CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

brAXTON

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DANTE RUBS HIS hand down his face.

Check mate, motherfucker.

“You married my fucking sister,” he grumbles.

I nod, uncrossing and crossing my ankles.

I see the worry cross his face as he glances back at the party. He thinks we’re going to move in on Adelina.

We’re not.

We could, but we aren’t in the business of helping feuding crime families.

They can shoot each other out of existence as far as I’m concerned.

But this guy, whether I like it or not, is now my brother-in-law.

“Welcome to the family, I guess.” He shakes his head, then turns to me. “But if one of your men touches my fiancé, I will shoot you point blank right here in the open.”

I nod. Because he will.

I saw the look on his face. He’s in love.

“So she said yes?”

She didn’t. I was listening.

“She will,” he grumbles, but I’m smart enough not to grin.

I also don’t care what happens in this guy’s love life. I’m here to tell Dante that Gianna is mine and he no longer has a claim to her as a Baldassare.

She is now Mrs. Gianna Ashford. My fucking wife.

But I’m also here for another reason.

“My team won’t touch Ms. Baldoni.” I reassure him. “But we need to discuss your text message .”

He snorts.

“First, go near my family again and we’ll have a problem.”

“You see, Braxton,” he says, twisting his body. “The way I see it, you owe me your life. I’m sure you don’t like that. But it’s true.”

“Fucker.” I hear Mack say in my ear.

Connor, Mack, and Nathan are here with me tonight. Decker is still not showing his face in the crime world after escaping the Mexican cartel with his wife, Isabelle, and I don’t blame him.

“I don’t owe you anything,” I reply, and even I don’t believe my own words.

“A US Marine, owing a mob boss a favor. Isn’t that ironic?” He smirks.

“ Be careful ,” Connor warns.

“So you know who I am,” I reply.

He shrugs. “Thank you for your service.”

It’s my turn to snort.

It’s a little rich coming from a gangster. Given every dollar they earn is from activities that endanger the people of this country.

And farther afield.

“They training Marines to go undercover now?” He taunts, lifting a brow.

Fair question.

“Don’t answer him,” Nathan says firmly.

He’s right. That will take us down the road of who I work for and how I did it. We aren’t giving him that information.

But I have a question of my own.

Two actually.

I start with the one that’s been on my mind for weeks. Since that moment in the warehouse, when my life was in his hands.

“Why didn’t you shoot?”

“Perhaps if I did, my father would still be alive?”

When I meet his eyes, I see anger but not grief.

But we both know it wasn’t me that shot his father and I’m not responsible for his life choices.

But I am responsible for bringing the enforcement team to his door.

“You shouldn’t have taken my cousin and treated her like a slave. She’s going to be in therapy for the rest of her life. Let’s call us even.”

“ Fuck me .” Mack groans.

To my surprise, Dante stares at me, his dark blue eyes almost black. But he doesn’t argue or get defensive.

Instead of responding directly, he turns away from me again, staring back into the party so we’re side to side once more and says, “Gianna. She loves you. That is why I didn’t shoot.”

Loyalty.

He loves his sister.

I wondered that but wasn’t sure if it was enough. I still don’t think he’s telling the entire truth. I want to hate this criminal, but there’s something about him that makes me wonder if there is more to him.

Or maybe I’m hopeful for my wife that we can have a future where she sees her brother and mother. Because whatever happens in the next two minutes will define our future.

“That why you didn’t kill my parents?”

He turns, glaring at me. “Fuck you. I’m not in the business of dropping bodies for no reason. You got the message. You took your fucking time responding, but you got it.”

“I was on my honeymoon.”

“Spare me the details. She’s my sister.”

I silently chuckle.

If only he knew. He might actually shoot me if he did.

“I’m not handing my wife over to the Baldoni’s. I assume that’s why you wanted her. Oh, by the way, Gianna said fuck you. ” I deliver the message she demanded I give him.

Dante draws in a deep breath and nods.

He’s tired.

“Tell her I said fuck you very much. And congratulations on the nuptials.” He pushes away from the wall and runs a hand through his hair.

I watch as he walks over to his second, Nick Rugani, and my body goes on alert.

I don’t trust Dante that much.

“What’s going on? Do we need to move in?” Nathan asks. They have eyes on me from their spots around the event. And a nearby balcony.

Nick shakes his head, and Dante slaps him on the shoulder. Then his second walks inside the party and closes the door.

Leaving him unprotected.

“I could kill you,” I say.

“I could kill you,” Dante replies, walking back over and stopping in front of me. He crosses his arms.

If he’s trying to intimidate me, it’s not working. But I don’t think he is. He wants to talk. Privately.

And he has my attention.

I feel a little guilty about having my team on the comms, but not enough to go silent and risk my life.

“But we are now family,” Dante says. “And I need—”

“I owe you my life.” I snap, reacting from weeks of the weight of this hanging over my head.

In his world, I do. I need to make it abundantly clear; I am not abiding by their rules. Owing a gangster is not a position anyone wants to be in.

He smirks, telling me that despite my rejection of the debt, it’s still hanging over my head.

Fucking prick.

He doesn’t respond as we stand there for a long moment.

“Let’s talk openly,” Dante says, uncrossing his arms and sliding his hands into his pockets.

Relaxing.

I frown.

Then nod.

“What I’m about to tell you, I’ve never shared with another living soul,” Dante says. “I’ve thought about this long and hard for years. Especially the past two weeks.”

I shake my head.

“Then why are you telling me? Just because we are family—”

“Shut up and let him tell you,” Mack says, and I blink.

“Fuck I don’t like this,” Connor adds.

Dante watches me.

I don’t know if he is aware my team is in my ear, but if he is, he stays silent.

But he’s armed, and if he’s going to share some deep secret, then drop me right here, I want to be prepared. I push away from the railing and roll my shoulders.

“Listen, I’m not a man you can trust. Don’t say anymore. We’re on different sides, Baldassare. Despite me marrying your sister.”

He watches me.

Like I’m his prey.

“Maybe we are,” he finally answers, and glances down to adjust the cuffs on each sleeve. Then he wipes his hand down the front of his tuxedo jacket. “But you and the Dark Kings are going to help me.”

“The fuck did he just say?” Connor growls in my ear.