Page 111 of Brutal Revenge

Elio leaps into a piss-poor defense. “The self-defense gym is across the road from where Antonio gets his girly drink every day. What were we meant to expect?”

“That I was teaching her how to holdmeback if I couldn’t take no for an answer,” I snap out, my words shouted.

The room stills. The only person who moves is Dante. He angles his head and scrunches his brow.

“You taught her self-defense… to holdyouback.”

There’s no use acting coy now. I’ve shown my hand, so I lift my chin. “Yeah.”

I have no clue what the fuck he sees on my face, but it’ll take more than a handful of blinks to see clearly again when he slams his fist into my gut, folding me in two. Then, smirking, he exits the man cave like I’m not in the fightof my life.

“What the fu?—”

“He told you he’d step back and watch you fall without a bit of advice on how to get back up undusted if you didn’t shut the fuck up about him being in love with Lucia,” Giovanni says. “He’s a man of his word.”

I cough, my balls gargling in my throat. “He thinks I’m in love? I’m not in love. I’m… I…”

I’ve got nothing.

Is that why I’m going insane, and why I can’t look at another woman? Is that why everything hurts? Am I in love with Azra?

My chest tightens as rage flares. I’m not angry at her for knocking me on my ass with only a sideways glance. I’m pissed that Nico and Elio might have stolen any chance I had of making her mine.

Giovanni throws his hand in my face, stalling my charge for the second time this morning. “You can beat the shit out of them later. You don’t have time to fuck around. If you love her, you need to act now.”

“Especially with how fast Antonio’s first marriage ended,” Elio mutters, jaw tight.

We all stare at him, confused as fuck.

“Antonio has been married before?”

Elio blinks before shifting his eyes to me, his interrogator. “You didn’t know? Today’s event isn’t the first wedding Vivienne has organized for Antonio.”

“Vivienne?” I echo, shrugging.

“The wedding planner,” Giovanni supplies, his mind ticking over so fast I hear each cog turning. “I don’t know of a single Cosa Nostra wedding she hasn’t planned in the last seven years.”

Elio nods, agreeing with him. “Vivy planned his first marriage four years ago.”

“Vivy?” Nico asks, brow arched.

Ignoring his drilling gaze, Elio opens a folder from his briefcase and pulls out a photograph. It’s a staged wedding portrait of a smiling blonde woman and Antonio. She is happy and radiant, nothing compared to the blonde in the next photo. In this photo, she’s wearing awhite nightgown. The nightgown is scuffed, dirty, and torn, and tears streak her face. She looks wholly broken.

“That’s the night his wife committed suicide,” Elio says quietly. “One week after they wed.”

“A week?” I whisper, horrified.

Elio nods, and that’s all it takes for me to bolt.

I don’t think, breathe, or look back.

Azra is marrying a monster, and I’m done pretending I am fine with that.

Chapter 35

Azra

The chapel doors are shut, but I hear the murmur of the crowd inside. They sound like a hive of bees, ready to burst out and swarm me the second I step over the threshold. My palms sweat, and my throat feels tight. I flatten my hand against my chest, sure that my heart is close to bursting out of my chest.