21.

B ELLA

When we switched elevators and were joined by two businessmen, I was glad that I’d stuffed my supplies into my old backpack, although I thought that in this upscale hotel, the ratty and well-used material of my bag would probably stand out more than the items inside it. I’d been here just a few hours - less than twelve, actually - and yet, here I was, plotting the very slow and painful deaths of four men I’d never even seen because I was terrified that they might intend to do harm to the women in my family.

Not that most of the women I’d been raised around couldn’t defend themselves; it was the point of the matter. All they had done in this situation was raise me, the woman who had fallen in love with the head of a mafia crime family, and now they were suddenly targets of some Russian gangsters.

How in the hell had life come to this?

Even though that’s what seemed to be happening, I had to be honest with myself and admit that I wouldn’t change anything. I couldn’t, no matter how hard I tried, even if I had been so inclined. I was head over heels in love with Matteo Russo and fully intended to spend the rest of my life with the man surrounded by his family and friends - who would someday be my family and friends.

Somehow, his reaction to my choice of accessories before we left the apartment to go downstairs and confront the men who had been stalking me seemed to reinforce what I felt deep inside - Matteo Russo understood me like no other man in my past. Over the years, I had dated men who enjoyed the novelty of a strong woman who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind but then balked at the idea that the same woman they professed to understand and care about might be inclined to use her brain and fists to get things done if it came right down to it.

My thoughts shot back to the picture Matteo had shown me - my mom and sister, smiling and laughing without a care in the world or any idea that there was someone with nefarious intent watching them from a distance. That made my blood boil in a way it hadn’t in a very long time - not since the last time I’d found myself carrying this same bag with much the same tools inside it, ready for whatever vengeance I was set to unleash.

I shook my head to clear those memories away so I could focus on what was happening right now. The warmth of Matteo’s hand in mine and his strong presence beside me reminded me that I wasn’t alone, and the thought that my brother wasn’t far away and would help me do anything I needed him to do - illegal or not - was comforting to me.

However, I wasn’t a stranger to keeping secrets from my brother, and what I planned to do in just a few minutes was going to be one of them.

God knows I didn’t need him to find yet another reason for me to go home. He was coming up with plenty on his own even though he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to change my mind.

Not for the first time I wondered if I might be able to convince him to move to New York with me.

The elevator stopped and the two businessmen got off, leaving me and Matteo alone with two guards I hadn’t met before.

Matteo looked at me and asked, “What are you thinking about right now?”

“I was wondering if there was a market in New York city for some good Texas barbecue.”

“Really?” Matteo asked in shock.

“I wouldn’t really ask Dylan to uproot his life in Rojo just to come up here with me, but the thought is there, especially since we’ve never lived more than a few houses from each other before.”

“You can go visit him or he can come see you whenever either of you wants, you know.”

“I know, but that’s not the same as showing up at his house at the crack of dawn and raiding his refrigerator for breakfast before I go into the office or showing up at his house late at night to tell him all about the television show I just watched.”

“You can do that to Luca and Tabby or even Zach and Brett if it makes you feel better.”

“We’ll see,” I said sadly. Somehow, just how far away from Dylan I’d be finally hit me and all of the doubts I had about this move came rushing back. But when Matteo squeezed my hand and smiled at me, they faded again. I knew in my heart I was making the right decision. I smiled back at him before I said, “I love you, New York.”

“I love you, too, Twang.”

We got downstairs using the same route we’d gone up just a few hours ago and then were joined in the hall by Luca, Tabby, Zach, and Brett. There was another woman there, an older lady whose limp reminded me of my mom’s physical problems, and she looked more uncomfortable than all of us to be in this situation.

Before I had too long to wonder who she was, Brett introduced her to me, “Bella, this is Sasha. Sasha, meet Bella, Matteo’s new better half.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said as I shook the woman’s hand.

“I’m not sure that Sasha needs to be here for this . . . meeting,” Matteo suggested with a pointed look at Zach.

“It’s always good to have a translator you can trust,” Zach replied with a shrug. “And even if they don’t start talking, she might recognize them and be able to at least give us a little insight as to what we’re dealing with here.”

