Prologue
Dominic
I’d rather be the hunter than the prey.
Who wants to be a mouse when you can be a wolf? With sharp teeth and a taste for blood, there’s nothing in this world that would make me ever bow to another person.
I’m a Novello and I’ve been raised to be anything but a pussy. Blood, violence, and vengeance have surrounded me since I was a boy and were intravenously fed to me while still in my mother’s belly.
I’m a menace to society.
I’m a monster.
The thing you run from on a dark night.
I’m everything your parents warned you about.
Cracking my neck from side to side, I stare down into Romy Edmunds’s bloody face. His eyes are so swollen they don’t open, blood drooling from between puffy lips, hair slick with blood and sweat and God knows what else. I grip his graying hair in my hand and raise his face up to me, giving a shake of my head.
He’s done.
I release his hair and his head drops, his chin hitting his chest as a wretched sob leaves him. He’s done and he knows he’s done. Fucker should be glad that I’m too furious to take my time and string his death out for months.
Angelo, the head of my security, hands me a small towel to wipe my bloody hands with and I take it gratefully. I didn’t have to get my hands bloody tonight. That is, after all, why I have him around now—to do the grunt work while I give off the illusion of a respectful business owner. But this shit needed to be handled by me and me alone.
Joey and Sisco are gonna be pissed at me for taking this on myself, but for once I don’t give a shit about their opinion. This needed to be done. Tonight.By me.
Romy Edmunds murdered my father, the don of the Novellos and one of the three kings of New York City. He murdered him and then left his body on our doorstep for my mother to find. A warning. I still don’t know who gave the order to send him down, but I will.
I won’t rest until I find out, and neither will my brothers.
Now it’s just us—three vengeful brothers, one little sister, and a heartbroken mother with no memory of us most of the time.
But we’re the Novellos, and this is a new time now. With my father gone, we’ve taken over the kingdom, his empire, his life’s work. Things will be changing, heads will be rolling, and money will be flowing.
I pull out my gun and aim it at Romy’s head.
This death is too good for him, but hatred is pumping through my veins and I want him dead and gone before morning breaks. Before Sisco or Joey find out and try to extract their own anger on this piece of shit.
I’m the middle son, with Sisco being the eldest, however he’s always been unstable, and Joey is too fucking smart for this life. He shouldn’t have to get his hands bloody.
No, this is my responsibility as the dutiful and loyal son of Michael Novella. I’m going to honor his memory and find the bastard that killed him. And when I do, they’ll wish they’d killed my entire fucking family with the amount of wrath I’m going to rain down on them.
“One last chance, Romy. Tell me who ordered the hit,” I say, my voice cold as steel.
He chokes on his own blood, half sobbing as he tries to get his words out. “I’m a dead man if I te—”
“Does this look like a fucking water pistol to you?” I roar, my fury getting the better of me. I bend one knee and put my face up to his, pressing the gun to his temple. “You’re a dead man either way, Romy, but I’ll let you choose the quickest route out, because believe me when I say you do not want Sisco to find you still breathing. This pain that you’re in right now, it is nothing compared to what he will put you through. He’ll keep you alive for years, torturing you. Cutting parts of you off and feeding them back to you. I’m being kind. I’ll make it quick.”
I’m breathing hard, my chest heaving. I want to beat him until he’s nothing but blood and bones, the life torn from him limb by limb. Rage and sorrow burn through my body, the screams of my little sister forever scorched into my brain.
“Tell me,” I say through gritted teeth.
Romy’s breathing sounds painful and labored, rasps of air leaving his lungs.
“Okay,” he says.
I lower the gun from his temple and put my face next to his, listening to the name that spills from his bloody lips.
