Page 48 of Doll's Eye

“Look, I know you care about Massimo. Possibly even love him.” I scoff and cross my arms. “So, whatever lies he tells you, you’re most likely to believe them.”

“He isn’t a liar, Tullio.”

“This is exactly what I’m talking about.”

“You don’t know him! I’ve been living with him for the past few months! He isn’t a liar!”

“In time, the truth will reveal itself.”

“You can’t keep me here like this, Tullio. I want my phone back.”

“No.”

“I cannot believe you right now. I am not the enemy here, and you’re treating me like one.” He’s silent as I stand there,combusting with rage. The backs of my eyes sting, and I swallow around the achy lump in my throat. No, they’ll be tears of sadness, not anger when I finally break down and cry. “I won’t forgive you for this.” Giving my brother one last hard look, I leave.

A maelstrom of every volatile emotion churning within.

Chapter twenty-five

Massimo

I’ve been trying to get a hold of Alessia all day, and when her phone goes straight to voicemail several times in a row, I know something is wrong.

I had nothing to do with the hit on the Bonetti’s, and my father has been out of town, so it couldn’t have been him either. And what would be the point in starting an unnecessary war with them?

“De Luca,” Tullio Bonetti answers after two rings.

“I’d like to speak with my fiancée. Is she alright?” I rush out, unable to contain my eagerness.

“She’s fine, and she’s where she belongs. Home.” I stand up to my feet with hostility. “The marriage is off, and so is the truce.”

“The fuck are you talking about? It wasn’t us, Bonetti,” I snarl like a rabid beast.

“We have one of your crew, and he says otherwise.”

“Who,” I snap.

“His name is pointless.”

“Sti cazza.”Fuck that. “Let me speak to Alessia.”

“Not happening.” His serenity only infuriates me more.

My blood begins to boil as a dark haze veils my vision. “I want my fiancée back,” I clip every word out on another snarl.

“You two are done. And you will pay for what you did.”

“The fuck—” I’m met with silence as he hangs up on me.

Roaring at the top of my lungs, I fist my phone and miraculously refrain from smashing it. The thought of Alessia being unable to reach me has me thinking with somewhat of a lucid head. Tullio didn’t say anything about her not wanting to speak with me, only refusing to let me speak with her.

“Boss?” Vinny questions, somehow breaking through my pernicious smog.

“Pack heavy. We’re going to get my fiancée back.”

Three SUVs are packed and loaded, and we head for the Bonetti estate. I will gun down their soldiers if I must to get to Alessia. She’s mine, and she will not be kept from me. Not locked inside a tower or kept inside a cage. She belongs to me, and if she ever needed to be held prisoner, it would be me as her warden.

We’re met at the gates with their armed men as if waiting for us. “Boss, don’t,” Vinny says when I open my car door. He’s been trying to talk me down the entire ride here.