“Are you okay?” Brett asked me with concern. “I’m sure it’s more than a little disconcerting to have something like this thrown at you just a few hours after you landed to begin your new life.”

“How can you be all sweet and gentle with her when you were snarling at me five minutes ago?” Zach asked.

“I’m being nice to her because I don’t want to set her on fire,” Brett said with an obviously fake smile.

I burst out laughing and said, “I think you and I are going to become very good friends, Brett.”

“I hope so. You seem like the kind of friend who might help a girl get rid of a body.”

I made a show of studying Zach from head to toe and said, “I don’t think it would be a problem.”

“That’s just what I fucking need, another woman to talk shit and tell me how inferior I am,” Zach grumbled. Finally, he looked at Matteo and said, “They think they’re funny, but if they knew . . .”

“What?” Brett asked. When Zach didn’t say anything and just glared at her, she said, “That’s what I thought.”

“He’s really scary,” I whispered loud enough for someone ten feet away to hear. “I’m so afraid.”

Zach turned his scowl to me, and Matteo burst out laughing as Bret stuck her fist out and we bumped knuckles which just seemed to irritate Zach even more.

“Come on,” he called out over his shoulder. “I’m ready to get this over with so I can have some time away from you crazy women.”

“You should probably go ahead and get your will in order, my friend,” Matteo warned him as we followed his friend. “It was bad enough when it was just Brett, but now that she’s got a partner in crime, I’m not sure how long you’re gonna make it.”

“You’re not helping, Matteo,” Zach growled.

“What exactly are we doing?” Brett asked as we walked into Sam’s office.

“Zach didn’t tell you?” Matteo asked. When Brett shook her head, Matteo groaned. “Campana! What the hell?”

“I wanted to get her down here without a big fuss, and if I’d told her what was going on when we were upstairs, she’d have thrown a fit all the way down here.”

“Tell me what?” Brett asked. Zach pulled a folded sheet of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Brett. Brett’s reaction was much like mine - instant anger. After what Zach had said, I was surprised when he pulled Brett into his arms and kissed her temple. He murmured something in her ear, and she nodded before she said, “I want to get a good look at them to make sure I don’t recognize them, and then I want you to make them disappear in the most painful way imaginable.”

“I can do that,” Zach assured her. He looked over Brett’s shoulder at Sasha and said, “I just need you to take a look at these men and see if you recognize them. They kept speaking to each other in Russian, and none of us knows how to speak it, so we separated them in case they’re planning something or trying to reaffirm that they shouldn’t talk to us.”

“I’m not sure I’ll be much help in identifying them because I’ve avoided those people as much as possible for years now. However, I can easily translate for you.”

“Thank you,” Zach said as Sam came through the door at the back of his office. He had obviously just changed clothes since he was still adjusting his tie, and I wondered if he had to change because he’d been involved in interrogating the men Matteo wanted me to see.

I was shocked when Sam stopped beside Sasha and kissed her on the cheek but smiled at the change in her demeanor as soon as he was nearby. She wasn’t hesitant anymore, and that made me like him even more than I had after seeing him on some of the video calls I’d made to Matteo over the last few months.

“We’ll let you look at them through the two-way mirror,” Sam said with a nod in my direction and then Brett’s. “I’m sure that neither of you want to have anything to do with their interrogation but . . .”

“I’m down,” I said eagerly. “I’d like to talk to them.”

“You would?” Sam and Zach asked in chorus.

“Yes. Very much.” I considered it for a second and said, “Right now, they’re probably expecting more muscle to arrive to rough them up before one of you guys come in and play good cop. Now, I’ll admit that all I know about this . . .” I cleared my throat as I searched for the right word and then finally said, “Lifestyle is what I’ve seen on television or in the movies, although I will admit that I do enjoy a good mafia romance book now and then too.”

“Same, girl,” Brett chimed in.

“However, where I come from, we have a certain way of taking care of issues like this. I have to admit that most of the time, the men in our brother clubs take care of problems, but there are times when my sisters and I eagerly get involved to remedy things that need to be fixed.”

“Sisters?Brother clubs?I’m lost.”

“She’s a biker,” Matteo said proudly.

“I am . . . was the vice president of my motorcycle club, the Texas Queens MC.”

