Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken (2 page)

Frustrated, Kyle ran his hand over his face impatiently. God, this guy was an idiotic, son of a bitch. “
I’ll
fucking kill you!”

“I didn’t want to do it, man!” he shouted, a mixture of blood and saliva oozing from his mouth. “I don’t wanna be a part of this. They made me. I didn’t have a choice …” Dropping his head forward, he cried softly.

Kyle rolled his eyes. It was always the sad fucking story with guys like this, and it was always a lie. He had a choice. They always had a choice. But, instead of making the right choice, this …
nameless man
decided that money was more important than his life. He deserved to die.

“I want you to tell me everything you know,” Kyle said nicely for the last time. If the man didn’t give him what he’d asked for this time, Kyle would just call it, and end the man’s life. “Whether or not you walk out of this building alive is up to you.”

The man lifted his head once again until he was looking Kyle in the eyes. For a moment, he didn’t say a word, only stared as if silently weighing his options. And after a little more time than Kyle normally allowed, he nodded his head, finally surrendering.

“I’ll tell,” he cried. “J-just promise me something in return.”

Kyle nodded for him to continue.

“Promise … promise that you’ll protect me from them.”

Although Kyle wanted to roll his eyes at the request, he instead chose to keep his features impassive. Nameless men like the one in front of him always went for protection first when it came to these types of situations. Kyle always promised them the protection they desired of course, and he always made good on his promise.

“You have the protection you request,” Kyle promised with a nod, and chose not to disclose just how they’d go about giving the man what he’d asked for in effort to forgo any more unnecessary dramatics. There was only one way to protect a nameless man from brutal deaths at the hand of a common enemy, and Kyle knew for a fact that this idiot wasn’t going to be too fond of the truth.

However, he had no time to think about anything but getting the information he needed right now. Nathan, Lucca, and a few other leaders were waiting for him back at S.O. Therefore, the sooner he gathered all the information they needed to stop the Bonaducci’s impending attack on the Salerno Organization, the better.

Snapping his fingers, he motioned for his men to bring him a seat. They immediately did as he asked. As Kyle took his seat, he reached into his jacket pocket, feeling the need to make arrangements for his surely changing schedule. Days like these always seemed to run later than they were supposed to, and if he didn’t make arrangements now, he’d have to drive all the way to Nathan and Carter’s house in the country to pick up Sofia before his date this evening. That was the last thing he felt like doing after a long day of work. He’d rather just get his sitter to do a little overtime. He knew she wouldn’t mind.

Quickly taking out his cell, he dialed her number. “Give me a second. I need to make arrangements with my sitter before we begin.”

Silence fell over the room.

“Sitter?” the nameless man asked, confusion on his bloodied face. “Sitter, as in … babysitter? Are you fucking kidding me?”

Kyle frowned, but didn’t respond as the phone began to ring.

Nameless man chuckled, prompting the man holding him to the ground—along with the others lining the walls—to roll their eyes. “You call a fucking babysitter for your kid during something like this, man? That’s not very intimidating.”

Kyle’s brow arched at the man’s words, and he nodded his head.
Not very intimidating. Interesting.
Holding the cell to his ear with his arm, he decided to turn it up a notch. He did, after all, always aim to please.

Removing his gun from the holster on his chest, Kyle aimed and shot the nameless man’s leg once. Twice. Three times, laughing along with his men when the man’s agonized screams filled the small space.

“Hello?”

The soft feminine voice in his ear sobered him almost immediately.

“Fuck,” he muttered sharply, shooting glares around the room at his men. How the hell had he’d forgotten he was on the phone? Quickly, he covered the phone with his hand. “Shut the fuck up! Everybody …” His men clamped their mouths shut, but the nameless man’s cries persisted. Clenching his jaw tightly, Kyle aimed his gun at the man’s head. “Shut. The fuck. Up …”

Silence.

