I force my eyes to focus on the shoes in front of me. I look up at Lucien. But it’s not a man I see. It’s a monster.

He reaches down casually to grab my arm and haul me to my feet.

“It was also me who told them not to kill you. Thought that was a mistake, but you’re going to get me out of a mess now, so I guess the old saying is true. Everything happens for a reason.”

He tugs me painfully across the threshold, and the metal door clangs shut behind us. I drag my gaze from my demon brother and look around the room and understand what he’s saying. What I’m going to get him out of.

Because this room is full of men. Dangerous men. Soldiers. They go quiet, and all eyes turn to us. To me.

I try to get free, but Lucien’s hold is like a vise. I scan the sea of faces and immediately see the one in charge. There’s an air about him. He takes a step toward us and looks at my brother with irritation, but when his eyes land on me, he stops short. His expression changes, face morphing into something completely other.

And my own heart stops because I know who he is. I know exactly who he is.

27

AMADEO

My phone rings shortly after we drive out of the garage in one of Sonny’s cars.

“I just had a call,” he says, sounding anxious. “There’s activity in an abandoned school building about an hour north of Naples. I’m sending the address. Dmitri Anders is supposedly there. Authorities are getting ready to pick him up.”

“Why would we care about Dmitri Anders?” I ask.

“Those photos you sent of the mystery man with Leah Russo? The tattoos identify him as being that man.”

“Vittoria’s mother was having an affair with Dmitri Anders? The same man we’re talking about having a financial link to Lucien Russo?” Bastian asks.

“One and the same.”

I look at Bastian, who appears as confused as me.

“On the school, Lucien Russo called in the tip,” Bruno adds. “Made some sort of arrangement is what my contact is telling me. So he’s likely there. He and Sonny may have been working together. They have before. And if he had those photos of Leah and Anders, he could be using Vittoria to save his own neck. Anders will want payment for the lost men.”

“And Vittoria will be that payment,” I say.

“That’s insane. The man had an affair with her mother. Using Vittoria is… sick.”

“He’s desperate,” I say.

“And we don’t know anything about Dmitri Anders or his relationship with Leah. Not to mention his morals or ethics.”