“Oh, really?” Brett said with a shocked look. “Are you going to go in there and bash some heads and torture them until they talk?”

“That’s what you think bikers do, huh?”

“Is it?”

I shrugged and then readjusted the strap of my backpack on my shoulder before I said, “I might be inclined if given the chance.”

“Well, let’s do this. Where are Luca and Tabby?” Matteo asked.

“They’re already downstairs with Bex and Rico,” Sam explained before he walked past us toward the door.

It didn’t take long for us to get down into what seemed like the bowels of the hotel, passing several checkpoints that had a guard to make sure not just anyone roaming around could get through. Finally, we emerged into a long hallway made of concrete that looked like something from a dystopian horror film. I felt like, at any second, some sort of alien was going to emerge at the end of the hall before we had to fight to our death and couldn’t help but shiver at the thought.

“Are you okay?” Matteo asked as he squeezed my hand.

“This place is just creepy,” I mumbled before I shivered again. I suddenly realized what my biggest problem was and asked, “How far underground are we?”

“So far that it’s better not to think about it,” Matteo answered vaguely. “Would you like to go back upstairs? I can have . . . “

“No. I’m not going anywhere. There are men somewhere down here in this cave of wonders who think it’s okay to spy on my family, and let me just tell you right now that whatever you do to them would pale in comparison to what would have happened to them if someone found them watching Gamma.” I shuddered at the thought. I hadn’t ever seen my friends’ fathers in action, but I’d heard rumors, and none of them were pleasant. “If they had, we wouldn’t have ever known these men existed because they’d be part of the ecology, feeding the wildlife in some remote location of the country.”

“I’m anxious to meet these people you speak of,” Matteo said with a grin.

“You have.” He blinked a few times in shock, and I smiled before I reached up and touched his cheek and said, “Luckily, they liked you.”

I walked ahead of Matteo into the room Sam had disappeared into and heard a few voices that I didn’t recognize. I took a few seconds to study two of the men that I just instantly knew were friends of Matteo and some of the higher ups from the four families he’d talked about.

“Rico, Bex, this is Bella Conner. Bella, Rico is the head of another family - the Romanos, and this is his brother, Ziggy.”

I greeted the men and shook their hands before I smiled at the woman who was studying me closely. She smiled back and asked, “What’s in the bag?”

“Truth serum.”

“Did you buy that at the local pharmacy or cook it up yourself?” Rico asked.

“Actually, I bought it at a vegan grocery store back home.”

“And you plan on using it on our . . . guests?” Ziggy Romano asked. When I shrugged, he smiled at me and then asked, “Are your parents still married?”

“Uh . . . yeah,” I stammered. “Why?”

“Just wondering,” Ziggy said vaguely. He looked back at me and asked, “Better yet, are they happily married?”

Everyone started laughing, and I smiled as I assured him, “My mom and dad love each other very much, and there’s not a chance you could change that. Besides, my mom is a peaceful woman who would lose her shit if she found out I even considered doing half the things I’ve done in my life.”

Another man who Matteo hadn’t introduced me to yet stuck his hand out and said, “I’m Tonio Moretti, and let me just say that you could do much better than Russo.”

“You think so?” I asked, enjoying his flirtatious smile and giving him one of my own.

He winked at me, and I heard Matteo growl, but when the man laughed, I knew he was just flirting for a reaction, not because he meant anything by it.

“They’re speaking to each other,” Sasha whispered as she got closer to the window.

“I thought you separated them,” Matteo said as we got closer so we could see the four men. Each of them was restrained to a metal chair, and even though their faces were unmarred, I could tell that someone, or more than a few someones, had done damage to their bodies.

Sasha lifted her hand and pointed to each man as she translated what they said,

“Do you think anyone is looking for us?”

“Shut up.”

“What if they aren’t? Will they leave us here?”

“Quiet!”

“It’s just been their soldiers so far. We can handle this.”

“Stop talking or I will find a way to get out of this chair and kill you myself!”

The men were quiet again, and Bex pointed at each one individually as she judged them, not just by the words they’d said, but by their demeanor.

