“I’m taking my revenge.”
“Your revenge?” I did look into Stephan’s past, but I didn’t find much of a trace. I came up with the whole thing that Lucio killed his parents so he’d help me; I didn’t know it was actually true.
He places a gun in my hand as he slams the storage door open. “Shoot me.”
I can barely stand on my feet as he releases me and I brace myself near the wall. Sure enough, Angelo appears in a black-tinted car.
Stephan’s eyes dart sideways, probably expecting Marco or someone else to appear.
I don’t hesitate as I aim at his shoulder and pull the trigger. He grits his teeth cursing me.
“What?” I show him my bloodied teeth. “You said to shoot you.”
“A warning would’ve been fucking nice.” He clutches his arm, clenching his jaw.
“Consider it payback for the torture.” I hold on to Angelo when he comes to my side, clutching me by the shoulder.
“I’m sorry, boss. Many of our men were killed when they came to the States.”
I curse under my breath. Fucking Lucio.
As he guides me to the car, I stumble in the back seat. Enzo is in the passenger seat, his face solemn. When I see him, my injuries almost go unnoticed. “What the fuck are you doing here? Where’s Georgina?”
He says nothing and it’s worse than if he stabbed me with a knife.
If I was in a better physical state, I would’ve grabbed him by the throat and punched him in the fucking face.
“Where the fuck is she?” I snarl then cough up my own blood.
Angelo offers me a bottle of water and I throw it away, still glaring at Enzo even though blood is dripping from my lip.
Enzo’s jaw tightens. “She’s gone.”
I pause, breathing heavily at the thought that something happened to her.
She’s gone.
Dead.
No longer alive.
“What do you mean by she’s fucking gone?”
Enzo releases a long breath. “She ran back to Paolo Costa.”Sure enough, my little Petal ran away.
A part of me is proud of the stunt she pulled on Enzo, how she got herself to the embassy in mainland Italy even though her Italian isn’t that good. Though maybe she went to Palermo and found her way from there.
She even took the fucking cats. That takes a woman of steel, especially in a foreign land where she knows no one.
The other part is fucking livid, and that’s the part I’ve been focusing on the past few weeks.
While I’ve been recovering from the torture, I made a few business decisions back in Italy and left De Marco in charge of the lands.
Enzo, Angelo and I are staying here now. It’s pointless to draw the enemy back to Sicily when we can get him on his own fucking ground.
Now that we have Stephan on the inside, a new plan is forming.
And yes, part of the reason why I’m here is because of her, Georgina, my little Petal. My fucked up obsession.
Only is it just an obsession anymore? I’m starting to think it’s morphing into something more than that, something potent and out of fucking control.
I haven’t stepped into the bedroom in Sicily because it reminds me so much of her. The thought of walking in that house, not hearing her singing or talking to her damn cats makes me fucking depressed.
So I went back to my old habits, watching from afar.
Now that she’s with Paolo, I can’t unleash my full stalker mode — considering he’s become more religious about security, but I catch glimpses of her when she goes out.
A pampered mafia princess.
Paolo has unleashed his doting father role on her, making her the princess of his little mansion.
She’s enjoying it, too, or maybe she’s enjoying the fact she’s with her father. There’s a spark in her gray eyes whenever she looks at him, not to mention that she hugs him every chance she gets.
My little Petal always needed affection. Even when she was Joseph, she would snuggle to my side and hug my arm, my waist, or even my leg. Anywhere was fine as long as she had human contact.
Over the years, she smothered that part of her, but now that she found her family, the longing is slowly peeking out.
I try not to feel bitter about the fact that I somehow, in my fucked up fantasies, wished that I’d be the one who’d provide that for her.
Enzo and Angelo have been trying to stop me from taking the next step, but fuck them and fuck her if she thinks she can get rid of me this easily.
No matter how good Paolo’s security is, there are also small openings that you can’t control that well; like drunk guards.
All the time I’ve been watching, I caught one of Paolo’s men drinking during his night shift and because of that, he has to take pauses to piss. They’re one of the rarest moments I’ll have to go inside.