Page 134 of Savage Enemy

“And,” he continued, “you stole Benedetta Capaldo.”

“Bene—what? You were trying to marry her?”

No way he was serious.

“Of course I wanted her. I had a sit-down with her father on her sixteenth birthday.”

Christ, this fucker was disgusting.

She’d grown up with his daughter.

He went on. “Do you know how much power that girl comes with? And that was before someone killed all her male relatives. Yes, she would have been a fine wife for me.”

Val glared at him through her swollen eyelids.

Maybe the old bastard didn’t yet know I would be the one to decide who Benedetta married now.

I shrugged. “I hear she’s still unmarried.”

“It’s too late now. See, I wanted a young wife like her not only for the power but to start the next generation of my family, but Benedict wouldn’t hear of it. Said I was too old for her.”

Moscatelli snorted like the idea amused him.

I bit down hard on my tongue and kept my mouth shut.

“I settled on another plan for Marco to marry her instead. It wouldn’t be as nice as having the girl warming my bed, but her power would still come to me. The real purpose, after all.

“So I bided my time and scared off suitors who approached Don Capaldo. Killed a few. When Marco was ready, I met with Capaldo and made the offer to join our houses. Ha, but he’d already made a deal that would keep his daughter in New York.”

“How the fuck was I supposed to know this, Moscatelli?”

“You should have done your homework, boy.”

I flexed my fingers around my gun. I hated him calling me “boy” as much as I hated Lordi calling me “son.”

“Oh, I did,” I said. “That’s why I murdered her uncles.”

“Did you bother asking about any other claims?” he asked.

“Capaldo came to me for a deal, not the other way around. If you have issues with the way he does business, take it up with him. It has nothing to do with me or my fiancée.”

Saul dug his gun deeper into my back, through my jacket, almost wedging it between two vertebrae, and I quickly schooled my expression, willing myself not to react. Saul couldn’t see my face, but Aris could, and he got off on others’ pain.

Val’s face, on the other hand, expressed my pain for me and warned me not to give her twin anything at all.

“All of this…” I said. “Making bad business deals, losing out on millions, getting in bed with the Russians, because you got your feelings hurt when Capaldo didn’t agree to either of your proposals? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Jesus Christ, could my men take any longer to show up?

I grew tired of having this man’s gun buried in my back, and based on the looks coming from Aris, I wasn’t the only one losing patience.

The guy shifted from side to side on his feet and rolled his eyes at every word out of our mouths. Fuck. He better not put a hole in his twin sister just for something to do.

“This has nothing to do with my feelings,” Saul said. “It’s about you showing your elders the respect they deserve.”

Shaking my head, I lost control of a suppressed grunt.

Goddamn it.

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