Page 260 of Anti-Heroes in Love Duet

“What the fuck are you doing in my house, Salvatore?” he demanded as he lurched to his feet and reached for his phone.

I pulled the gun in my hand up into view, training it dead center on his chest. “Ah, ah, I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.”

He frowned, his muddled brain taking longer to process the inevitable.

Then he froze as it occurred to him why I was there with a gun aimed at his ugly mug.

Because he was going to die.

“No,” he breathed involuntarily.

“Yes,” I countered with a smile that pulled back the curtains on the dark side of my soul. “I’m afraid so. Sit down, O’Malley.”

He fell back into his chair, the wheels taking him away from the desk toward the row of shelves at his back.

“You don’t honestly think you’ll get away with killing me, do you?” he asked with a superior sneer. “I may have lost this case, but everyone knows what you are. It’s only a matter of time before you’re put away for good.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged as I moved farther into the room. “But not for this. You see, I’m not going to kill you. You’re going to kill yourself.”

He laughed.

He was a narcissisticstronzo,so of course, he did. The idea of taking his own life would never have occurred to him otherwise. He loved himself too much.

“How are you going to pull that off?” he asked, his words slurring just slightly.

His eyes were bloodshot, his skin clammy with cold sweat. He’d obviously had a lot to drink, which worked beautifully for me because it would only add to the tragic story.

“I’ve got a source that saysThe Timesis writing an exposé on you,” I said conversationally, picking up a paperweight in the shape of the Statue of Liberty with my gloved hand. “They’re digging into your past. I also heard they got a tip that you grew up with a well-known Irish mobster by the name of Thomas Kelly and his associate, Seamus Moore. All of your cases will be invalidated because they’ll be able to shine a light on what a fucking scumbag you are.”

He stared at me, his left eye twitching. “I’ve never done anything half as bad as you.”

“No, but then, you also haven’t done anything half as well, or you wouldn’t be in this situation,” I pointed out helpfully.

“You’re a fucking bastard,” he ground out. “I’m not going to end myself because you think you can blackmail me.”

“Did I say I would stop with you?” I smiled handsomely. “No, why would I do that? You went for my wife, so why wouldn’t I go after your loved ones? Your mama over in Hoboken, your granny up in Albany. Did they raise you because your dad left when you were just a kid? I’m going to have men on every person you love, Dennis, because you set the rules for this game, and in them, family was never off-limits.”

Finally, he seemed to understand I wasn’t fucking around. His posture slumped in the chair, his eyes distant as he considered.

“Then there is that pretty assistant DA that’s been sucking your cock every day for the past two years. What’s her name…?” I snapped my fingers. “Angelica! Yeah, I got a man on Angelica right now.”

“You’re a monster,” he breathed.

I sat in the chair across the desk from him and leaned forward with my forearms on my thighs to smile ferally at him. “Yeah, I’m a monster, Dennis. Yet you fucked with me and mine. You knew who I was, what I was, and you still thought you could get away with trying to ruin my life? Ruin Elena’s life?” I clucked my tongue against my teeth. “No, no one gets away with that.”

“I’ll leave you alone,” Dennis suggested, trying not to beg, his pride strangling him. “I won’t go after you again.”

I chuckled. “Cute, but too late. You made your fucking bed, and now, you can lie in it six feet under.”

It was late, and I wanted to get back to my wife, to a real bed for the first time in over a month, so I stood to finish this even though I was having fun. I pulled the wrapped package from the back of my waistband and tossed it on the desk for him.

Dennis peeled the paper back with trembling hands, pale and ugly as city doves.

He gaped at what lay inside.

“Your gun,” I pointed out. “The one Frankie and Elena stole when they were with you at the gun range. I brought it back to its rightful owner. I recommend using it to end your misery before it begins, O’Malley. Because if I don’t hear about your obituary in the news tomorrow, I’m going to come for you and your entire family until they even beg you to end yourself,capisci?”

He didn’t answer, but then, I didn’t expect him to.