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Nico tapped his phone against his knee, thinking. He wasn’t one to break a promise, but he didn’t want Bennett involved in this part. This was the dirty part, the cruel and grisly side of Nico’s life that he’d prefer to shelter Bennett from.

You know he will not want to be with you after this.

Yes, Nico did know this. As much as he wished otherwise, the murder of a teammate was not something the upstanding Bennett Verreault would be able to look past. It would always stand between the two of them, poisoning their encounters, so maybe it was better to get this over with now. Cut the cord, as they said.

It was never meant to last anyway.

Unlocking his phone, Nico tapped the glass and made the call.

Bennett picked up on the first ring. “Oh, thank god. Where are you?”

“I cannot answer that question. I am fulfilling my promise and that is it.”

“Fuck, okay. That answers whether you have Alex or not.”

Nico said nothing. He could feel the thin, flimsy threads holding them together begin to unravel, one by one, like strands of spaghetti snapping.

“Is he . . . Is it over?”

“No, but it will be shortly.” And Nico couldn’t fucking wait. His chest burned with the need to hurt Alex Sewell. At least, he assumed this was the feeling in his chest at the moment.

“Listen to me.” Bennett lowered his voice. “Please call Sofia. I know you won’t listen to me, but you should listen to her. This should be her decision, Nico.”

The suggestion was so ludicrous that Nico almost disconnected. He scowled at the passing landscape. “I already told you. This is not how it works. It is not the decision of a committee.”

“I’m not saying a committee. I’m saying your cousin, the woman Alex drugged. Call her and let her decide what happens next. Don’t make decisions on her behalf.”

“I am her cousin,” he snapped. “I am also the head of the family. I make the decisions.”

Filippo, eyes huge, turned around from the front seat. Staring, like he couldn’t believe someone would question Nico’s decisions. Nico ignored him.

“I know that,” Bennett was saying in his ear. “But Alex took away her power when he drugged her. Give her some of that power back. Let her decide his fate.”

Was Bennett hoping Sofia would be soft on Alex Sewell? Nico knew otherwise. Because at the end of the day, she was a Marzano, and she’d already asked Nico to make Sewell suffer. “You think she will tell me to let him go.”

“No, I don’t. I’m not that foolish. But she deserves to at least voice an opinion.”

“Why does this matter to you?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do.”

That wasn’t much of an answer, but Nico wasn’t surprised. Bennett was always trying to do the right thing. He was annoying like that.

The car stopped. They’d arrived at the warehouse. “I have to go,” he said into the phone.

Bennett wasn’t done. “Nico, please. I’m asking for another favor.”

Nico didn’t understand why this was so important to Bennett, but something inside him responded to the urgency, the pleading tone in the other man’s voice. It reminded him of all the times Bennett begged, soft and sweet, in his ear during sex, asking for more or harder.

Cazzo.

“You will owe me,” he said darkly.

“Fine. Yes, okay. Thank you.” Bennett sounded flustered and Nico relished it. He very much liked this.

He disconnected without another word. Then he addressed Antonio and Filippo before getting out of the car. “Bring him inside.”

“Whatever that is, it isn’t mine.”