“Goon on the far right is their leader. Possibly the highest ranking but also the strongest. They’re looking to him for answers. The guy that’s second from the left is the weakest link. The other two aren’t as uncertain as him, but they’re definitely not comfortable in this situation. I would say that the one on the far left would be second in command if we’re going by confidence.”

“How does she know that?” I whispered to Matteo, surprised because I had thought the same thing.

“She reads people. It’s not just a skill, but what she’s actually trained to do,” Matteo answered as the men started talking again and Sasha translated.

What they said wasn’t nearly as revealing as before, mostly just complaints about their injuries. However, it gave me an idea of how to get them to talk and which ones to focus on, but I did have one question.

“Why did you bring us down here?”

Ziggy looked down at the floor before he said, “I didn’t think we should involve any of you, but I understand why Rico thought Bex should be part of this because she does have a certain skill.”

“I think it’s important that you all understand what we’re up against here. I believe that they’re targeting the women in our lives to get us to agree to something we wouldn’t usually. However, they’re very tight-lipped even after we’ve done things to persuade them that have worked on other . . . um, guests that we’ve entertained down here,” Sam explained.

“Let us in there,” I suggested. “They’d never expect the women they’ve been watching to be part of what’s going on.”

There was a chorus of arguments from the men, but Brett lifted her hand and said, “Listen, guys. The mama bear instinct is strong with all of us, whether it’s to protect our children or anyone else in our family.” Brett took Sasha’s hand before she said, “Other than go in there and wreck their faces with a baseball bat, I’m not sure we could get any more information out of them than you can.”

“But there’s more than one way to skin a cat,” Tabby interjected. As I nodded my agreement, Zach, Matteo, and Luca winced along with the rest of the men. Tabby laughed before she explained, “I don’t know what that means exactly, but it’s an old saying, so don’t judge me. I like cats just as much as the next person.”

“It would throw them off their game to see women come in as sort of a second wave of interrogators. They’ll assess us to pick out the weakest, but I think if we go in there they’ll feel superior and start talking,” Brett suggested.

“They won’t give out any information we don’t already have,” Bex argued. “We don’t pose a threat to them at all, and they’ll know that the men are close by.”

“If I do something to make them talk, will you hold it against me?” I asked Matteo.

“No!” Matteo answered instantly.

“Will the rest of you?” I asked.

“They have pictures of our children, Bella,” Tabby said angrily.

“I don’t have any kids, but they have pictures of my mom and my sister along with other women in my family who have nothing to do with any of this and are so far away removed from New York that it’s not even measurable.”

“We won’t hold anything against you,” Ziggy assured me.

Rico shrugged before he said, “Whatever you’ve got in mind is worth a try.”

“Put the leader of the group out of the conversation and the next in charge in so much pain that he can’t tell the weaker two to shut up. As they see him losing his shit, they’ll get so afraid that they’re next, we won’t be able to get them to stop talking.”

“So, we give him a life-threatening injury, and as he starts to slowly die, they’ll start talking?” Sam asked. Before I had a chance to answer, he cheerfully said, “I can do that.”

“I’ve got something in my bag that will be even better,” I announced. I glanced over at the window looking into the secure room and asked, “Are you sure they can’t get free and come after me?”

“Positive,” Sam assured me.

“Okay, lead the way,” I told Bex with a smile. “Y’all don’t have to do anything but sit there and stare at them with that crazy look you’ve got going on. Bex can do her shrinky dink thing and figure out if what they’re saying is the truth while I make sure they don’t stop talking. Maybe you should have an open line of communication with Bex to make sure that we’re asking all the right questions.”

Every man in the room just stood there and stared at me as if I’d sprouted horns, but the women all sprang into action.

“Is there anything specific we should get out of them?” I asked.

“They’re not going to know a lot since they’re just soldiers . . .”

“Or so you think,” Bex interrupted Rico as she slipped an earbud into her left ear. She used Rico’s phone to call it and then pushed the button on the earbud to connect it before she handed his phone back to him.

“True. However, we’d like to get them to talk about why they’re following the women in our families around, who they’re reporting to and what, if any, plans that they’re aware of. Since we haven’t really had an issue with the Russians in quite a while, I wonder if they might possibly be contracted out to work for a man named Bovino.”

