I swallow hard, not doubting for one second that he’ll try it, though one of the boys will fuck him up before he gets the chance, only that will prompt Giovanni to have to punish them, and I can’t fathom what else he could possibly do.
My heart breaks and I try to force the fear down, trying to be strong for them and figure out some kind of way out of here, but I’m way out of my league. We’re fucked with no way out.
“What about them?” one of his soldiers questions, turning back to glance at the four cousins who look much worse for wear, though the fact that they’re still alive speaks volumes. Soldiers stand at their backs, keeping them from making any kind of escape.
Giovanni’s lips press into a tight line and it’s clear that he’s conflicted with this one. Victor was his closest brother. He confided in him, and these are his only remaining sons, but apparently that doesn’t count for much in this world. “Kill them,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. “Make it quick.”
The cousins pull against the soldiers, grunting in agony, and before they even get a step away, they’re executed like animals. Their bodies fall to the ground and a pained gasp escapes through my lips, horrified by Giovanni’s cruelty. These were boys that he helped raise into men, he watched them grow, cared for them, and shared in their life as their most fearless uncle. They gave their loyalty to the brothers, but their hearts were with Giovanni, and yet he betrayed them like they were dirt under his feet.
The guards step over their fallen bodies and I tear my gaze away, unable to wrap my head around the disgusting display of betrayal. When the brothers kill, it’s necessary, it’s because someone has fucked up and they have a wrong to right. Sure, they do it in wild, absurd ways that get them all kinds of hot and bothered, but what they don’t do is betray those who trust them. They are cruel men, but they have kind hearts, despite what they say.
Giovanni, he’s something different. He cares for himself and himself alone, and he doesn’t give a shit who he has to step on to get to the top. He is a vile monster with absolutely no moral compass, and I hate that I won’t be offered the opportunity to tear his throat out through his ass.
Levi’s eyes linger on mine and my heart breaks. A fat tear rolls down my cheek, and as it drops to my collar, his gaze hardens, darkening with desperation. He turns a furious glare to his father and I swallow hard, already hating what’s next. “What do you want?” Levi spits, done with his bullshit games. “Name it and we’ll fucking do it, just leave her out of this. She’s already suffered enough.”
Giovanni laughs, his gaze coming back to mine. “We’ve been here before, haven’t we?” he says, his lips kicking up in a twisted smirk, referring to the night his guards pulled me out of my bed and he forced me to choose which of his sons should die. They were on their knees just like this, shock collars locked around their throats. He glances up and down the row of his sons and sings to himself. “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, which of my sons has got to go.”
On some level, I know he’s just fucking with me, but the thought of him taking any of them to the grave has tears streaming down my face. “Fuck you,” I spit, my words struggling through the soldier’s tight grip on my throat as I do whatever I can to take his attention off his sons. “Where’s the baby?”
“The baby?” he laughs, pulling a phone from his pocket and holding it up to the boys. “Oh, you mean this one?”
Roman’s face pales and I strain against my captor’s hold, unable to see the screen, but whatever it is, I know it must be bad. “I press one button on this phone, and it goes off.”
Fuck no.
My heart sinks when Roman’s hand cuts out toward his father, taking the knife right out of his grip, and effortlessly slicing the mens’ throats at his brother’s back before stepping into his father and holding the dripping blade to his throat. “Call it off,” he growls, his tone so low that it vibrates right through to my chest. Levi and Marcus begin getting to their feet as Roman continues. “If you hurt one fucking hair on his head, I swear, I will make you regret it.”
Giovanni stands eye to eye with his son, the blade at his throat all but forgotten as his lips pull into a wicked grin. “Stand down, Roman. Submit to me and the child is yours.”
A soft exhale pulls from Marcus as he steps in behind Roman, his hand pressing against his back. “Come on, brother. Let us live to fight another day. I’m not ready to lose this yet.”
Roman doesn’t budge, holding his father’s gaze as he silently shakes with rage. “Roman,” I whimper, swallowing hard. “Please. Give him what he wants, and your son is yours.”
Roman scoffs, breaking his father’s stare as he turns his broken gaze toward me. He steps back, watching me as though I have all the answers, but I’ve got nothing but pain and fears. There’s not a damn thing I can offer to make this okay, and looking deep into his eyes now, it’s clear he thinks this is a trap, but it’s a risk that he has no choice but to make.
His son’s life hangs in the balance and there’s not a damn thing he wouldn’t do to save him.
Three soldiers step in behind the brothers, dropping them to their knees before binding their wrists with tape, taking the knife out of Roman’s hands, and tossing it back toward Giovanni. I clench my jaw watching my men fall from the highest pedestal, and without warning, my knees are kicked from behind and I fall into the bloodied grass.
Giovanni laughs and steps toward his sons before turning the phone in his hand. He looks down at the baby adoringly before something sinister twists across his face. He does something on his phone and then glances up to meet Roman’s stare just as a booming explosion sounds in the distance, the blast lighting up the sky for only a moment.
My breath catches in my throat before an agonizing scream tears out of me, blinded by rage. Tears blur my vision, and I don’t see anything, only hear the sound of Giovanni’s howling laugh. I blink the tears away to find Roman breathing heavily, soldiers desperately holding the three brothers back until Giovanni throws the phone down in front of them. “Relax,” Giovanni scoffs. “You make it so easy. Your brother is fine.”
Roman just stares at the image of the baby, his chest rising and falling with violent gasps as Levi pulls against the soldier’s hold. “Brother?” he spits. “You mean his son. Your grandson.”
Giovanni slowly paces before them. “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,” he sings, the words so low I barely hear them. A chill sails over my body and I shake my head, my heart racing a million miles an hour.
“Did I say brother?” he questions, stopping in front of Roman and meeting him dead in the eye. He leans down, smirking right at him. “That’s exactly what I mean. That child you’ve fought so hard for, he’s mine. Your little girlfriend was nothing but a cheap, used up whore.”
No. No, this can’t be right.
My chest sinks, my heart stopping in its tracks as I look to Roman to see nothing but devastation torn across his stunning face, his heart breaking right before my very eyes. I pull against the soldier’s hold on my body, trying to push him off me. I’d give anything to run into his warm arms and tell him that everything is going to be okay, but how the hell is he ever going to go on from this, from believing all this time that he’s had a son, only for him to be ripped out from under him.
Giovanni laughs to himself, pulling back as Roman pulls against his binds. “That’s right, son. She was a tight little bitch with a nasty bite. Ariana couldn’t give me what I wanted. She was a washed-up whore, so I took what I needed from Felicity. She was able to carry a son, one that I will raise in my image, one that will be everything you three could never be.”
Fucking hell.
Pride surges across Giovanni’s face as he watches his son fall to pieces at his feet.