Page 54 of Tempting My Mafia Monster

A tremor ignited beneath Monster’s skin, making his ink seem alive with the way it vibrated and rippled. His shoulders drew tight. Every muscle in his body locked so hard that I could see the strain in his veins, rising beneath his skin as his hands slowly curled into fists on the table.

Then the room shrank, unable to contain the uncontrollable, feral rage that erupted from him in the blink of an eye. Even the soldiers who had been inching closer weren’t quick enough.

The table collapsed beneath Monster’s weight as he launched himself across it in a blur of violence and fury, aimed straight at Sean.

“Liar! You did this!” he roared, throwing himself at him and knocking Sean’s chair over, sending Sean to the floor still in it. “You killed him!”

I jumped up from my chair as Monster’s fist swung into Sean’s face. All the soldiers swarmed, grabbing at any part of Monster they could hold on to, but it was like trying to restrain wildfire. They managed to pull Monster off the stronzo after a taser was forced into his side, but he continued to thrash and snarl against them, nearly breaking free. Another taser ripped an inhuman sound from him, bringing him to his knees and tears to my eyes. It wasn’t a cry of anger but of soul-crushing grief.

“Keep him down!” Oscar ordered, taking control of the carnage as Sean picked himself up from the floor. “Don’t shoot.”

When the soldiers started wrestling and beating Monster to the floor, eight grown men against one, my protectiveness surged. I didn’t remember moving, just finding myself on one of their backs, locking my arms around the soldier’s neck.

“Someone grab her!”

Another pair of hands ripped me away from the fight as I wrestled against their grip, clawing and fighting with everything I had.

“Don’t make it worse for him,” Nolan breathed into my ear as he held my arms behind my back. “If you give them a reason, they’ll use you to hurt him more.”

I froze at his warning, confused about why he’d care, but I also knew he was right.

They finally had Monster face down on the floor, his cheek pressed to the carpet as they all kept him pinned beneath them. Even then, he didn’t stop fighting. His body bucked against their strength, his chest heaving as if he were trying to drag enough air into his lungs to survive the grief tearing him apart. And that’s when I realised Sean’s game. He had never been trying to control Monster; he was just trying to destroy whatever was left of the man inside him.

His pitch-black eyes were locked on Sean, still burning with the urge to kill as Sean wiped the blood from his face with his silk handkerchief. Sean shook his head with a disappointed smile as he crouched in front of Monster’s face.

“Easy, boy,” he whispered in a soothing voice that sent goosebumps across my skin. He tenderly stroked the side of Monster’s face as a father would a son, and I shook with rage. Monster jerked away from his touch, heaving. “I won’t hold that against you.”

Monster growled, a low, gut-wrenching warning as he struggled against the hands that held him down.

“If I’d just found out my brother was dead after giving up my freedom, my body, and my soul to keep him safe…” Sean let out a breath with a slight shake of his head. “I’d be upset too.”

Upset.

The word felt so wrong. Undermining. The gravity of the situation hit me so hard that my knees buckled, and Nolan had to hold me up. Monster had given his life for Callum. And my family had played a pivotal role in his death.

“But your anger…” Sean continued, tilting his head to study Monster as he bared his teeth. “...is directed at the wrong man. Callum came to me seven years ago, after your sister tragically passed. He wanted to make a deal. He’d do anythin’ in exchange for your freedom. I turned him down many times, thinkin’ there was nothin’ he could offer me that would make me give you up, but the persistent eejit just kept tryin’. Finally, I agreed to hear him out, though trust was an issue. I didn’t believe he could be of any use to me after his comfortable upbringin’. So I suggested he do somethin’ for me to prove how far he was willin’ to go to save you. He killed Aisling for me, givin’ me better access to my niece. He’d gained my trust, and in return I promised I’d set you free and leave you, him and your sister alone to live your lives somewhere far away, if he succeeded in dentin’ the Italian’s reputation and brought my niece home to me without any suspicion from her father.”

Tears ran down my face as I watched the raw pain take hold of Monster.

“So I sent him on a mission to Italy and set him up with enough wealth and privilege in Rome to build an empire. I surrounded him with ex-Leone soldiers loyal to me to keep him safe. He did amazin’. He was the right kind of man for the job. No one suspected him. Thanks to his privileged upbringin’, he was smart, ambitious, attractive and persuasive. He fit right in with the elite of Roman society, and within a few years he was on track to achievin’ it all and gettin’ away with it. But then Santino Buccini happened. He kidnapped my niece on her wedding day to Callum and made the eejit girl fall for him. Callum tried to do things the right way without any violence, but in the end he had to get dirty, and I was proud of the initiative he took. Your brother really loved you.”

I felt sick. Callum was never a bastard Leone out for revenge like we thought. He was just a desperate brother, doing anything to save his blood. Just as I would. But he’d crossed my family to do it. If we’d known the truth, maybe, just maybe, he’d have been spared. But Callum refused to give us any information because he knew that if he said a word, Sean would kill his sister or Monster.

“Santino Buccini captured him when he was so close to success and tryin’ to come home. The photographs they sent me explain the rest.”

Lies! They explained barely anything. But everyone in the room knew that didn’t matter, especially Sean. Monster’s breathing slowed, harsh and uneven, each inhale dragged as if it hurt, and I truly believed, in that moment, that if they were capable, tears would fall. But the darkness had wrapped around him in a way that refused to let them go.

“It’s fucked, I know,” Sean said calmly. “But I would hate for your brother’s death to be for nothin’ after he tried so hard. So I’ve decided to hold up my end of our deal, just under different circumstances. Fight Santino Buccini, avenge your brother by bringin’ me the Italian’s head, win back my niece, and the deal with the Bratva…” He paused and sighed. “And I’ll let you go free.” Sean lifted his head and glanced in my direction. “Her too. No harm will ever come to your sister either. How’s that for a deal?”

A whimper escaped my lips as Sean stood and nodded for the men to release Monster. He lay on the floor for a few moments, eyes closed and his jaw tight. My head shook because I already knew… I’d lost him to his darkness.

He pushed himself up slowly until he stood unsteadily on his feet, inches from Sean’s face. The room pulsed with tension. All the soldiers prepared to take him out again, but Sean held his gaze as Monster stepped into his face.

“Fuck. You,” Monster snarled, shoving his forehead into Sean’s. They locked eyes, Monster heaving ragged breaths, Sean as calm as a man who knew he’d already won.

“What’s it to be?”

No one moved. My lips trembled.