“Okay.I got it.Bovino.”

Tabby wrinkled her nose and asked, “Doesn’t that sound like some sort of cow to you?”

“It does,” I agreed as I followed her out the door into the hallway.

“I’m not sure I’ll be able to kill anyone,” Tabby admitted. “I don’t think I can watch it happen either.”

“Sit there and cry. When I do something to one of them, be sympathetic and wince. They’ll see you as a human and probably start begging you for help. They’ll probably want to confide in you because they think you’ll be helpful to their cause.”

“I want them dead, though,” she said angrily. “The Bovinos were more than willing to kidnap me and hold me as a hostage until I had the boys so they could use them to control Zach’s family.”

“The Russians are why Sasha limps,” Brett added as she pulled the door closed. “They’d take her back just because her husband is part of them.”

“I’m pretty sure Sam’s got her back,” Bex said cheerfully. “Have you watched the two of them when they’re together?”

“No! What do they do?” Tabby said. Tabby smiled at me and said, “She’s like a mother to me and Brett. The girls call her Bushka, which is short for Babushka and means grandma in Russian.”

“Sam kissed her when he walked into the office,” Brett tattled. “It was the sweetest thing.”

“So, she’s taken care of now, but they might be some of the ones that hurt her . . .”

“Maybe not, but we know they’re affiliated with the ones that did,” Bex interrupted.

“I might change my mind and help you kill them.”

“I’m not gonna kill them, honey. I’m just going to scare them so badly that they wish they were dead,” I assured her.

Bex nodded at the guard standing outside the door on the opposite side of the window we’d been watching the men through. He stepped in front of the door, but then I heard Rico call out from behind us, “Let them through, Gabriel.”

The guard looked surprised, but he followed Rico’s order and opened the door to let us inside the room. It was blank, with concrete walls and floor, and somehow I wasn’t surprised to see a floor drain in the middle of the room.

Tabby and Brett sat down in the chairs on the opposite side of the table from the men who were lined up against the far wall while Bex hopped up and sat on the corner of the table as I set my bag down.

None of us spoke, which was probably disconcerting to the men who were already shocked to see us. They knew who we were because they had been found with pictures of us in their possession, but they probably thought we were scared little women who needed to be protected by the big strong men.

I set my hammer and a few other supplies down on the table and then hung my backpack on the back of an empty chair. With my back to the men, I pulled the brown dropper bottle out of my bag before I set it on the table next to me so they could see it. I got another smaller dropper out of the bag and held it in my hand while I made a show of pulling a trash bag out of the side pocket and snapping it open. Once it was open to my satisfaction, I quickly put a few drops of liquid in the bottom and then slipped the bottle into my pocket before I turned around and smiled at the men.

I pointed at them from left to right as I said, “Eenie, meenie, miney, mo.” I smiled at the man on the far right, the one Bex had pointed out as the leader of the group, before I said, “You’re the lucky winner!”

Before he had a chance to open his mouth, I was standing between his splayed knees and had the trash bag over his head. I pulled the string to tighten it around his neck and then tied it in a big bow before I said, “Which one of you wants to tell me why you’ve been following us around and taking pictures of our children and family?”

The man started gasping for air, sucking the trash bag in and out, closer and closer to his mouth as he thrashed his head back and forth to dislodge it. I put my hand out and grabbed his jaw to keep him still before I used my other hand to pinch his nose shut.

“He’s taking much too long to go. I was sure it would be quicker, but maybe this will help.” The man’s yells suddenly subsided, and he stilled completely before he slumped down in his chair. I let his head fall forward so his chin was resting on his chest, checking the positioning of the bag before I took a step back and smiled at the three flabbergasted men. “Who’s next?” As I walked back to the table, I made sure to put a little extra swing in my hips and blew a kiss toward the mirror before I stopped next to the table and picked up the brown glass bottle. As I slowly unscrewed the dropper from the bottle, I said, “This is some really nasty shit, so I think you should go ahead and start talking. We want to know all the who, what, when, where, and whys.”

“Fuck you! Send the men in here to do their jobs. I’m not going to play dolls with some stupid bitch who thinks . . .”

