Page 208 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“Direct retribution.” He lifts an eyebrow.

I shrug. “Kind of.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Well, none of you guys are dead. So it isn’t exactly an eye for an eye.”

He narrows his eyes. “Enrico’s arm is all shot up and in a sling. Should I bust yours up, too? Then, will we be even?”

I sweep my tongue over my dry lips. “I’d rather offer you a partnership stake in our clubs for your muscle.”

Sergio’s eyes glaze over for a second, and a mischievous smirk tugs at his mouth. “Whichmuscle, exactly?”

“This is serious,” I say. “Nate didn’t try to kill you, I would stake my own life on that. I don’t know who did, but?—”

“No,” Sergio mutters, turning away from me. “No! That whole ‘eye for an eye’ thing is really coming back to bite me in the ass.”

“Yeah, I’m beginning to see that you don’t quite get the gist of that saying.”

He fixes a murderous glare on me. “I didn’t think cutting off someone’s hand would warrant a revenge murder,” he says through clenched teeth.

Uhh, exactly how much of that clear liquid did he drink before he threw the glass against the wall? “I don’t understand what you’re trying to say…whose hand did you cut off?”

“Javier’s.”

I furrow my brow. “Who?”

“The guy who attacked you outside of the club the other night.”

“You cut off his hand?” My mouth drops open. “I thought you were working with his organization.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because of the meeting you were supposed to have! You were pissed off that his boss didn’t show up? You said something about partnering?”

Sergio scrubs a hand down the front of his face. “What the hell is happening here? Why do you care so much about that dipshit Javier’s organization and my business with them?”

A throbbing erupts between my temples, my pulse picking up speed as the seconds tick by as an image of Nate stepping into the demon’s lair flashes in front of my eyes. A red haze clouds the picture, a harbinger of what would become of him if he went to battle in the pits of hell otherwise known as ground zero for the Becerra Cartel. My throat grows tighter and tighter with the knowledge that Nate will be at death’s door unless he finds out the truth, that it wasn’t the cartel who took me.

It was the fucking mafia.

And they’re the only ones who can save my brother now.

I squeeze my eyes shut, flipping over my cards because there’s no other out for me or my brother.

Sergio, ironically, is my only hope.

“Because they killed my parents!”

My words pierce the air, reverberating in the space. I can’t swallow them back. Hell, I didn’t even know they were there on the tip of my tongue, just waiting to spew.

I didn’t mean to tell him that.

I didn’t want to tell him that.

This isn’t about them.

It’s about Nate.

---