Page 145 of Vicious Behaviors

Izzie laughs softly. “I doubt you’ll ever think anyone is good enough for your sisters.”

“True.” I grin, sliding my arms around her waist and pulling her flush against me. “But then again, I didn’t think I deserved you either… and here you are.”

She melts into me, tilting her head back so her autumn eyes catch mine. “I love you.”

Izzie’s words hit me square in my chest, making my heart double in size.

“I love you more.”

“Prove it,” she teases, batting her eyelashes at me.

So, I do. I prove it. I kiss her softly and gently until the noise of the party fades away, and all I can taste, all I can see, all I can breathe, is her. Izzie is all I need. As long as I have her love, nothing and no one will ever come between us. Not Kirill. Not theBratva.Not the Outfit. Not the fucking FBI. No one. It will forever be us and only us, against the world.

‘She’s ours. Now and for eternity.’

Bonus Epilogue

Marcello

Three years later

The convoy of black cars rolls to a stop near the rusted docks of Red Hook, Brooklyn. The salty air off the harbor mixes with the stench of oil and decay, and gulls circle like vultures in the distance.

We step out one by one, shoes crunching against broken glass and gravel as we approach the hulking shape of an abandoned warehouse.

This is Irish territory, which makes it the perfect neutral ground for a meeting of this nature. Still, nothing about this feels right.

“I don’t like this. Not one fucking bit,” Gio parrots his concern over to my father, his eyes scanning the shadows.

“You worry too much,” Dom shoots back, his voice flat, steady.

“Not worrying enough is what got us into this mess,” Gio grumbles, annoyed that his best friend isn’t taking his concerns seriously.

“If they wanted one of our kids, they would have found a way to get them.”

“And if the sky were made of shit, then we’d all be covered in filth whenever it rained. Is that you’re fucking point, Dom?”

Dom just chuckles, seeing Gio flustered, since it’s usually the other way around with them. As the two continue to bicker, neither my father nor I utters a word, needing to keep sharp for what’s about to go down.

I fucking wish Jude had come with us as we previously had planned. Leave it to Stella to pull a stowaway and hide in the back of our private plane before we took off. She’s been beside herself since Annamaria was taken from us, not thinking clearly or making good choices. She’s more of a liability right now than an asset. Hence why my father’s bodyguard, Bruno, is here with us instead of my brother. Jude had to stay behind just to ensure Stella doesn’t go on a fucking killing spree and end up ruining any chances of us bringing our sister home safely.

I’m glad my Izzie stayed back in Chicago with Mina to care for our distraught mother. If she were here, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate, too preoccupied with keeping her safe in this den of vipers.

“Basta,” my father orders the second we cross the threshold of the warehouse. It’s enough to silence Gio and Dom and get their head back in the game.

The heavy silence around us is broken only by the sound of our footsteps echoing against the empty walls as we venture deeper into the abandoned warehouse to meet the Donatos.

It’s been a whole week since Raffaele snatched Annamaria, right from under our noses. Once we learned the Donatoswere behind the kidnapping, we flew straight to New York and demanded this sit-down.

They’ll give my sister back. One way or another.

Up ahead, Carlo Donato Senior stands arrogantly tall, flanked by his sons Matteo and Niccolò. Four other men linger just behind the trio—broad and expressionless. They are nothing but muscle, their sole intent to intimidate, since weapons are forbidden in theseconferenzas.A set of binding rules must be adhered to for this type of parley to be possible. The first rule is that no weapons of any kind are allowed. This is quickly followed by stipulating that no blood can be spilled during negotiations. Finally, the same number of participants who enter theconferenzamust be equal to those who walk away from it.

But fuck the rules. The rules also say that we don’t go after women or children.

As I see it, the Donatos don’t deserve the courtesy or the respect of us following the mafia rulebook to the letter. They sure as hell didn’t think twice to break every rule in the handbook when it suited them.

One of the Donatos’ men walks over to us before we can reach them, my father signaling Bruno to do the same and walk over to the other side of the warehouse. I bare my teeth at theCosa Nostrascum as he pats me down just to make sure I don’t have any weapons on me. He does a piss poor job of it, since he misses the dagger Stella hid in my boot before I left to come here. Once he’s patted us all and Bruno is satisfied that the Donatos are also clean, both families bridge the large gap between us so we can finally enter negotiations.