Page 76 of Demon's Angel

Eighteen months?“You killed Violet’s father,” my statement made through gritted teeth.

Lucio’s quick to deny it. “We would have done, yes. But he died of natural causes.” Now it’s his turn for his jaws to clench. “He died thinking he’d gotten away with it.”

“Angel’s going to kill Violet instead.” Cold seeps into my bones.

“No,” Lucio’s quick to reply. “Killing’s too quick. Too easy. For the way his brother was killed, he wants his revenge to last longer than that. To match the time he’s been deprived of him. In case you’re wondering, Violet’s mother also is of Italian descent, a good woman with Sicilian blood running through her veins.”

Which makes Violet Italian.Fuck.Then worry dawns. “Is he going to kill her mother?”

“She’s already experiencing a living death. No, her, he’ll leave to suffer.”

I have sickening suspicions but need to ask. “What’s he going to do with Violet?”

“The plan had been to take her son, adopt him. He would be no associate. He could become a soldier, rise through the ranks. With two bosses as grandfathers, it was likely he’d have inherited the brains. Angel and Vitalia were not blessed with kids. Seeing Violet suffer, knowing her child was denied to her, that should have been Angel’s revenge.”

“Should have been?”

Lucio puts his head into his hand as a low voice growls behind me, “We’re getting no information as to how to find her, Demon. Hurry this the fuck up. I don’t like what I’m hearing.”

I nod over my shoulder to Drummer. I don’t either. “Why did the plan change? And what the fuck does Angel want now?”

“The DNA test. Myconsigliere, the man who gives me advice, overheard a conversation. You’ll have guessed by now, the vacancy for which she applied never existed. It was a ploy to get her into Angelino’s hands. She was kept two days, drugged. I believe she thinks it was only one night. While she was here, Angelino wasn’t the only man to take advantage. One of thesoldati,” he breaks off and a pained look crosses his face, a look of pure disappointment, “he also took her. The conversation overheard was him worried about the DNA test which could show the kid wasn’t Angelino’s.”

“Is he dead?”If not, I’ll do it myself. With my bare hands.

“Of course,” Lucio growls out, smashing his fists together as though to emphasise it.

I realise there and then I never want to know Theo’s heritage. My own father was the worst there could be, and I’ve survived. I might carry his blood but none of his character. I’m my own person, shaped by the man who brought me up. I raise my chin.

“He doesn’t want Theo any longer?”

“There’s a fifty-fifty chance he’s not his. He won’t go to court to insist on a test for obvious reasons. If he found he didn’t carry his DNA, he’d still take him to hurt Violet, sell him, probably. But not to raise him as his. This time, he intends to do it right. Instead of asoldatohe might not be able to trust, his wife is guarding her.”

I snarl and jump forward. Hell just manages to hold me back, but can’t stop the words I’m shouting,

“Where the fuck is she?”

Lucio gets to his feet; he looks nervous, but otherwise ignores my outburst. “I tried to dissuade him once we knew you’d claimed her. I knew we’d start a war with the Devils and that, I wanted to avoid. Angel, though, he wouldn’t listen. It’s not just you who doesn’t know the location of your woman, or my son.”

“Too right he’s started a fuckin’ war,” I snarl.

Lucio shrugs. “Unnecessary bloodshed is not what I would have wished, but Angelino knows that we’ll win. We have more men.”

“Not if we bring in the other chapters, and our support clubs,” Drummer drawls, unconcerned by the threat. “At the end of the day, how loyal are your associates? They can’t rise in your organisation.”

Lucio tiredly replies, “That, too, was part of my reluctance to take your club on. There would be bloodshed. I might lose another son. But, Angelino is determined to come for you, Demon. Not just because of what you and the woman may or may not have done. That war confined to history? No, still all too recent for my son. The Devils stepped back and wanted no part of it back in the day. His reasoning? If you had added your weight, his brother may still be breathing.”

Angel sounds like he’s gone off the rails. “He’s motherfucking crazy.”

A look from Lucio suggests he might well agree. “He set me up. He expected you to come in guns blazing. He believed that because he acts without thinking. That nickname? It’s well-earned. He’d rather speak to dead bodies than allow them to talk back. Hellfire, I envy you. Your son talks with reason.”

“When I find Angel, he’s dead.” My tone is conversational.

Again, that hurt comes into his eyes. “I am still the boss. My men answer to me. Myconsigliere, mycaporegimes,they follow me.We do not want war, we want no distractions. I thought Angelino might settle when he has a son to focus on, but…”

“If he rapes Violet, I’ll hold thefamigliaresponsible. I won’t stop until you are all wiped from Pueblo.”He could have already raped her. Fuck.

“And we’ll be right behind him,” Red states.

---