The man’s head snapped back when Bex hit him in the jaw, and as he tried to shake off the punch, I rushed around his chair and yanked his head back. He tried to yank his head away, but my grip on his hair stopped him from too much movement. As soon as he opened his mouth to start spewing more hateful words, I tipped the bottle up and emptied the entire contents into his mouth and then shoved the bottle in too. I knew he would try to spit it out, so I wrapped my arm around his head and used the leverage of my forearm against my chest to hold his mouth closed. He tried valiantly to spit the liquid out, and I could have forced him to swallow, but I knew that it would be quicker for him to absorb it through the soft tissue of his mouth, so I didn’t force the issue.

I held onto him for a couple of minutes before I winked at him and then suddenly let him go and stepped back. The bottle flew out of his mouth and shattered on the floor, but I could tell by his wheezing breaths that the liquid had already started to take effect.

“Looks like he’s down for the count, and I’m all out of natural remedies,” I said as I walked back to the table. I reached down into my bag and pulled out the bag of gloves along with my favorite masonry hammer - one my father had given me the first summer he let me work with the bricklaying crew on what would later become our family gathering place. I pulled on a pair of surgical gloves and then slapped the hammer against my left palm a few times before I said, “Who wants to go first?”

The man I’d just poisoned started screaming, the fear evident in his voice as he writhed in the chair, stretching the limits of the restraints holding him there until I was sure he was injuring himself without even thinking about it.

The other two men were staring at their friend in horror, and the second I walked toward them with the hammer in hand, they started sputtering and talking, throwing out names, only one of which I recognized - Bovino.

Bex started firing off questions, and I knew she was listening to Rico and the other men giving her suggestions in her earbud. I stood next to Brett’s chair and waited with her as the men talked and had to stop myself from laughing as they tripped over their words in their haste to avoid the same fate as their friends.

“That’s enough,” Bex said. I looked at Brett and Tabby, expecting to find them upset about the situation, but instead, saw that they were glaring furiously at the men in front of us. “We can go now.”

“Really? I didn’t even get to use my hammer!”

“I wouldn’t mind if you thumped them a few times,” Tabby said angrily.

“I’ve got something that’s gonna hurt them even more than that,” I said cheerfully as I walked over to the first man and yanked the trash bag off his head. He moaned when the cold air hit him, and I laughed when I realized that the other two who had been singing like canaries quieted in shock. The man I had “poisoned” was finally quiet so I asked him, “Are you starting to feel a little better?” Of course, he didn’t answer me, but I knew he could hear me, so I said, “If I were you, I’d avoid sunshine and nicotine for a while, otherwise that burning will start again . . . although, I doubt you’ll have a chance for either any time soon.”

“He’s not dying?” one man asked.

At the same time, the other asked, “He’s not dead?”

“No and no. He’s not dying, and the other one should be waking up in the next few minutes. I’ll let the two of you tell them all about how you ratted everyone out while they were incapacitated. If it was up to me, I’d let all four of you loose in here and sit back with some popcorn and make bets on who would be the last man standing, but my boyfriend might think that’s a little morbid and I’d hate to make him doubt me this early in the relationship.”

“Shit! Ouch!” Bex yelled before she yanked the earbud out of her ear. The second she did, I could hear the men on the other end laughing. I smiled when she said, “So far, you’ve gotten at least three marriage proposals and one offer of employment, but that last zinger has them all laughing like loons.”

“I do what I can,” I snarked before I turned toward the mirror and bowed dramatically. In my best Elvis impersonation, I said, “Thank you. Thank you very much.”

“Which ones want to marry her?” Brett asked angrily.

“Yeah. That’s what I want to know,” Tabby chimed in.

“Unless Sam Elliott has recently appeared in that room, there’s only one man in there I’m interested in,” I assured them. “Even if one of your guys spoke out of turn, you shouldn’t blame them for what was said in the heat of the moment. The big reveal probably shocked them because I’m guessing all of you thought that dipshit number one was dead.”

“I did!” Tabby, Bex, and Brett said at the same time.

“There was some chloroform in the bag,” I told them with a shrug. “It’s easier to buy than you’d think.”

“You’re kidding!” Brett gasped. “The possibilities are endless! Do you have more?”

