Chapter 12

E NZO

“ Y ou sure you want to do this?” I ask Reese.

She aims the gun at Vance’s head, getting a feel for the metal. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“My wife won’t like it if you take off my head ’cause you don’t know how to handle that thing,” Vance growls.

“I can handle myself fine, Vance. You’re in excellent hands. So what’s the plan?”

“We go in there and kill the motherfucker,” Ciaran chimes in, flashing his fangs.

Vance shoots him a disgusted look. “You gonna drain him like a vampire?”

“Fuck you, man. The ladies love them.” Ciaran wags his eyebrows. “Sharpened for her pleasure.”

I chuckle. “Your father is already at the warehouse. You probably won’t need the gun. He’s tied up under the supervision of our men. There’s no plan other than going in there, setting him on fire, and leaving.”

“If you already have him, why the hell do you have a cavalry going in with you?”

I shrug. “Poetic justice. Ciaran, Finn and I had our lives wrecked by him, and Vance has been playing house and needs a little more excitement in his life.”

Vance raises an eyebrow, appearing every bit the lethal killer. “Wait until you’re playing house yourself, brother.”

I smile at my old friend, flicking the Zippo on and off. “I think I’m good. I’m marrying a Principessa . Her blood lust runs deep.”

“Marrying?” Reese asks, her gaze fixed on me.

God, she’s so fuckin’ beautiful it hurts to look at her. She’s the bright light at the end of the dark tunnel that is my life. She better believe I’m going to marry her. There’s no way in hell I’m losing her, the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

“Yes, when all this is done, I’m putting a ring on it.”

“Do I even have a say in this?”

“Nope.”

“I’m holding a gun, Enzo. You sure you want to play that game?”

“Baby, if you don’t marry me, you might as well shoot me ’cause there’s no way I’m ever letting you go.”

She smiles, leans over, and kisses me on the cheek. “You’re fuckin’ crazy.”

“Say the rest,” I demand.

“And I fuckin’ love you.”

“I love you, too, baby.”

Ciaran makes gagging sounds as he pretends to choke himself on his chains. We both turn and flash him a dirty look, mine far more lethal than Reese’s.

“What? You two are pretty fuckin’ disgusting. All this lovey-dovey bullshit. My boys are dropping one by one like flies.” He points a finger at Finn. “And this one is no barrel of laughs. He barely fuckin’ talks.”

“I can’t wait until you find someone, asshole,” I say, my arm around Reese’s shoulder, moving her closer to me.

“Fat fuckin’ chance. Once you settle down, you’re fucked for life. Besides, my tastes are too much for most women to deal with long-term.”

Vance and I stare at each other and laugh. “Yes, we said that, too.”

T he warehouse is on the outskirts of town. Vance and I bought it years ago, thinking we’d turn it into a club. Maybe we will someday, but in the meantime, we’ve been using it to dispose of people who’ve become a liability. It’s a discreet place that doesn’t bring about questions.

As we walk in, our men circling Vincent step aside. When the fucker sees my face, there’s a flash of fear in his cold, calculating blue eyes. Then that fear turns into confidence. I’m sure he thinks he can fuck with my mind like he used to, but those days are long gone. I’ve trained my whole life for this moment, sold my soul to the devil just so I’ll have time to watch the flames engulf him and burn his flesh like he’s done to so many other children and me.

I pull the blade out of my jacket. Knives aren’t my thing. Never have been. They’re more Vance’s tool of choice, but after what Reese told me, I want the fucker to suffer for as long as possible. I grit my teeth, walk right up to the fucker, and slice his ear clean off. His scream reverberates through the building, a sound that, to me, is the most beautiful music one can hear. It’s the sound of pain and desperation. Vincent Ferreri now knows what it’s like to live in absolute fear.

Before I can do anything, Reese runs up to him, hitting him in the face with the barrel of a gun. “How could you?” she yells. Her voice is so full of anguish and pain that it almost brings me to my knees. “They were fuckin’ kids. How fuckin’ soulless are you?”

“Reese, honey,” Vincent croaks, tilting his head to stop the blood gushing from his ear. “You need to shoot them. They’re crazy. They’re gonna kill me, your momma, and then you. Just shoot them, baby. Kill them, and we can get the hell out of here.”

Reese’s leg shoots out, and she kicks him square in the face. Vincent’s body goes flying.

Damn. I didn’t know she could kick like that. She’s been holding out on me in bed.

Reese crouches in front of him, and unease creeps up my spine. I know she’s safe. There are five of us here. Vincent’s tied up, but I know what the fucker is capable of, and I don’t like my girl that close to him.

“You’re a piece of shit. I’d never help you. I’m here to watch you die, Dad. So I can make sure the person I love most in the world finally gets the justice he so desperately deserves.”

Vincent’s eyes round. “Reese, tesoro . I’m your papa. Don’t do this. You’ll never forgive yourself.”

A diabolical laugh escapes her perfectly fuckable mouth. It’s cold and uncaring, something I’ve never heard from Reese, and it makes my cock as hard as steel. “I’m never gonna regret staring into your eyes while you die, Vincent. It’s God’s work if you ask me.” With that, she gets up, spits in his face, and comes to stand beside me.

Ciaran flashes his fangs as he walks toward Vincent. He pours the lighter fluid on the older man’s head, drenching him. He says nothing. He looks at Finn, then at me, and nods.

I flick the Zippo open and head toward him when Reese grabs my arm. Well, fuck, she’s probably going to ask me to spare the fucker’s life, and the sick part is that I’d do it. If she’s decided she doesn’t want me to kill the asshole, I won’t. That’s how much control she has over me.

“I want to do it if that’s okay with you.”

Her words are bitter and shocking. Never in a million years did I expect her to want to be the one who takes the fucker out. “You sure about this?”

“Yes,” she whispers, holding her hand out to me.

“You want to use this?” I ask, holding up the Zippo.

“Yes. He hurt you with fire, and now I want to hurt him the same way. He should go out that way, burning on earth before he meets the devil in the pits of hell.”

I’ve been waiting my whole life to kill this man, but having his own flesh and blood do it is poetic justice.

I pass Reese the Zippo. “Light him up, baby.”

Without hesitation or doubt, she walks up to Vincent, flicks the Zippo, and lights his remaining ear on fire.

Vincent’s tortured screams echo around us. As much as I should enjoy the painful death of the fuckin’ monster, I can only focus on Reese. My beautiful girl. The flames illuminate her face, making her appear like a phoenix as she walks away from a writhing Vincent. He’s bound and completely helpless. All he can do is cry in torment.

I open my arms to her, and she walks straight into them as we watch Vincent thrash and scream until the only thing that remains is a charred corpse, the smell of burning flesh, and the sound of silence.

“You okay?” I whisper in her ear.

“Yes. Are you?”

“As long as I’ve got you, I’m more than okay, principessa . I’m fuckin’ king.”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“I’ll marry you.”