Chapter 17

The smellof incense and sex saturates the air around me.

Before I even have a chance to open my eyes I know where I am. Diego"s sex club.

"It wasn"t a fucking nightmare." I groan and roll onto my back.

Part of me had truly wished I"d wake up in Rosie"s arms in her bed and all this shit with Marie and her family would be nothing but a bad dream. My luck just isn"t that good.

"You ever going to get your ass out of bed?" Diego"s annoyed voice slices through the last bits of fog I have from my sleep.

"I"m awake" I croak and sit up in the bed. My fingers moving up to my face where there"s a small bandage. Surprisingly, it"s the only injury I"ve got from the brawl between Peter, Luke and I.

I"d single-handedly killed both of them and have taken Marie hostage, all without my family knowing, which is why I ended up at Diego"s front door. It"s not easy to figure out who to trust anymore, at least with Diego I know he won"t go against me. At least, I hope he doesn"t.

"It"s about time, brother. So what the hell are you going to do about the woman I"ve got locked up in my training room?" Diego stands with his back against the door and his arms crossed over his chest.

"Hell if I"m supposed to know. Leave her there." I shrug as I sit up in the less than comfortable bed.

"That"s it? That"s your grand plan. Just ignore her. You and I both know we can"t do that. You were talking out of your ass last night when you showed up with her. Delirious from your injuries or lack of sleep which is why I let you rest for a little while. But now I need to know what the hell I just got myself involved in. What happened last night?" Diego pulls up a chair and sits with his front facing the back of the seat.

"They tried to fucking kill me."

"Who tried to fucking kill you? Seems to me that"s been happening more times than not."

"Her father and brother." I drop my head into my hands and run my fingers through my hair. I"m in desperate need of a wash but I don"t have the time to think about that right now.

When I look back up again, Diego is staring at me with a dumb ass look on his face and his mouth wide open. "Wait a minute, you mean to tell me you went up against the Caprini family last night? What happened? Where are they?"

"Unless they"re vampires who turn to dust in the sunlight I"m assuming they"re still laying dead in the middle of my kitchen." I grunt and move to the side of the bed to get started with the day.

"You killed them?" Diego questioned, his voice lower than needed.

"Yeah. What the fuck did you expect me to do just let them take me out. It was me against them and I won."

"You"re sure they"re dead?" Diego gets up from his chair and walks quickly in my direction.

I look up at him, confused what he"s so hyped up about. It"s not like I"ve never killed before. "Yeah, Diego I"m sure."

"Well shit. Do you know what that means?" He asks clapping me hard on the shoulder with a big grin spreading over his face.

"It means you"ve lost your mind and I have a mess to clean up when I get back home." I stand from the bed and stretch still not understanding what my little brother is going on about.

"No, you big dummy. It means you"re now the head of the Caprini family. You"re married to the sole heir and they don"t see women as leaders. You"ve got control over all of them."

The neurons in my brain fire all over the place but for the life of me I just can"t understand what he"s talking about. That can"t be right. Surely there"s someone else dying to take up the mantel. After thinking about it for a few minutes I realize that what my brother is saying is true. Luke Caprini only had two children. I"m married to Marie and I killed Peter.

"Holy shit." I mutter when I finally get the gift of speech back.

"Damn right holy shit. Christine is going to lose her shit and Babbo." Diego shakes his head before sitting down on the bed where I was just lying.

"I need to take care of some things first before I bring this to their attention."

"What things? What"s more important than this?" Diego asks looking up at me.

"I didn"t just kill them for shits and giggles. They knew things that they shouldn"t have known. I think Marie might know exactly who has been trying to kill us off."

Diego stands crossing his arms over his chest once again, "You know she"s not going to give up this information easily."

Finally the first reason to smile, "I know it but I"m sure we can think of a few ways to persuade her to tell us what she knows."

Diego smiles too. He knows exactly what I have planned. It"s not going to be a good morning for my dear wife.

* * *

"I"m not telling you anything!" Marie screams as struggles against the cuffs on her wrists holding her up off the floor.

"You"re right, you"re not telling me anything I want to hear. That"s only going to make things so much worse for you." I pull back the thin wooden rod I have in my hand and swipe it hard against her thighs and backside.

She sucks in a sharp gasp before she lets out a blood curdling scream. I don"t know how people allow themselves to be beat with these devices for fun. Diego tells me that more often than not, people specifically request sessions in order to be disciplined like this.

I"ll never truly understand the more sadistic side of BDSM but luckily I don"t have to. That"s what my brother is around for. He"s right here telling me exactly where to hit Marie to do the most damage.

"Stop! Gian, just stop!" Marie begs as messy tears stream down her face, and she looks into my eyes. If she is looking for pity, she"s not going to find it. "I can"t tell you anything. You have to understand."

"I don"t have to do shit but get what I want from you. When are you going to realize your place in all of this. They gave you to me as a pawn. As a part of the deal. You don"t mean anything to me." I run my hand up her naked side and up into her hair where I pull back hard, just to cause her a little more pain. "I could leave you here and let all of my brother"s patrons run the hardest train on you without feeling an ounce of guilt. Is that what you want, Marie? Is that what you want me to do to you?"

Her eyes bounce back and forth between me and my brother, "You wouldn"t. You can"t." Her voice gets even more shrill.

"I can"t!" I pull her hair harder. In fact I"m sure I"ve ripped a big chunk out in the process.

"Please, I would never be able to live with myself." Marie whimpers and I let her hair go.

"Live with yourself?" I chuckle humorlessly, before I take a few steps away from her, "You really think I"m going to let you live if you don"t have anything you can tell me. Your father is dead. Your brother is dead. There"s noone to hold me to my agreement of making you my wife. I don"t need you anymore Marie. That is unless you make yourself useful." I raise an eyebrow in her direction.

She has to see how fucked her situation really is, or she"s as dumb as they all thought I was.

Marie tilts her head back possibly to keep from crying before she looks at me again. "You know, we could"ve been good together. We could"ve ruled all of this together. A true power couple." A soft smile crosses her cracked and bleeding lips.

It might be the first time I"ve ever seen her soft and real. She"s a beautiful woman, and I"ve no doubt her ambitions could rival my sisters, but there"s nothing about her that calls to me. She"ll never be Rosie, no matter how hard she tries.

"No, we couldn"t. We both know that. There"s no need to lie to ourselves now." I let out a sigh, trying to rid myself of any soft feelings I might have for her at this moment. "Now let"s get back to business, shall we?" I bend the cane in my hand and wait for her to start speaking.

"Fine." She whispers before clearing her throat and speaking again, "Fine, what do you want to know?"

"I want to know everything. Start with who is trying to kill my father."

The threat of sharing Marie with my brother"s customers does the trick. She spills everything she knows. Most of which I"d have guessed on my own, but some that I never would have thought possible.

Christine is going to have a field day with this one, but first I"ve got my own conditions that need to be met.

I only ever thought of being the leader of my own family. It wasn"t a job I necessarily coveted, but I"d take up the mantel if I had to.

Becoming the leader of the Caprini family was never in my mind. But with this new development came new opportunities. My father always had supreme power in our lives because I"d never go up against the family, not if I want to live. But now I"ve got my own family who can doll out the same threats. If the Bianucci clan wants to keep their hold on this life, I"m going to get back what I really want.

Rosie.

I can make this work. Christine and my father will let me live my life the way I want, or they"ll have to deal with a war they never expected.