Page 130 of Bitter Poetry

“What happened?”

“Tell me you’re going to move up your fucking plans!”

“Chris!” Leon’s sharp reprimand brings my brother’s restless pacing to an abrupt stop.

His bloodshot eyes swing my way. I’ve never seen him like this, and it ramps up the sense of foreboding. “Is she okay?”

His laugh has a tinge of mania to it. “No.”

I lunge for him. Leon cuts me off before I get to him. “Tell me what the fuck happened right now, or I swear to fucking God, I will finish what somebody started!”

“Cosmo attacked Carmela.”

The fight goes out of me. I don’t feel like I’m connected to the real world. Leon’s head whips around. He releases me slowly and turns to face Christian.

My brother flings himself onto the couch and lets his head roll back against the cushion. “I found him on top of her, trying to fucking rape her. He didn’t. She was still mostly dressed, but he’d come over her ass. I thought Ettore was going to fucking end me for letting it happen on my watch. Still don’t know why he didn’t. Gave me a knife and told me to have fun. So I did. Cosmo’s dead. He suffered…” He rolls his head forward, leans up, plants his elbows in his knees, and puts his head in hishands. “I can’t get the image of her out of my fucking head. The sounds she made… Like I felt them inside me, under my skin. He’d bitten her—fucking animal. Killing him once wasn’t anywhere near enough. We need to escalate the fucking plans.”

“Understood,” Leon says.

Christian lifts his head. “No, I don’t think you fucking do. This isn’t about what Cosmo did. He’s just the latest pile of excrement in her life. We left her with Ettore. Let him put his hands on her, knock her around, let him rape her, telling ourselves it was okay because her father set it up, it’s legal, and they’re married. That’s bullshit. I’m telling you now, she fucking hates him, and she sure as shit never once welcomed his attention or warranted his fists. She deserves better. It’s time we do fucking better. For her.”

I swallow past the tightness in my throat. “Can we do this now?” I turn to Leon in question. I can’t string coherent thoughts together.

“Are you giving me a choice?” Leon asks.

Am I? “No. We need to make this work.”

“What’s the plan?” Chris demands.

“We take Carmela,” Leon says slowly.

“He’ll go fucking nuts,” Christian says. “You didn’t see him with his own brother.”

“Good,” I say. The thoughts that eluded me only a moment ago are suddenly crystal clear. “We want him to. We want him reeling and weak. He failed to protect his wife from his own brother. Word will get out about that soon enough. Family is everything in this world. Everyone knew Cosmo was a problem and he didn’t deal with it. The capos won’t be impressed. If she disappears, there will be speculation she fled, which will likewise make Ettore look weak.”

“He might try to blame other parties,” Leon adds. “But I doubt anyone will buy into that. Profits are good at the moment.If he wants to start a war, he’ll need proof, a body, or a ransom demand. When he gets none of those, people will assume she ran.”

“So, we take her. And after? You want me to continue working for him?”

“Yes, for now,” Leon says.

“Then you need to take her when I’m not on watch.”

“Correction. You need to take her when you’re not on watch.”

Christian’s chuckle has a dark, unhinged edge to it. “Well, alright then. Fucking finally. I’ve already done some scenario planning. I’ll need a clean white van with fake plates, half full of Amazon delivery parcels, left in a city center lock-up.”

Leon lifts one brow. “Scenario planning…? On second thoughts, don’t answer that. Consider it done.”

“So, where are you going to keep her?” Christian says, leaning forward in his seat. “I got distracted at this point in my scenario planning given she was bound and helpless in the back of the van.”

Jesus Christ! I can almost feel my fingers around his throat. “In my apartment.”

The murky waters suddenly turn clear.She’s still mine.She came all over my dick.

She’s still wearing the necklace I gave her.

Christian’s brows knit together. If I suffered any delusions about his feelings toward her, that look clears everything right up. He’s in deep. Obsessed and committed. My brother doesn’t do anything by halves. It’s all or nothing with him. I wonder if my future wife even knows the kind of man she willingly allowed into her orbit, and her body.