Ruined in Vows (Marchetti Family #3)

61. Dante

Chapter 61

Dante

W ith Nico and Matteo by my side, we stride across the parking lot to the warehouse where Riccardo, the Conti siblings, and Benito are being held.

The people who are complicit in what happened to me, and Allegra.

Vengeance buzzes in my veins, the need to exact revenge in the worst way possible turning me into an unhinged animal. I am almost frothing at the mouth with ideas of how I can make their deaths as painful as possible. Nico told me many times, about the enemies I killed and the ways I executed my methods. I might not remember, but this feels natural, instinctual to me.

As if I was made to do this.

“Are you ready for this?” Nico asks, side-eyeing me.

“Yeah,” I answer immediately. I can almost taste the blood I will shed.

Seeing my wife so small and limp in that bed, after I accidently shot her, has only made it worse for Romano. I may have been the one that pulled the trigger, but if it wasn’t for Riccardo’s incessant need to take something that didn’t belong to him, then none of this would have happened.

“The heads of the other families will be in attendance – minus Riccardo’s papà for obvious reasons,” he muses sardonically. “From what we have gathered, Franco Romano has no clue about what his son has been up to and that he has been fraternizing with our enemies. The commission has assured me, everything will be covered up to make it look like the Russians took him out. Franco shouldn’t be too upset, considering he has two more heirs to take over the business. They even seem to be loyal. So, it’s a win win. He should be thanking us really.”

Snorting, I shake my head. Nico is either delusional or his ego is so big he is out of touch. Surely, there is no way any parent would be thanking us for killing their son, no matter how much of a traitorous disappointment he is.

But then, I don’t remember this world or Franco, so I could be wrong.

Approaching the door, I notice all the soldiers standing to attention, guarding the entrance.

“They yours?” I ask.

“Some. The rest are with the other families,” he confirms, passing the guards and stepping through a side door.

I follow him, entering the building. The stench of damp and death filters the air, making the blood in my veins pump faster as we stalk down the hallway.

Nico pushes the door at the end open, stepping inside. Matteo and I move closely behind him, pausing when I spot all the men sitting around a large oval shaped table. Nico takes his seat at the head, motioning for me to sit on one side and Matteo on the other. He makes the introductions, no doubt for my benefit, though I met them in a previous life.

All these men are strangers.

To our right-hand side, he points out the Don of the Lucchese Famiglia , Antonio Lucchese with his under boss, Elio, standing guard behind him.

Then we have Emiliano De Luca and his underboss, Piero. Nico then motions to Marco Agostini and his right-hand, Alessandro.

Along with the Romanos and Marchetti’s they make up the five families in New York and the commission.

“Gentleman,” Nico starts.

“Can we get these theatrics over with, Marchetti. I have other business to attend to,” Agostini grunts, taking a pull on his cigar.

Nico narrows his eyes, shooting back with pure venom. “Do you not think dealing with a traitorous enemy is more pressing than meeting your whore in the hotel room you have her shacked up in?”

Agostini bursts from his seat, palms flat on the table.

“Don’t you dare bring her into this, unless you want another enemy!” he hisses.

“That’s enough,” Antonio Lucchese barks, making Marco, who keeps his narrowed gaze on Nico, take his seat once more. Antonio is the oldest man in the room, one that demands our respect even when we don’t want to give it, and Nico’s only competition for head of the commission.

Nico’s papà, Lorenzo, was the head before he was gunned down by the Russians. Can’t say I am upset that it happened to him. Not after everything I’ve relearned since coming back. The man was a power-hungry asshole, who sold his daughter to the highest bidder, without a worry about what would become of her.

He received his karma tenfold.

Nico clears his throat. “As you can all see, Dante is very much alive. Turns out Riccardo wanted rid of my underboss, so the wedding to my sister could go ahead. Ignoring the other shit he pulled, that alone was an attack on my family in and of itself. To execute his plans, he consorted with the Bratva, our enemies. He is a traitor and cannot be trusted.”

“We already discussed this,” De Luca mutters. “What is it you want from us, Marchetti?”

“You know what I want,” Nico fires back.

“We already told you that it’s yours. Torture the bastard, kill him. He will be no loss to anyone,” Lucchese adds.

Agostini snorts, shaking his head. “And the women of New York will be a lot safer without that violent piece of shit around. We are all aware of what type of man he is. It was a shock to us all when your papà agreed to an arrangement with Franco.” He stands once more. “Do what you have to do, Nico. But do it quickly and discreetly.”

Antonio also rises, buttoning his jacket. “If Franco starts asking questions, we will be ready for it. Make it look like the Russians turned on Riccardo. We have all the evidence we need to show Franco that his son was a traitorous asshole, not fit to be part of our commission. He double crossed us. Whether the stuff with Dante had happened or not, the fact he consorted with the Russians is grounds for death. You know how we work. We might not all get along most of the time, but there is a sense of loyalty and comradery between our families. It has been the same for the last eighty odd years. Riccardo Romano clearly thought he could challenge our rules.” Lucchese smirks. “Look how far that got him.”

