Page 34 of Vicious Heir

It feels like both a shit ton and nothing have happened these past four months.

I’m physically fucking aching, not being able to go to Evelina. Not being able to see her or hear that fucking mouth of hers. I know she’s okay. I’ve asked Dom countless times, and he’s assured me she’s fine. That’s the only fucking thing that has kept me even remotely sane.

I couldn’t get to her last night because Gabriel kept both Matteo and me under lock and key while he went feral. Talking about how he needs to get out of here, how his children are in danger, how the one thing he wanted is now gone…

And I’m assuming he meant Sofia.

Gabriel still refuses to speak of Giana, even after the threat he believes is very real after last night.

I’m fucking glad she’s with Dante.

He’s a better man than most of the ones we have on our side. I’m not naïve to that. And Giana is my sister. I’d rather her be with the rival mafia family I’ve secretly been trying to quietly and slowly make peace with—with the help of G and Dante—for the last four months than with the cartel to do nothing but use and abuse for the rest of her life.

After Dante and his family got Giana back safely, with the help of me and a few of my men, sans Gabriel, it’s been radio silence from the cartel. We know they’re closing in on us, which is what makes last night feel so real to Gabriel.

He knows he will pay for what happened, even if his intent was to go through with the wedding, marrying off his only daughter to The Blood Syndicate scum. Gabriel was working diligently at a retaliation plan for the DeSantis family, but after Gabriel’s secret got out last night…his motives and moves are changing.

The cartel’s impending doom was one thing over Gabriel’s head, but now that his secret is out? I’ve never seen him move so fast.

This is exactly where I want the fucker, though.

And it’s only going to improve my situation with Dante and his men.

Because now that I’ve been the one to return Sofia to her family, I’m going to mend this fucking relationship once and for all—and I’m going to figure shit out with Evelina, too. Tell her this isn’t a fucking game to me. That I’ve wanted her from the moment I first saw her, and I’m not taking no for an answer.

But I also know I need to move slowly with her.

Can’t even fucking imagine what she’s been going through while Gabriel held her in that room for four months.

I still haven’t quite processed that bedroom the two women were locked up in. It was pristine. An eat-off-the-floors type of clean. With everything in perfect condition and place. No one ever even so much as touched. Not at all what you’d think of when you imagine a place kidnapped women are held.

I look around the room, and my hatred for the man who raised me is practically dripping off of me. I’ve got to keep a fucking lock on it until all of the pieces are in place, though. Until the women are completely safe and Gabriel Amato pays for his fucking transgressions against me and the people I care about.

From what I can tell, from the very little Gabriel explained to me before this meeting, he’s taken an extreme liking to Sofia DeSantis and kept her as his own personal plaything since the time of the kidnapping—which makes the pristine condition of the bedroom make a lot more sense. Seems even though Gabriel and I aren’t related by blood, he too has an obsession with beautiful things.

And I have no fucking doubt he ruins them.

I can’t help but wonder if she or Dante’s deceased wife, Julissa, had the worst outcome.

Apparently, once the traitorous soldiers the DeSantis men had working for them brought Evelina to him, he locked her away with Sofia. He never felt the same about Evelina as he did Sofia. His plan was to keep Sofia forever but to hand Evelina over to The Blood Syndicate whenever they approached him, and he couldn’t have Evelina in anything less than perfect condition.

I don’t know much more than that. By the time he was done telling me just that much, my palms were bleeding from how deeply I was digging my fingernails into my palms. I couldn’t let on to how I feel about Evelina, no matter how fucking irate I am at the man.

The consequences would be dire.

Gabriel coughs, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Boss, what is this? What’s going on? I’m sure if you just take a breath…” Pietro, our family’s consigliere, tries to make sense of the announcement, clearly having not even the slightest clue about the shit that’s gone down.

The highest members of our family are in the dark.

And that’s just another calculated move on Gabriel’s part.

He’ll never tell them he let his guard down for a woman.

A woman who isn’t his wife—my mother.

It’s one thing for made men to have their whores on the side, but it’s a whole other issue when the woman you meant to use as a whore turns into a full-blown mistress you can’t get rid of, and judging by the way he’s acting…there’s not a shot in hell he’s willing to get rid of her.

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