Page 117 of Brutal Heir
His mouth curves, chest falling. “That was an accident. The girl walked in at a bad time.”
“So you killed her?”
“I had no choice, Rossi. But it sure as hell wasn’t me who ordered the hit.”
My breath catches.
I glance at Alessandro, but his face is unreadable like stone carved from fire. His knuckles are white as he fists them at his sides, every muscle coiled like a spring.
“I believe him,” he mutters, but it lands in the room like a grenade.
Jimmy scoffs. “You serious?”
Alessandro’s jaw ticks. “Dead serious. We’ve got worse things to worry about than this idiot. He’s just a pawn. He’s not our shooter.”
“Damn right I’m not,” Jace mumbles, head dropping forward.
Alessandro turns to Jimmy, a tendon flickering beneath the five o’clock shadow along his jaw. “Call it off.”
Everyone in the room knows whatitmeans, except for Jace hopefully.
“You’re sure?”
“It’s what I just said, isn’t it?”
“After what we started… it won’t be easy to come back from that. There will be consequences.”
“And I’ll handle them when they come.”
A wave of nausea hits me. I stagger back against the wall, the weight of it all crashing into me at once.
This is my fault.
If I hadn’t lied about who I was, if I’d told Alessandro the truth from the beginning, he wouldn’t have set all of this in motion. Now surely there would be retribution from La Spada Nera. Maybe not today or tomorrow while they’re hiding out licking their wounds, but one day. My lies have made Alessandro vulnerable, and not just him, but his whole family.
I wrap my arms around my middle, bile rising in my throat. I want to scream. I want to confess everything again, just to feel like I’m doing something. But I’ve already said the words. And still… this blood, this violence, it feels like mine.
Alessandro turns to me then, his eyes gentler than I deserve. “Red?”
I nod, swallowing hard. “I’m fine,” I lie.
But I’m not. Not even close.
Because all I can think is: if something happens to Alessandro, if I lose him, because of the secrets I carried into his home I’ll never survive it.
CHAPTER 45
MAKE HIM BLEED
Alessandro
The air inside the Gemini Tower boardroom is thick with tension, more so than usual. Cigarette smoke curls toward the vaulted ceiling, mingling with the stench of espresso and testosterone.
“Put that shit out, Jimmy,” Uncle Nico barks, and his righthand man snuffs out the cigarette in the ashtray, muttering curses.
The long mahogany table is surrounded by some of the most powerful Gemini men, hell, almost all of New York’s underworld. The gleam of the polished wood catches my eye, reflecting the hard lines of every man seated around it, eyes sharp, tempers sharper. My father sits at the head, Uncle Nico lounging in the shadows like a panther and Matteo seated beside me, silent for once, his jaw locked tight.
My knee bounces under the table.
