Page 72 of Angelo's Vengeance

“Of course,” he hummed as if he were unconcerned about her wandering fingers.

“I’d provide incentives. Monetary and others,” she cooed. “I have product I’d like to move.”

Ilias nodded, leaning into her thoughtfully, going so far as to drag a finger over her cheek. “We can do that, but if I turn on the Commission and dip into trafficking, I’m going to need protection.”

She leaned back in her chair. “You’d have it.”

That was my signal.

The door slid shut with a mechanical hiss. Carlotta barely had time to react before I stepped through the secondary entrance with my weapon drawn.

She froze. “You,” she breathed.

“Me,” I said, pistol steady. “Did you think you could rebuild the empire on our ashes? Or that Ilias would work with you?” I couldn’t hold back the sneer.

“Angelo,” she started as she stood slowly, defiance crackling in her voice. “I built an empire.”

“You built nothing but trash. We rooted it out. It might have taken a while, but we did it.”

Her guards lunged. Two shots rang out as Ilias’s guards took them out. It was almost too easy.

Carlotta didn’t flinch. She stared at me like I was still the boy who wanted her approval. “Angelo,” she said, softer now. “Don’t make this mistake. I know things. I know who your father is. I could?—”

“I don’t care. No speeches. No last words.” This was not the sort of evil villain moment where someone talked their way out of their death. This was the end. I hoped Remo would forgive me for not discovering the truth about his parentage, but I wouldn’t play games with her.

The shot echoed.

She crumpled.

Now she was just another ghost.

The sea swallowed her body silently. No funeral. No fanfare.

Only the wind and the creak of the ship.

“She would’ve torn us apart,” Ilias said quietly.

“She almost did,” Conall added.

“But not anymore,” I said. “We rebuild. Tighter. Meaner. Smarter.”

Maxim passed me a bottle of whiskey after taking a swallow. “To brotherhood.”

Taking the bottle, I swallowed and then passed it to Conall. I thought of Theo and thelife I had waiting for me back home while I looked out over the water.

Now it was done.

There were always more devils in the dark, but I was ready for them all.

CHAPTER 40

THEODOSIA

The sky wasa soft peach blush when the call came through.

I was in the middle of sketching an elaborate embroidery concept for the wedding table runners (which sounds excessive, but hello, you don’t just marry the don of the Santelli mafia with a few white roses and a shrug). The idea had hit me in the middle of the night like most of my good ones—bold, whimsical, and a little chaotic. I’d already spilled two cups of tea, pricked my thumb, and ruined a perfectly good silk scarf I was using for the spilled tea.

Norris was humming something vaguely operatic in the kitchen downstairs. The scentof lemon and garlic floated up from the oven like an invitation to heaven.

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