Page 51 of Dreadful

“Love makes a man weak…”

It’s a sentiment I insisted on just a few weeks ago. After seeing Kian McKennon fall head over heels so quickly for his bride, though, I began to once again question everything my parents ever taught me. Is the way I feel for Tallie how it began with Kian?

Meeting Tallie wasun colpo di fulmine, like a lightning strike. I’ve been obsessed with learning everything about her, how she ticks, and what she cares about. When I killed the man who dared to touch her, I felt strong and powerful. If that’s love, Tallie doesn’t make me weak. She makes me invincible.

I won’t letanyonein this room know that, though.

I stare at the whiskey swirling in my glass. “The McKennons’ views on love are ridiculous. Love at first sight? Impossible. I have no plans to fall into that trap anytime soon.”

“Aw, now, Severino, don’t be so jaded.” She has the audacity to hold my uncle’s hand, and my fingers squeeze my glass so tightly I’m shocked it doesn’t break. “Sometimes the situations are unorthodox, but love can be found in even the strangest circumstances.”

Claudio gives her a cursory smile and pats her hand before continuing eating. I don’t know what game she’s playing at. Everyone in this room knows the “strange circumstances” she’s talking about.

Bitterness burns my throat. “I wouldn’t call marrying your dead husband’s brother when he’s barely cold in the ground ‘strange circumstances.’ Have you by chance asked your new dear husband about the ‘strange circumstances’ surrounding my father’s death?”

“I already know the circumstances, Severino. Do you?” she snaps. “How dare you after all I’ve sacrificed to keep you safe.”

“Sacrificed?” The girl’s scream knifes through my mind, and bile burns my throat. “What the fuck do you know about sacrifice? Do you know what yourhusbanddid? It’s convenient there was no autopsy, isn’t it? My father could have been poisoned for all we know.”

Cavolo, a suggestion like that is like stoking an inferno. It’s such a stupid fucking move, but my emotions have been getting the best of me lately, and this dinner has set me off. Damn, does it feel good to have all this out in the open, though.

I slowly reach for my cane and the gun in my shoulder holster, ready for Claudio’s reaction. But he looks…bored? And it’s my mother who answers me with a sigh.

“You’re right, Severino. Your fatherwaspoisoned.”

Scene 15

THE GUARD DOG

Sever

“What?” My mind can’t wrap around her confession, but there’s only sympathy in her voice when she continues.

“It was Digoxin poisoning. Your father had heart problems, Sever. His doctor prescribed him Digoxin for it. It’s a safe medication, but an overdose can cause the very problems it’s meant to prevent.”

“An overdose…you’re telling me my fatheroverdosed? The man was against drugs of all kinds. There’s no way he’d try to kill himself.”

She shakes her head. “I’m not suggesting that. I am saying he made a mistake. Whether it was a mistake in taking too many after too many glasses of wine, or a toxicity that developed over time without his knowledge, I don’t know. And we never will. But this vendetta you have with your uncle over your father’s death? It’s misguided. Your father died ofnaturalcauses. I accepted it, and I’ve…I’ve made sacrifices to protect you in all of this, but it’s time you knew the truth. Your uncle is only doing what he has to to keep the Family safe. It’s time you do the same.”

I fucking plan on it.

The thought comes like a habit, but if what my mother says is true—

No. Fuck, no. Guilt rushes in. It doesn’t matter what he did, or didn’t do, to my father. The girl was tortured and killed on his watch. My vendetta didn’t begin and end with my father’s death. It started long ago, and my unclewillpay for everything that happened to her.

“He’s far from innocent,” I growl.

“Innocence is in the eye of the beholder.” Claudio chuckles. “You’ve always looked for someone to blame, haven’t you,nipote? Ever since you were, what, ten years old?”

The hair on the back of my neck stands on end. “And what do you mean by that, exactly?”

He grins and slowly shifts to face his guest. The unnerving smile and his dismissal tells me everything he isn’t saying out loud.

You’ll find out soon enough.

Anxiety raises goose bumps over my arms, but I wait in silence and observe. Watching my uncle spin his victims into his deadly web so subtly would be impressive if there wasn’t the constant threat that you could get tangled up and sucked dry next.

“I think this is a good segue to explain exactly why I called you here, Judge.”