Page 206 of Vicious Intentions
“Then I guess that leaves me no choice.” I tighten my grip around the cane. “I’ll have to go to Chicago myself.”
That gets everyone’s attention.
“You can’t be serious,” Rocco exclaims. “They’ll kill you the second you set foot on their turf.”
“That’s a risk I’m more than willing to take.”
“No. We’ll find another way to let Anna know you’re alive. We need you here, not there,” Niccolò says in a firm, authoritative tone.
I smile faintly. “You handing out orders to me now, little brother?”
There’s no malice behind the words. I always knew Niccolò had it in him to lead. It just took me stepping aside long enough for him to realize it, too.
“Matteo,” he starts carefully.
I wave him off, silencing any arguments he can come up with.
“I know what you’re going to say, brother. If I go to Chicago, I’ll have to do it alone. No soldier is going to follow me on a suicide mission, and I’m okay with that.” A tired smirk pulls at my mouth. “Besides, if I die, it’ll save us from going to war with Moretti.” I turn my attention toward Rocco. “And I’ve grown far too fond of you to put a bullet through your skull.”
“You wish, asshole,” he jokes, though sadness clouds his green eyes too.
“It will be a bitch sneaking into Chicago with this cane, but I’ll make the necessary arrangements and leave in a couple of days. You won’t have to do a thing to help me.”
In other words, when, not if, Chicago kills me, Niccolò won’t have my blood on his hands. And Moretti will never be able to claim my brother helped me escape my fate.
“No,” Niccolò says, stone-faced. “You can’t go. This city needs its Boss.”
“From where I’m sitting, this city already has its Boss.” My gaze locks onto his. “It’s just not me anymore.”
Niccolò’s armor cracks at that, his hand dragging through his dark hair as if trying to understand how I could give up my kingdom for an Outfit principessa.
But my Anna isn’t a one-in-a-million kind of girl.
She’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of woman.
She’s more than just my wife. She’s the only beauty I see in this world.
Maybe one day Niccolò will understand how a love like that changes a man. How it shifts his entire world off its axis and forces him to see life through a different lens.
But until that day comes, my brother will never understand that what I’m doing isn’t a sacrifice.
It isn’t even a choice.
“I can talk to Moretti,” Niccolò says, making one last attempt to keep me here. “I’ll convince him not to tell the other Dons whoreally killed our father. I’ll make sure he understands. You’ll step down as Don, but at least you’ll keep your life… and stay here with us. With your family.”
“You still don’t get it, brother.” I shake my head faintly. “There is no life for me without Anna. She’s my family. She’s my whole goddamn heart. I’m nothing without her.” Again, his brows furrow like I’m speaking a foreign language. “Besides, you’ll make a far better Boss than I ever could. Moretti will help you through the growing pains of learning the ropes while standing beside you during this war. He’ll support you in ways he never supported me.”
“He’s right,” Rocco interjects. “Dad will breathe easier with you at the helm and Matteo gone, unable to influence your decisions.”
“See?” I gesture between Rocco and Niccolò with my cane. “It’s a win-win, brother. New York gets its freedom and a Don worthy of leading it.” I let out an exhausted exhale. “I just want my girl back.”
Once Niccolò falls silent, some of the tension drains from my body. With no fight left in my brother, I push myself up from the chair and start toward the door.
Only I don’t get far.
Raffaele steps into my path.
“Don’t go,” he says quietly. “Don’t.”
