite all the things that have transpired between us over the last few days, he’s still fucking irresistible to me.

I watch as Luca cleans his blade on guy’s jeans without a care in the world, not sparing a glance at anyone else as he completes the action.

I’m so lost in my thoughts that I miss the twins taking Tattoo-face away. It isn’t until a hand rests on the small of my back that I turn around to see who it is.

“You okay?” Levi asks.

“Yeah,” I sigh, shaking my erratic and confusing thoughts from my mind. “But I think it’s about time we paid The Vultures a visit.”

Levi

I don’t know what has got into Sera but it’s like she has finally found her shoes. She marches us towards the cars, barking orders about wanting answers from the leader of The Vultures. Giovanni is already posted up in the driver’s seat awaiting Bianchi’s next command, while I slide into the passenger seat.

We’ve moved the dead gang member to the twins’ trunk, wrapped in plastic sheeting to prevent the smell of decay from setting in. The alive member will remain that way, heavily guarded by some of Greco’s men in the basement.

I cast a glance at Sera in the back seat, authority rolling off her in powerful waves.

I think I like this side of Bianchi.

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