Page 28 of Shattered Choices

“You look beautiful.” My eyes catch his. “Following you around and not being beside you was torture. A punishment of sorts.” He chuckles. “You don’t have to say anything. I know I deserve to be punished.”

I shake my head slightly. “I don’t want to talk about that. Why am I here?”

He inhales. “Fair enough. Even though it was painful to follow you around, I came by the information we were looking for.”

My brows raise. “You have the name?”

“Yes. That’s why you are here, no?”

I glare at him. “Spit it out.”

“I have one condition.”

I lean back in my seat and cross my arms in front of me. “I made the rules, remember? You don’t have the right to ask for conditions.”

“See, that’s not one of the rules. I want to renegotiate our terms. The rules can stay, but I want one thing.”

I search his face for an answer, but I should know by now that I can’t read his poker face. “What do you want?”

He smirks. “Now we’re talking.” He leans in closer to me. “I want to be the one to make him pay.”

I scoff. “You don’t have control here, Salvatore. You need to remember that. The only reason you’re still here and breathingis courtesy of me, otherwise you would have been dead or chased out of here the moment you stepped into our territory.”

“Hmmm.” He shrugs. “But if you allow it, I can do it.”

I take a moment before I answer him. I could allow it, but do I want to? Do I want him to slowly make his way back into my heart?

“This isn’t just about me, Salvatore. He betrayed my father. He has gone against my father’s wishes and, most importantly, he broke the code of silence. And we all know how that ends.”

“Let me participate at least.”

I exhale. “I can’t promise you anything, but I’ll see what I can do, and I’m only agreeing to this because I want this little game to end.”

He raises his hands in defense. “I’m not playing any game.”

I tilt my head to the side. “Is that so?”

He raises his eyebrows. “Wanna know who your rat is?”

“What do you think?” I glower.

“Giovanni Berti.”

“Bastardo.I should have known.”

His eyes darken. “Why? Has he done something?”

I shake my head. “Other than being a chauvinistic pig and always contradicting my decisions? Is that not enough?”

“When you say it like that...”

I open the door, wanting to exit the car, but Salvatore’s hand on my forearm stops me. His hard gaze is focused on me. “Wait. I want to come with you. I know he’s upstairs.”

I purse my lips. “Fine, but you stay to the side.”

I let Salvatore follows me inside and upstairs to the poker room that is set in the secret VIP area.

When we enter, they’re still playing the same game, and all eyes land behind me on Salvatore. They all have questions. I can see it from the looks in their eyes; Pino too. I never shared withhim what I agreed with Salvatore. Not because I don’t trust him. It was just that I was afraid they might kill each other.

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