Page 54 of Bound in Promise

“I think you need to start concentrating on yourself, Mors,” he counters simply. “Now that I have you here, what am I going to do with you?”

“We all know that answer,” I retort. “Stop fucking around and let me see?—”

“She’s not up to entertaining visitors at the moment,” Angelo murmurs with a frown. “She’s had quite the ordeal.”

My stomach drops and my body stills. “What do you mean?” As I wait for Angelo’s answer, I realize that I’ve stopped working to free my hands. Quickly, I go back to twisting my wrists. If nothing else, the effort keeps me somewhat grounded.

Angelo pauses, his eyes staring off into space and his mouth gently curving as if recalling a particularly happy dream. “I finally see the appeal.”

Ice runs through my veins and I let the monster inside me peek out from my eyes. “You touch her, and I’ll kill you.”

“Oops.”

I lunge, but—fuck me—my legs and arms are bound and I barely get myself and the chair an inch off the floor before crashing back again.

“Calm down, Dante,” Angelo taunts. “She’s alive.”

“You think this is a fucking game?” I rage through clenched teeth. “You’re a dead man walking, Lombardi.”

“I can assure you I’m quite well.” He folds his hands together. “She, however…”

My heart slows at the thought of how scared she has to be. How hopeless she must be feeling right now. I will set her free if it’s the last thing I do. If Angelo really wanted me dead, he’d have offed me already.

There has to be something he wants more.

“Spit it out,” I demand. “Why are we still talking?”

“Freedom,” he deadpans with a lift of his pudgy shoulders. “Your anger is going to serve me well.”

“Explain.”

Angelo glowers at me and his mask of prissy manners falls. “I’ll explain when I’m good and fucking ready, dipshit. You don’t get to make the rules here. I do. Never forget who is in control.”

“There’s a large sum to be made from well-run underground fights,” Angelo elaborates, beginning to circle me like a shark. “I’ve been considering getting my feet wet.”

“I’m not your guy.”

“You are my guy,” Angelo counters flatly. “I have a proposition, Moretti. Let’s face it, working under me to clear your debt is no longer an option. I’d be an idiot to trust you with a gun in your hand. Instead, I’ll allow you to win back my money in the ring. Once your brother’s debt is paid, our business will be finished. You’ll be free.”

“Bullshit,” I sneer.

“I have nothing against you personally, Moretti. You never betrayed me. Never tried to fuck me over?—”

“Then why am I here? Why sell my wife?—”

“You were taking too long, and I’ll admit, I grew impatient. I needed to get at least some of my money back.” He shrugs as he comes back into view, having circled behind me. “And I’m not so stupid as to think you don’t have useful connections.”

I’m not buying any of this.

However, if it gets me out of this chair, I’ll listen to whatever deal he wants to cut.

“You want me to fight for you?”

“I don’t simply want you to fight, Moretti. You need to win. These aren’t your civilized prize fights on primetime, no. This is life or death. Pay off your debt and then walk away.”

“And what’s to stop me from killing you after we’re through, Lombardi?” I smirk. “We both know I’m more than capable.”

Angelo spreads his hands as if it’s of no concern to him. “If that’s a risk you’re willing to take, so be it. However, if you try, then I will have a vendetta against you. My men and I will be more than happy to take our pound of flesh from your wife until we get our hands on you.”