Page 64

We spend some more time catching up with what everyone's been up to, and since Sisi is asking me nicely, I make a marked effort not to get on anyone's nerves—again.

It's not as easy as it seems, because I have to bite my tongue from blurting out anything that might be misconstrued as offensive.

After all, we might be all gathered together here, but I know most don't have any lost love for me.

If anything, I'm just a necessary evil.

My hand on hers, since I need to have her near to function, I just put on my most charming smile as I try to play along.

A while later, the door bursts open and Nero barges in, his face devoid of any expression. Draped over his shoulder is who I expect to be Meester's daughter, her entire body tied in a potato sack. There are muffled noises coming from inside, but he doesn't seem to mind it.

With a glance at the room, he gives a quick nod before he settles his prisoner on a chair, making quick work of removing the sack, while preserving her bounds.

"Salome Meester." He nods to her as he pulls the cloth from her head.

Salome Meester isn't a bad looking woman, at least I guess so. My senses are skewed when it comes to that sort of thing, because I only have one golden standard, and she's sitting next to me.

Black hair and pale skin, Salome has dark-blue eyes framed by dark lashes. Together, they give her an almost doll-like appearance, and definitely inoffensive. You wouldn't think that someone looking that innocent would have gone through at least three husbands by now.

But as she turns her eyes to Nero, her stare deadly, I can see that there is some fire under that innocuous appearance.

"Remove?" he asks, pointing at her gag. When everyone agrees, he does so, lowering it down her face.

"You fucking bastard. I'm going to fucking kill you! I'm going to strap you in my menagerie and have my wild animals feed on you!" she spits at him, thrusting her body forward as she continues to curse Nero out.

"Or not." He belatedly nods, firmly placing the gag back in place.

His hand lingers a little too long on her face, her eyes widening slightly.

Interesting.

"I guess we can finally call Meester?" Marcello asks, and I can see he cannot wait for us all to leave his house.

Why, he shouldn't have been the host if he's going to be so grouchy about it.

"I'll do the honors," I rise from my chair, slowly heading to where Nero and Salome are.

"You…" Salome mumbles behind her gag. She narrows her eyes at me and I can see a hint of recognition.

"It's been what? Eight years?" I ask, amused.

She'd been underage when Meester had to ask me to marry her, and when I'd refused, he'd promptly married her off to someone else. I'm not even sure she was legal when that happened.

"Why am I here?" She asks when I finally decide to let her speak.

"I'm sure Nero must have told you why," I add and her eyes skitters to Nero.

"Him?" she asks, "until a while ago I was pretty sure he was a mute." She smirks at him but he doesn't react at all. A bored expression on his face, he just stares at her. When she sees her taunt doesn't work, she huffs, turning to me.

"Why am I here? You heard I'm back on the marriage mart?" She flutters her lashes suggestively.

I already feel someone drilling a hole into my back, and I don't have to turn to know Sisi's probably one step away from lashing out.

"Carry her to the torture room," I instruct Nero, not wanting to touch her and get in trouble with my wife.

Nero does as told, placing the gag back in place and taking her out of the room.

"I hope you don't plan to torture her yourself," Sisi says as she comes to my side.

"Nope," I reply, "didn't even touch her," I continue, putting my hands in the air.

"Good." She nods, satisfied. "I can do it."

"You?" I ask, surprised.

"Of course. This is primarily our business, so if you can't do it then it befalls to me," she states matter of factly, raising her hands and gathering her hair into a tight bun at her nape.

"Right," I answer, once again in awe of her. "But we only need to roughen her up a little so that Meester will take us seriously."

"No worries," she immediately replies, folding the cuffs of her shirt and following after Nero.

"That's my sister?" Marcello asks almost in disbelief, his eyes on Sisi's retreating figure.

"No. That's my wife," I say proudly, "and she's a force to be reckoned with." I clap him on the back, before I follow after her.

We make quick work of the torture room, decorating it to show we're not playing, and installing a camera right in front of Salome.

Sisi hadn't been kidding when she'd said she had it covered, as Salome is now sporting a busted lip and an already bruised eye.

Still, the most astonishing thing was the fact that even in her beat up state, she was chatting with Sisi as if they were long-lost pals.