Satisfied with the silence, Kyle uncovered his phone and spoke his words as innocently as he could. “Hey, baby … No, no, that was nothing, don’t worry about what that was … Because I’m not telling you … Well, stop asking me then.” She fussed at him a little, which made him smile. She had the sweetest voice; the woman could never sound angry even when she tried. It was one of the things he adored most about her. “Will you cease your little attack, woman, and listen to me? I need another favor for tonight.” He chuckled at her response to his request for yet another
favor
. If only she knew that he’d rather spend the evening with her and Sofia. She probably wouldn’t have been as irritated as she was with him. “You’re not staying over as a favor, you’re doing that because you love me, remember?”

Her reply to that made him laugh loud.

God, the woman never ceased to make him smile. Even on a shitty day like this one.

Revenge, in Kyle’s opinion, was never really something that … particularly helped in
every
situation. At least not right out of the gate it didn’t. The whole back and forth, you hit me, I strike you back thing was time consuming, and bad for business. Yes, it was true that Kyle had been known to use force every now and then, when necessary of course, but in all honesty, he much preferred taking the necessary time to fully understand an issue before solving it. He believed in talking first, brutality later, and ninety percent of the time that tactic was effective.

It had been almost a year since Nathan had nearly beaten Don Bonaducci to death, and now that the man had fully healed, and was back to fighting shape … it seemed he was coming back for more.

“Don Bonaducci hired the informant.” The ‘Informant’, also known as ‘the nameless man’. It was one of the newest rules at S.O. All informants were to remain nameless if they would be killed after all valuable information was taken from them. “He hired the informant to kill Ricci Marino—”

Ricci Marino. A small time mob boss that Kyle remembered very well. About four years back, the man had begged Nathan, who’d only been the underboss at the time, for protection. Don Bonaducci had been coming for the man’s territory at the time, and he’d asked Nathan to help him scare them off, which he had done. Ricci had aligned with the Salerno family, bought and sold their products in his territory, and paid his taxes on time diligently. The guy had been a great asset … when he’d been alive.

“Sadly, the hit was successful.”

Flipping through the notes he’d taken during his meeting in the basement with the nameless man, Kyle paused for a moment, giving those in the conference room with him some time to process the small amount of information he had just given them.

The long table in the conference room of the Salerno organization building consisted of some of the criminal underworld’s fiercest leaders. At the head sat, of course, Don Nathan “The Russian” Salerno, the fearless, ruthless leader of the Salerno Crime family, one of the most powerful Italian mafia families to ever grace this earth. To his left sat Lucca “Tick” Salerno, the Salerno organization’s vicious, ‘no-nonsense’ Underboss, and directly next to him Kyle sat, rightfully in his position as the third most powerful man in the organization, the highly respected consigliere. Across from them sat two of the few, highly feared, and respected women in the criminal underworld. At the right hand of the Don sat his wife, Corsican mafia boss, Carterina Salerno, and at her side sat the infamous ‘dark beauty’, Davina Delavigne; well-known DelACot assassin and right hand of Carterina Salerno.

Five powerful individuals, seated in one conference room, silently staring at one another as Kyle informed them of the threat of an attack coming their way.

“The Bonaducci clan has already moved in on the territory, killing a large amount of Ricci Marino’s men, and a few of ours in the process. Those left of Ricci’s men scattered, and those left of ours have already returned to Manhattan. There weren’t enough of them to fight back, so they left.”

“They left …” Nathan repeated.

Kyle sighed, looking up from his notes. “They were outnumbered, Nate—”

“Continue, Kyle.”

He’d given the command calmly, but the anger in his voice was both noted and taken very seriously.

Nodding, Kyle did as he instructed. “Don Bonaducci has issued a threat,” he said, looking Nathan directly in his eyes. “He sent a message.”

His head cocked slightly in question. “The message please …”

Kyle’s eyes fell to the words written on his small notepad, and released a long breath, mentally preparing himself for whatever reaction Nathan would have to the message.

