Page 47 of Vengeful Reign

That’s when Enrico gets bold. “Come on. It’s not that hard to dig into your personal things when you were busy with your whore.” Now the old man fucked up and I laugh.

“Don’t you dare talk about her like that.” He jumps out of his chair, not really tied down. He grips the rope and wraps it around his father’s throat, choking him. Leaning down, he snarls, “What did you do to my sister? What did you threaten to do to my woman? Did you think she wouldn’t alert me?”

I thought my father was a piece of shit, but it seems the Fieri patriarch took the cake. He betrayed both his children. My father is just a neglectful asshole who got my mother pregnant when she was way too old to be having babies.

Enrico’s head slumps forward and Massimo stands, straightening his suit. “Sorry, I lost control.”

“No, I’m sure you’ve had years of pent-up rage waiting for that shit. It was happening one way or another. He crossed the line with Nora, so if you didn’t, I was ending that fucker,” I say.

Fieri’s men and mine work together to deal with his father’s lifeless corpse, and then Massimo Fieri asks, “Was that a true invite to the wedding?”

Smiling, I say, “Yes. Nora wants you there.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” The look of joy on his face reminds me that they’re siblings and I’m glad that I didn’t have to kill him. Nora will be so happy that he’ll be in her life. We shake hands and then we part ways. I head back, anxious to see my woman.

I’m almost home when I get a call from Connor. “It was a motherfucking setup.” Son of a bitch. I turn the SUV around and plug in the address for the bakery. Someone’s a dead motherfucker.

“I’m on my way.”

Epilogue

Nora

July 2014

There’s a light, fast knock on the door. “Come in.” It opens, and I’m surprised to see who is there. He steps inside and closes it.

Massimo stares at me from across the room. “You look beautiful,” he says.

“Thank you,” I say, looking at him from the mirror. He’s as handsome as ever in his tuxedo. In fact, I think he’s grown up a little more now that he’s not under my father’s thumb anymore.

Although, I’m not sure what happened to my father, other than he was supposedly killed by Fernando Espinosa. The men are still looking for him, but they’ve had no luck since he’s been on the run for weeks now. We even had to push our wedding back due to the attack on Connor and the trouble that caused.

He reaches out and takes my hands in his, extending them to the sides and staring at my gown while giving my hands a gentle squeeze. “You are radiant, Nora. An absolute gem. I’m glad you allowed me to be here today. I want you to know that I had nothing to do with Father’s attempt to marry you off all those years ago, and I hope you believe that.”

I nod. “You know, Massimo, you were the only one I never blamed in all of this. It’s not like you had much of a choice either. He wanted you to marry someone else too.”

“Thanks.” He pulls me in for a hug. “I missed you so much, Nora.”

“Would you do me a favor?”

“Anything?”

“Walk me down the aisle.” My brother’s face brightens, and a smile breaks out across his handsome mug.

“I would love nothing more.” He hugs me again. “When Jack threatened me that he was marrying you and there was nothing I could do to stop it, I was so fucking afraid for you, but now I see that you’re so happy. It does my heart a world of good.” He kisses my cheek and says, “He better be good to you because I’ll go to war for you.”

The music begins, and my brother extends his arm. Today is going to be perfect now.

Jack

May 2025

“Caleb, what did you do?” I ask the second I enter the conference room in the private school my wife teaches at and that our oldest attends. The police haven’t arrived yet because they have more important matters to attend to and didn’t deem this one important. Or rather, they know better than to try and arrest my ten-year-old son.

“Father, they earned it. They’re lucky that’s all they got.” A cough comes from behind me, immediately annoying the shit out of me. I turn around to see an impeccably dressed older man that I’ve seen on occasion on camera checking out my wife. He and I have needed to have a talk in private more than once, but I let it go because she’s asked me to. Today, I’m not feeling so generous.

“Quiet right now, Caleb. I want to speak to the principal, since he seems to not be able to control his bladder.” The man is doing a pee dance, moving his legs back and forth, rocking himself like he’s anxious to speak with me or like a child needing to use the bathroom. He blanches at my perfectly aimed insult.

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