Page 43 of Violent Delights

Chapter 20

Domenico

Guillermo and I meet one last time before Cassio arrives. We have the plan ready. There are no more doubts in our minds that this can happen. And it will happen.

We’re in the stables, late, lantern light flickering off old stone. It’s the darkness that offers a cover for us, and there aren’t any cameras. We have been taking too many chances, and I can’t afford to put Lia in danger.

Guillermo lights a cigarette with the kind of casual flick that says he’s done this too many times to care about lungs or rules. We’re behind the large concrete wall that hides the house from the stables, where no one from the villa bothers to look. I’m pacing in the dirt, boots kicking up dry earth, while the horses snort behind us like they know something’s coming.

He exhales slow, watching the smoke curl. “You going to stop pacing and tell me why you dragged me out here like a confession’s about to drop?” The man can read signals, body movements, everything. He’s good. That’s why he’s been Lia’s bodyguard for such a long time.

I stop, plant my hands on my hips, glance around once more just to be sure. No guards. No Marco. No shadows listening through the olive trees.

Then I say it. “I called my cousins.”

Guillermo straightens just a little. “From New York, the Montesanos?”

“Yeah. I think we may need them. They’re aware of who Lia is and they’re still willing to help. But I can’t tell her, not yet.”

He takes another drag, expression unreadable. “And they’re willing to keep her alive? They know she’s a Vitale.”

“They have no choice,” I say. “They know I’m in love with her. The wedding day is the only window we have. Everyone will be distracted. Cassio will be busy playing proud cousin. Ignacio will be stuck in the spotlight. And Lia…” I pause. My voice tightens around her name.

Guillermo raises an eyebrow. “What about her?”

“She wants to burn the house down.”

He lets out a dry laugh, then coughs once through the smoke. “Figuratively or literally?”

I shrug. “Both, I think. She said it while she was trying on a veil. She was deadly serious.”

“That sounds like her,” he mutters. “So what’s the plan?”

“My cousins are bringing firepower. Two are ex-Carabinieri—trained, quiet. The other one’s a mechanic, good with explosive triggers. Not a full crew but enough to cause chaos while we pull Lia out.”

Guillermo’s cigarette burns lower. “You sure about them?”

“They’re blood,” I say, though that’s not the same as saying yes. “They don’t like Mosca any more than I do. They lost someone to him too.” I don’t want to delve into my family secrets, but he needs to know these men will keep Lia safe and that’s the only thing that matters to me.

He nods slowly, the lines around his eyes tightening. “So this is it. Wedding day becomes war zone.”

“Unless something goes wrong.”

Guillermo gives me a long look. “Something always goes wrong.”

I grin without humor. “Yeah. But this time, we’re planning for it.”

He flicks the cigarette into the dirt and crushes it under his boot. “And Lia? She know exactly what you’re doing?”

“She knows enough. I will see her again before we get everything rolling, and I’ll explain what I can. I just don’t want her to be panicking before because that will only cause Ignacio to become suspicious. More than he is. She’s a firecracker, and I don’t want her going off before we’re ready.”

Guillermo snorts. “That girl…”

“She’s not going to stay trapped in that house. Not one more day.”

He looks at me for a long moment before nodding. He doesn’t want her here either. I don’t understand why her father ever agreed to this shit marriage. “And the house?” Guillermo asks me then.

I hesitate. “If she gets her way, it’ll burn.”

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