Page 21 of Ruthless Roses
This asshole is doing this shit on purpose. He knows what he’s doing.
I grip the front of his suit again, so aggressively and suddenly, he stumbles backward. But I hold strong, dragging him closer ’til our faces our almost touching.
“You don’t understand,” I grit out, repeating myself. Feral yet eerily calm. “This is no game, Ernest. This is my family. I’ll die for them. I’ll kill for them. I’ll fucking kill you to protect them. No one—including Delphine—will be able to stop me. Stay the fuck away from them. Or I will destroy you and happily go to prison if I have to. I have never meant anything more in my life. What I did to Lucius will look saintly.”
The gleam in his eye shines brighter, this time with humor. “Mancino, you need anger management. I’m sure my daughter doesn’t appreciate the way you fly off the handle so quickly. Some would say it could be dangerous for her and my grandson.”
“I would never hurt Phi and my—”
“Those nurses would disagree,” he says smoothly. “You’d think you’d learn after all this time. But you’re still playing checkers while I’m playing chess. All I want is to be in my daughter’s and grandson’s lives. That’ll happen with or without your approval. Now let me go.”
My fingers only tighten in the front of his suit, and I bare my teeth like the animal I become in his presence.
He laughs and says it slower. “Let me go… or we can make another spectacle out here for everybody to see. Who do you think will come out looking worse? The former mayor and district attorney, a man of upstanding morals and integrity, with a perfect reputation—or you, some violent gangster who explodes into fits of rage at the drop of a hat? Let. Me. Go.”
Every word, even through my blinding hatred of him, is true.
As few fucks as I give, as unapologetic as I am about my nature and what I’m willing to do, I recognize he’s right.
If I cause a scene right this moment, I’ll do more damage than necessary. Damage that would only affect me and my family.
It’d be foolish to act right now. I have to be smarter. More strategic.
For once, I do as he says. I let him go, my tight grip no more. I release him and take a step back.
He grins, turning to leave. “So there’s hope after all. Even a brute of a gangster like you can be civilized. Good night, Mancino.”
Good night, Ernest. Just know your days are numbered.
delphine
2 months later…
“Areyou aware you have a mountain of packages outside the front gates of your house?” Sasha asks when I answer the door. She’s escorted in with the security detail I sent to pick her up in Northam. Bryce waves at me from his stroller, his mouth sticky with what looks like juice he’s been sipping from a juice box.
“Fabio had mentioned there’s more packages, but I told him to leave them. It seems like we just finished putting away yesterdays.”
Sasha hoists Bryce up from his stroller and balances him on her hip. Her clueless stare says it all.
Why?!
“It’s my father. He’s sending gifts almost every day,” I clarify, leading her through the massive open space of our ground floor.
We wind up in the sunroom where she sets Bryce down and gives him a handful of toys. I’ve moved to my favorite chair that gets the most sun and plopped down with an exhausted sigh.
“Mr. Adams is alive? I’m… shocked. Has he explained how?”
“He’s tried. I haven’t been taking most of his calls. Or texts. Or emails.”
“Don’t you want to find out what he has to say?”
My eyes close and I rest my head against the upper portion of the chair. “It’s complicated, Sasha. Maybe not as complicated as what went on with your family. But my dad… he betrayed my trust. He spent almost half my life spying on me, using the info he gathered to keep Salvatore and I apart. He belonged to the Neptune Society and let them get their hooks into him while he made me and everyone else believe he was the epitome of heroism. It’s a betrayal I can’t even begin to sort out.”
“You mean your daddy—the first man you ever loved—sold you one dream and another turned out to be reality? I get it.”
“He was myhero. I modeled my entire life after him. Not only that, but the spying. He… he had a camera in my necklace. I still feel so violated about it.”
“What does Salvatore think?”