“I understand your anger,” I say as calmly as I can, “but breaking things and swearing doesn’t change our situation. We need to come to an agreement.”
Doc shakes his head. “You’re talking about endingeverything.”
“I know. But there are four hours and forty-five minutes until Margot Whitehall dies and once that door is closed, it’s closed forever.”
“No,” Doc repeats. “I’m. Killing. Him.”
“Then you’re killing Margot. You don’t have time to get to Vegas. You’ll murder January’s sister and put her in the exact position you were in at her age.”
Doc stalks toward me and I raise my hands, sure he’s going to hit me, but he paces across the room and punches the wall so hard it shakes. When he pulls back, there’s blood on his knuckles. “Fuck! Fuck!Fuck!”
Bobby looks at me and I see the resignation in his eyes. “A contract makes sense. We can still grow our business and—”
“And Parker walks free for what he did,” Doc snarls. “Unaccountable forever.”
For the first time since he stole January, I wish Adriano was here. He’s Doc’s oldest friend. He would know how to calm him, but he’s upstairs so drugged up on pain medication, he can barely speak. It’s up to me to convince Domenico Valente that this is the right choice to make. I get to my feet and approach like he’s a wild animal. Which isn’t far from the truth.
He eyes me. “Parker killed my sister. Let his men put their filthy hands all over her, then ended her life.”
“I know,” I say in a low voice. “It’s shameful, and it’s shameful that I have to ask you to set aside your revenge, but January’s life is at stake.”
Doc turns away, his jaw working furiously.
“I know you loved Alessia…” I say her name delicately, because saying it the wrong way turns Doc rabid, “…but she’s been gone for seventeen years. Almost as long as January’s been alive.”
“So, I should just forget about her?”
I feel like a bomb defuser. Goddamn Parker for not giving me more time to do this. “No, you’ll never forget her. Youshouldn’tforget her. But she’s gone and killing Parker isn’t going to bring her comfort.”
“What’s your point?” Doc demands. “What do you want from me?”
I draw a shallow breath. “We’ve built something to live for at Velvet House and whatever happens, you know January is a part of that.”
I place a hand on Doc’s shoulder, and he throws me off. “Who the fuck are you to talk to me about revenge? Bobby, Adri, and I lost family. You lost a fuckingdog.”
My hands ball into fists at my sides, but a fight is what Doc wants and I will not let him derail me. “It’s your choice, Domenico. Parker won’t agree to a contract without all four of us signing. Are you going to let Margot Whitehall die?”
He stares at me, his skin stretched tight like a muzzle, and I think of the night Alessia died. How I fought to keep him from taking his stepfather’s handgun, knowing he’d go to Parker’s compound and get himself killed.
Earlier that day, men had snatched Dolce while my sister was walking her through Central Park and broke her neck. Dolce slept on my bed every night I was home. She was a mutt of a Beagle and terrier and until Bobby, she was my only real friend. When my mother would unexpectedly fly off to Italy, when my father would come home drunk and shouting, she was there, soft and friendly and kind. I loved her like I loved nothing else, and Parker’s men killed her and threw her away like a toy.
We cried, Doc and I, after I took the gun from him. The two of us curled up on his bathroom floor and bawled, holding each other and swearing revenge. Parker wasn’t stupid enough to kill a Morelli, but he did kill something I loved. And in doing that he tied me to the other men he harmed. The day Alessia died, Domenico Valente became my brother. My responsibility.
I hold out a hand. “Doc, I’m sorry.”
“You lied to me.”
I know what he means. Seventeen years ago, the only way I could get Doc on a plane to Italy—and to safety—was to promise we’d come back and kill Parker. And now I’m telling him to set that promise aside.
“I’m sorry,” I repeat. “But things have changed. We don’t have a choice.”
Doc heads for the door. “I’m leaving.”
I block his path. “We need a decision.”
“What about Adriano?”
“He’s already agreed to a contract.”
