“And do it slow,” Bastian adds. He wipes blood from the corner of his mouth and turns his back on the scene. I can see he’s rattled. But more than that, he’s pissed.

“Lucien Russo is mine,” he says.

“He’s yours.”

12

VITTORIA

I pace the penthouse, my mind whirling. What just happened? How did things go sideways so quickly? I perch on the edge of the leather chesterfield of this very modern, masculine space and set my head in my hands. It’s pounding. I look out the window at the busy street below, but we’re too far up for me to recognize any of the hundreds of SUVs that pass.

Bruno is also pacing. He’s as worried as me, and I realize how strange this is. How he and I are both concerned about the brothers. Days ago, would I have cared at all?

I get up, discarding my heels on the Persian rug and crossing the room to the bathroom where I search the cabinet for aspirin. I find some and take two with a handful of water from the tap. I splash water on my face and pat it dry when I finally hear them in the other room. I rush out to find Bastian and Amadeo walking into the penthouse, Amadeo carrying some of Bastian’s weight and both looking like they’ve been through hell. Bastian especially. He’s barefoot, shirtless, and I gasp, covering my mouth with my hand when I see how his chest is covered in strange bruises, bloody circles.

They stop when they see me. I drag my gaze to Bastian’s face to take in the bruise around one eye and the cut on his lip, then look at Amadeo and see the blood on him. It’s not his blood at least.

Bastian was tortured. Lucien did this. Lucien ordered this to be done. How? How did he gain so much power? And who are the men who carried out the false arrest in front of our eyes? The torture that followed. Because when my father was alive, they may have had dealings with local crime families, but Lucien never had men like those at his command.

Bruno is talking to them, something about a doctor being on his way. I walk toward the brothers. On the one hand, I’m relieved, but on the other, I don’t know. How could this happen? How could Lucien attack them so openly?

“Dandelion,” Bastian says. “Don’t tell me you were worried about me.”