Page 34 of Madness & Mercy (Deadly Sins #1)

NICO

Silvio Romano, you’re a fucking dead man.

Luca and I pull off the highway after an hour-long drive that felt like a fuse burning toward the inevitable.

The GPS dies at a rotting warehouse on the outskirts of town, a hulking carcass of rust and broken windows, crouched under a lone streetlight that blinks like it’s on its last breath.

It’s the kind of place you disappear in and never crawl out of.

Silvio’s been clever enough to scrub himself off the grid, but not clever enough to stay out of our reach. We know exactly where the bastard’s holed up tonight, and I’ve been counting down the seconds until I can press a barrel between his eyes.

We kill the engine a block away, letting the darkness swallow us whole.

The Romano family’s been draining mine for decades, and Silvio’s the venom in the snake’s head. He’s been hunting for a way to bury me for years. I just didn’t think he’d sink low enough to hire a hitman to do it.

And not just any hitman.

The one I can’t get out of my head.

When this is over, I’m going to ruin him in every way he secretly craves, and then some. But the thought of Silvio’s filthy fucking hands on him first, of Silvio pulling strings from the start, splinters my vision like a bullet through glass.

I came here to kill the bastard, but first I need answers. How did he reach Julian when I had him locked down under twenty-four-hour surveillance? Julian says Silvio fed him lies. That means there was contact. But how?

And who else has ever hurt Julian? I want faces. I want names. I want to burn them into memory before I wipe them from the earth without a fucking trace.

Julian Cross wears a hundred faces, but I see what’s beneath them all. And no matter which mask he puts on, there’s not a single version of him I wouldn’t take a bullet for.

Maybe I’m just a fucking idiot when it comes to Julian Cross. Maybe I always have been.

But this ends tonight.

We move like shadows.

The warehouse’s walls groan in the night wind as Luca slips to the back entrance, crouches, and works the lock. After a few minutes, it clicks open, and we step into the darkness.

Up ahead, low voices murmur, too quiet to make out the words, but tense enough to prickle the back of my neck.

I press my spine to the wall before the corner, gun raised, listening. The voices sharpen, footsteps shifting.

Whoever’s talking doesn’t know we’re here. Yet.

Luca catches my eye. One nod from me and he moves, slipping behind a crate and scanning the path ahead. He gestures once, and I follow. We repeat, advancing in sync, until the voices reach us.

It’s the usual backroom murmur, business being done in the dark. But I’m not here for business. I’m here for him.

I strain to pick out Silvio’s voice, the slick, smug rasp that’s been circling my head for years. But instead, another sound cuts through the static in my head.

My pulse spikes.

Julian.

It can’t be. I left him locked down under Enzo’s watch. No contact. No chance. No fucking way. But that voice—smooth, sure, with that razor edge I know too well—it’s him.

I ease forward, peering through the shadows until I catch the outline of a him in the dim light.

Luca grabs my arm, a warning in his grip. I shake him off before I even think about it. Strategy’s out the window. I’m already stepping out into the open.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” My voice is low and sharp.

He turns.

For a beat, I forget how to breathe. The face I know better than my own is there, but the warmth is gone. His eyes are cold and vacant, but there’s a sinister grin on his face.

“Nico Vitale,” he says, as if tasting the words. “Just the man I wanted to see.”

Before I can move, the barrel of his gun is leveled between my eyes.

My mind is a storm. Did Silvio turn him? Threaten him? Pay him off? Julian shouldn’t be standing here pointing a gun at my head, but the evidence is black steel and steady hands.

“Julian,” I say carefully, lifting my arms, fury pounding in my veins. “Put the gun down. Let’s talk.”

He laughs. It’s colder than the look in his eyes.

“You’re pathetic, Nico.”

Movement catches in my peripheral vision, men in the shadows raising their weapons. We’re surrounded.

“This was a setup?” My voice is tight. “You’ve been working with Silvio?”

He doesn’t answer, grinning like the question amuses him. Then, without looking away from me:

“Come out, Luca. Put your hands up.”

Luca emerges, jaw locked, eyes burning.

“Let him go,” I snap. “This is between you and me.”

His smile deepens.

BANG.

The shot is clean. Luca staggers, blood pooling at his shoulder.

My chest constricts. My mind claws for answers, but nothing makes sense.

“Where’s Silvio?” I bite out.

Julian tilts his head—not the lazy, amused tilt I’ve seen a hundred times, it’s sharper, like a predator lining up a shot. “Sorry, he’s a busy man. Business, you know.”

I raise my voice. “What’s wrong, Silvio? Can’t do your own dirty work? You want me dead? Come out here and finish it yourself, you fucking coward!”

