Never Have an Outlaw's Baby (Deadly Pistols MC #3)(131)

“Brina, listen, I've got to apologize for last –“

“No need. I'm not here for your sympathy.” I pushed my way past him, taking a seat in the big leather chair across from his desk.

“I meant everything I said yesterday evening. I'm going to take my inheritance and leave this city. As uncle and niece, we're done. We're not family anymore.”

Pain throbbed in my heart just to say it, but only for an instant. What little respect and love I had left for my uncle died last night. But you can't stop loving anyone completely all at once – unless you start hating them instead.

And right now, that's all that kept me moving.

Uncle Gioulio's face dropped to the ground as he sat. “What is it you want? You're facing me for a reason.”

“Before I leave and try to forget about all this, I want to do right by this family, the ones who're gone. You're right. This isn't about you and I. This is about mama and papa. I want them avenged just as badly as you do.”

We locked eyes. He never smiled, but I could see the satisfaction glowing in his face, a beacon in the darkness.

Uncle Gioulio stood, walked over to his liquor cabinet. Seriously? A celebratory drink this early was way too weird for my taste.

I was about to tell him to hold it right there while he was pushing bottles aside. Then he stopped, grabbed a small glass flask filled with some clear fluid, vodka or gin, and what looked like a silver needle inside, and walked back to me.

“This is the best way to kill them. The Ivankovs won't be able to resist a drink if they think you've got me by the balls.” He pushed it into my outstretched hands.

The glass was cool. The transparent stuff inside it sloshed around like any other vodka I'd seen, clear and unassuming.

“One little drop of that and they won't know what hit 'em. It's a kinder, swifter death than the bastards ever gave Gio and Allison. It'll do the job just the same.”

My fingers tightened around it, full of evil wonder. I carefully pushed it into my purse, making sure it found a safe spot.

“You'll always be a Ligiotti, niece. You can hate me until your last breath, and I won't blame you, but you know blood and heartache, just as I do. Take it. Slip it to them carefully. Cut the chains that'll try to hold you here forever. Avenge them the way I couldn't.”

I couldn't stop him from embracing me one more time. There wasn't a hint of warmth and I almost shivered in his arms. When I pulled away, Uncle Gioulio was still looking at me with those sad, knowing eyes, a thousand thanks whirling in his dark pupils.

We'd never be family again in the proper sense, but we had ourselves an understanding.

I spent another twenty minutes with him and his guys, talking about the logistics of how I'd get back to the Ivankov's estate without drawing suspicion. He gave me a tattered white coat – the same rumpled one that belonged to mama the night she was struck down – and I was on my way.

Anton tricked me, used me, sent me to sabotage my uncle for nothing but his own disgusting gain. His poison was love and lust, and now it mutated in my veins, becoming as bitter and intoxicating as the toxin stowed in my bag.

I was returning to him as a weapon. I'd deceive him the same way he wrecked me with his lies.

It was time for the bastard to pay.





8





Disconnect (Anton)





It was nine o'clock. Second day since my girl went missing, and I was ready to wring Daniel's neck for the dozenth time.

The f*cking bug hadn't lived up to expectations. Sabrina and Gioulio's voices were garbed, and the last thing we heard before it went dead was crashing and arguing. Fuck.

“Back off, Anton. Don't make me hit you again brother,” Lev growled, putting up his fists in warning.

Asshole. We were roughly the same strength, but he wasn't fighting for her the way I was. Fuck, Daniel was pretty strong too, especially when he knew he'd be fighting for his own life if we didn't find out what the hell happened – and soon.

“Shut the f*ck up! This is his fault, and you know it. You're a cocksucker for protecting him.” I stormed to the other side of the great hall, pacing from end to end like a caged tiger.

“You're not in your right mind, brat. That bitch got underneath your skin. Fuck, for all we know, she was playing you the whole time. You let her go, she dumped the bug, and now she's probably given us up to the f*cking Italians.”

That did it. I spun, came pounding right at him. Our bodies slammed together like colliding trains and Daniel was dragged into the melee.

Too bad we'd all gotten that Ivankov gene for big muscles and fists of fury. Two against one. I didn't have a chance, but I fought like a goddamned devil.

All I knew was the sweet crunch of my knuckles slapping flesh and bone. I swung, kicked, and thrashed 'til my arms went numb, same as I always did in a brawl like this. Except it never got that far.

Daniel got a choke hold not long after I pounded his face, hard enough to leave a black eye. Lev tackled me while I was struggling to get my brother's arm off my throat. He slammed both fists into my stomach. The wind was right outta me like a ton of bricks landing on my chest.

I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Daniel maintained his death lock, leaned down, and whispered in my ear.