Angelo (The Marchesi Family 2)

“I’ll stay on the phone with you, and you can direct as we go.” I turned and headed for the door.

Lucien grabbed my arm, but I jerked away from him. “I’m doing this. One way or another. Informed or not. I’m going in, and I’m going to make Sergio suffer.”

“We have to eliminate him. He’s a threat to all of us. But your safety matters more to me than what happens to him. I know you want to draw this out, but I need you to get the job done, get out of there, and come home safe.”

I gave a sharp nod, and my brother pulled me in for a hug before pushing me toward the door.

I hopped on Vinnie’s bike as Devil cranked the engine on his own. I took off, listening to Vinnie as he directed me to the fastest route.

We wove around cars on the highway. The exhilaration of flying down the road on the back of a bike only heightened my aggressive mood. I was primed to kill, ready to face the man who’d dared to threaten my family. Cameron was one of us now. I wouldn’t let Sergio come between me and the future I’d finally realized I wanted.

At Vinnie’s direction, I turned off onto a trail and Devil followed me. We were forced to slow down as we bounced over roots and drove through thick woods. We came out at the back edge of Sergio’s property. I jumped off the bike, ready to race to the house so I could tear it apart until I found the man we sought, but Devil moved in front of me. “We need to check in with Lucien first.”

I paced back and forth in front of our parked bikes as Devil talked to my brother. When he ended the call, he grinned at me. “Sergio is an overconfident bastard with only rudimentary security. In thirty seconds, Emilio will bring it down, and we’ll make a run for it. Easiest entrance is the French doors at the back.”

“Stay behind me,” I demanded.

“He’s all yours.”

We didn’t have to look for Sergio. He was in the sitting room at the back of the house, obviously expecting us. His clothes were rumpled, and his hair stood up like he’d been raking his hands through it. Had he been sitting there all day?

He trained his gun on us as Devil kicked the door in.

“You might get one of us,” I said as I aimed for his heart, “but you’ll die anyway.”

He laughed, and the eerie sound let me know why Elena thought he was unhinged.

“You think you’ve won, but your arrival has set a new game in motion. Now I can start killing your family off one by one, including your precious Cameron.” He spat out Cameron’s name like it disgusted him, and my fingers flexed. I wanted to shoot him now, no matter the risk to myself.

“You haven’t got a chance against both of us,” Devil said.

“I’ve got others who work for me, targeting the rest of you fools even now.”

He was lying, and if he wasn’t, we were on guard for an attack. Lucien would protect Cameron and everyone else.

“We’ve taken everything of yours,” Devil said. “There’s nothing left. We’re not playing your game.”

He snarled as he turned to look at Devil. “I’m going to take it back. I’m going to pick off your people one by one.”

“Then why did you lead us to you? That says you want the game to end.”

He pushed his tangled hair back from his face, and his wild-eyed look solidified my impression that he was full-on crazy. “My father loved games and puzzles with all their hints and tricks. Everything was a fucking game to him, even me, hiding me, promising me things, making me guess when he would visit, even refusing to tell me where to find my mother’s money.”

“He lied,” Devil said. “There’s no fucking money.”

What was Devil doing? Was he trying to get shot? But as the man took a step closer to Devil, I realized my cousin was taking the focus off me so I could make a move.

I fired, shooting Sergio in his right arm. He screamed, and his weapon fell to the floor. I rushed him, kicking the gun out of the way and taking him down to the ground.

“You’re not claiming anything,” I yelled. “You’re dying tonight. You made a mistake when you came for my family.”

My hand slipped in the blood pouring from his wound, and I lost my grip on him. He flipped us, hands coming around my throat. He pressed his thumbs in, cutting off my air as he snarled down at me.

“You’re going to die. You and everyone in your family. You ruined everything. I was going to take over. I was going to be the one to kill my fucking father, the man who destroyed everything for me. I had him cornered. I had a way to finally win the game.”