Page 49 of The Bonventi Hitman

"Yeah," I say and clear my throat, "Yes, Lydia, what is it?"

"I'm heading home for the night. I'll be back in the morning. Left you a sandwich on the kitchen counter," she says from the other side of the door.

"Thank you. Have a good night."

I hear her footsteps walk down the hall and then disappear.

I stand and begin pacing the floor.

I can't continue like this. There has to be a way to have her. There has to be something I can do.

I need to find a way to free her from Luca without causing issues with the family.

An idea starts forming in my mind, risky yet necessary solution. I’ll have to confront Luca directly. Make him understand thatSofia belongs with me. He should know better than to stand between a man and what's his - and Sofia is mine. Has been since the moment I saw her.

My heart rate increases at the thought. It's a dangerous gamble because if he refuses.

I can't think about what I'd do right now.

I continue pacing as I consider how to approach this with Luca. It needs to be done carefully, though every fiber of my being wants to rip her away from him. He has Isabella. He doesn't need Sofia. Doesn't deserve her. Let him find another woman to keep caged up at the Capstone.

He doesn't burn for her the way I do, but I can't let him see that. Luca's been known to be spiteful just for the sake of it. I've seen him do it many times. I need to stay controlled, calculated. But how? How do I face him without revealing just how deeply she's gotten under my skin?

Maybe I don’t? Maybe I just talk to him man to man?

My grip tightens around the glass. The thought of him simply standing too close to her makes my blood boil. The way he looks at her, touches her. Dammit, I want to tear him apart for standing in my way.

I hurl my glass across the room, shattering it against the wall.

I want Sofia.

I want her heart.

I want her body.

I want her soul.

For now, however, I need to focus, or I won't get the chance to do anything. The Russians are going to attack one of our warehouses, and I need to prepare. I gave Enzo my word. I will handle this and then speak with Luca. He'll either agree to let me have Sofia, or, well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

GABRIEL - 19

"Idi na hui," the man says and spits on the floor, "Idi na hui."

"I don't really know what that means," I say and push the barrel of my gun hard into his cheek, "but I've killed enough to know it's not the answer to any of my questions."

The man smiles.

I know he understands and speaks English, but as he knows he's about to die, he refuses to speak anything other than his mother tongue.

I suppose there is some honor in that.

I glance around the room and see this man's 'comrades' spread all over, pools of blood oozing out. Six of them dead, just this one left. I was hoping to get some answers, but he's not playing nicely.

Enzo's info was right. They had tried to rob P13—our guns and weapons modifications warehouse. Lots of things here thatcould cause some real issues on the streets, not to mention the amount of money that we would have lost.

Too bad for them, I was waiting.

I look down at the man and know this is going to go one of two ways. Some think rambling on will save them, but it doesn't, though I welcome them to have that false hope. And then there's this, where they know they'll see their God soon, so they don't cooperate and basically tell me to fuck off. The former is what I prefer, since the latter makes things get ugly.