Page 191 of Breaking Rosalind

“How do you know she’s not a Trojan horse?” Roman asks.

“Rosalind is trustworthy,” I say from between clenched teeth.

“Because fucking one cousin for months before hooking up with another is the mark of her devotion?” Benito asks, his nostrils flaring. “You were supposed to pump her for intel, not lead her into the lab I clawed back from the Gallianos.”

“Benito is right,” Roman says. “You need to end her like you did with the shooter.”

I shoot out of my seat. “Doesn’t my judgment mean anything?”

Benito, Roman, and Leroi stare up at me like I’m Scarface, yelling at them to say hello to his little friend.

“You don’t know the first thing about Rosalind.” I point at Leroi. “How could you not tell she was a trained assassin?”

My cousin winces, and Seraphine places a comforting palm on his chest. I know I’m an asshole, trying to deflect blame. Sometimes, being surrounded by my cousin and big brothers makes me regress.

“Leroi was busy planning and executing the massacre of an entire family.” Benito smooths down the lapels of his shirt as though congratulating himself on having won the argument.

“Stop it.” Leroi pinches the bridge of his nose, clearly sick of our bullshit.

“Benito, sit down,” Roman says.

Glaring at me like I interrupted his movie, Benito lowers himself into his seat. I should tell them that Rosalind is a victim of the Moirai, but that would require details. They all know Miranda exists, but I won’t make an innocent girl even more of a target.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Roman says over the sound of gunfire. “You will return to Isabella Cortese and put the assassin back into the basement where she belongs. After she’s helped you destroy the Moirai, you will kill her.”

I grit my teeth. “I’ll kill Rosalind after you kill Emberly.”

Roman’s nostrils flare, but he doesn’t answer.

“You’ve already taken back the casino her father stole from Dad, as well as a bunch of assets. Now it’s time to take her back to the tower and throw her off that balcony.”

If looks could kill, I’d be soaked in gasoline, trussed up on a bonfire, and torched to cinders by Roman’s burning gaze. But I’m past giving a shit.

I point at Benito. “Are you still pining for Ginevra DiMarco, who broke your engagement to be with Samson Capello? The same woman whose father scammed Dad out of nearly a billion dollars’ worth of assets?”

Benito flinches, but he recovers in an instant.

Fuck him and his unflappable facade.

“How does it feel to be dumped for a man without a cock?” I ask with a sneer.

Benito charges out of his seat, his hands curling into fists. Veins bulge from his forehead, and I revel in his loss of composure. Seeing him so unhinged is more satisfying than punching him in the face, more exhilarating than a hit of meth.

I raise my fists and ready myself for a fight, but Roman grabs his arm and pulls him back.

“Enough!” Leroi roars. “I didn’t go through all this trouble for the three of you to tear at each other’s throats.”

Benito glowers at me for several seconds before resuming his icy façade, then he returns to his seat and hangs his head. My chest tightens at the reminder of everything Leroi sacrificed to save Roman from death row. He didn’t just eliminate the Capello family and Matty Galliano’s sons.

The details are murky, but he also rescued Seraphine. The Capello twins kept her in their basement as a plaything. A shudder runs down my spine at the memory of what they did to my rabbit.

Leroi took Seraphine home, even though that made him the target of the Moirai, who blew up his downtown penthouse apartment. Both his mentor and the boy he adopted tried used her as a bargaining chip with Samson Capello, forcing Leroi to kill them to save the girl he swore to protect.

Shit, that’s me.

I’m both the bastard who kept a woman in a basement as a pet, and the hero sacrificing it all to save an innocent girl.

Four pairs of eyes stare at me like I’m more riveting than The Godfather. I can’t meet Seraphine’s gaze anymore. I did to Rosalind what the Capello twins did to her. Those bastards are related to the Galliano brothers, which also makes them my distant cousins.