Chapter 81

I rode our release until my dick was pleased with her broken and satisfied moans of ecstasy. I slipped off her and cupped my hand over her pussy, catching our cum and smearing it against her folds.

Alessandra purred, and as I tried to defy gravity with my hand, I murmured into her hair.

"Mine." I pushed off her body, watching her shaking legs and perched ass. "I'll meet you downstairs."

I wiped my hand over the discarded towel I had used and picked up my suit jacket from the hanger. I walked, slipping my jacket over my shoulder and tucking my shirt back into my pants with the memory of Alessandra's words.

Loud chatter echoed downstairs as I headed down to meet my brothers. My study door was left open, carrying out the sounds of a few laughs and foul words. I adjusted my tie one last time and walked inside into silence.

The first pair of eyes I caught were doe-like as they watched me carefully. I guess some things would never change, and Davina's fear would be one of them. I didn't blame her. At one point, I wanted her dead and far away from this family as she'd caused such a headache. Now, even if it had been the starting point that tipped the scales into war, it was the reason I had a wild, high-spirited, and lethal creature that I could fuck my control out on.

It was enough to not wish or find her as a cold and lifeless body.

"Davina," I greeted.

She was dressed in a long black dress that matched her mid-length raven hair and dark eyes, and while she now lived in Florida's sunshine state, her skin was fair and unscathed from the sun.

"Massimo," she replied politely with a faint smile, and her hand twitched to the arm she clutched on to.

I didn't return her smile, and instead, I nodded at Vadim and walked past them. I needed a drink because while Alessandra's scent lingered, my thoughts sank back into the crucial time that neared.

After I poured and drowned my first glass of brown, I refilled it and added three cubes of ice to sip through dinner and turned to the four bodies inside my study.

Elio stood by his unclaimed corner and Nate the chair he was accustomed to while Vadim and Davina stood near the entrance. They all wore suits, and they all looked at me, waiting.

My eyes landed on Davina.

"Dante and Aldo will both be here, as you are aware," I stated, and I could see her struggle to not show any emotion. Sadly, it was etched across her face. "And while it's not the first time you'd seen them," I paused as I watched Vadim's jaw clench and raised my brow to him before returning my attention to her, "it's a fact Dante will push and provoke any reaction from you. It's imperative you don't." Davina's brows curled, and her chest drew back. "You understand how it will make trigger fingers happy, so keep your guard up and continue doing what you do best. Which is keeping an eye out, learning shit you shouldn't."

Elio chuckled at the end, and I cut my eyes out to him.

"Don't. Not now."

Elio raised his palms with a cunning smile.

"And don't fucking add to the tension, do you understand?"

He smirked.

I glanced down at Nate, whose stress was clear, and bounced my eyes around every gaze inside the room.

"It's the dinner before the wedding. It should be enough for you all to understand I do not want an issue to arouse or for Alessandra to worry, am I clear?"

I didn't wait for their reply. My tone alone threatened pain to whoever went against my orders. There was no one who detested the Zanetti name more than me. If I had to entertain my temper, so could they. I stepped out of the room to Alessandra's heels clicking above.

My fucking regal queen took each step down with power and grace. Her shoulders were back, and a fresh coat of lipstick adorned the lips I'd tasted just minutes ago.

No one could see the nerves through her strength. But I did because, somehow, between the dark looks, the hate I'd cultivated, the fights, and the quiet moments, I saw my enemy as a possibility.

She took her last step and placed her hand over my extended one. Her chest and cheeks still held the touch of fresh fucked pink, while her face glowed as bright as her eyes did.

Alessandra glanced behind me at the knocks that traveled from the front door. I caught the small tremble of her hand and trapped it between mine.

I failed to understand the power her family had over her. The captivity of dread shackled inside and the influence that trapped her mind into a sick play.

How far and deep did the damage go?

How cruel had the abuse gone?

By the small comments Alessandra expressed and the short tales Leonardo shared, I knew Alessandra's younger days weren't colorful. They were black and gray like mine. But, as I watched her breathing change and her muscles tighten with the inability to remove her sight away from what hid behind the door, I grasped the true beating she had taken for such vulnerability.

It was trauma.

Knocks bounced through the door again, but this time, I took her gaze away from them. I pinched her cheeks between my fingers and pulled her face until her eyes met mine. Long gone were the playful swirls of her irises, and I despised it.

Without a thought, I closed our distance and spread my fingers over her jaw. I slid my rough hand and thumb across her chin and onto her neck, pinning her head with my touch and bringing it to me. Our foreheads connected, and her lashes fanned while her eyes surrendered to my gaze, and I breathed in her alluring, sensual smell of cherries and sin.