"I'm not your father's biggest fan," Sisi mentions, "since he's tried to kill Vlad and me at least twice now. But since you're not on his side, I guess we can be friends," she smiles, "after he's dead."

"You guys plan on killing him?" Salome raises her gaze around as she asks the question.

Nero grunts, still by her side.

In fact, he hasn't left, even while Sisi was rearranging her face.

Allegra is at the end of the room with Enzo and Adrian, while Marcello is arranging the camera in place. Catalina had taken Bianca upstairs to feed her, since she'd gotten some pregnancy cravings.

"Yes," I answer honestly. "He's as good as dead."

"Damn," she mutters under her breath. "Can you make sure I'm his official heir before you kill him though? I really don't want to wake up and find that he's given all his money to some charity or something. Not that my father is very charitable, but he'd do it just to spite me." She sighs deeply.

"Why would he do that?" Sisi asks.

"We fucking hate each other. The only reason I haven't killed him myself is because I kept hoping he'd change his will," Salome says, disappointed.

Sisi turns sharply toward me.

"Will it work then? If he hates her?"

"Oh, he hates me all right, but he still needs me for a male heir," Salome interjects. "That's the only thing I'm good for apparently." She rolls her eyes.

"Good, that works then," I nod, going back to the camera to ensure everything is fine.

I tell everyone to step aside, ready to record Salome begging her father to save her, but I'm a little surprised to see that Nero seems reluctant to leave her side.

"Nero?" I ask, my voice sharp.

His gaze meets mine and he nods, stepping aside.

"Put your best act on, Salome. I might even forge his will for you if you're successful," I promise.

Her eyes grow wide, her pupils sparkling with excitement.

"Deal," she agrees.

I start the countdown, and then I tell her to begin.

The camera zooms in on Salome's face, her bloody lip and her purple eye as she's trembling, sniffling.

"It's all your fucking fault, old man! Why couldn't you just let me be?" she cries out, cursing her father and calling him all types of names.

Well, if this is her way of sounding convincing, then so be it.

"Do you know what they threatened to do?" she continues to yell, her face red from the exertion. "A hysterectomy. Say bye-bye to your heirs, Papi dear. I know I won't miss them." She smirks at the camera.

I bring my hand to my forehead, unable to believe how that message is going to get Meester to cooperate.

"I'm surprised the video worked," Sisi comments as she joins me on the deck of the boat.

Everyone is completely geared up for whatever we'll find on the island, and while I would have liked for Sisi to stay behind, since it will be dangerous, I couldn't stop her from coming.

I know she would have followed me anyway, because if there's one thing I've learned about her, it's that there's a stubbornness to her that infuses strength into any decision she takes.

She never backs down, regardless of the dangers involved, and the attack in New Orleans had shown me that just as I'd go to any extent to protect her, so would she for me.

She twines her fingers with mine, her head resting on my shoulder as we watch the boat leave the harbor.

"Meester is just as mercenary as I'd pegged him," I tell her, sneaking a glance to where Meester is sitting on deck, restrained and currently being interrogated by Enzo.

The negotiations with Meester had gone according to plan. Although Salome's message hadn't been a traditional one, it had honed in on Meester's interests.

When I'd spoken to him it had taken a while to convince him that we actually have his daughter, but after seeing the recording, all traces of doubt had evaporated and he'd agreed to help us get to the island.

He'd given away his trump card too, as he'd asked at least a dozen times to make sure his daughter—specifically her womb—would be safe.

It had also confirmed, without a sliver of doubt, that Meester has been involved with Miles all along, including all those years ago when they'd roped Misha into their plans and attacked my house. For that alone, I'm reserving the right to send him to his grave after everything is over.

"We're so close, Vlad," Sisi whispers.

"Indeed," I reply stiffly.

Now that the moment of reckoning is so near, I don't know how to feel about everything. I am especially wary about hoping to find Katya alive. Because she is, she might be just a shell of a human.

After we'd gotten Meester to cooperate, we'd put together a plan of attack, and both Enzo and Marcello had volunteered some of their best men. I'd given them a rundown of Miles' experiment, especially the tests he'd put us through as children.

Anyone reared on those terms is bound to become a deadly motherfucker—if they are lucky enough to reach maturity. And so we'd chosen the men with the most experience in hand-to-hand combat and shooting.

The plan is rather simple.