Bound (The Devil’s Vow #2)

10. A Certified Shooter

Chapter ten

A Certified Shooter

We rounded the corner, and I could hear laughter and the distinct sound of silverware clinking against plates.

Next, the scent of cigars lingered faintly in the air, mingling with the warmth of the evening.

We stepped onto the balcony, and I saw them—Gianni’s brothers.

All three of them were gathered around a small table, laughing, eating, and drinking, looking like they didn’t have a care in the world.

It was a complete difference to the dangerous men downstairs, who were poised like revenge-seeking predators.

Up here, Gianni’s brothers exuded an altered kind of energy—no less dangerous, but somehow lighter, more playful.

Stefan, the eldest, leaned back in his chair with a glass of whiskey in one hand as he smirked at something Fabio was saying. He looked every bit like a dark king, with his scarred face and medium long hair, but there was an ease to him that made him seem less menacing in this moment.

Fabio, the middle brother, was leaning forward and moving his hands animatedly as he spoke. Those rose tattoos around his neck kept shifting with every movement.

And Corrado, the youngest, was practically inhaling a plate of food, barely pausing to breathe between bites.

Wow. He really is always hungry.

Fabio was the first to spot us. He grinned wide and raised his glass in our direction. “Well, look who finally decided to join the party! It’s the king and queen of the shadows!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as we sat down.

Fabio winked. “Come sit! We’ve got food well. . .if Corrado didn’t eat it all, but we’ve definitely got drinks and we’ve got—well, nothing you haven’t seen before, but the company’s good.”

Gianni pulled out a chair for me before sitting beside me.

I glanced at the spread of food on the table—everything from fresh bread to fine cheeses to pasta dishes that smelled like they came straight from a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Corrado mumbled between bites. “How are you doing, sis?”

It would still take me some time to get used to them easily calling me their sister.

I gave him a warm smile. “I’m doing just fine.”

“I met that friend of yours today. Melanique.” Corrado wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin.

I blinked. “You did?”

“She’s quite a lady. Not easily scared, although I wasn’t trying to truly scare her.”

I widened my eyes. “Please, don’t scare her. Melanique is nice.”

“I would say sassy and damn sexy.” Corrado chuckled.

Gianni found no humor in his brother’s report. “But will she change the ballet, making sure no man touches Erica?”

“She was smart about it all, but it could have been my two guns and all these muscles.” Corrado dropped the fork and showed off his arms. “People see me and are willing to do anything I say.”

I frowned. “So. . .she’s not unhappy about everything?”

“She wasn’t entirely happy either, but she looked glad to have you back as the vampire queen.”

Fabio quirked his brows. “My sister is a vampire queen? Oh, I must see this. I will be at the next show.”

“ We will.” Corrado returned to eating. “I’ve got front row tickets to all future performances.”

I blinked again. “Melanique gave those to you?”

“No. I grabbed them myself.” Corrado forked some pasta. “I like the way she smells.”

Say what now?

Gianni laughed. “Aww. I see what’s going on.”

I looked at him. “What’s going on?”

Fabio spoke for him, “Our little brother is clever with his hands but dumb with his heart.”

Stefan took a puff of his cigar. “How old is Melanique?”

“She’s a little over forty.” I watched him. “Why?”

Everyone laughed, except Corrado and me.

I held out my hands. “What’s going on?”

Corrado waved them away. “They think I should date women my age, but I just like them older. Mature. Independent. Women that know exactly what the hell they’re doing in bed, and even teach me some things.”

I considered everything that had been said and finally figured it out. “Oh wait. You can’t date Melanique. No.”

“Why not?” Corrado took a bite from a buttery roll.

“She’s. . .not a part of this world.”

“Doesn’t matter to me. I don’t need her to shoot anybody. I just want to hear her moan.”

I blinked for the third time on that balcony. “Listen. . .she’s focused on building her career in the ballet scene. She’s starting over and—”

“What did she do before?”

“She was a ballerina too. Then, she got seriously injured and started teaching ballet. Now she’s writing and directing her own.”

Corrado wiped his mouth again with the cloth. “Just how I like my women. Successful. Focused. Ready to moan.”

