Page 333 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“You, Matteo, Dante — I’d do anything for your family. You’ve always taken care of me.”

“And by going to Matteo, you took care of me,” I say, clapping him on the shoulder. “You showed up when I needed you, Ray. That’s what matters to me.” I lean closer, lowering my voice. “But here’s the thing about second chances. If you fuck around again, I’ll kill ya.”

His eyes widen and he recoils slightly and I let out a chuckle at the stricken look on his face.

He relaxes his shoulders and smiles.

I wink at him. “So long as we’re on the same page.”

I shove him toward the office and close the door once we’re all inside.

Dante is already on the phone with the cleaners. The benefit to my space is that it’s secluded, so having Frankie’s body handled won’t raise eyebrows because there aren’t any around to raise. He hangs up a minute later and folds his arms over his chest.

“Are the Russians gone?” I ask.

They look at each other and nod.

“For now,” Dante grumbles with a shake of his head. “They aren’t happy that you kept a trophy.”

“Well, they’re gonna have to deal with it,” I growl. “Unless they want us to bring hell to their doorstep in the armpit of Brooklyn.”

“Nobody is looking for a battle, not over Frankie Amante. But the first chance they get to retaliate, you know they’ll take it. They left things alone tonight, but they wanna be made whole, too. Boris is pissed as hell that you cut him down in front of his guys, and that I sent him packing with his dick between his legs. He’s gonna be back, Romo.”

“Yeah,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “Well, it looks like we need to do a better job of building up our alliances here in the city.”

“Or,” Dante says. “You know, maybe you stop fucking shit up and creating new enemies. Just a thought.”

I give him a punch. “Maybe you need to go back to whatever far-off land you came from and wait for your next hit.”

Dante snickers. “Might be you. Just saying. There’s gotta be a decent bounty on your ass in some country, Romo.”

“Millions,” I say with a wink. “Don’t do it for anything less.”

CHAPTER20

MARCHELLA

Iopen my eyes a crack early the next morning. Roman’s arms are wrapped securely around me and they tighten when I shift on the mattress. Bella is still snuggled into me, her body warm and calm against mine.

My sleep was fitful at best, splintered with nightmares and haunting words and images that made me cry out more than once.

But Roman never moved from my side. He held me as I wept for my brother, for my father, for fucking everything I’ve lost.

It feels like my heart was shredded, stomped on, and then shoved back into my chest.

Images that I will never forget will likely torment me until the day I die.

But what’s worse are the unresolved emotions flooding my mind and soul.

The deceit, the anger, the betrayal…

My God, it feels like I didn’t even know my brother.

All of this time, I’ve been working my ass off to save us and he’d only been working to save himself.

My gut twists.

As much as I despise him for what he did to us and how I let his lies dictate my actions, I miss him…so much.

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