Page 280 of Merciless Desires

A man I trusted. A man who’d lied to me.

A man who was now grinning as the realization set in.

“Stronzo.”

“Privet, Cortese.”

How the fuck had this happened? Each associate went through one hell of a background check and vowed their fucking allegiance in blood.

“Ma che cazzo!” Papà skidded to a stop next to me, glaring at Dominov. “Lombardo?”

“Sì…” Dominov began, his grin only widening. “Pretending to be Lombardo has been my favorite. It was easy to gain your trust…almost too easy.” He shook his gun in our direction. “But you Italians are tough. It took a while to find a weakness.”

Dominov’s gun was once again at Marcella’s temple, making my girl whimper. I stiffened to a painful degree, and Papà grabbed my forearm, stopping me from raising my gun.

“Then she walked in the door and you…” The gun was aimed at me. “Turned to fucking putty, Cortese.”

I could handle being shot. Even if I wasn’t wearing a bulletproof vest, I’d take a thousand bullets to make sure Marcella took none.

I nodded once. “She’s worth it.”

“Is she?” Swinging his arm around to aim his pistol back at Marcella, Dominov peered down at her, analyzing her bloodied face.

That better not be her blood…

“Focus!” I yelled, and Dominov’s head snapped toward me. “You’ve used her to get us here. Now you have us. You said you wanted to play, so let’s fucking play.”

A dark laugh left his twisted mouth. “I said she wants to play, Cortese.” He called for someone, and his grin widened. “Now that you’re here, the game can begin. We’ve been waiting.”

“Cazzo,” Papà hissed at the same time as a laugh—no, a cackle—echoed in the warehouse.

On the second level balcony just above Dominov and Marcella stood a woman with blonde hair who looked far too familiar.

Papà’s new fucking girlfriend.

“You stupid fucking idiot,” I snarled, glaring over at papà.

It was the first time I had ever seen him look scared.

I knew he wasn’t scared for Marcella. I knew he wasn’t scared for me. He was scared for himself because he was a selfish fuck. Who knew what he had told this bitch, the fucking secrets he’d spewed while he fucked her? Secrets she brought straight to Dominov.

“Melinda,” Papà sighed.

“Vito,” Melinda sang, her heels clicking against the steel stairs as she descended. “Fool me once, shame on me.” She stopped next to Dominov and rested her forearm on his shoulder, popping her hip out. “What’s the rest, milaya?”

“Fool Vittore Cortese twice…shame on him.” Dominov turned his head, and Melinda leaned in to kiss him.

As they kissed, I carefully glanced at Marcella, but she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking behind me.

“Behind,” I barely whispered, and Papà stiffened next to me.

He released my forearm, and within the same breath, I turned and shot the two Russians who had been advancing on us straight in the head.

The sound of gunshots stopped, and Melinda chuckled.

“Time to play.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

---