Gianni laughed.

I shook my head.

Stefan shot him a look. “And what if she is a certified shooter ?”

I waved my hand. “Oh no. Melanique doesn’t have a gun.”

They all laughed at me. Even Gianni chuckled beside me and then placed his hand possessively on my thigh.

I frowned. “What?”

Fabio raised both hands and dotted each word with his fingers. “Not that kind of shooter, sis. We’re not talking about someone who packs heat or takes out targets from a mile away. No, a certified shooter is a woman who’s deadly in a whole different way.”

Stefan took another drag off his cigar. “She doesn’t need bullets. A shooter just knows how to twist a man’s heart around his soul—without even breaking a sweat.”

Fabio bobbed his head. “And most older women know how to work a man. And I’m not just talking about in bed.”

“Exactly,” Stefan tapped his cigar in the ash tray. Gray clumps of ash fell into it. “A certified shooter doesn’t just have skills in bed. She’s got skills in her mind. She knows how to make a man think he’s running the show, when really? He’s the one dancing to her tune.”

I leaned back in my chair, completely captivated with their thoughts.

Stefan exhaled a cloud of smoke. “It’s all about the game. The way she moves, the way she speaks. And this older woman, Melanique. Ex-ballerina. Ex-teacher. Now with a hit show? The probability of her being a shooter is high.”

Fabio whistled. “She’ll have Corrado wrapped around her finger before he even knows it’s happening.”

Corrado waved them away and went back to eating.

“He won’t listen.” Gianni turned to me with a wicked smirk back on his face. “But, you see, Queen, when a man like Corrado—young, full of himself—goes after a woman like Melanique, he runs the risk of getting hemmed up .”

I raised an eyebrow. “Hemmed up?”

Fabio laughed. “Hemmed up, sis. It’s when she’s got him so twisted, he can’t think straight. She’ll be inside his head, making him do whatever she wants.”

Just when I was going to tell them that all of this was absurd, Stefan added, “an older woman who’s got experience, who knows exactly what she wants? She can shoot you down before you even know you’ve been hit. Corrado might think he’s the one in control, but with a woman like that? He’ll be the one getting played.”

Clearly unbothered by their warnings, Corrado spoke while still chewing. “I don’t mind getting shot down if it means I get to enjoy the ride.”

“Play with fire and you’ll get burned,” Stefan warned.

“Maybe I could use a little warmth.” Corrado shrugged.

I cleared my throat. “Well. . .I don’t know if Melanique is a certified shooter or not, but I will say that she probably wouldn’t be excited to date someone who is. . .”

“A killer?” Corrado winked.

I tensed. “She’s not about this life so. . .as long as you would be fine with her saying no, and moving on. . .”

Corrado laughed like I’d made a hilarious joke.

I shook my head. “I’m not trying to be funny.”

Gianni leaned my way. “Erica, telling a Fortunato man that he should move on from a woman he wants is by far the funniest thing you could say to him.”

Oh God.

Tension gathered in my shoulders.

I’m going to have to warn Melanique.

“So,” Fabio leaned back in his chair, looking at me with a mischievous glint in his eye. “How are you liking married life so far? Has Gianni bored you to death with all his rules yet?”

“Oh.” I thought back to Vivienne’s dead body in our bedroom. “No moment has been boring.”

Fabio snorted. “Give it time. The man’s obsessed with rules. And his queen.”

“Enough,” Gianni growled playfully, though there was an edge of warning in his tone. “I didn’t bring her up here to listen to your nonsense.”

Fabio raised his hands in mock surrender. “Alright, alright. I’m just saying, if you ever get sick of his bullying, you know where to find me. I’m the better and hotter of the Fortunato men.”

Gianni shot him a glare that could have melted steel, but Fabio only laughed, completely unfazed.

This is my new crazy family.

I took a sip of my champagne, savoring the bubbles on my tongue.

Then, I leaned against Gianni, enjoying the solid heat of his body next to mine.

Under the table, he squeezed my thigh.

My pulse quickened.

Soon, I felt the bottom of my gown rising up and up which only could mean that he was lifting it up.

What is he doing?