Nico chuckles. “Dead.”

“Not yet. But he will be.” De Luca adds, standing.

Antonio turns to face me. “Good to see you alive, Dante. See to it that Riccardo gets exactly what he deserves.”

Without another word, he strides toward the door, the other families following his lead, leaving me, Nico and Matteo.

Nico faces me, a manic look in his eyes. “Ready?”

“More than ready.”

“Fuck,” Riccardo grunts, his head dropping to his chest as I slice through his flesh, inch by little inch. I’m making it as painful as possible, drawing it out, and inflicting as much discomfort as I can on him, for every minute he kept me away from my angel.

“What made you believe you could ever get away with this?” I growl, bringing the knife down and stabbing his thigh. The crunching sound tells me I have hit bone.

Riccardo whimpers, biting back the scream he so desperately wants to release. I have got to give it to the man, even knowing that he is about to die, he is avoiding showing us any sort of weakness. “I got away with it for months. If only the whore hadn’t seen you in Las Vegas, she would be married to me by now. She would be my wife. I would be taking that cunt, ass, mouth, and every little part of her until there was nothing left,” he fires back, a smirk covering his ugly, battered, and bruised face.

The thought of his hands on her, taking her without her consent, taking what is mine has me seeing red. Pulling the knife out of his thigh, I slam it down once more, then smash him in the face with my fist. His head snaps back, the force of it making the chair tip. He laughs manically, blood coating his teeth.

“Do not talk about what is mine. Don’t even think about her.”

His gaze narrows. “She was meant to be mine. I had big plans for her. It’s you that fucking started this. If only you had taken a step back and allowed what was meant to happen, well then, you wouldn't be here right now,” he screeches accusingly.

“Allegra was never yours. She has always been mine,” I growl.

“And yet, her papà agreed to an arrangement with my father. Not yours,” he snaps.

Nico steps forward, hands in his pockets as he eyes the piece of shit. “So, in your delusional way of thinking that, you would get into bed with our enemies. You would assist them in blowing up my club, and then take my underboss and ship him to Las Vegas, using his head injury against him and making him believe he is someone else.”

“Clearly that was not part of the plan. It worked in my favor that Dante incurred a head injury and couldn’t remember who he was.” He sniffs. “It was the amnesia that saved your life. I would have disposed of you had you remembered anything. You should think yourself lucky and thank me for giving you grace.”

I laugh but it's humorless. “Yeah. I will get right on to thanking you. Just give me a second to process your delusional mind.” My tone is pure sarcasm. The worst part of this is he genuinely believes what he is saying.

“I'm waiting,” Riccardo prompts nonchalantly.

“Motherfucker,” I growl, bringing the butcher knife down on his other thigh, once again hitting bone.

“Let’s get this over with. I am fed up with hearing his disgusting voice,” Nico drawls, his tone bored.

“If I just shoot him, he gets the easy way out. He doesn’t deserve that,” I argue.

“Dante,” Nico starts, gripping my shoulder. “Look at his body. His skin is all but falling off. I think you have managed to get your point across.” He raises a sardonic brow.

Exhaling, I shrug him off me. If I didn’t have more important things to attend to, like my wife, who is still in the hospital, I would drag this out for days. But Nico is right. I have gotten my point across.

Without another word, I pull my gun from my pants pocket, aiming it at his head. He smirks, his eyes manic, the look sending a shiver down my spine.

“Kill me you son of a bitch. Because if you don’t, I will not stop until I have taken every part of–” with one shot between the eyes, I cut him off. I knew what name was about to leave his mouth and I can’t bear the thought of my wife’s name on his lips. Now he will never get the chance to say Allegra’s name ever again.

“What do you want to do with the Conti’s?” Nico’s stare burns into the side of my face.

Truthfully, I had forgotten about the other people who had played a part in my disappearance. They deserve everything coming to them.

“Kill them all.”

After interrogating the Conti scum, and not learning anything we didn’t already know, I make quick work of putting a bullet in each of their heads. Nico explained we didn’t usually make a habit of killing women, but Caterina is the exception since she was equally complicit in the scheme to keep me in Vegas. It was why Vincenzo wanted her pregnant with my child so badly. Riccardo, in his twisted mind, told him it would be the final nail in the coffin and would break Allegra and I completely, if I impregnated another woman.

The asinine Romano, didn’t take into account who he was dealing with. I may have been confused, but deep down, I knew I belonged to someone else. Which is why I always pushed Caterina’s touch away. The thought of sticking my dick in her was equivalent to putting poison in my mouth. And truthfully, the latter sounds like a better option to me.

After singing like a canary, Caterina admitted she was as much involved and was well aware of my real identity. The Marchetti organization may not have made a habit of killing women, but my “ex wife” more than deserved the bullet in her head.

“Come on man. Let’s get out of here,” Nico says, staring at the limp bodies before looking at Matteo. “Call in the clean-up crew.”

Matteo nods, pulling his cellphone from his pocket.

Sighing, I spin on my heel, heading for the door.

Time to get back to my wife.