Page 219 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

Dante had better start confiscating some phones before this shit ends up on YouTube.

“I think we need to take that conversation somewhere private.”

“You’re really stretching my patience, Sergio,” he hisses, grabbing my arm. “Get in my office.Now.”

I shake off his arm. “Just so we’re clear, I’m only going because I have something to tell you, not because you ordered me to.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t take instruction very well,” Jaelyn snips, her arms folded over her chest.

I’m gonna punish her for that later.

I wink at her and flip off Nate before I follow Matteo into his office. He storms inside and slams the door shut so hard that the walls shake and one of the framed pictures clatters to the floor, the glass shattering into a million pieces.

Well, that’s good. He can’t stab me in the heart with a shard of glass.

He could stuff a handful of them in my eye, though…

“Are you fucking insane?” he shouts, pounding his fist against a wall. “Bringing them here and brawling with Nate Torres? I told you I’d handle him! Do you have a death wish? Because I’ll just kill you now! It’ll save me some goddamn grief!” He shoves me backward but I stand my ground, refusing to falter.

I shove him back harder. “This is my space. Don’t fucking invade it or I’ll cut offyourhand, too.”

Matteo’s eyes glow with a demonic sheen, his lips turning up into a sneer. “You’ve got a lot of nerve making threats against me.”

“Who said it was a threat?”

We stare at each other, circling like predators and prey.

At this point, I’m not sure which roles we’re even playing, but still we skulk.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on, Sergio? Or do I have to beat it out of you with a tire iron?”

“I need you to chill the fuck out first. There are some things I have to tell you, and if we’re gonna take on the car?—”

“Whoa!” He holds up a hand. “Takeon? As in battle? Who are you to make that call?” he bellows. “I thought you were convinced that Torres was the one who was out to get you, not the cartel?”

“I might have gotten it wrong,” I say, stretching my lips together.

“Oh, those words!” Matteo grouses as he stalks around his desk. “You might have gotten it wrong?Might have?”

His voice reverberates between my temples, making them throb louder and harder with each passing second. The punches I took to the head aren’t helping with the pounding in my skull, either.

“Listen—”

“No, you fucking listen!” he screams. “Do you know how long I’ve worked to get the respect of these other families, Sergio? While you were fucking around with cocktail waitresses and any other women who flashed their pussies at you, I was trying to make a name for us! I was working with these guys, convincing them that our backing, connections, and money would be worth their trust in us!”

“That was a good thing,” I say. “Nice work.”

“And then you come along with your big plans to take over a string of nightclubs when you can’t even run the one you have! You made yourself, as well as the rest of us, a target for the Becerra Cartel when you cut off Javier’s fucking hand, and you shit the bed with Torres! Do you know what that all means?”

I let out a sigh of frustration. “Why don’t you just tell me?”

“Fine,” he seethes. “It means all of my work is fucking destroyed! You crapped all over it with your dumbass ideas and plans. You wanted to prove yourself, right? Well, what you’ve proven is that you’re an incompetent jackass.”

“Fuck you!” I roar, kicking over a chair. “You know, maybe I’m tired of being stuck in a no-win spot. You have me working on shit that isn’t worth my time or effort! I have ideas, ideas that I want to put in play. You hang this seat over my head like a set of tits, for Christ’s sake. ‘You almost have them. Almost, Sergio. Just reach a little higher…higher…higher, and get ready to motorboat those fuckers!’” I snip. “Well, guess what? I’m gonna get them, okay? And they will feel fucking amazing!”

“All talk,” he grumbles. “No action.”

“I kidnapped Jaelyn Torres this morning,” I blurt out, biting back a smile when I see Matteo’s jaw drop. “I found out that the Becerra Cartel has them on their radar, too. So got on a call with Nate and volunteered to pop the heads of the cartel in exchange for controlling interest of his nightclubs.”

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