Page 31 of The Gangster King

It had a digital lock.

Fear began to fill her pretty eyes, and I glanced away, ignoring the guilt that threatened to change my mind.

If I had a choice, she would be here of her own freewill. But Adelina wasn’t there yet.

Yet.

“You need to stay here. I’m not letting him use you against me.”

The look on her face was one of disgust and it made me angry.

“I hate you!”

“I know.” I met her eye-to-eye and held her gaze, letting her know I wouldn’t change my mind. Then I opened the door as she began to scream once more.

“Dante. No. Don’t do this!” The door closed as her fists slammed against it on the other side. “Dante! This is kidnapping! Mrs. Baldassare! Help. Someone help.”

I stood on the other side for the next ten minutes as she screamed herself raw.

“I fucking hate you! I am going to kill you. Let me out of here.”

I heard her attempt to break the glass windows.

And fail.

“Dante,” my mother said from the other end of the hall.

“I’m home,” I said, stating the obvious. “Adelina will be staying with us for a while.”

Forever.

“Is she?” Mama lifted a brow. Not much phased her. She was the wife of one of the most notorious mobsters, after all.

“Yes. She’s just getting settled.” I smiled as we both listened to her shouting.

That’s when I heard her break a mirror and punched in the code to unlock the door.

“If she kills herself, Carlos will hunt you down to the ends of the earth.” My mother warned me.

“Thanks Doctor Obvious. I’m not going to let her commit suicide. Jesus.” I snarled and ripped open the door.

Adelina stood there with a piece of glass in her hand, blood dripping from it.

Fury ripped through me.

This wasn’t going to go the way she thought it was. Concerned she would hurt herself more, I did the one thing I could do to resolve the situation quickly.

I pulled out my weapon and pointed it at her head.

“Drop the glass and step back,” I demanded.

“You won’t shoot me,” Adelina replied, but we both heard the wobble in her voice.

I stepped closer. “Want to find out?”

She took a step back and her shoes crunched on the glass.

Fucking hell, what if she had been barefoot?