Page 110 of The Fractured

I curled my knuckles, and they emitted a soft crack.

“This is your last chance,” Antonio warned calmly. “Hurt one of my own again, and I will see the end of you.”

Gabriele’s gaze sharpened. Gone was his nonchalant attitude. “We are your own! We’re blood!”

Antonio breathed in with a tired sigh, checking his gold watch. “Burning your way through my people and businesses is not how you convince me to change my mind. Neither is screaming at me like a child.”

Gabriele’s anger faltered as he glanced at his sisters. Each shared similar expressions of confusion and then amusement.

“As much as we love playing with fire, father, we didn’t burn down any of your businesses,” Beatrice mused.

If this caused Antonio to feel shocked or confused, he didn’t show it. Instead, he pondered the information.

I felt eyes on me and glanced towards Vince to find him watching me already.

Squaring my jaw, I casually brought my hands behind my back and focused on the triplets as Antonio spoke again.

“I arranged this meeting to speak reasonably, and thought your agreement to attend meant you felt the same, but clearly that isn’t the case.” Antonio brushed off the last few minutes like it was lint on his jacket. There was really no love lost when it came to him cutting off loved ones. “We’re done here.”

The second Antonio turned to leave, we were expected to move with him to show solidarity and respect. And I did move like that for a few paces, until Gabriele chuckled darkly.

“Manda il mio affetto alla tua piccola cerva, Dean.”

I saw red. It temporarily blinded logic and common sense as I went to turn back, reaching for the gun tucked in the back of my jeans, but Vince caught my arm and forced me to keep moving.

“Not now,” he muttered sharply.

I tore my arm from his grasp as we headed out of the peristyles shelter and stepped into the light mist falling on Prospect Park. Gabriele’s taunting laugh seemed to follow me all the way to the car, haunting me as much as his words did.

Send my love to your little doe, Dean.

My hands shook before I shoved them into my pockets. The rage room tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough. I needed to hit something, break something, smoke a cigarette. If Gabriele ever went near Lily again, I would put a bullet in his fucking skull.

As we reached Antonio’s Mercedes, the boss finally let slip his frustrations. “Find out who the fuck was involved with the fire that burned down The Den. When you do, bring them to me.”

Vince briefly glanced at me before he responded. “Yes, boss.”

Chapter 38

Dean

A crimson dirt bike was parked by the stairs leading to Antonio’s grand front door. On its seat was a black helmet. The rider was nowhere in sight.

Neither Vince or Antonio were concerned about the bike sitting there, so I figured I wouldn’t worry either and did as they did; get out of the car. And prepare myself for a debrief of the meeting.

It was a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of night…

My eyes landed on the bike again, and I noticed it didn’t have plates.

At the bottom of the porch steps, Antonio stopped and motioned between Vince and me, looking depleted. “Send him the address.”

Vince pulled out his phone and tapped out a text. A second later, I received it. An address and a small job description: Collect fifty thousand dollars and come straight back.

“Right…” I pocketed my phone.

“This job was meant for Jacob,” Antonio explained with a tired sigh. “But that won’t be possible for him, seeing as his head was removed...”

I approached the bike, knowing I wouldn’t have any other choice but to go, and picked up the helmet, finding a pair of gloves inside. I pulled them on. “You know Seb rides a bike, right? He would’ve been perfect for this.”