Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken (65 page)

He pulled Michele to the side, not allowing him to leave right after the kids, Ana, and Reanna left with the other soldiers of his and Anastacia’s team.

“I need you to beef up security at my place until I get home tonight.”

Michele raised a brow in question. “You about to piss some people off, blue?” he asked.

Sighing, Kyle looked behind him to the people waiting on him. “I’ve already done that,” he answered, then turned back to face the man. “Now, I possibly might be starting a war.”

The amusement was instant in Michele’s widened eyes. “You? Starting a war?” He shook his head. “No …”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Shut the fuck up and do what I say, alright?”

“Alright,” he chuckled.

Jackass.

“And if anybody,” Kyle placed a firm hand on Michele’s shoulder, “And I mean anybody, that’s not family comes near—”

“Yes, I have instructions, blue. I got it. I will show no mercy,” Michele rushed him. “Now, if you’ll excuse me?”

Kyle nodded, allowing the man to pass so that he could catch up with Reanna and Anastacia.

Once the kids, Reanna, Anastacia, and Michele were gone, Kyle breathed a sigh of relief, closing his eyes as he did.

“It’s cute, Valente.”

The moment Niko’s voice sounded again was the moment Kyle remembered just how much anger was still burning inside of him.

“You’re all in love and happy now. It’d be a shame, you know, to put the poor innocent girl at risk with war, don’t you agree? You know they always go for the spouses first.”

Kyle opened his eyes and looked up to the heavens.
Dear Christ, help me now/

“Does she know? About your lifestyle?” Niko continued to push. Then he chuckled. “Well, if she didn’t, she does now. I suppose that I’m to blame for that huh? Sorry.”

Kyle grunted, running his hand over his face. “Jake!” he called to his head of security.

The man ran over to him swiftly from wherever the hell he’d been.

“Yes sir.”

“I need you to do something for me.”

“You two talking about me?” Niko asked, the question seeming to amuse his men. “If so, I’d like to know what you’re saying.”

Kyle ignored him. “Find Reanna’s ex and bring him to me, you understand?”

Jake nodded.

“Kyle,” Niko called.

Kyle continued to ignore the man. “Check her studio first,” he instructed. “He could possibly be there; the place isn’t too far from here. If he isn’t there, go to Pleasant View and check the hospital. If that fails, find out where he lives.”

“I understand, sir,” Jake nodded.

“Hurry up,” Kyle commanded, sending the man off to fetch his prey.

“You know, Kyle, I don’t really appreciate being ignored. You got the whole fucking gang here, so why don’t we just go ahead and get started with this negotiating shit.”

“I’m not ignoring you, Niko,” Kyle finally replied to the man as he turned to face him. “I’m giving you time.”

“Bullshit. Time to what?”

Slipping his hands into his pockets, Kyle made his way back across the lobby.

“Time to think, of course,” he answered the man, giving him a small smile. “You turned down my offer.”

Niko frowned, then snorted. “Because the offer was shit.” He looked back to his men, then his father. “What the fuck did you expect us to do?” He turned back to Kyle with a shrug of his shoulders. “Let you take all of our shit.”

“I’m not taking anything from you, Niko,” Kyle said, walking to stand in front of the man. “You took something that wasn’t yours.”

“And you made the decision to turn a blind eye.”

“I changed my mind,” Kyle shrugged. “You asked for too much. Took too many liberties. You got greedy, a little too comfortable demanding shit from me. Now, you get nothing.” He smirked. “What did you learn?”

“Fuck you!” the man snapped.

Kyle burst into an uproarious laughter. “Oh, come on, Niko!” He gave the man’s shoulder a hard slap. “It’s a good deal. You’ll get to go back to Bonaducci business as usual
in peace
.” He took a step forward. “Take it.”

“I said,” Niko also took a step forward, “Fuck. You.”

Kyle’s mouth closed as his brows furrowed slightly. “Hmm,” he hummed in a small rush of breath. “Take the deal, Niko.”

“Fuck you,” Niko shot again.

And this time, Kyle had to take a step back, the rage inside of him beginning to become a bit painful. It felt like it was beating at his chest, begging to be released so that it could lash out on this motherfucker.

“Take the deal, Niko,” Kyle repeated, swallowing his rage yet again. “Take the deal. It’s a good deal.”

“And I said fuck you, you fucking prick,” he spat. “What happened to negotiations, huh?” he asked, looking at Kyle, then the rest of the group standing behind him. “What happened to the fucking negotiations, Salernos! What happened!” he shouted. Then he got back in Kyle’s face. “You lie about that, too?” He gripped Kyle’s shirt.
“Fuck you!”
he roared directly in Kyle’s face. Then he pushed him, sending both himself, and Kyle, a couple steps back.

And there it was, the last straw.

