I already killed him, which means I couldn’t even hold the old, decrepit piece of shit accountable even if I wanted to.
“That tracks,” I snarl eventually. “That explains why I went from being a sick boy to a severely sick young man. Then even worse as I’ve grown older. I was never meant to get better, was I? Which is also probably why my father never guaranteed me the throne. He was open to the other three fuckers for a reason—he always knew I wouldn’t live long.”
Tulio puts his hands together like he’s praying. “What if I told you I could help? Pl-please let me correct some of the damage that’s been done! I have a treatment that I?—”
“No more of your fucking treatments! You want to help me? Then you’re going to lead me to the others responsible for this shit. You’re going to get me access to Zinc Co.”
“But, Mr. C, Nero?—”
“I don’t give a fuck if you’re worried about what he’ll do to you! You should be more scared of me!”
My voice rumbles out of me as I close the gap between us, fists curled and ready to launch. He backs up against the wall, shaking like the pitiful and fearful man he is.
“Yes… of course… I… I can take you…” he stutters. “I can gr-grant you access.”
“Best decision you’ve ever made, doctor. You might actually survive this.” My hand snatches at the front of the lab coat and drags him with me on my way to the door. He has no choice but to come with, easily overpowered by my brute strength.
If I can’t make my father pay for what he’s done to me, I can exact my revenge on the others.
Everybody who has ever had a hand in Zinc Co and participated in my destruction.
The city of Dresden looks cold and unwelcoming even on a warm evening like tonight. The setting sun casts everything in a gold glow, highlighting the many tall skyscrapers that tower over the city. But when you look closely, street by street, you see the misery on everyone’s face; you notice the decay that worsens the deeper into the city you make it.
Tulio sits in the passenger seat beside me, saying nothing for once, which is yet another confession of his guilt. His fingers tug at one of the buttons on his shirt sleeve, a nervous twitch he probably thinks I don’t notice.
But I notice everything now. I’ve been forced to. There’s no part of this world I can afford to look at gently—I was not only raised with debilitating pain, I was taught from an early age that there were few good things in this life.
…except for her.
Nevaeh has always stood out among the darkness.
Even in my most painful moments, in the throes of my paralyzing pain and my heart lurching inside my chest like it might give out, she has always represented what can be pure about this world.
Mia bella ballerina.
She’s been taken, but I won’t ever let anybody hurt her. I will do whatever it takes to get her back and bring her home where she belongs.
My grip tightens around the steering wheel, more to silence the thoughts than to steady the car.
Matteo doesn’t know what he has in store for him. If he thought I was barbaric when I murdered his twin brother, then he’s truly in for a surprise.
I will rip him apart limb by limb with my bare hands. I’ll rip his heart out and present it to mia ballerina in apology for everything she’s suffered.
And if he’s hurt a hair on her beautiful head—I inhale a deep, ragged breath to keep myself from flipping the fuck out.
Nero must’ve offered him a handsome price for his betrayal. He sunk his hooks into him like he’s done to everybody else, including the pieces of shit in my family.
Carmelo, Cristian, and Coreno have all been cowards willing to be bought off and easily influenced. They learned from myfather how to prioritize profit and the illusion of power, all while cowering to the mantrulyin charge.
It’s no wonder the Ziccardi family has never prospered. Everybody has always bent the knee to Nero and the Vorones.
But that is where I differ. That is where I can’t be bought.
My father must’ve known this about me from a young age; I’ve always been the outlier. So what did he do? He sabotaged me, using me as the guinea pig for his business with Nero and the rival family.
I’m not sure there is a bigger example of cowardice in existence.
I turn onto Springfield Avenue, the road that leads to the giant corporate tower that sticks out like an ugly sore thumb.
