Page 28

PSYCHO

The ache in my chest continues to grow, as I watch her on the screen, before my brother steals my attention away.

Bones: We need to discuss this, Psycho.

Me: Nothing to discuss.

Bones: Is she alive?

Me: Yes.

Bones: The DA is missing. Am I silly to assume you know something about this?

Me: I wasn’t responsible for that exactly.

Bones: Goddamn it, Psycho. What do you think will happen with a new DA? There will be an interim DA, and then a new DA. One we don’t have control over. This is why you weren’t made the head of the family. You don’t fucking think.

Me: Well, you got what you wanted, little brother. See you Sunday.

I turn my phone off, and go back to watching Anastasia. She sits on her bed, her fingers twisting like she’s agitated.

Poor lost little lamb.

I chuckle to myself as I watch her talk to herself, but I can’t hear her because she’s speaking so low. Tomorrow, I’ll escalate things, and it will break her. By the time tomorrow is over, she’ll be begging for death. Anything to never go through it again.

I enjoy torturing people. Cutting them, making them scream. Sometimes suffocating them slowly over days, with a bag over their head. The pain she’ll go through isn’t only physical. Emotional torment can be far worse than the physical kind.

With a smile on my face, I stare at the screen, as she lies down in the bed.

“Tomorrow, little lamb. You’re going to regret ever hearing the name Bonetti.”

She has twisted me all up, but I’ve gained clarity. It’s funny how dreams can fuck with you, but this one fixed my thinking. My father stood in front of me, and gave me the lecture I’ve heard so many times.

“If they are a risk to our family, we wipe them from existence. This is how we survive all things. Are they for or against us? If they are against us, the answer is always the same, figlio. No exceptions.”

I arch an eyebrow with pure annoyance, when two of my brothers come into my house. They’ve always come and gone without an invitation, but now I’m annoyed. I shut the monitor off, as Kage looks at me with a shake of his head. He takes a seat on the sofa across from me, and Reaper joins him.

Kage leans back and makes himself comfortable, staring at me with a smug grin.

“Bones is pissed.”

I roll my eyes. “What’s new? Ever since he became the head of our family, he’s been a whiny little bitch.”

Reaper chuckles, but other than that, there’s no response.

I’m not an idiot, I know Bones has a lot on his plate now, especially with two brothers that tend to do whatever the fuck they want. I also understand his concerns about a new DA being elected. There are few rewards without risk. This is one we needed to take, because pretty little Anastasia was only going to cause problems.

“What’s the plan?” Reaper asks.

Kage nods in agreement, and says, “I know there is one.”

I’m not much of a planner by nature, which is why Bones is always pissed at me, I suppose, but also my brothers know by now there’d be a plan, or she’d already be dead.

“Jimmy,” I state plainly, and both my brothers look at me like I’ve lost my fucking mind, and they may not be wrong.

“What are you planning, Psycho?”

Jimmy isn’t a good guy, but not like the Bonetti brothers. He hurts women specifically, for no reason other than receiving pleasure from it. We’ve suspected for a long time the strippers that work in his club are trafficking victims. Normally, none of us would ever have business dealings with him. In fact, it’s strictly forbidden. I know that, but I frequently don’t follow rules to a ‘T’.

“He’s going to take her off my hands.”

Kage arches a brow at me, as he shakes his head with clear disapproval.

“Are you talking about trafficking her? We do not fucking do that. Jesus, Psycho.”

My younger brother tilts his head, and stares at me in that crazy way he does, as if he’s trying to figure me out.

“Do you have feelings for her?”

“Of course not.”

That’s ridiculous. He knows I don’t feel for fucking anything. It’s not my way. If I were ever to fall for a woman the way my brothers have, it would not be the goddamn enemy. The woman that wants to destroy us all.

“Why don’t you kill her?” Reaper asks, as he continues to examine me like I’m something complicated, when really I’m not.

I shake my head, without giving him more, because it’s not a conversation I’m interested in having, with him or anyone else.

“You’re going to regret this, man. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but we don’t do this. You don’t do this. Also, chances are pretty good Bones will push you out of the family. He’s never going to accept this.”

I glance at my brothers, and feel the weight of their judgement in their eyes. Nobody would blame me for killing her, but selling her to a man like Jimmy is beneath us, and I know that.

“I told her I’d give her thirty days, and if she obeyed every order, I’d let her go.”

Reaper covers up a grin with his hand, and I have to fight myself to not get up and punch him in the face.

Kage says, “This is not some ‘my word is my bond’ bullshit, something bigger is going on with you.”

I groan loudly, as I drag a hand down my face. “Go home to your women. I’m sure they’re missing you.”

As if I summoned them, they both walk in, causing me to groan fucking louder. I know exactly why they’re here, and I don’t fucking like it.

“We were looking at the garden,” Bella says with a beaming smile.

“You know that’s a must for Raina.”

Kage’s girl glares at me, as she crosses her arms over her chest. She’s getting far too brave for my liking.

“I’m here to do a welfare check. After all, it’s my fault she’s here.”

I turn on the monitor, and she moves closer, as if she’s inspecting every inch of Anastasia. Does she really think she’s the reason my little lamb is here? She’s not. As much as I don’t like Raina, and definitely don’t fucking trust her, I don’t blame her for this. There’s little doubt though, that my brother has already had this conversation with her.

“What are you going to do with her?” Raina asks, as she continues to watch Anastasia closely.

Bella shakes her head and answers for me.

“You don’t want to know.”

Reaper echoes her sentiments with a nod.

“You really don’t. She’s alive, as you can both see, and I think that’s enough for today.”

My youngest brother walks to the door, with a shake of his head, and Bella grabs Raina and walks with her close, while Kage stares at me.

“I’m quoting my girl here, but it bears repeating. Regret is a poison like cancer. It kills slowly, painfully. It eats away at you, until there’s nothing left.”

I smirk at him.

“Your girl into poetry, man?”

He shakes his head, and punches me in the shoulder.

“I’m going to fucking stab you, when you realize you have feelings for her. The problem is, I think the damage is going to be so catastrophic, you’ll welcome it, and beg for me to kill you.”

I ignore his words, because I feel nothing for her. I’m not like my brothers. A man in love does not sell his woman. I’ll do it without batting an eye, because I always do what needs to be done. And because I don’t feel a goddamn thing for her.