“In his study, my lord, with Master Luca,” the butler babbled. “If you’ll just allow me to announce your arrival…”
I shoved him aside.
I’d walked this hall many times. As a guest. As one ofEnzo’s confidants. Tonight, I walked down that corridor like a brewing storm.
Servants flattened themselves against the walls as I swept past. A pair of DiRavello soldiers appeared, then flinched, stepping aside without being told. My aura flooded the space, dark and crackling, every instinct screaming at me to tear this place apart stone by stone until the basement where he’d tried to drown her was open to the night.
Not yet,I reminded myself.This is only a performance. Make it count.
The wood of the doors to Enzo’s study splintered under the force of my entrance, smacking into the walls on either side. The destruction did little to feed this rage inside me, which was beginning to spiral out of control.
Candles guttered. Papers fluttered.
Giovanni sat behind his desk, Luca frozen in an armchair by the fire. A decanter of something expensive glowed between them in thick, hand-cut crystal. Both males jolted to their feet.
“Dante,” Luca began, confusion pinching his expression. “What in the…”
“Where is my fucking wife?” I snarled, looking between them, silence slamming into the room as they stared at me in shock.
Giovanni’s gaze went from confusion to calculating, but I saw the faint tightening at the corners of his mouth, the quick flash in his eyes. Suspicion, anger… fear.
“I beg your pardon?” He acted affronted, his smile as smooth as oil. “Your wife? Have you lost my niece, Dante?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I have.” I stepped into the room, wanting to kill him, just for that snide remark alone. “Now, where is Emberline? I’m sure you remember her. Thefemale you swore by blood and oath to the Dominico family.”
Luca’s brows snapped together, worry clouding his gaze. “She’s with you, surely. Where else would my sister be?”
I turned my full regard on him, tamping down some of my raw fury. “Shewasfulfilling her duty,” I bit out. “Until I came back home last night to find her gone. Now it’s morning, and she hasn’t returned, and I would like to know where your uncle is hiding her.”
“Gone…?” Luca stuttered.
“Disappeared,” I savored each syllable like broken glass. “No signs of a struggle. Vanished from a house protected by wards onlymyblood andmymagic can breach.” I let that fact hang between us, heavy and dangerous. “Unless, of course, someone with equally powerful magic called her home.”
Giovanni’s expression didn’t change, but his fingers curled on the desk.
“There must be some mistake,” he purred smoothly. “Perhaps she left of her own accord. Young women do foolish things when angry. You two did not exactly… well, you did steal her away from your own brother.” His tone was tart. “Perhaps starting there would be a better use of your time.”
You fucker. You drowned her in your own basement, and now you have the fucking audacity to send me after my own brother.
“Who the fuck do you think I waswithlast night?” I hissed. “My brother is not involved in this, but… where were you last night, Giovanni? Can you vouch for yourself, or were you helping my wife sneak away?”
“My uncle only left the palazzo for a short time, then he returned,” Luca explained, then flushed. “I’m sorry, Uncle, but I heard you moving around last night.” The boy turnedback to me. “But uncle was here most of the night, and I haven’t seen Emberline, not since we brought her trunks to the house.”
Giovanni stared at Luca like he meant to rip him apart, and I wanted to shake some sense into the boy. The fool thought he was vouching for his uncle when all he was doing was digging his own grave.
“There. As Luca so helpfully pointed out, I was here last night. Perhaps you two had a fight? I heard… the party at Rocco’s may have caused her some distress?” He sounded so fucking smug as he added, “Perhaps she needed some… space?”
My laugh was sharp and ugly, bouncing off bookshelves and polished wood.
“You think this is a lovers’ quarrel?” I threatened softly. “We are talking about a blood oath witnessed by the Dynasty and sealed by a DiSangue priest. Emberline took that responsibility seriously. But I wonder if you did?”
I leaned both hands on his desk, close enough to smell the faint tang of the canal still clinging to him. Close enough to imagine smashing his head into the carved wood until the grain ran red.
“My brother tells me this marriage was your idea,” I went on, voice low and lethal. “A solution to a problem you manufactured in the first place. Ember became your pawn and a way to buy Luca’s seat at the council table. Now, I have to ask myself… are you simply creating anothersituationto serve your own purposes?”
Giovanni’s jaw tightened. For a heartbeat, the mask slipped, malice sparking in his eyes, and I watched his fingers flex, the movement of a male imagining them around my throat.
And as bad as I felt about throwing Luca into the mix—the poor kid looked like he was about to vomit—he needed to wake up and face the truth. His uncle was a fucking snake.
