Page 84 of Damaged Beast
But the trouble is, they’d end me soon after, and Deanna would die in the crossfire.
Not a chance I can take, even if there’s nothing more I want in the world than to see Marco Carbone’s eyes go lifeless and dim.
I want the last thing he sees to be my smiling, blood-soaked face.
“We’ll make it work,” Deanna says, patting my chest like she’s calming a rabid dog.
“That’s good to hear. Should we get going?” He looks around with a frown. “Where’s your vehicle?”
I gesture at several U-Haul-marked trucks. “I’m assuming they’ll be enough.”
“Better be.” Carbone snaps at his closest thug. “Get it opened and start unloading. I want to be out of this shit hole in less than an hour.”
“Yes, sir.” The thugs hurry off.
Carbone turns back to me. “You don’t have help?”
“Nobody I can use for this.”
“Why’s that?” Carbone’s sneer is disgusting. “Worried your boss might find out?”
I stare him down and don’t bother to reply, but he’s exactly right. I don’t fully trust my own men to keep this from Stellan, which is a good thing. It means they’re loyal to the Corsetti Famiglia, as they should be.
Only makes my life fucking harder.
“I’ll handle the logistics on my end. You worry about your product.” I check my watch. “You have ten minutes to unload.”
“Let’s get something straight, Prime. You don’t give me orders. You make requests and I consider them. Is that clear?” Carbone glances at Deanna. “Lovely to see you, Mrs. Spadaro.”
She inclines her head politely but says nothing.
I tap my watch. “Time’s ticking.”
Carbone laughs and shouts at his men to go faster. They carry crates from the truck to my U-Hauls, stacking them inside. It’s a tight fit, but the shipment luckily fills all three with barely space to spare.
Standing to the side and looking on is the most demeaning moment of my life. Carbone’s using my lots and my trucks and my logistics like they’re his own fucking plaything. It kills me, listening to him barking orders, ignoring me while he does it. This is my land, my castle, and I’m the king here.
Only I’m not anymore.
And I have to eat it. There’s nothing I can do but watch.
Deanna holds my hand the whole time. She keeps me grounded and reminds me why I’m doing this.
Without her, I’d have no reason to keep going.
Killing Fontana was my whole life. Looking back, I can see the straight line. My obsession with amassing power and strength was always about finding a way to end Augustus Fontana’s life for what he did to Shawn. Even as I found real friendship with Stellan, even as I found a place in the Corsetti mafia, even as I excavated some tiny fraction of purpose, none of it mattered.
In my core, it was always death.
Revenge built me.
And now that scaffolding is collapsed.
But Deanna’s holding me up. She’s my new purpose. A stronger, brighter purpose.
She’s a future, where revenge was only ever an end.
“Not bad for a first run.” Carbone wipes his palms on his jeans as his men finish locking up the trailer. “But we’ll iron out the wrinkles next time.”
