Page 16 of Sweetest Sin (Tempting Love #1)

Dominick

“This is bullshit, and you know it!” Anthony barks from where he’s sitting in a metal chair, his hands bound behind his back.

We’re in the middle of an empty room in the warehouse where Matteo brings the people we need to interrogate when we know shit’s gonna get messy.

“No,” I tell him, pulling his pretty-boy hair and yanking his head back.

He’s already sporting a busted lip and swollen eye from fighting Matteo instead of coming willingly.

“What’s bullshit is that our father’s dead at the hands of yours, and somehow, the cameras got wiped. Now, I’m going to ask you one more goddamn time, and if you give me another bullshit answer, I’m going to be forced to pry the truth out of you. What the fuck happened?”

“I don’t know!” he cries, earning himself a punch to his face, courtesy of Matteo.

Blood, with a mixture of saliva, flies from his mouth, and he’s momentarily knocked unconscious.

“Sorry,” Matteo mutters. “I couldn’t stand listening to his voice for another second.”

“When’s your next fight?” I ask, noticing the way his shoulders tense.

“Next month,” he says. “With everything going on, I haven’t been to the gym in a few days.”

Since we were little, Matteo has been filled with an anger that couldn’t be contained, most of it directed at our father.

It wasn’t until he started training at a gym in South Harbor Point—with a guy named Lucian, who took him under his wing when he saw the fury brewing in Matteo’s eyes—that he was able to find a way to release some of it.

The training eventually led to underground fighting, and now, Matteo’s one of the most notorious underground fighters in the circuit. Guys come from all over, hoping to take him down, but he’s never lost a fight.

“You need to get back in there soon,” I tell him, leaning against the wall while we wait for Anthony to wake up so we can continue questioning him.

After a few minutes of silence, I say, “None of this makes any sense.”

When I woke up to my phone ringing this morning, I thought it would be Matteo telling me he’d found Brielle. Instead, he told me our father was dead.

From what he could gather, our father had found Brielle and brought her home, and then he took off for a meeting with Joseph, Giuseppe, and Anthony.

Shit went down, and Joseph shot our father. After taking him out, Joseph went after Giuseppe, but he was able to get away unscathed. Giuseppe is now looking for Joseph, and Matteo was able to grab Anthony.

When I spoke to Giuseppe after arriving back in Harbor Point, he said he’d walked in on the tail end of the conversation between Joseph, Anthony, and our father and had no idea what had been said.

When I had my security guy, Eddy, pull the footage, he discovered the cameras had conveniently been wiped clean.

“Hello?” Matteo answers his phone.

He mouths to me, It’s Giuseppe .

He listens for a moment and then says, “Okay,” before hanging up.

“Joseph is dead.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Anthony groans, obviously having woken up and heard the news.

“What are you so mad about?” I ask him. “You couldn’t stand the man.”

While Matteo and I were smart about keeping our hatred toward our father a secret, Anthony did little to hide the animosity he felt toward his old man.

“Doesn’t mean I wanted him dead,” he mutters.

“I’m bored of this,” Matteo says, pointing a gun at Anthony. “Talk, or you’ll be buried right alongside your dad.”

“Fuck,” Anthony cries out. “I don’t know what happened!”

Matteo pushes the gun against Anthony’s temple, and he whimpers like a little bitch.

“I swear! I was with my dad when Andrey called for a meeting, so I went with him. We got there, and they argued about the arranged marriage. Giuseppe walked in and then shit went down. My dad shot yours and then we took off. We got to the house, and my dad said he needed to handle some shit and left. I stayed at the house with my mom until Matteo showed up and dragged me out. That’s all I know. ”

I glance at Matteo, and we exchange a look. Something is missing from the story, but without the footage, we can’t prove shit. If we kill him now, with his dad and ours dead, we might never know what really happened in that meeting.

I nod at Matteo, silently telling him to let Anthony go, and he glares my way.

I give him another look, conveying that I’m not playing, and he sighs. Then, like the asshole he is, he punches Anthony in the stomach, making him double over in pain.

