Page 20 of Vicious Behaviors

“I said take it all down. Now.”

“And I said no,” she repeats, just as firm.

“I’m not fucking around,” I seethe, my voice cracking loudly through the room.

She smiles sweetly at me, all venom behind her eyes. “Does it look like I care? I’m not sure what kind of power trip you’re on, but like I said, I don’t answer to you. I answer to Carmine.”

“Stop calling him that. He’s Mr. DeLuca to you,” I snarl.

Up close, her eyes look like melted caramel, but the fury behind them is anything but warm.

“I think it’s time you left, Mr. Romano,” she says. “Like I told you before, the gym isn’t open yet, and I have a job to do.”

“So youdoknow who I am,” I state evenly, ignoring the fact that she’s basically kicking me out of my own grandfather’s gym.

“Oh, I know exactly who you are. And so far, I’m not impressed. Surprising, really, considering I’ve spent enough time with Carmine to expect that the man he treats like a grandson would have similar manners. Apparently, I was wrong. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get back to work,” she says as we continue to be locked in a stare of wills.

I have no intention of leaving, but unfortunately, what I want means jack shit whenhesuddenly decides to come to the surface.

‘She’s trouble,’the voice hisses in my ear. ‘End her now, before whatever she’s really up to bites us in the ass.’I shake my head, trying to push him back.‘End her. Or I will.’

“No,” I grunt, Izzie misinterpreting it as if I were speaking to her.

“No?” she echoes, lifting a brow.

‘There’s no one here,’the voice goads.‘No one to stop us. Just pick up that letter opener on the desk and shove it into her heart, and it’s done. Do it.’

“I said no,” I growl, stepping away from her.

Izzie looks confused, thrown off by my sudden shift in demeanor.

“Are you… alright?” I think I hear her ask, but her voice is fading behind the beast roaring in my head.

‘Kill her. Kill her. Kill her.’

His bloodlust is so deafening that I feel like my ears are bleeding. I stumble back with each kill order. Then again. And before I know it, I’m out of the office, leaving a stunned Izzie behind.

‘Weak. You’re weak,’the devil sneers.‘You know she’s hiding something. You feel it in your bones. And you just left her. You’re useless. You’re nothing without me.’

“Fuck you,” I spit back, storming over to a punching bag and slamming my fists repeatedly into it, using pain to drown the devil out.

I don’t stop even when the skin on my knuckles breaks open. Not even when the sweat pouring down my brow begins to blind me. Not when every joint screams. Not when the muscles in my arms beg for mercy. I don’t stop until he’s completely and silently content, now that I’ve given him my sweat, blood, and tears.

Only when the voice goes silent do I stop.

Only when he’s gone do I collapse into the bag, clutching it to steady my breathing.

It’s only then I remember I’m not alone. I lift my heavy head and realize that Izzie has been standing in the office doorway, watching me as if trying to solve a puzzle she never asked to put together. And just like that, I know I can’t stay here. Not with her. Not when her very presence calls out the monster in me.

I can tell she wants me to offer some sort of explanation in regard to what she just witnessed, but I don’t give her any. Instead, I say nothing. No explanations. No apologies. I just grab my gym bag and head for the door, knowing full well that my hellish day is only just beginning.

Chapter 5

Marcello

St. Mary’s Cathedral—the one place I swore I’d never return to, yet here I fucking am.

After the total meltdown I had atNonno’sgym, I made the brilliant decision to go home early.