“He said he’s coming for our territory, both here and in our other locations … and you. Word is a hit has already been made.” Setting his notepad down, Kyle looked up once again. “Basically, he’s declaring war.”

“No,” Lucca remarked, “he is asking for his death. Begging for it,” he added. “Where the fuck does he get off making any threats? Has he lost his mind?”

“He has someone,” Carter spoke up softly. “A new ally. That’s the only logical explanation for his sudden fearlessness.”

Kyle lifted his eyes, locking them to hers. She sat back in her seat, seemingly at peace with a smile in her eyes. Had he not known her, he’d have thought she was unaffected by what was said, but Kyle knew better than that. Carter never gave herself away with a mere facial expression, her giveaway started in the straightening of her fingers, or tightening of her fists. The smile in her eyes indicated anger. And not just any anger—she wanted to kill someone.

“He’s too confident,” she stated, shifting to cross her legs.

Kyle gave himself a mental pat on the back for not looking. It was a simple movement, and she did it often, but there had been a time not too long ago when the small movement used to drive him crazy. The way she moved, the way her skirt would open and fall to the side and reveal the knives harnessed at her thigh.

He had trained himself to stop looking at her the way he used to. It had been necessary for his sanity. And though it had taken some time, and been one of the hardest tasks of his life, he had actually managed to get over Carter … at least he believed he was. He hadn’t really tested those waters in a while.

These days his focus was on another woman anyway. Not only that, but it was yet another woman he could never have.

He was beginning to think that wanting a woman from afar was just his thing.

Shaking his head of the thought, he re-focused his mind on the meeting. Carterina had made a statement that was most likely true. Kyle had also suspected that Don Bonaducci had an ally feeding his confidence, but the problem there was … “If he does have an ally, I have no idea who it is. Neither did the informant.”

“Then find out,” Nathan spoke up for the first time.

Kyle’s eyes quickly shot to him as Nathan sat forward in his seat, resting his elbows on the table. “I want answers and I want them as soon as possible. Who’s helping him, who’d he hire for the hit, et cetera.”

“Why not just ask him?” Lucca suggested, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “Why not let me?” He gave a shrug of his shoulder. “I can have my secretary set up a meeting.”

Kyle immediately shook his head at the offer, knowing Lucca’s intentions. He was about to suggest another option, but Nathan responded.

“I’ll think about it,” he answered. “That may be a good idea, cousin.”

Kyle’s eyes widened when Nathan said the words, pretty much giving Lucca the green light to do something stupid. Everyone who was anyone in the criminal underworld knew that attending a meeting with Lucca Salerno was attending your own fucking funeral. Lucca barely met with anyone he wasn’t planning on murdering, and Nathan knew that. Now, though Kyle was a bit agitated by the Bonaducci’s antics, he knew that going for blood at this particular time was a bad idea.

“I’m going to have to object, Nathan,” Kyle spoke boldly. “With all due respect, of course.”

Nathan raised a brow in question. “You object?”

A glare fell over his face, but Kyle remained unshaken. “This is not the time to retaliate.”

“I disagree,” Lucca said. “I think it’s the perfect time.”

Kyle’s jaw clenched in annoyance. “The perfect time it is not, Lucca. Now is the time to make peace—”

Lucca’s fists hitting the table as he jumped up from his seat, made Kyle inhale a sharp breath of frustration, angrily raking his fingers through his hair. He fucking hated when Lucca did that shit!

“Have you lost your fucking mind, Kyle?” he shouted.

“Be calm, Lucca,” Nathan stated quietly. “Let him explain.”

“I’m sick of this shit! Every fucking week it’s Bonaducci did this and that. They’re trying to kill my cousin, your fucking Don, our brother, and all you have to say is make peace?” He tossed his chair into the thick window behind him. “Fuck that shit, Kyle! Your job is to fucking advise—”