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Alto begins to laugh. It starts as a wheezing sound and develops quickly into weak but hearty laughter. “You’re so fucking scorned, aren’t you? You can’t handle that he chose us, can you? He’s like a kicked puppy that just keeps coming back for more. Fuck that. That rat might have pretended to love you, but it’s notmyfucking fault you fell for it, alright? Crazy fucking bitch.”

My racing heart skips a beat making me feel dizzy for a second. “Chose you? Because you were fucking working together!”

“Together?! You know what he is,” Alto wheezes between his pathetic laughter. “He’s a fucking half-breed, always vying for daddy’s attention. Well this was me, not him. You hear me? I’m the one that’s terrorized you, and I won’t let that fucker get the credit. It was me! He’s too pathetic for anything worthwhile, don’t you see? All it took was a little threat to kick him out of the family, and he came crawling back to us like the dog he is. He’s got no fucking loyalty to anyone.”

“What?” The world falls away and I slowly lean up as a strange silence settles around me. “You were…going to kick him out of the family? When?”

“I don’t fucking know,” Alto snarls, gripping my ankle tighter. “Soon as he found out, he ran all the way over here, but it was too late. My plan was already in motion and he came running back, so I proved what he really was. A coward.”

Kick him from the family?

In a single, painful second, everything makes sense.

Roman and Alto weren’t working together.

And Roman didn’t lie to me to cover for his family either.

He did it to protect me.

He must have faced an impossible choice; helping me or losing his chance to get revenge on Santino. His carefully laid plan ofdecadeswas about to go up in smoke, and he still came to see me. Only to learn that Alto had been manipulating my mother all this time. No wonder he turned so cruel. No wonder he told me to trust no one and acted like it was all one gigantic plan.

He didn’t know what Alto’s plan truly was, or how deep it went, so he did the only thing he could to keep me safe. He made me so angry that I took extreme steps to protect myself.

He let me go.

“Roman isn’t a coward,” I say between gritted teeth. “He’s so much more complex that a tiny brain like yours can’t possibly comprehend!”

“Doesn’t fucking matter,” Alto wheezes. “He’ll be dead soon and so will you.”

“Where is he?”

“Fuck off, like I’m going to tell you.”

“Where. Is. He?!” Each word is punctuated by a shot near Alto’s head, with one being close enough to tear through his left ear. I fire until the gun is nearly empty, and finally Alto screams out an address.

“Now who’s the coward?” I spit down at him, then shoot him clean between the eyes.

36

JASMINE

“Are you sure about this?” Theresa’s soft voice over the phone is surprisingly calming as my driver races me and the rest of my team toward the Gatti mansion. “You’re heading into the lion’s den.”

“I’m done running.” My racing heart says otherwise. “Santino doesn’t see me as a threat, so he won’t expect me to just turn up like this. He also doesn’t think I have the power to back it up.”

“And if he’s not there?”

“Santino Gatti only has a few places to hide. He won’t escape me.”

“I wish you luck, darling. Call me if you need anything.”

“Will that raise the percentage of our deal?”

Theresa laughs softly. “Tempting, but I’m enjoying the show. Remember, Jasmine. Your name is attached to mine now. Don’t disappoint me.”

How can one woman sound so angelically gentle and yet terribly intimidating all at the same time? Thankfully, the conversation with Theresa calms the turmoil churning in my gut about Roman.

Anger still sits hot and heavy in my chest when I think of him standing in front of me saying all of those awful things. He really pulled out the stops to make me hate him and it worked.