“Tristan, take care of the rest of the trash,” Mario says, pulling on his shirt sleeves casually. “Then I have some business to attend to.”
“You want me to kill them here?” Tristan asks carefully. “What if we need them again? We don’t have confirmation of Tori’s pregnancy yet. Wouldn’t it be better to keep them just in case?”
“It won’t matter. I have control of the entire Russo empire. We should kill her too and find Xavier another suitable match, maybe with one of the East Coast families,” Mario says blandly.
I snicker loudly, not surprised in the least that he just ordered my death, and he gives me a sharp look. “What are you laughing about?”
“Well, I mean, I’m not sure if you do or not. I know you have control of the Suncity and Banebridge assets, but we might need to do the same thing at all the major hubs throughout the West Coast, but if you only want a small chunk of the pie, have at it.”
I push back the chair and step up to Tristan, grabbing his gun hand and holding it to my head. “Make it quick. After all, I did give you a couple of incredible orgasms,” I joke lightly and give him a wink. He blanches, and his hand shakes. Fuck, I hope he doesn’t shoot me by accident.
“I thought she was married to the other one,” I hear Carla hiss to my father in the tense silence, and I almost laugh out loud.
“No!” Mario shouts. “Fuck. Okay, we won’t kill any of them. We will order the jet to be ready and drag them from state to state until everything is in my control, then we can get rid of all three of them.”
“Ouch, Mario, that hurts. Now that I know you’re going to get rid of us, there’s nothing for you to hold over me. Why should I cooperate?”
I see the panic in his eyes, and he starts pacing back and forth.
“Why don’t you let me keep her, Dad? She’s pretty to look at and fucking fantastic in the sack. We would have pretty children for you to train to be loyal soldiers,” Xavier suggests blandly without even looking at me. “After all, Tristan will be married to Stacey, and Colton and Vienna have each other. Don’t I get to have a reward to?”
“Fine, you can keep her as long as I get my hands on the rest of the assets,” Mario concedes.
“We can’t go today. I’m getting married tomorrow,” Tristan reminds him, pulling his gun away from my temple and lowering it to the ground without even looking at me anymore. “Stick them in a hotel room, and after the wedding, we can take the jet and do it before I head off on my honeymoon.”
Mario paces back and forth, nodding and muttering to himself. “Yes, fine. Now get out of here. I have an important call. I need to kiss the cartel’s ass after that bungle the other night.” He verbally dismisses us, and Tristan waves his gun at my dad and Carla.
“Let’s go,” he orders them, and Xavier grabs my dad’s arm while Colton gently helps Carla, and they usher them out of the office. Lance tries to follow us, but Xavier glares at him.
“We’ve got this. We will set them up in the owner’s suite. Post round-the-clock guards at the door and get this mess cleaned up.”
Lance glares at him with hatred but doesn’t argue. I lead them toward the elevator and press the button, calling it to our floor. We are all silent as we wait, and I glance toward Bryce’s office. The lights are off, and the door is closed. He must still be in hiding. The rest of the floor has been cleared of personnel. Mario wasn’t going to risk anyone finding out Dad and Carla are still alive.
The doors to the elevator open, and we step in. As they close, Carla starts to open her mouth, but I hiss, “Shut up.”
We move up toward the penthouse suite, and Colton leans in, making it look like he’s fixing her bandage. I hear him whisper quietly. I’m assuming he’s telling her we are being monitored and will be when we get to the penthouse too.
“Tori?” My dad murmurs, but I don’t even acknowledge that I hear him. The doors open, and I march out into the foyer of his suite.
“Get some rest, clean up, and we will have a doctor come look over your injuries. I’ll place an order for some food, and the guards will let you know when it arrives. Don’t try to escape or make phone calls. The phone won’t go through, access to the internet will be disabled, and you will be monitored on the security feed. Do me a favor and don’t try to make my life any harder than it already has been.” I hope my warning is enough to keep them from speculating about my behavior.
“Mickey?” Aunt Carla blurts suddenly. “They told me Mickey is dead. Please, Tori, if you ever loved me, tell me the truth,” she begs.
“It’s as true as Sage and Gio being dead. I’m sorry,” I tell her coldly, hoping they read between the lines.
She wails and crumbles. My dad leaps forward and catches her before she hits the ground, helping her over to the lounge.
“What happened to you, Tori?” he asks, sounding bewildered.
“I evolved, Dad. I became what I did to survive. Aren’t you proud of me?” I say frostily before I turn my back on him, and we leave them mourning.
I hold my shit together as I walk away when all I want to do is crumple like Aunt Carla and sob my eyes out.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Today is going to suck,” Vienna mumbles into my boobs when I open my eyes the next morning.
After we left the Diamond, we went back to our house, and the boys were promptly ordered to leave, the groom not being allowed to see the bride until the ceremony. Tristan looked positively gleeful as I snarled goodbye to them when they left the house. They were going back to stay in the home they were living in prior to all this, Mario’s town estate on the other side of Banebridge.
