Page 55 of Depraved

My words are punctuated by my finger jabbing the desktop.

Matteo shoots up from the chair next to Antonio and throws his arms up. “Come on, D. The other day was different—she wouldn’t even talk to Dom. Whatever spooked her was something she would only tell you. I’ve never seen her that vulnerable…she’s such a badass. And you let her drown in that shit.”

My face contorts into confusion. I look around to the other guys, wondering what the fuck Matteo is talking about, but they’re all nodding in agreement.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I bellow. “What the fuck am I missing?”

The room sits in silence, staring at me like I’m crazy. I smack the desk hard with my palm. “I said, what the fuck am I missing?”

“Dom’s message, Dante,” Matteo says as his face begins to drop.

How the fuck does he know my brother left me a message, and why does it matter?

“What about it?” I answer.

Antonio looks at Matteo and then back to me. “You didn’t check it?”

It’s like having to put a fucking puzzle together, and my patience snaps.

“No. Is there something you want to tell me? Spit it the fuck out…I’m not trying to solve a mystery, dick.”

Antonio begins to speak when Matteo stops him. “No. Listen to it. I would’ve shared the information that night, but I was too busy getting slapped for passing messages.”

The look he’s giving me takes a lot of balls. But I knew what I was doing when I did it. I reach for my phone, feeling much too dangerous for Matteo to keep pushing me.

“Matteo…” Vincenzo warns, shaking his head for him stop pushing his luck.

Matteo looks away and walks to the other end of the room. That’s probably for the best.

I pull up the message before pressing the phone to my ear and listen.

“Dante, I don’t know what the fuck happened. Sarah…I’ve never seen her like this. She just keeps asking for you. Go home. That’s where I’m taking her—she needs you and only you, brother. Whatever you two are starting to mean to each other is all that’s holding her together right now. Take care of our girl, because she’s definitely yours now.”

The message barely ends before I hurl my phone across the room. It shatters against the wall. I don’t think; I act. I bust out of the room and down the hall toward the stairs. Everyone jumps to their feet, calling out my name and following behind me, but I’m not listening. She fucking needed me, and I answered her by bringing home pussy to make her jealous.

If I would’ve known.

“Dante, relax. She’s been through enough,” Matteo reasons behind me.

I spin around and walk back down the hall, grabbing him by his shirt and pulling him to me. Arms are thrown between us, trying to stop me from killing him, but I’m past the point of being stopped.

“I should break your fucking neck for not telling me. You were supposed to call me with any problems…not my fucking brother,” I growl. “I should break your neck.”

“Dante,” Antonio says calmly, pushing me back. “Let him go. He thought you knew. We all did. D, come on. We thought you knew.”

I let him go with a shove and look at them. “And you all let me act like a monster. You thought I knew…and you let me treat her like that?”

“Be reasonable.” Vin shrugs.

I take a few steps backward, holding up my hands. I get it. There’s only so much they can say; in the end, I’m the boss. What they did today was all they could do.

“I’m sorry,” I concede to the group but glance to Matteo, who nods. “Leave us. I need to speak to her alone.”

They each walk by me and give me a pat on the shoulder, but Matteo stops and looks at me. “It’s not too late to make it right, D. No hard feelings. I would’ve done the same for my girl.”

I nod as he walks down the stairs.

The house grows quiet again before I make my way to her bedroom. I don’t knock or ask permission to walk in because I won’t hear her say no.