“Oh,” I breathe, the relief pulsing through my veins. “So you guys don’t get off on …”
“No fucking way,” he laughs. “We get off on your fear. Levi just likes to fuck with chicks like that. Tell them something so off-putting that it makes their skin crawl. With everything going on, I’d forgotten he’d told you that.”
Something eases within my chest and realizing that their mommy issues aren’t as fucked up as I thought, I step into Marcus and offer him my foot. “You’re going to have to throw me over,” I tell him, both of us quickly realizing that this is the only way.
“Alright,” he says. “But for the record, if you faceplant on the other side, it ain’t my fault.”
Taking hold of his shoulder as he makes a brace under my foot, I meet his eyes and nod. “Deal,” I tell him. “Now make me fly.”
After fifteen long minutes of Marcus attempting to catapult my body up and over the high maze walls, we finally break in through the back door with only a few minor scrapes and bruises. We come in laughing and within moments, we hear Roman’s amused tone hollered through the massive castle. “Oi, Marc. Where the fuck have you been? Come and check this out.”
We follow the sound of his voice and the closer we get, the easier it is to make out the familiar sound of a news broadcaster giving the world its latest breaking story.
Turning into the big living room, we find Roman and Levi hovering around their massive TV, too worked up to be able to relax back into one of their many luxury couches. As we walk in, Roman glances back and I don’t miss the way his eyes scan over my body and linger on my face.
“What’s up?” Marcus questions, walking deeper into the living room and glancing up at the TV, figuring out that whatever is going down has something to do with this news story.
“Check this out,” Levi says, grabbing a remote and hitting rewind, watching closely to make sure he doesn’t go too far back.
I creep in between Marcus and Roman, my brows furrowed as Levi gets it to the right place and hits play.
“Breaking news,” the stunning news anchor says, her platinum hair instantly making me jealous that I’ve never had the funds to do that on my own, let alone maintain it afterward. “The DeAngelis family war continues.”
An odd thrill shoots through me and my back straightens as I hang on her every word, watching as an image of a man I’ve never met appears on the screen. “Ronaldo DeAngelis was found dead in his family home late last night. This comes only a few days after his cousin, Antonio DeAngelis was murdered on his family property outside of town. Both of these men have links to the DeAngelis mafia family and are both nephews of Giovanni DeAngelis. The police have launched their investigation into these vicious murders, but it is unknown whether these killings are linked.”
The news story continues with the finer details of these murders as I gape at the screen, unable to believe how it’s all playing out. “Holy shit,” I breathe as Levi lowers the volume, not interested in the details we already know. “It happened just as you guys predicted.”
“Sure fucking did,” Levi says with pride. “Just you watch. My father will be in a rage when he calls Roman within the hour to make sure it wasn’t us, but he already knows the truth. It was Antonio's father, Victor, retaliating for his son’s death.”
“So what now?” I ask as Marcus steps closer to the TV, grabbing the remote and turning the volume back up as he watches the rest of the story.
“Now, we sit back and watch the show unfold,” Roman says, walking across the room and filling a small glass with perfectly round ice cubes and his expensive whiskey. “Our father is the eldest of five sons. Giovanni, Victor, Joseph, Phillip, and Louis. Victor is our father's second in command; he has five of his own sons. Well, now that we've killed Antonio, he's down to four. Joseph has kept his nose clean as far as we know. He doesn't want anything to do with the family business. Phillip is just as dirty as Victor, though he’ll keep his distance from this particular war because he has two young daughters. Louis is the youngest of our uncles, and Ronaldo was his only son.”
My ass crashes down onto the couch as I try to go over everything he just said, trying to wrap my head around the DeAngelis family tree but I think I’m going to need someone to draw it up. “That’s … a lot of people you need to get out of the way.”
Roman shakes his head. “Not exactly. A few of them will be regrettable deaths, but it’s meticulously planned out that those who will survive at the end of this will be easily swayed to the dark side. We will not have to worry about their loyalties as we already own them.”