Page 73 of Crescendo

Chuckling, he runs a hand over the stubble along his jaw. He’s sizing up the details of his plan, picking out just how much information he’s willing to share. He was always a sneaky little fucker. “Let’s just say I already have a buyer lined up.”

“A buyer?” It takes two seconds before the words click and his genius plan unfurls in my mind.

He wants to sell her. Whore out Vinny Stacatto’s girl, getting off on the man’s humiliation. It’s sadistic. It’s lucrative.

It’s fucking stupid.

“If you want to take down a fucker like Stacatto, then you go for the head,” I say. “You cut it off the fucking snake. She”—I jerk my chin toward the woman—“knows the inner workings of his organization. His habits. His weaknesses. We use her to take him down, and you stick to whoring out your women on street corners.”

Mack rubs his chin. “Who’s to say she can’t speak while she’s riding my buyer’s cock?”

Red.It’s only when Stacatto’s woman whimpers that I realize my fingers tensed, threatening to crush her spine beneath them. “She’ll help us take him down on her own.”

“Funny.” Mack rocks his head from side to side, stretching out the muscles in his neck. “I’ve heard about the little tape you made with her. If she’s that good of a fuck to get Dandy Dante on her side, then maybe I should double my asking price?”

“No.” The hoarse command weasels through my eardrums before I even register stepping forward, jarring the woman clutching my shoulders.

Her head falls back, those unfocused eyes seeking mine out. “No...only...you.” She utters the words softly enough that only I can hear them, not that they make any fucking sense.

Only you.

“Arno’s already agreed to it,” Mack adds with a casual jerk of his thumb toward the ginger bastard in question. “Look at her. She took the high quickly. The little princess won’t feel a fucking thing—”

“No.”

Mack knows business the way a mutt has inner workings of the stock market. He prefers to snarl over scraps to make a quickbuck. It’s why Dino overlooked him as a successor; the bastard never thinks with his head.

“You string her out and trade her for cash. Then what? What next when Stacatto comes knocking with an army at his heels? You didn’t see the men he sent to Arno’s. They were machines. Professional.” I can’t help a flicker of appreciation. A monster can respect the skill of another predator, after all. “Who’s to say that your buyer isn’t already cutting a deal right now to sell you out to Stacatto himself?”

Mack lets another gruff laugh loose. “Dandy little Dante,” he says, shaking his head. “Always Dino’s favorite. You still love putting that unfinished high school education of yours to the test, I see.” For a split second, he drops the act. True hatred lurks in his gaze, unfinished despite the years I spent in prison. Now that’s more fucking like it.

“And you’re still nothing more than a mutt, I see. Still running with the dogs.”

He doesn’t react to the insult, but even five years ago, the fucker had quick reflexes, known to have a knife drawn and a man gutted before the poor bastard even knew what had hit him. Arno may have had the temper, but they didn’t call Mack the “Mad Dog” for nothing.

He watches me coldly, tallying up the differences he finds in me. I do the same to him. He’s leaner, and despite the lazy swagger, there’s something careful about everything from the set of his shoulders to the open position of his hands.

“This isn’t quite the reunion I imagined, Dante,” he admits, his tone harder than before. “But what the hell. Let’s do Dino proud. Two methods. Two good ideas. Let’s settle this in the old way and give the boss a show he can enjoy from hell.”

The old way. My fingers throb, recognizing the implications of the words before my brain even does.

“No.” Arno finally steps forward, shaking his head. “No. Dante, just let the bitch go. This isn’t your problem.”

Let her go.I do, and she falls to her knees. One of her hands flutters against my thigh, braced against it for balance, but she doesn’t try to stand. She doesn’t move. She merely tilts her head back to look up at me. There is no fear or hatred in her eyes. Just grim acceptance that’s quickly swallowed up by the haze of the drug flooding her system. She’s too high to speak out loud, but I can almost hear her voice echoing through my head.Just remember to kill me first, before you send me back to him.

I step away from her and seek out Mack. “If I win...”

“What the fuck?” Arno tries to muscle his way into the room. “Dante—”

“The woman’s yours,” Mack says, placing one hand on Arno’s shoulder to hold him back. “We use your plan. But, if I win, we do things my way.And.” He stresses the word, and I bark out a laugh, unsurprised. And there it is—with Mack, there is always a fucking catch.

“What?” I demand.

“I win and you come to work for me. Prison’s probably taught you a few new tricks, Kitty,” he adds with a malicious tilt to his mouth. “I could make a lot of money off you.”

“You’ve kept up with the cage,” I surmise, once again un-fucking-surprised.

Arno may have left Dino’s meal ticket behind, but Mack seems to be living large off the methods of our old master.