“Fuck!” Anthony groans. “Stop … please.”

“Well, since you asked so nicely”—Matteo pulls a knife out and cuts his binds—“you’re free to go … for now.”

Anthony widens his eyes, momentarily stunned, and then stands. “What about the marriage?” he says, looking at Matteo, then me.

“What about it?” I ask.

“It’s still happening, right?”

He juts out his chin, and I stifle a laugh because this is precisely why his father didn’t let him run the business.

The guy could’ve been killed—hell, I wouldn’t put it past Matteo to still do it despite me making it clear he’s to let Anthony live—and instead of running, like a smart person would, he’s poking the beast.

“Is he fucking serious right now?” Matteo barks out a laugh, glancing from Anthony to me. “He’s clearly nuts. C’mon, Dominick. Let me kill him. I’ll even clean up the mess myself.”

“No,” I tell Anthony, ignoring my brother’s antics, “the deal is off.”

“That’s bullshit!” Anthony barks. “I want what’s owed to me.”

Before I can stop him, Matteo punches Anthony in the mouth, and he flies backward. I know Matteo went easy on him because if he had hit Anthony with his full strength, he’d have sent Anthony into a coma.

“Not my problem.” I shrug as he crawls toward the wall so he can use it to help himself stand. “A deal is only as good as the men who make it, and the men who made that deal are both dead.”

“You don’t understand,” he whines, standing and hobbling over to us.

He’s dripping blood all over the floor, and I’m almost positive a tooth is missing, but he isn’t giving up.

“Without her, I’m fucked,” he says. “My dad said the only way he’d consider letting me take over the business was if I married her.”

“Then, you’re fucked.” I step into his space and pull out my 9mm.

“The deal is as dead as our fathers, and as far as I’m concerned, so is any business Antonov Enterprises had with Rothschild International.

I’m going to give you two choices. You take the loss and walk away.

Or I put a bullet in your chest and you go away permanently.

The call is yours. Either way, this is over. ”

“This is fucking bullshit,” he hisses.

I raise my gun, ready to kill him. But before I’m forced to do so, he puts his hands up and leaves.

“You know he’s going to be a problem,” Matteo says once Anthony is gone.

“There’s nothing he can do. You heard what he said. His dad didn’t even leave him the company. If he does cause problems, then we’ll put him down. But with our father’s and Joseph’s deaths, all eyes will be on us, and the last thing we need is more attention drawn to us if Anthony goes missing.”

We might have several cops in our pockets, but we also have a legitimate business to run, and with Andrey’s and Joseph’s deaths, people are going to talk. If Anthony comes up missing or dead, fingers will point straight at us, which will be bad for business.

Before Andrey’s, Giuseppe’s, and Joseph’s fathers got ahold of this city, it was filled with poverty that nobody wanted to touch.

But they cleaned up the streets, secured employment, and helped protect businesses.

And then Andrey, Giuseppe, and Joseph took over—taking what their father’s did to the next level.

The city might be corrupt, but it’s thriving, thanks to our families. When people see us, they both respect and fear us, but most importantly, they trust us. But trust can be taken away as easily as it is given. And if we start killing each other off, we’re going to lose their trust.

“This whole thing is a fucking mess,” Matteo mutters.

“Nah, it’s really not. Our father and Joseph were both loose cannons, and now, they’ve been removed from the equation.

The arranged marriages are done, which is a win for Brielle and me.

Giuseppe will either cooperate or we’ll cut him out too.

The fact is, our father has been carrying them on his back all these years.

Joseph was dead weight, and if Giuseppe is smart, he’ll get on board. ”

“Holy shit.” Matteo barks out a laugh. “It’s really fucking happening. Andrey’s dead, and we’re taking over. And we didn’t even have to lift a finger for it to happen.”

I chuckle. “It’s really happening. If Joseph wasn’t dead, I’d send him a fruit basket as a thank-you. Maybe I’ll send his wife one.”