"No one deserves such power," I uttered. "Don't let them have it."

Alessandra didn't say anything. She only stared at me, reining in any weaknesses and bathing her wicked spirit in will. Then the deviousness returned as her eyes ignited, soul burning. My cunning creature stood before me.

"Smile."

Her lips curled with an immoral smirk.

That's right, baby, you don't cower.

Ignoring the gazes behind me, I pulled away and touched the base of her back and gently pushed her forward for her to walk before me. Our feet matched each step toward the entry. When we faced the iron and wooden door, I took a breath and pulled it open.

All three Zanettis stood tall in black suits with three more men behind them.

My eyes landed on the first man in the diamond shape form they'd created.

Franco Zanetti.

The man I least wanted to see after finding out he'd worked against me during this time of war. The man who'd caused Alessandra harm continued to wound deeper.

My face was void of emotion, and when his teeth gleamed with a treacherous smile, he spoke.

"Lombardi." He leered. "Or should I call you son?"

A cold stream of malice settled into my bones.

Son.

One word, but he delivered it with blunt guilt for the lives he'd taken.

This night would be nothing but a ruthless game, and I would kill him.

Just as he'd killed my father and mother.

A bullet to the chest, another to the heart, and the last to his head.

ALESSANDRA

Massimo turned to stone after my father called him son. It couldn't be a coincidence. The feud between our families lasted for years, and I had no idea how deep my father's involvement ran. What could he possibly have done to earn Massimo's despise for the Zanetti name? To hold such hatred and hostility toward him?

The more I watched them both look at one another, I feared for the bad blood and venom they both shared.

This was bad, and Franco hadn't even stepped foot inside.

"You can call me by my last name," Massimo's dark voice advised, and I heard its danger.

My father's smile stretched wide, and his brown eyes were filled with bitter laughter. He looked as he had months ago, strong, and healthy to continue to torture for years to come.

"Father," I greeted to cut the tension. The moment he heard me speak, his eyes sliced me, and his features flashed with disgust.

I didn't drop my gaze. I wanted him to see the same spite my mother's eyes held for him. "You don't speak unless spoken to," he spat.

Somehow his blow never reached my heart. Somehow, I knew standing next to Massimo, in a city that wasn't my father's, and the expectation of his poison aiming to strike was the reason it never did. It slithered.

I smiled.

"This isn't New York, and you're on my front steps." Through Massimo's steel fingertips behind me, I kept my breathing steady. "I speak openly in my home, which you've been invited to, so I expect your respect while speaking to me."

In the corner of my eye, on my father's right, Aldo's lip twitched.

All too quickly, a charge swayed as Franco Zanetti's hand rose with a red stricken face. Out of habit, I waited with my face held high for his punishment.

But the punishment never came.

Massimo caught my father's swinging hand by his wrist and took a dominant step forward. The ire and power that radiated with threatening force towered over my father.

Aldo, too, had placed his gripping hand over father's forearm. The same hand that etched the letters NYS in black ink. He remained behind our father, but his defiance was clear even after he let go, but Massimo wouldn't move away. I watched Aldo, too dumbfounded to believe he'd stepped between father.

Massimo's jaw clenched tightly. He was losing to the wrath that drowned his body.

Elio, Nate, and Vadim stayed feet away behind Massimo while Davina was pushed farther from the commotion. And each brother stood ready for any order.

I brought my eyes back to Massimo and to my brothers, who waited alert while the men behind shifted dangerously on their toes.

"You lost any right to her from the moment she became mine." Low and dark, Massimo sneered. "I won't allow you or anyone to harm her in any way without consequences," he threatened. "Don't raise your hand at her again, Zanetti."

My father shook in anger, a vein popping across his forehead. When he tried to snatch his arm away, Massimo let go but he never cleared my father's path to me.

Dante stayed still, quietly with his head angled toward Aldo. He wasn't too concerned about the scene that played out in front of him. He didn't add anything. Not his usual smart comment, wicked smile of enjoyment, or even a gesture of regard.

It was unlike him.

It was frightening.

Nothing was right, and my skin shook with crawling shivers.

My father breathed heavily, and his gaze slid over to me. He rolled his shoulders back, and without a word, he turned. Aldo and Dante both stepped out of the way as he walked toward the SUV they'd traveled in. The three men who came with my family followed my father. He spoke a few words to them and entered the car.

That was it.

This reunion lasted minutes.

Two of the men joined my father inside the SUV while the other walked back to Aldo. Aldo gave him a quick nod, and the man I didn't recognize went to the back trunk. Two large duffel bags were dropped at the bottom of the stairs before he jumped inside the passenger side.