Page 133 of Ruthless Sinner

I look up and see Virgo standing at the kitchen door, right behind Serenity.

She whirls around and sees him, too, looking as scared as she did with the others. But like me, you can tell straightaway that Virgo is a mafia boss. He’s not a follower, he’s a leader and he’s looking at me pissed as fuck.

“I think we need to talk before we go,” Virgo grates out, his eyes boring into me like the time when we had our one and only fight and we vowed never to fall out again. We nearly killed each other. That was twelve years ago.

I expect him to leave but then I realize he’s waiting for Serenity to go.

She catches on too and when she faces me, I see her request is more important than her fear of him.

“Dante—”

“I’ll think about it.” I stop her in her tracks. That type of pleading won’t work with Virgo. I might be cold and ruthless, but my friend over there is merciless. I’m sure he heard enough of our conversation and if he was me, he wouldn’t even allow her pleas to turn into a thought in his mind. Virgo hates his parents and he was even merciless when it came to the one girl I thought he loved. “Take you clothes and go upstairs. Fern will call you when breakfast is ready.”

I thank God when she listens and doesn’t think to carry on the conversation.

If she only knew that Virgo all but suggested I kill her for being a liability, she would have ran the moment she saw him.

But listen to me. As if I’m any better. I’ve just walked in different shoes.

Serenity scurries past him like a little mouse and she even looks like one in comparison to his height when she passes him. As Virgo and I are the same height I assume that’s how I look standing next to her.

As soon as she leaves and we hear her footsteps on the stairs, he walks in, jaw set, shoulders squared.

“Have you fucking lost your mind?” His words come at me like a rocket launcher.

“I haven’t. Of course she was going to ask me to spare her father’s life.”

“But she didn’t just do that did she?” His eyes blaze and he slams a fist into the island where Serenity previously stood. “She offered up herself to you and I’m sure she didn’t mean for you to kill her instead of her fucking father.”

“Virgo, you need to cool off. You’re talking to me as if you’ve forgotten who the fuck I am.”

“No, bro. It’s you who’s forgotten who you are. Dante I put my neck on the line for you. You know what my father is like.” He rivets his gaze to mine. “I decided to help you because what Jason Bell did was wrong. If he can do what he did to you and infiltrate your Bratva, imagine what he could do to the rest of us. Or the Creed. You are my friend, but helping was also my responsibility to the Creed. But now you’ve spat in my face.”

“I haven't done that.”

“Really, because from here it looks like that’s exactly what you’ve done. Right alongside thinking with your dick.”

Am I actually doing that?

No. I’m bigger than that. This thing with Serenity is bigger than just thinking with my dick.

“She’s as manipulative as her father is.” His voice rises, rattling the windows. “She knows how you feel about her and knew exactly what to say to you to screw with your mind to get what she wants. I told you, one day you’ve have to make choice and this is exactly what it’s come to. A choice. And you’re going to allow her to fuck you over. This should be fucking easy but you’re acting like a fool.”

Callingmea fool makes my temper slip.

I bare my teeth and try to remember he’s a friend. If he were anyone else I would have pulled my gun and shot him.

“I forgot just how easy the choice was for you.” Already I know I’m saying things again I shouldn’t. But the words spew out of my mouth and they don’t stop. “You never chose you’re girl, now you don’t even know if she’s dead or alive.”

My words cut him down like a light chasing away the darkness in a room once it’s switched on.

Something cuts in his eyes, leaving a void. A nothingness I’ve never seen before an a living person. It’s only the dead that look that way. As if someone has switched them off from the inside.

When some semblance of humanity returns to him he sets his shoulders back and his face becomes a mask of stone.

“That’s right.” He nods. “Looks like I need to make better choices with friends too.”

His stare becomes cutting and then he turns and walks away.