Standing in front of my home, my family’s home, the first place I felt safe after the fire that took everything from me, where I healed and became a De Luca, I feel every fiber of my being hum with wrath.
Dominic, my cousin, my oldest friend who translated for me before I could grasp English, is somewhere in there. He took my wife—my wife who I just told I loved.
He’s trying to steal my business. Hurt his father. Hurt me with this betrayal.
All of that pales to the fucking rage knowing he believed he was clever and bold enough to take my wife.
All those nights running the streets with him, watching his back as he tried his luck with the other crews were for nothing.
He’s in there with my wife, doing God knows what.
My vision tints red, hands clenching the branches along the side of the houses, twigs snapping under the force.
“Easy, piccolo,” Nico warns, grabbing my elbow. He hoists me back, hidden into the shadows. “Are you sure he’s here? He has Sloane?”
“I didn’t want to believe it, Zio,” I say, voices whispered. I truly didn’t. Betraying the family is huge, a risk no one wants to take. The repercussions… are extreme.
“Linwood confirmed it.” I had detailed footage dug up by the reaper, sent to my phone as I left. Dom was the only common link.
Nico swears under his breath, withdrawing his weapon. I grab the barrel, holding him still. “You don’t have to, Zio. He’s your son.”
“He’s a fucking rat,” he spits on the ground. “I taught you both the same. He chose to betray me, not you. I should have been harder on him and maybe that’s my mistake. But I won’t let my niece get killed because he has no fucking loyalty.”
Licking my lips, I gesture to the house. “Fine. Then you take the front. I’ll take the back.”
Before we spilt up, I hold his shoulder, looking into his eyes.
“Thank you.” I nod once. “For being there, that night. For not leaving me.”
Nico taps my cheek three times.
I love you.
“C’mon on, my boy. Let’s go do this, yea?”
I give him a quick smile, and point to the edge of the property. As expected, Dom dismissed all our guards for the evening, allowing us to be unseen.
It also means there’s no backup. Nothing that can come in time. No one to help if we can’t get the upper hand.
One of the reasons I needed Ace at the Wharf, wasn’t just to detain those who followed Dom’s rule, but because of its distance. Ace would break records to be here if I made the call.
That’s if she isn’t on her way here, now.
This is the only place Dom considers safe. This is a place to begin his rule of the family.
Dom wants everything Nico gave to me. The family home, the organization, the woman who holds my heart in her palms. He wants my life.
Nico walks into the front foyer while I slip around to the back. It allows me to sneak in through the kitchen, to the center of the home. It still smells like Zia’s sauce, but I detect the subtle scents of roses and musk.
Sloane’s perfume. I inhale, taking a moment to memorize it and remember how she fits perfectly next to me in bed, how she laughs when I get under her skin, how her cheeks pinken with my dirty words.
Dom’s a dead man for even thinking she belonged to anyone but me.
I level the gun in front of me, creeping around the corners, hiding in the shadows as I go. The family room, where Nico and Maria watch their old movies, comes up quickly. The fireplace is cracking and popping, the television above it a blank screen.
But I don’t focus on any of that. Just Sloane’s tear-stained face, tied to a dining room chair, her red curls hanging like a curtain into her lap.
My heart fractures as I watch her struggle and pull at her restraints. Her mouth is gagged and her body bound with thick, tight ropes.
I don’t understand what she’s saying, but I shush her, coming closer, blood rushing in my ears. Nothing else matters except that Sloane is here—alive. Relief hits me like a truck, nearly crumpling me when I see that she’s relatively unharmed.
I need to get her out of here, away from this mess and then come back for Dom. She’s my first priority—her safety is my only concern. I tuck the gun into my side, reaching to pull the gag free. “It’s okay, amore. I’m here.”
“No, Lex! It’s a trap.”
A sharp pain erupts at my temple and my body crumples to the ground.
The last thing I hear is Sloane’s sharp cry of rage.