“And this is why we won’t be hanging out with Matteo and his girlfriend,” Zach said as he walked into the room. “For my safety, I’m going to have to insist that the two of you stay far away from each other.”

I ignored Zach and leaned around him to smile at Brett before I said, “I’ve got an entire bottle, sweetheart. Take as much as you need.”

“Matteo!” Zach yelled as he glared at the mirror. “Come get her!”

Matteo breezed into the room and swept me up in his arms before he said, “You’re crazy, dangerous, and sexy as hell, Twang. I don’t think there’s any way I could love you more.”

“You’re a little bit afraid, aren’t you?”

Matteo burst out laughing and then admitted, “Honestly? I’m terrified.”

I filed out of the room behind the women, not even paying any mind to the four men behind us. I had everything I needed from them and didn’t care if they lived or died at this point. They posed a threat to my family and myself, and that alone made me lean a little further towards the “they should all die” column, but I was pretty sure Matteo and his associates had a plan for that too.

Once we were in the hall with the door shut behind us, the rest of the men filed out of the other room and joined us.

“We’re going to have a quick meeting to decide how to proceed from here, Twang, so the guys are going to take you upstairs. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“I’d like to go hang out with my brother for a bit while you take care of your business,” I said before I tiptoed up and gave him a kiss. “Will you have them take me to him?”

“Of course, but would you like to leave your bag with me?”

“No. Brett needs it and . . .”

“Absolutely fucking not!” Zach growled.

“I rarely ever say this about anyone, but you shocked me, Bella,” Rico said as he put his arm over Bex’s shoulders. “In a good way, of course. I really thought you’d killed that first guy.”

“I could have,” I said with a shrug. “I probably should have considering what we know now.”

“No, Twang, there’s no reason for you to get your hands dirty like that.”

“It’s all about what angle you view the situation from, Matteo. For instance, you look at this and think that I did the least amount of damage so I’m a sweet little darlin’ who is just getting by. Someone else, okay, so probably anyone who doesn’t love me, might think I’m maniacal to consider the psychological ramifications from the side effects of that medication when people are in a high-stress situation like that one while watching their friend gasp what they are sure is his last breath.”

“She’s right.”

“You think I’m a sweet darlin’?” I asked Zach.

Zach just shook his head, but Ziggy said, “Absolutely not, but you’re the cutest little psychopath I’ve met. If you knew my dating history, you’d understand exactly what a coup it is to win the top spot in the crazy category.”

“It’s good to be the top dog.”

“But he just said you’re crazy!” Zach pointed out.

“No. He said I’m a psychopath that wins the crazy category. There’s a difference there,” I argued.

“No, there’s not!”

“Crazy is for amateurs who get caught. Psychopaths can work silently on the perimeters of civilization for years before anyone realizes there’s something awry.” Bella scoffed. “Look at Congress. Do you think those assholes got where they’re at in life by flying their freak flag and showing off their true colors? No, they did not. They worked their way up the flagpole and only gave tiny little glimpses of their bullshit to people who were really paying attention.”

“Does your family know you’ve got this . . . predilection for violence?” Ziggy asked.

“Who do you think bought me this hammer?”

“Nope!” Zach said adamantly as he shook his head. “This clinches it. She can never meet my mom or any of her friends.”

“The next time I go to Texas, I’m taking her to stay at Dad’s house for a few days,” Matteo said with a grin.

“Does your dad live near Zach’s mother?” I asked.

“You know how your family built a neighborhood?” When she nodded, Matteo said, “So did mine, but it’s made up of very different people than yours.”

I laughed, because he really had no idea who I surrounded myself with when I was at home, both family and friends who were like family, but he’d find out sooner or later. I knew in my heart that Matteo was the one for me, especially now that my secret was out.

I would never be a shrinking violet who let the world spin around me as I ducked and dodged adversity. That wasn’t my way and never would be, so it was good that Matteo learned this early in the relationship and didn’t want to run the other direction.

I gave him another kiss when I saw Salvatore and a few others waiting at the mouth of the hall for me and the other women so they could escort us upstairs and let Matteo and the other men decide how to proceed from here.

“Love you, New York.”

“And I love you, Twang.”