“Jesus Christ,” Sergio mutters. “You could give her to him, you know that.” He eyes me a moment. “But you won’t, will you? Because you’ve gone and fallen for her.”
I narrow my eyes at Sergio. “Fuck you.”
Sergio shrugs. “We need a plan of attack.”
I lean forward, my head in my hands. “I have to take care of Heaven first. I have to make sure that she's protected. He’ll come for her. That’s the immediate threat.”
Sergio looks at me. “Fuck this. Let Dominguez torch fucking Hell’s Kitchen.”
I press my fingertips to my temples, the control seeping from my body with each passing second. I know what my brother is trying to do. But I can’t say it out loud. If I do… “I need to find Declan. If Dominguez is going to go after him and Conor, that's our only shot to stop him once and for all. And he will go after them. Let’s get Heaven and Papa ready.”
“Maybe next time you’ll leave your dick out of things. Or is that your heart? Shit, I should be in control,” Sergio says.
“Don’t fucking challenge me, Sergio. Christ only knows you’ve done more than enough in the past to rain hellfire on our name!” I storm over to him, pushing into his personal space and forcing him to recoil. I need to calm down. To focus on what’s important. I take a breath and step away.
“Okay, now what,boss?” Roman says. “What’s the fucking plan? I get your wife out of the country for good?”
The office door opens, slamming against the wall with such force that the frames on the wall shudder and crash to the floor. Heaven stalks into the room, her eyes spitting emerald fire, and she’s pointing a revolver at me.
My revolver.
“Yeah,Matty,” she hisses through clenched teeth. “Whatisthe fucking plan?”
I look at the barrel of the gun, then lift my gaze up to her face. “Heaven,” I say, slowly stepping toward her.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t shoot you the fuck dead? I heard it all. The plans. Why you want me gone, and I’m betting it’s nothing to do with Dominguez. It’s easier without me here, isn’t it? And I heard what you set up to bring down my family. So.” She cocks the gun. “Tell me exactly why I shouldn’t kill you right now.”
“I meant it when I said that I chose you. And as for sending you away, I told you, I want to protect you?—”
“Protect me? By conspiring with my family’s enemy? By giving them to that lecherous scumbag? By getting rid of me and stealing my rightful place? My heritage?” Her voice shakes with anger, her nostrils flaring. She stalks closer. “You betrayed me, Matteo. You betrayed all of us!”
But her arm is steady, and her eyes spit fire. My wife is ruthless and lethalwithouta gun in her hand. With it, I might be a little turned on.
“Were you working with Dominguez?”
“Yes.”
“And did you deliberately marry me to steal my family’s businesses? Not a business arrangement for a piece of it all in exchange for protection, but to take everything and throw us to that greasy wolf?”
“Yes.” Fuck, ask me a question I can say no to.
“And did you tell me yesterday you were going to take care of Dominguez to keep us all safe?”
I scrub a hand down the front of my face. “Yes,” I say. “Heaven, we don’t have time for this. I might have set out to do all of that. But things changed. And you…I want you safe. That’s why I want you gone.”
“Maybe I’ll take my chances with Dominguez. Fuck you,Matty. Fuck you to hell and back.”
She shakes her head, and then she swings the gun toward a mirror hanging to my left and fires.
The glass shatters, the frame smashing onto the wood floor. Shards of glass scatter at our feet, and a pang in my heart tells me it’s damn close to suffering the same end.
“Fuck you. I trusted you! I told you things I’ve never told anyone…things about my family, about Molly…” Her spine stiffens. “I fucking loved you, Matteo! Last night I realized it. And you know what? You don’t deserve even a second of me. I fell in love with a goddamn liar. Well, let me just tell you this.” She drops her gun-clenched hand and grabs my shirt with the other, pulling me close so she can hiss her next words right into my face. I’m too shocked to move or protest. “I don’t need your fucking protection. If Dominguez wants me, he can come for me, and I will protect my own damn self!”
“Amore mio?—”
“No.” She pushes me away and stumbles back. “Just stay away from me, Matteo. Consider us annulled.”
Heaven points the gun at the art hanging on the walls of the foyer and opens fire.