“I already told you, he’s not coming.” Julian steps closer, until his shadow swallows mine. His breath grazes my ear. “Not because he can’t kill you. He just… couldn’t be bothered.”

My fists clench. My chest feels like it’s caving in. After everything—the lies, the setups, the bullet in Luca’s shoulder—I should hate him. I want to hate him. But my heart refuses to obey.

I meet his gaze and hold it.

“You may be a stalker. A killer. A liar. A manipulator. The most dangerous man I’ve ever fucking met.

” His lips twitch like I’ve just flattered him.

“And I wouldn’t care. I don’t care that you’re going to kill me.

I don’t care that you never loved me.” I step closer until the cold steel of his gun is pressed to my forehead.

“Because I love you, Julian. And that’s why—”

I lean into the barrel. “—you can blow my brains out, gut me, skin me alive, tear my fucking heart out, and I’ll still love you.”

For a fraction of a second, something flickers in his eyes. Then it’s gone, replaced by that same slow, venomous smile.

“Crazy…” he says softly. “You’d let me kill you without a fight… because you love me?”

I nod once.

“I’d do anything for you. Just… let Luca walk. Don’t touch my family. I’m the hit, right? So kill me. Take the money. Walk away from that bastard. You deserve better than this. And I—”

I breathe in, steady. “I deserve this.”

“Nico, what the fuck are you—” Luca’s voice is sharp with panic.

“Luca, stop,” I murmur without looking at him. “This is the only way.”

The gun clicks.

“You’re right, I never loved you,” Julian says. “But thank you… for making this so easy.”

I laugh, short and bitter. That’s a lie. It has to be. Or maybe I just need it to be.

I close my eyes, letting the cold metal sink into my skin.

Then—

SLAM.

The gates burst open. Gunfire erupts, metal shrieking.

Luca hits me, dragging me down behind cover as rounds tear through the air.

“Luca—”

His breath catches in pain. “Told you… that bastard…”

“Don’t talk,” I snap, pressing my hands hard over the hot, slick wound.

More gunshots and shouts echo from every direction. Silvio’s men scramble, returning fire, chaos exploding around us. I’m pinned against the crate, heart hammering, struggling to make sense of the blur.

Suddenly, a figure drops down beside us, sliding low and fast.

Enzo.

“Goddamn, it’s a good thing we showed up when we did,” he hisses, his eyes scanning the chaos.

I raise a brow. “We?”

Before he can answer, Julian’s voice cuts through the noise.

“Cassian…”

I freeze. Cassian? Who the fuck is Cassian?

I look up, and what I see steals the breath from my lungs.

Another Julian—no, the Julian—stands there like a dark shadow I never saw coming.

Julian’s voice trembles as he steps forward, haunted.

“Cassian… what are you doing here?”

My stomach twists. Unless I’m seeing double, the man who almost killed me wasn’t Julian, but Cassian. Which means…Julian Cross has a twin brother.

Cassian lets out a hollow laugh.

“You really don’t know, do you?”

Julian’s brow furrows. “What are you talking about?”

Cassian’s gaze sharpens. “Back when you fucked everything up—lost your job, landed in prison—some of your prison friends came looking for you. They found me instead.”

He steps closer, eyes locked on Julian like a predator to prey.

“They put me in touch with Silvio Romano. Said if I took out Vitale before you did, the payday was mine. And after you burned through our family’s money, drained my savings, maxed out my fucking credit cards just to clean up your mess…

well, Julian—” his mouth twists into a bitter smile—“this is me finally settling the score.”

My eyes flick to Luca and Enzo.

“What do we do?” Enzo whispers, panic barely restrained. “This is fucked. Luca’s bleeding out.”

I glance down. Luca’s losing blood fast, his skin pale beneath the grime.

“Go,” I murmur. “I’ve got this.”

Enzo shoots me a withering look. “Boss—”

“I said get the fuck out of here.”

Without another word, Enzo slings Luca over his shoulder and they duck into the chaos.

“You have any idea how much debt I’m in because of you?

” Cassian snarls, his voice cracking with rage.

“The loans I had to take to bail your ass out of jail? The bills for Mom and Dad rotting away in that fucking nursing home you haven’t visited in years?

You didn’t just ruin your life, Julian—you burned mine to the ground.

Do you know what I had to do just to fucking survive out there? ”

He lifts the gun, sights locking on Julian’s chest. My vision tunnels. The world blurs. All I see is the black circle of that barrel.

“Nico Vitale,” Cassian calls, ice in every syllable. “Step out, or I put a bullet in your precious love.”

I slowly move forward, arms up.

Julian’s head jerks toward me, panic slicing through his expression. “Nico, stop! Don’t take another step.”

But it’s too late.