Page 63 of Surrender

But with Fox… He really can handle himself.

“I know,” I say. “Though we’re both at risk right now, until I can get Silvano to fucking listen to me and not Peter. Shooting people isn’t going to help either of us.”

“Sure it is. We shoot Peter and Silvano. Problem solved.” Fox twines his hand in mine. “And you can take over or something. That’s how it works, right? Once you’ve beaten all your rivals, you take what was once theirs.”

I shake my head slowly. “I don’t want it,” I admit. “I was content to be consigliere, to be underboss when Don Cresci stepped down. I don’t want the full target on my head. Silvano… His father may not have been entirely certain that he could take over, but I think he can as long as he doesn’t fucking listen to Peter.”

“Unless Silvano was in on it from the start,” Fox points out. “What if I tell you he had his cock inside me before you caught us? Would that make killing him easier?”

I sit bolt upright, staring at Fox as rage catches up with the grief. “What?” I ask sharply. “Did he fucking touch you, Fox?” I grab him by the throat, even though I know on some level that I’m simply being baited.

Fox smiles widely. “Oh, definitely. His big, long cock reached so much deeper than you ever could, Daddy. And those elegant fingers of his! He left me so wet and messy.”

I growl at him, though my common sense quickly catches up with me. They didn’t have time to have sex before I showed up—and Fox hadn’t been wet and messy when I’d fucked him only minutes later. But it’s so fucking hard to let reason take over, because the idea of Silvano fucking Fox just has me completely irrational. “If you want me to choke you, just fucking say so,” I tell him as I squeeze the sides of his fragile neck.

Fox moans and keeps smiling. “Technically, all I want is to kill Silvano. Just like you do, now!”

I take a moment to breathe, flexing my fingers—tightening them, loosening them, then tightening them again until he can’t breathe. “If Silvano put Peter up to it, then yes, he needs to die,” I say. I release Fox. “Now we just have to find out the truth.”

Fox gasps for air, then stretches his limbs as if he hadn’t just been choked. “Fine, fine. I like my plan better, but I suppose we can do it your way, Daddy.”

“Of course we’re doing it my way,” I tell him. “Now this is what we’re going to do…”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

FOX

“I don’t like it. It’s obviously a trap,” I say, for the twentieth time, as Cristiano brings the car to a stop well away from the meeting site. It’s my car, technically, but like with everything, Cristiano is a control freak who didn’t want me to do the driving. “I still think we should just shoot Peter and Silvano both instead of even entertaining… anything. If I set up on the tower—”

“Silvano would never agree to anything unless he thought he’d have the upper hand. It’s already a fucking miracle he agreed to meet at all,” Cristiano says. He sounds tired, probably because he’s repeating himself for the twentieth time as well.

“Because he figures he’ll shoot you before you can get a single word in. Thus giving him the upper hand.” I reach out to pat his chest, just to reassure myself of the bullet-resistant vest underneath. Not bullet-proof, of course, and either way, it won’t help if somebody gets him in the skull. “Come on, you don’t need Silvano. He clearly doesn’t like you, or he wouldn’t have sicced the entire party on you.”

“He was trying to cover his own ass, and he was in shock,” Cristiano calmly disagrees. “Now that he’s had time to think about it, he knows how unlikely it was that I had something to do with it.” He smirks at me, though there’s a dark edge to it that makes my stomach flutter. “And I offered to show him your hole so he can see what we were really up to in there.”

“Sure. Make sure he gets his fingers in deep though, so he can really be sure,” I joke, but I’m not feeling it. I want to get this all over with.

“Like hell,” Cristiano mutters.

Part of me wonders if it wouldn’t be smarter for us to disappear entirely. Would Silvano chase us across the border? But neither of us want to live in hiding.

“Fine. But wait until I’m set up before you go anywhere near him, okay?” I say.

Cristiano nods, his own joking facade gone now. “All right.” He touches the earpiece he’s wearing. “I’ve got you right here, and I won’t do anything stupid.”

“Meeting with Silvano in the first place is stupid. On account of the obvious trap,” I mutter.

Cristiano eyes me, but he doesn’t respond.

I stare into his eyes, and I’m gripped by this terror that I’m going to see another red painting.

Which is dumb, because of course I am. I’m going to be killing everybody who tries to hurt Cristiano.

I lean across the car’s console and grab Cristiano’s shirt jacket. “Remember what you promised, Daddy.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Fox,” he says, touching my cheek with just his fingertips at first, then cupping it. “I’m yours, and you’re mine, and neither of us is leaving the other. If you even try, I’ll track you down and drag you back. Remember that, too, while you’re up there shooting.”

But I’m not the one playing the bait.

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