“Speaking of Maria, do you think she’s going to take over Rothschild International?”

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter,” I tell him as we walk out.

“Our business with them is over. I’m going to meet with our legal team to ensure all ties are cut.

And if Giuseppe gives me shit about the way we plan to run the business, we’ll cut him out too.

I’ve been playing our father’s game for too long, and I’m done. ”

“What the hell do you mean, Brielle is on her way to Russia?” I bark, making my mom jump. “We were gone for a few damn hours, and you shipped her off to another country?”

“I didn’t ship her anywhere,” Mom says, glaring at me. “And don’t you take that tone with me. She wanted to go, and I agreed.”

“And who gave you the right to make that decision?” Matteo cuts in.

“I’m her mother,” Mom says, redirecting her glare at Matteo.

“I might have messed up while your father was alive, cowering to that piece of shit, but he’s gone now, and I’ll be damned if, even in his death, he continues to hurt her.

She lost her boyfriend and was terrified of having to marry that horrible man, and I wasn’t going to let it happen.

” She steps into my face, and even in heels, she only comes up to my chest, but fuck if I’m not proud of my mom for finally standing up for herself. “I’m not going to let it happen.”

“It’s not happening,” I tell her. “I already told Anthony that the deal was off. I appreciate you trying to protect Brielle, but I was never going to let that deal go through.”

Mom’s blue eyes soften, and tears form in her lids. “Is he really gone?” she chokes out.

“He’s really gone.” I open my arms, and she falls into them, letting out a guttural cry. “He’s never going to hurt you again.” I lean over and kiss the crown of her golden-blonde hair. “I’m so fucking sorry we couldn’t stop him sooner.”

“There’s nothing you could’ve done,” she says through her cries. “The only way was to kill him, and up until last year, had he died, we would’ve lost everything. He made sure of that.”

What she means is, up until last year, our father’s will stated that if he died, Giuseppe would take over the company and make the decisions as he saw fit.

It was Andrey’s way of controlling me. But after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, he gave in and changed his will to state that if he died, everything would go to me.

Which was why Matteo and I were working on figuring out a way to kill him, but we wanted to do it right because of the three companies being tangled with one another.

But with Joseph’s death, it will force Giuseppe to take a side—us or the Rothschilds—and we all know he’d rather get in bed with the one he knows than the one he loathes.

“You and Brielle are safe now,” Matteo says. “She doesn’t need to go to Russia.”

“But she does,” Mom says with a frown. “She needs a break from this life. She’s going to finish her classes online and spend time with your grandparents. Polina and Boris are excited for her to join them.”

“And that’s what she said she wants?” I ask.

“She was extremely distraught. Wouldn’t stop crying and begging to leave. When I suggested she go visit your babushka and dedushka , she agreed.”

While our grandparents lived in Harbor Point while we were growing up, after our grandfather and our dad got into a huge fight over their differences in the way they wanted to run the business, our grandfather walked away, and he and our grandmother moved back to Russia where he started a gas company that’s now worth billions.

The only time we see them is when we visit.

Brielle has always been close to them, so I know she’ll be in good hands.

“I want to talk to her when she lands,” I say, and then it hits me. “Did she take the company jet?”

With Anthony pissed that the marriage has been called off, the last thing we need is him tracking her down.

“No, I didn’t want to risk anyone knowing she was leaving. I assumed you were going to force her to hold up your father’s end of the deal, so Boris chartered a private jet under a dummy name.”

“That was smart,” I tell her. “Shit’s going to be different around here now that Dad is gone, but you need to understand that our world is still dangerous, and while I like that you’ve grown a backbone, you can’t be doing that shit outside of this house. Someone might mistake it for disrespect.”

“I know,” she says with a sad smile. “Which is why I was thinking of taking a trip after the funeral.”

“Alone?” Matteo asks.

She nods. “After thirty-three years of being stuck in this prison, I’d like to finally see the world,” she chokes out.

“Then, you should see the world,” I tell her. “As long as you bring security.”