He’s suspicious. Why wouldn’t he be? And he’s dangerous. “Your babies need-”
“Someone experienced to care for them. That’s not you.”
“I will learn.”
“There will be much for you to learn.”
He’s right. How could everything change so quickly? I had a good life in Sicily, even with a mother who didn’t want me around. What did I do to deserve this? The injustice of it all makes me angry again.
But staring at the man before me, I recall he’s been through a lot, too, and my own anger retreats. Caterina expressed much love for her brother. If a girl so good and kind can love him, there must be something worthwhile under the cold cruelty.
“Yes, get a good look,” he snarls unexpectedly, and my brow furrows in confusion at his order. He points to his scar. “It’s ugly, isn’t it? Want to hear how I got it?”
I wasn’t thinking about his scar, but curiosity prompts me to ask, “How?”
Surprise flashes in his eyes before they grow stormy again. “I was fourteen, newly inducted and eager to prove myself when my father sent me to question a potential traitor.”
“He had knife?”
“Not for long. After he slashed my face open, I fought for control of it and won.”
He reaches inside his coat, pulling out a scary-looking blade. My father had a similar one for close-quarters fighting. The handle of Nico’s is wrapped in supple black leather.
“You keep it?”
“Yes, Ikeptit. I carry many knives, but this one is still my favorite.”
Wariness settles in my bones, hearing the loving way he speaks of the deadly weapon that left him scarred. “You kill him?”
“Not right away. Once he confessed his treasons, I peeled his face off,slowly, before popping his eyeballs with the tip, like a pin pricking a balloon. Then, I gave him the mercy of a slit throat.”
My stomach roils threateningly at the gruesome image he paints while his voice is perfectly calm. Quick as lightning, he sheaths the blade again, handling it as though it’s part of his arm.
“We deal with betrayal harshly in the Trio.”
Every hair on my body stands on end, but cowering only makes a monster bolder. “You try to scare me?Mio padre,Cosa Nostra.No saintly man. I know men like you.”
“You think you know men like me?” he sneers, his eyes hard as flint. “If my children come to any harm in your care, you will come to know my blade…intimately.Men like medevourgirls like you."
5
Nico
“No surprise the girl was on the verge of tears throughout dinner,” Dante says, joining me in my office once Barzetti and Gia are gone.
I scowl at the scotch in my hand. I’ve made plenty of people cry. What’s one more? She had backbone during our exchanges though. She held my gaze for thirty seconds straight without flinching or glancing away. She’s not the scared little mouse I expected based on Caterina’s description.
“Maybe she was frightened of you,” I suggest.
My brother smirks, knowing better. “I was my most charming self all evening.” It’s true he was, though, while I’m known as the level headed Morelli brother, Dante is the embodiment of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
“Silvio sent her to us for some purpose.” The marriage pacts we forged two years ago to end a civil war, including my abysmal union with Margareta, haven’t changed the fact that the Capo of Las Vegas wants me dead for killing his oldest son.
My rage was ungovernable that night when I saw the woman’s broken body at the brothel. Naked and leering, Sil, Jr. had asked if I’d wanted to join in his fun. My favorite blade had soon littered the expensive rug with his blood.
And what did it get me? My precious little Cat shackled to his younger brother, out of our territory and out from under my protection, paying for my wrath with her innocence. I vowed thatnight I wouldn’t allow emotion to rule my actions ever again. I have to be smarter than that.
Dante shrugs. “Your children need taking care of. Considering who we are, it needs to be a woman from our world. Or you could simply marry again. As our future Capo, it will be expected. You’d have your pick of girls from the best families.”
