A Thousand Cuts (Underworld Kings)

“You touched something that is mine,” I said, speaking for the first time since Lorenzo had entered the room. My fury did not show. I wouldn’t allow it.

“Not only did you touch my bride, you marked her,” I continued, my blood burning.

I’d only seen Sienna fleetingly. And I saw everything I needed to see. I’d turned my back on her, hadn’t spoken to her. Because if I had, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to control myself. I would’ve slit Lorenzo’s throat right there and then.

Felix had explained, in clipped tones, what had happened. Though no one else would’ve noted the change in his regular tone, I’d known the man long enough to recognize it. He was pissed. He was fucking rattled.

Felix had seen the most despicable acts human beings could inflict on one another. He’d committed almost every one of those acts. Most of them at my request.

He did not get rattled.

But it was about Sienna.

Everything in this house was about Sienna. She’d infected us with her tits, her ass, the curve of her lip, the way her hips moved as she walked.

It meant something that Felix was affected by this, meant something that the man I was so sure didn’t have a soul was showing the signs of having one in connection to my woman. But that was not something I could inspect right now.

So Felix was with Sienna, and I was here. Dealing with this.

“Today you proved something,” I continued. “You proved that your father made the right decision ten years ago. You were not a man then, and you are not a man now.”

Lorenzo was glaring at me, gripping the arms of the chair he was sitting in. He was staying silent ... for now. But I knew it was not going to last. This outburst was a long time coming. Sienna bore the brunt of decades of resentment and hate. Sienna had bore the brunt of my decision to cut him off. This was on me.

“Blood does not make you a Don, you know this,” I said quietly. “You had to earn it. You had to prove to your father that you could keep this family strong. That you would hold on to the empire that took decades to build.” I leaned forward. “You didn’t do that. We both know you couldn’t do that. I was never meant to be head of the family this long. It was agreed that I would pass the reins over to you when you came of age. When you proved you were worthy of it.”

I gritted my teeth. “Instead, you acted like a child, lashing out, taking yourself further and further away until it became impossible for you to ever sit here.”

I waited for him to spout off more bullshit, but he just sat there glowering, face red, puffing angry breaths through his nose.

Lorenzo was furious. He wanted to hurt me. Kill me. That much was clear. But though he may have been unhinged, he had enough self-preservation to understand his life was in the balance right now and that if he tried anything, he was dead.

“You know that anyone else who did what you did would be bleeding out on my floor right now,” I continued evenly. It was a struggle to keep my voice low and calm. It was a struggle not to grab my gun and shoot him in the fucking face when I thought about the bruises on Sienna’s arms. The mark on her cheek. The fear and blame in her eyes.

My fists clenched.

“The only reason you are not bleeding out on my floor right now is because I love and respect your father. And your mother. I will not do that to them, take away the one child they have left.”

It was then that Lorenzo lost control, the self-preservation that did not come naturally to him crumbling.

“Fuck you!” he roared, pushing his chair to the floor. “Cristian the hero. The son my father always wanted. The man who stole everything from me. You are just a street rat, your blood is not pure. You have stolen the throne from me.” There were stains of blood around his lips, and his voice with thick, his words slightly garbled. Sienna had damn near bit his tongue off. Pride seared through me. She wasn’t a fucking damsel. She would’ve killed him if Felix hadn’t entered the room. Lorenzo was too much of a coward to pull the trigger. She was not. And that was why she was mine. Why I would never fucking let her go.

He no longer had his gun, and I had no doubt he would’ve attempted to shoot me there and then if Felix hadn’t taken it from him. A good thing too since I would’ve had no choice but to end his life. As it was, I did not relish what I had to do now, even though it meant Vincentius and Sofia wouldn’t be burying their one remaining child.