Page 114 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“You fucking bastard!” I say as he doubles over with a loud groan.

“Heaven, what the fuck?” he groans, clutching his now-bloody lip. It must have caught one of the prongs.

Good.

If I had a fucking knife, I’d have sliced the whole damn lip off.

“You tried to kill me. YoukilledDominguez’s daughter. You opened the door for him to crush us all!”

“Heaven.” Dad grabs my arm. “What the hell?”

I could tell him. But it’s going to be me pouring out my bleeding heart, and I’m not about to do that. I’m an underboss, and they know exactly what they signed me up for. Through the veils of fury and pain, I grab Conor by the shirt and shove him hard, back into the bar. And then I knee him in the balls because fuck him.

Fuck them all.

“You made a deal to protect this piece of shit, Dad. But Matteo wanted everything.”

Conor grabs at me, but I slap him away. “He’s weak?—”

“No, Conor, you are,” I say. “All of you. Too interested in measuring your dicks than anything else. Matteo was going to take everything and leave us to Dominguez.”

Conor’s groaning and trying to grab me, so I fucking punch him again. “Like we’d let him,” he says.

“Like you’re smart enough to stop him.” I take a breath, stepping away from my asshole brother and I look at Dad. “Did you even do any research on Matteo Villani before you agreed to sell me off to him?”

“What are you talking about? He’s known. He’s the best. I hired him to protect us.”

“Really? Are you all that gullible?”

“Heaven, love,” Aunt Maura says, glancing at my father. “You’re not making any sense right now.”

I look at my aunt, moving toward her. “You don’t know what happened,” I say, my voice dropping. “I hate Matteo.”

“Heaven,” Dad says, “I’m not stupid. I hired him to protect us. I made the deal with him that gave him you. Because?—”

“What?”

“I knew you could handle it. Handle him. And it was the only way. By being married to you he’d have the business one day, with you at his side. Conor, too.”

“Did you also know that Dominguez planned to kill me, too? No doubt after raping and torturing me first.” I stalk up to him, my hands balling into fists. “Your plan didn’t really work out too well for you, Dad, because with me gone, Matteo would hand over Conor, and all this would be his!”

Dad looks at me, face pale, so old and worn and sad. I don’t see a spark of ire or anger there. “Heaven, the way he spoke about you when he mentioned you the first time, I knew he’d want a piece of our operation, which I’d have willingly given, but whether he realized it or not, hewantedyou. And I’ve seen how he’s looked at you since then, how he’s been, how he’s hovered and protected you from anyone and anything.”

He stops, like he’s searching for the right words to placate me. “He’s a cold, dangerous bastard, different from the other Italians here, I know that. But I also knew what he wanted—other than you—and the thing is, we needed him.”

With a tight throat, I can barely squeeze out the next words. “He’d have everything. Everything!” I grab two pilsner glasses from the bar and hurl them against the large, plate glass mirror behind it.

My chest heaves, the sound of shattering glass not nearly enough to bring me relief. I grab a bottle of Jameson and fling it across the wall, the amber-colored liquid splashing all over the tables and floors next to it.

I take a few deep breaths to settle my rapidly spiking heart rate, but it’s futile. This is not how an underboss acts. I know that. Of course I do. But hell, right now I’m not that. I’m a woman whose heart is betrayed, shattered, bleeding. And the assailant isn’t just my husband. It’s all of them.

I hate the fact that Matteo’s betrayal hurts the worst. And when I heard him with his brothers, I knew that had been a final ‘fuck you’ to me. It’s like a piece of my soul had been ripped away.

“I gave my life away for all of you,” I say. “I wasn’t given a choice. But I did my duty, and you all… You played me. You lied to me. Worst of all? You discredited me. Humiliated me. I’ve given everything for this family, and you just took, took, took. And all for Conor, who got so fucked up he pulled a gun on me.”

Dad stares hard at me and Aunt Maura gasps.

Conor doesn’t make a noise at all.

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