I pick up my phone and hit redial. It rings once…twice…and then…

“You dumb fuck. Did you really think I’d make it easy on you and those tools you brought with you? Except the chick. Makes me wish I’d waited around a little longer.”

“Where the fuck are you?”

I let the corners of my lips curl upward. He sounds more angry than scared. Good. That’ll change real fucking quick. “Oh, are you finally ready to make a move, you pansy ass? Always too afraid to get your hands dirty, so you leave the grunt work to everyone else. Can’t mess up the Armani, right? Have you decided to jump in the deep end, Salesi?”

“Enough of this bullshit, Luca. You want me, you’ve got me.”

“Oh, I have a lot more than that. But one thing at a time. It took you a long fucking time to answer my messages, so don’t think I’m gonna cut the game short because you finally decided to play.”

I tap my fingertips on the steering wheel and peer up at the dark sky. A flash of lightning illuminates the horizon, followed by a crash of thunder. I feel electrified for a split second, adrenaline coursing through me. I’ve waited a long fucking time for this.

Another flash of lightning crackles across the sky, and with it, an image of her…my Lia…lying on her back on a white sandy beach and smiling up at me.

There aren’t many times when I allow myself to force her beautiful face from my mind, the face of the one person I’ve ever loved in this fucked-up life of mine, but right now, I need to focus. I clench and unclench my fists, cracking my torn-up knuckles and flexing my fingers.

My life and my love were stolen away from me.

I want him to know how that feels.

Fucking mafia prince. He needs to know that pain. I can’t stop…won’t stop…until he does.

“You’re scared now, aren’t you?” I hiss.

“Listen, you fucking psycho, I came here for you! But in your twisted fucking head, you needed to send me another message by killing Matteo Fabrizzi. I know why you did it. You need to be the one calling the shots. You always did! Whenever someone else had more power, you felt threatened. It’s why you left the family and got into MMA. That’s how you battle the loss of control now. You fucking pound people into oblivion. That’s your power. Guess what, asshole? It doesn’t scare me. And it’s not gonna stop me from finding you and making you pay. I won’t let you hurt anyone else. You deserve everything you got years ago, Luca. Every fucking thing!”

“Thanks for the ten-cent therapy session, Doctor Fucknut.” I lean forward, peering out the window as the rain pelts the windshield of my car. “But let’s talk about you instead. You’re sitting on top right now, very fucking high up in your ivory tower since the big guy is lying in a hospital bed, fucking mangled beyond repair. And I want you to know how it feels to crash to the fucking ground, to land head-first in a sea of complete shit, knowing that you’ll regret everything and beg for my mercy. God, it makes my cock hard to say those words. Maybe I need someone to help me out with that. Good thing I have an idea about where to find that someone.”

Click.

Two lone figures rush out of the hospital, huddled under an umbrella.

Yep. A very fucking good idea.