Ileave Cristian for a few hours. Checking in with my lovers, arranging guards to be here to watch him for the next few days, and having a staredown with Joel when he puts someone else on my guard so he can get some rest, keeps me busy enough that I don’t worry about how this is going to go.
Watching Cristian’s downturned head through the monitors, I know he’s simply biding his time. If a few hours of sitting in the cold room with music pounding through the speakers were going to break him, he wouldn’t have made it through his kidnapping.
That’s the only thing he’s done recently thathasn’tdisappointed me. I don’t want to give any credit to Allesandro being there and keeping him alive. I know Cristian—knew him—his love for his husband and son would have kept him going. It’s what makes this entire shitshow inconceivable. Knowing heallowed himself to fall so far from the man he was supposed to be.
Tapping a few buttons on my phone, I switch the playlist that's currently playing, while also lowering the volume dramatically—just to keep him on his toes.
Standing from the chair, I stretch and watch the monitors carefully, looking for any movements or signs of life from Cristian. Nothing. He’s going to make things difficult, of course.
With a sigh, I leave the office and head to where he’s being held. Cristian makes no sign that he knows I’m in the room, not even when I cut off the music.
“How you feeling?”
“If you’re going to kill me, you might as well get it over with.”
I stand in front of him and meet his dark eyes when he lifts his head. Huffing, I shake my head and shove my hands into my pockets. “I don’t plan on killing you—not yet, at least. Though there’s a long list of people who want to take you out, starting with your son.”
“Don’t.” There’s a spark of life in those onyx eyes of his, and the pain in there is clear to see.
“Don’t what? Tell you the truth? You broke him, Cris. If you don’t know that then you don’t know Roman very well. He looks up to you, always has. All he’s ever wanted was to make you proud, and you not only took away the only other parent he’s ever known, you shattered his self-esteem. Was that your plan all along? Or did you learn that from Il Padrone? Didheteach you how to tear someone down and make them into what you wanted, rather than what is best for them?”
“You’re out of line, Tennant.”
“I don’t think I am. It’s all true, isn’t it? You wanted Roman to be what you wanted, not who he really is. Sure, you didn’t say anything about his skirts and nail polish because that would have made you a bigot, and we both know Roman would havebeen crushed. I do believe you love your son, but now I wonder, do you love him for him, or for the image you have of him? It’s why you insist he’s not ready to lead, isn’t it? Because he’s not you.”
“Roman is a better Boss than I have ever been.”
I laugh a little. “Something we finally can agree on.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s ready for such a position. I love my son, and I trust in his abilities, but you and I know it’s far different doing than theorizing.”
Everything in me wants to kill him here and now. Roman is such an amazing man, a generous and giving partner, and the best fucking Boss the Amato Family could have asked for. His soft heart and optimistic spirit will only help him in the long run. Even when I struggle to see eye-to-eye with him, I have never doubted his ability.
How Cristian can say he’s both proud of the leader Roman is becoming, while also cutting him down so heartlessly, makes no sense to me. And it changes everything I ever thought about who Cristian was. It’s a hard pill to swallow, to know that the man I committed myself to never existed.
I want nothing more than to run a blade through him, to rip open pieces of him in the same brutal way he did to Roman, Carter, and to a lesser extent, me.
“I only have two and a half days with you before I need to help my Mostrotto with his Master. So many things I want to do to you, so very, very little time…” I hum to myself and ignore the way he fights against his chains. I'm interested to see what other knives he has to twist into a heart I thought I didn’t have.
“Allesandro—”
“Deserves everything that’s happened to him. He deserves whatever Emilio decides. If my Little Monster wants him dead… I’ll happily pull the trigger.”
He sneers. “Benjamin not enough for you?”
I laugh. “The Baby Mouse is more than enough. He is…everything to me.Everything,Cristian. Like your husband was supposed to be for you. Though I would kill myself before I ever hurt him, or any of my lovers, like you hurt yours. You don’t have to understand my needs and wants, but unless you’re jealous, you have no right to censor me.”
“Roman—”
I close the distance between us and hit him across the face with the knife I pull from my pocket, the blade cutting his face open. “We’ve already discussed Roman. You are not to bring him up unless I ask you something about him, understand?” Tapping his bloodied cheek with my knife, I question, “Shall I cut deeper? Give you a scar that rivals Carter’s?”
Dark eyes that are full of hatred stare back at me and I grin. Good. We’re getting somewhere, finally. Hatred for me is better than clinging to Allesandro, and the control they both lost.
“You’re going to be my greatest accomplishment,” I whisper, backing away from him.
Moving around him, I loosen the chains that keep him secured to the chair. The one around his arms helps me keep control of him, and I tug him up and out of the chair. It’s more work than usual, because he’s back to the weight and muscle tone he was when he was first kidnapped, but I’ve done this enough over the years that I manage.
Slipping his chain over the hook in the ceiling, I enjoy the way he hangs for me, and I haven’t even cranked him up completely yet.
