Page 35 of Ruined Vows
Radovan takes a step toward me. “You think marrying that Italian girl will keep your empire safe, clean?” His voice is low, meant only for me.
I smile slowly and darkly. His days are numbered. He’ll always be a part of the problem and never a part of the solution.
“She’s not a cleaning agent. She’s the fire. And I’m the man who gets to walk through it.”
His narrowed stare cuts to me. If this weren’t so serious, it would be laughable. But he doesn’t speak.
Because he knows I’m already too far gone and that soon, his blood will be on my hands.
He’d rather stand there and complain, making issues out of non-issues. He’s not a warrior like her.
Bianca Borrelli is not just an impressive woman. She’s ahurricane with eyes that shoot daggers. I still remember how she looked when she walked into that warehouse dressed for war. I remember her scent—apples and something darker. The way her mouth curves when she’s about to say something lethal. She’s the type of woman who cuts without a knife. And damn if I haven’t been obsessed for her ever since.
Fucking hell, she bruised my ribs yesterday in the ring and Ilether.
I iced them to reduce the swelling, and I was smiling the entire time.
Damn, she’s a helluva woman. And Radovan can go fuck himself. He’s not worthy of saying her name.
He doesn’t understand how the game is played. He’ll never accept the fact that alliances and backroom deals are where business deals are made. It’s a club of men who can change the world with the brush of a pen. He’ll never see what I’m building or understand my actions.
He’s too wrapped up in loyalty to dead men. He’s less of a person because he’s living in the past. I should know. I’ve lived in the past, and nothing good comes of it.
It’s a place I know well because I dwelt in it for too long. I know from personal experience what loss and regret do to a man. Those who can’t move forward are eventually lost to us. Perhaps that’s why I knew Bianca was the woman for me.
She knows this world, what it costs, and what’s at stake to keep it. She knows what it takes to protect her family, and she rushed into it head-on. She’s not afraid to bleed for it, and that’s admirable.
I’m not stupid. I saw something good walk into my life. And in that moment, I knew God had sent me a way to pull myself out of hell. Bianca makes me want to be a better man. When I looked at her, I saw light, not darkness, and that doesn’t happen to men like me.
But a wise man reaches out and takes the light. At times,it’s the only thing that keeps us in this world, for without it, we’d all have black souls and be entirely unredeemable.
But Radovan continues to talk, ruining my day, and generally sucking the life out of me.
“This isn’t an alliance. You love her,” he says finally. “You’re weak. And it’ll be the reason we will bury you beside the brother you murdered.”
I ignore the dig. He’s jealous. Jealous of my position, my power, and my woman. As for my brother? I don’t want to lie, but I can omit facts. He had to go, one way or another, before he took us all down with him.
I expected him to process the fact that I might have a hand in my brother’s death. Hell, history has been built on greed and betrayal.
I tell myself he’ll come around to the new alliance. And I reason to myself that he’s jealous and only wishes he could obtain a woman like Bianca.
Because no man in the city would pass up a chance to be near her, especially when men lined up for a glimpse of her, knowing that she would never notice them, yet they stopped to admire her just the same.
And they long for her.
I step closer to him. I’m close enough for him to smell the blood still drying on my skin.
“What do you expect to gain? You can’t scare me.”
He tosses his cigarette, grinds it on the floor between us, and walks out without another word.
And I let him.
Because I need him to hang himself on his words, because they’ll eventually lead to actions, and he’ll give me a justified reason to take him out. I can’t break any more rules with the men still reeling when I assumed control of the empire.
They need to respect me with the right amount of fear. He and my uncle need to fall in line.
I’m watching him go, wondering if the noose will tighten around me or Bianca first.
