Page 31 of Wicked Throne

The wine glass went to her lips and she peered around me. The air around me seemed to feel constrictive the more I looked at her. When she'd had enough she sat the glass down on the long table that was decorated.

"Where are they?"

"They've gone home to New York, the conclave ended earlier than expected," she shrugged. "Wine?"

"I'm not here for a fucking social call, Talia."

I guess she couldn't take it anymore. When we'd been younger, we'd been like magnets, where one was, there was the other. We'd been drawn to each other, always. She stalked towards me and didn't stop until she was flush up against me. She'd had some work done, I realized looking down on her. Botox had altered her appearance, pulling back her alabaster skin until it seemed so tight she looked more vicious and viper-like than ever.

Her red manicured nails traced over my lips.

"Then what are you here for, Mi Amore?"

"Don't call me that, Talia."

"You use to love when I called you that?"

"I was young and dumb...."

She gave a soft laugh, her lips hovering near mine as she dropped her arms around my neck and stared up at me adoringly. I looked down the edge of my nose at her. She smelled of red wine when her breath touched my lips; there was a sourness there, almost like a vinegarette. A shudder eased its way down my spine.

"We could be something again," she whispered.

Fat fucking chance of that, I thought.

"I'm married," I replied. "And you saw to it years ago that I meant nothing."

"You should have ran away with me as I asked."

"Enzo was shot last night," I removed her body from mine and stepped back.

Anger was rising building up in me. I hadn't come here to play fucking games with Talia; I knew how much she enjoyed them. It was time to play my hand. They had made the first move and now it was my turn.

Talia let out a soft gasp. "Is he okay?"

"That is beside the point. The point is that he was harmed, and it was right after our little meeting in the restaurant. So the other families...they gave the approval? They greenlit trying to have me assassinated?"

A storm started behind Talia's eyes as she stormed back to pour another glass. The wine bottle already looked half empty, the clear glass giving a slight sparkle. She drank before she spoke again.

"If I wanted you dead, then you would be. I am sorry about Enzo."

My eyes narrowed.

This crazy bitch.

"So it was you?"

She shrugged her shoulders, her delicate boney shoulders that I was already imagining crushing in my hands for hurting my brother. "Yes."

Pulling my cellphone out, I realized enough time had passed. Lucia and the rest of her DEA team should have been raiding most of the ports owned by the other four families. I had made sure to leave Cassidy's family out of things as he had pledged to work with me. Now he would be the dominant force in the Tri-State area and I would be running shit for the Scarpettas in the south.

Talia's cellphone began to ring.

"You might want to grab that," I spoke.

She glared at me before picking up her phone.

"That's more than likely your father telling you about the DEA raiding warehouses, and shipment containers...Talia, I'd love to say it's been good to see you. But that would be a fucking lie."