A Vow of Love and Vengeance

Fuck, I was so angry at him, at Matteo, Sergio, Roberto. I wanted them all to suffer. They were all part of this sick shit that made Emilia worthless, and it made me murderous.

“Sit and watch, or go back to your cell. I don’t really care. Renzo thought you’d want to witness some justice.” My gaze raked over Emilia’s oldest brother. “I personally think you’re too much of a selfish prick to care. You make any move to interfere, and Jackson is going to put a bullet in a knee cap.” I glanced at Jackson, and he nodded.

I turned my attention to Matteo, and the tension in the room ratcheted. I tried to think, to ask him what I wanted to know, but as I looked at him, all I could picture was him kissing Emilia, biting her, hurting her.

Whatever ragged thread of sanity I was clinging to snapped, and I punched him in the face, then again. “You dared to put your lips on my wife!”

His face, body, kidneys. He was like a fucking heavy bag under my fists.

“Shot her.” Another blow and he grunted. “Tried to take her.” I gripped his jaw, crushing his cheeks into the ball gag until tears streamed down his face. The rage beat away at me so hard, I wanted to squeeze until his eyes popped out of his head and his jaw broke. “Did you think you could have her?” I shoved him away, and he swung back on the chain, then forward, right into my waiting fist.

His already-broken nose busted open again, spraying me with blood. I reveled in it, wanted to fucking bathe in it.

“I made it very fucking clear the last time we met that she’s mine. You touch what’s mine, and you pay the price.” I glanced at Jackson. “Get me the baseball bat.”

Jackson threw his head back on a laugh. “As much as I would pay very expensive hooker-level money to see you smash him around like a pinata, I don’t think there’s any candy in him. Also, we need him alive, kind of functioning.” I glared at my friend, and he held up his hands. “Hey, your words.”

I snarled and punched Romano again. And again. I went until my arms ached, and my breaths came in hard pants. Until he was a bloody mess and my rage was tempered to a wildfire instead of a supernova. I wanted to do worse. So much worse. The last hit was to his mangled dick. He cried out around the ball gag before sagging against the chains.

“You done?” Jackson asked, handing me a towel.

I wiped the blood from my hands as Jackson removed the gag.

“Sergio is going to kill all of you,” Matteo panted, the words were thready and half lost on a groan.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I would worry about yourself, Romano.” I tossed the towel down on the cart in the corner. “You took my wife, and I want to know why.” I wasn’t sure it really mattered, but I wanted to know if Sergio had anything to do with it, if he posed a future threat.

Matteo had the balls to glare at me. “Because she’s mine.” His words were slightly slurred through his swelling jaw. “Promised to me.”

I took a step forward, and this time, Renzo restrained me, slamming his palms against my chest. The look in Romano’s eyes… it was beyond the mere sick lusting of a mad man. He genuinely thought he had a claim on her. And it infuriated me.

“I’m well aware of what Sergio promised you.” I pictured all the things Romano would have done to Emilia, and my vision tinged red. “What he threatened Emilia with.”

“What are you talking about?” someone asked behind me.

I turned and found Luca frowning at me, leaning forward in his seat.

Renzo was the one who answered him. “If Emilia wouldn’t marry Gio, Sergio was going to gift her to Matteo. As his whore.”

Luca frowned, his gaze dropping to the concrete floor between his feet.

“What fun we would have had.” Matteo hacked a laugh that was barely more than a cough. “Roberto wouldn’t let me have Emilia the first time around.” His voice was barely above a whisper but had no less impact.

It was Renzo who tensed now. “She was sixteen, you sick fuck!”

Matteo flashed a bloody grin. “Her sister cried and begged, but I always knew Emilia would fight.”

The beast inside me roared to the surface, and I shoved Renzo aside, punching Matteo in the ribs hard enough to hear bones crack. He let out a muffled cry that did little to satisfy me.

“Gio.” Renzo put a hand on my shoulder but wisely did not get between us again. “He knows he’s not getting out of this alive. He wants you to kill him before you can get any information out of him. He’s baiting you.”