Twisted Hearts (The Camorra Chronicles 5)

Maybe I’d kill him too if he didn’t stop looking at me like that.

Mick was babbling about going engagement ring shopping because the festivities were supposed to happen in a few months. At least, he was clever enough not to ask either Diego or me to join him.

“The hottest girl in Vegas is going to be my wife, can you believe it?”

Over my dead body, Michelangelo. I looked him up and down. He didn’t deserve Gemma, and he sure as fuck wouldn’t get her.

Diego grabbed another beer and emptied it in two large gulps before he leveled his scowl on me.

It wasn’t even midnight when I left. Mick was disappointed, but if you asked me, he could count himself lucky to be alive. I’d killed him in about two dozen different ways while he went on and on about his fucking engagement party.

“Don’t feel like celebrating, do you?” Diego said close behind me when I stopped at my car.

I turned, narrowing my eyes. “Neither did you.”

“I don’t like the idea of anyone getting into my sister’s panties.”

A new wave of insane fury raced through me. “Michel-fucking-angelo won’t get into Gem’s panties or anywhere near them.”

Diego’s expression made it clear that he’d taunted me to get exactly that reaction. I took a step closer to him. “You know Gemma doesn’t want to marry Mick. If he wasn’t so infatuated, he’d realize it too.”

“He was the best option. She needs to be promised at her age. Why do you even care, Savio? It’s not like you seemed to give a fuck when I told you we were looking for someone.”

“I do care now, and I tell you that Gemma won’t marry Mick, got it?”

Diego shook his head. “It’s too late. She needs to be promised, that’s just how it is. Unless you decide to marry after all?”

I scoffed and Diego’s expression darkened. “Then there’s nothing you can do, Savio. Whatever you want from Gemma, you can’t have it. Not unless there’s a ring with your name on her finger.”

I glared. A ring with my name. Marriage. Did I really want that?

He shrugged and turned to head toward his car. “I hope you’ll enjoy seeing the bloody sheets after Mick and Gemma’s wedding night.”

What the fuck? I advanced on him, grabbed him by the arm and shoved him into the car. He didn’t even bother fighting me off, only grinned mirthlessly.

“I’m going to kill him before I’ll allow that to happen, Diego. If I have to, I’ll kill you, too.”

“Fuck you, Savio. You have to make a decision, and you better make it quick. Because once we’ve officially celebrated the engagement, there’s no going back. How much are you willing to do to get my sister?”

He shoved me away and got into his car, then drove off, giving me the finger.

How much was I willing to do for Gemma?

I’d cut a few of my goddamn fingers off to get my hands on her, but marriage? Damn. No matter the price, I’d pay it, only to be the first in Gemma’s panties.

I drove back home in record time, sending pebbles flying everywhere as I hit the brakes right in front of the entrance.

Lights came on in Nino’s wing. I stormed toward the front door, pushed it open then went in search of Remo. It was a few minutes past midnight, so I doubted he was in bed unless he fucked Serafina.

I found him in the common area, staring at his laptop. When he spotted me, his eyes narrowed, and he put the laptop aside. “I don’t like your expression.”

I stopped right in front of him, panting as if I’d run a marathon, but my racing pulse and throbbing heartbeat had nothing to do with physical exertion. “We have a problem.”

Remo leaned back, regarding me closely. “A ‘I have to kill someone problem’?”

I didn’t want to kill Mick, or Diego.

That wasn’t true. I wanted to kill Mick, but I shouldn’t, but I would kill him if we didn’t find another solution. “That’s something I’d like to avoid.”

I had Remo’s full attention now. Killing was his favorite pastime and I too enjoyed to spill our enemies’ blood. “Spill.”

“Gemma was promised to Mick. She’s supposed to marry him when she turns eighteen.”

The keen look disappeared at once and was replaced by annoyance. “I don’t see why that’s my concern. My men handle their family matters. I told them when I became Capo that I didn’t want to be involved in their fucking match-making. They don’t need my blessing to barter their children away.”

“It’s your concern because I want Gemma, and I don’t give a fuck what I’ll have to do to get her.”

Remo got up and tilted his head in contemplation. Remo managed to make you feel like an insect under the microscope when he regarded you like that. The worst thing was that he always saw more than you wanted him to see. It was his special skill, that and being a twisted, brutal fucker who loved to torture people. “Why didn’t Daniele arrange a marriage with you then, if you want her?”