Page 53 of Bittersweet Endings
Matteo frowned. “Good?”
I wiped the sweat off my brow with the back of my hand. “Find someone willing to take the contract,” I ordered.
His brows lifted slightly, but he didn’t look surprised.
“We’re going to trap him in his own game,” I explained. “Let’s see how he likes being the one with a target on his back.”
Matteo studied me for a beat, then nodded. “I’ll handle it.”
I turned back to the bag, cracking my knuckles before I sent another brutal punch into the leather.
Peiro thought he could take me out? He had no idea who he was playing with. By the time I was done, he’d wish he’d never been born. Octavia deserved to sleep better at night, knowing her final demon had been buried.
Shrugging off my rage, I nodded my goodbyes and walked towards the showers. I was having an early dinner with Eva. She’d beenbehavingat the Slabs—as much as she knew how to. And I was having Alessandro bring her out.
A gift, if you will.
Once I was ready, Diego met me out front and we headed off together. The two of us were silent, both needing a moment to disconnect from the chaos. And where we were headed was the perfect place. Off the beaten path and away from wandering eyes.
We pushed through the door and sat off to the side by ourselves. Settling in, I felt a calmness I hadn’t in what seemed like forever. The ocean always looked better at night. Maybe that was it.
From our corner table, the glass walls framed the water—moonlight dancing across the surface both delicate and doomed. I took a sip of the liquor in my hand, the ice clinking against the crystal as it hit my tongue. Cold. Smooth. Familiar. A small indulgence in a world that didn’t seem to know how to be enjoyable.
Across from me, Diego leaned back in his chair, swirling his espresso like it mattered. “Feels like we’re pretending to be normal,” he said with a half-smile.
I didn’t bother replying. My eyes were on the entrance.
She was late. Eva. Always had a flair for timing. I checked my watch, more out of habit than concern, and that’s when I saw her.
She came through the door like a breeze. Laughing. Bright. Too bright. For a girl who’d been locked away for an extended period of time in the middle of a desert, Eva seemed… happy.
But that wasn’t what made my fingers go still around the glass. It was the way her hand curled around Alessandro’s arm. And the motherfucker didn’t push it off. He walked beside her like a fucking statue—posture straight, eyes scanning. Doing his job. But Eva wasn’t clinging to him for protection. No. Her body leaned into his like itbelongedthere.
Then she looked up at him and smiled. Not polite. Not rehearsed.Real.And I knew.
That instinct in me, the one that always kept me alive, rang loud in my chest. A screaming siren. I didn’t like this. Fucking none of it.
I set my glass down harder than I meant to. Diego’s brow lifted slightly. “You see it too?” he asked, voice low.
I didn’t answer. Just watched my sister walk towards us, talking to Alessandro like nothing about this was wrong. Likeshe hadn’t just pulled a pin from a grenade and tossed it into the room.
I leaned farther back in my chair, schooling my features. I’d worn masks longer than she’d been alive. But inside, I was anything but calm.
Eva was my little sister. And Alessandro? A made man in my employ. And he… he was about to have a problem.
She slid into the seat beside me like she owned the room—typical Eva. Dropping her purse, she kissed my cheek, like I hadn’t just watched her all but draped around her bodyguard.
“Missed you,fratellone,” she said, voice full of fuckin’ sunshine as if she hadn’t cussed me out during the last four conversations we had.
I murmured something about her being late, but my eyes were on Alessandro. He took the seat beside her. Not across, not leaving space.Beside. Close enough that their arms brushed when they shifted, and neither of them flinched.
That was another tell.
He didn’t act like a guard on duty. He wasn’t scanning the exits anymore. He was watching her. Every word that left her mouth, every tilt of her head, he soaked it in like she was the only thing in the room worth noticing, while she laughed too easily. She was suddenly so pleasant. She touched his arm again, and her fingers lingered. And I picked up my glass just to keep from clenching my fists.
It madesense. Sure. Alessandro had been with my sister nearly every day for years now. I trusted him with her life. But this wasn’t protection. This wasn’t loyalty. It was bordering on something else. Something soft. Somethingsensual. And the bastard knew Eva was off-limits.
Diego saw it too. He didn’t say anything else, but I caughtthe glance he gave me over his cup. Subtle. Sharp. I didn’t need confirmation. I wasn’t imagining it.