Abruptly, and probably to the surprise of everyone present, Kyle stormed away from Niko and headed in the direction of the Salerno Organizations accounting department located not too far from the lobby’s entrance.

“Hey! Where the hell do you think you’re going, Valente? We’re not done here! You said we would negotiate!”

Niko was shouting, but Kyle could barely hear him. He was past that part now. Listening. No more of that.

Once he finally made it to the entrance of accounting, Kyle swung the door open and entered. Used to surprise visits from the ‘executives’, the financial department employees said nothing upon Kyle’s entry. They kept their eyes on their work as they were taught to in their training.

Through the main office, down a short hallway where a small door led to a big room full of some of Kyle’s favorite toys. Why was it located in the financial department? Simple. Convenience. For when shit like this happened and weapons were needed. Having them close, on the first floor, made them easier to acquire.

Opening the door, and entering the room, Kyle went straight for his preferred weapon of choice.

A bright gray, cold steel bat.

Snatching it off of its stand, he stormed out of the room, back through the office, then out the exit into the lobby where Niko was still shouting. It didn’t take him long to spot Kyle’s return.

“Well, look who decided to rejoin the fucking party. What the fuck, Valente?”

Kyle’s heart was pounding in his chest. So much excitement, so much fucking freedom.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Huh? What the fuck is that?”

It was exhilarating. Letting go. The shit was like a drug, Kyle had never done it before, always with the …
thinking
about shit before he did it. How stupid he had been.

“Hey, dumbass. Can you hear me? You’re wasting your time if you’re planning on threatening me with that … what the fuck is that anyway? Whatever the hell it is, it won’t work. We’re not leaving until you give us our shit—”

You could hear it, if you listened closely, the sound of Niko’s jaw breaking the moment the bat connected with his face.

It was glorious. Fucking music.

And the symphony only got that much sweeter when Kyle reared back and hit the fucker in the face once more, this time sending his body flying backwards as blood and a few of his teeth went flying out of his mouth.

Before the bastard could fall to the ground, Kyle jammed the head of the bat in Niko’s stomach, making him crouch forward, then one last crack to his head sent him falling to the floor.

Around Kyle, all hell had broken loose. Both families had gone into defense mode, blood and bullets flying everywhere around him, but barely noticed it, barely processed what was going on around him. He was in his own little world now. He felt weightless, like he’d drifted into a world without gravity. Or maybe it was a rebirth. Kyle Valente, consigliere, finally doing shit his way. Not in the ways of his father, and no longer conforming to what he thought was expected of him. He was finally his own man.

Kyle Valente, the consigliere of the Salerno crime family, was not Cesare. Never had been. He wasn’t as patient, had never been as nice, and when it came to negotiation, Kyle didn’t particularly like arguing his point. He much preferred when people just did the shit he told them to do. That was better in his opinion.

He no longer had the patience to deal with bullshit, so he wouldn’t any more. No rants, no back talk, no fucking hesitation. Kyle was at the end of his rope and would no longer tolerate being fucked with. He’d only just figured out that it wasn’t in his nature to take such disrespect.

When he was finished, when his shoulders felt lighter, and that ever increasing rage had waned a bit, Kyle stood, the bat hanging at his side. Blood staining his shirt and spatters of it muddied his face and hair. He looked around, seeing for first the time what all of the racket around him had been. Bodies covered the floor. Blood. Brains. It was … a massacre. In front of him, Niko Bonaducci laid nearly unconscious, beaten, his body shaking as if he were in a room with temperature below zero. Right next to him his father laid, also beaten, nearly unconscious, his body shaking just as intensely as his sons. Kyle only just remembered that he’d lashed out at Don Bonaducci, too. He’d only just recalled that the man had tried to intervene, tried to stop Kyle from killing his son, thus turning Kyle’s wrath upon himself.

“Shit,” Kyle muttered to himself.

He’d had needed the Don conscious and able to sign the contract.

Digging into his back pocket, Kyle pulled out the peace contract from the meeting earlier. He’d taken it from Gabriel and kept him on himself as a reminder of his failures.

Oh, how foolish he’d been.

If only he’d known the that there was no such thing as failure in situations like this, it would have saved him so much stress.

“Alright, now,” Kyle sighed, patting his pockets as he searched for a pin. “Dammit.”

He hadn’t brought one.

But Kyle was nothing if not resourceful.

Walking past Niko’s limp body, Kyle made his way to Don Bonaducci and lowered himself to the floor, sitting down next to where the man lay.

“Alright then, Eric,” he smiled, pushing the man on to his back. “Wake up, buddy,” he smacked his face lightly. “Wake up.”

Eric’s eyes peeked open right as a moan of pain fell from his lips.

Kyle gave the man a nod. “I have the contract, Don.” He waved the small bundle of papers in his hand. “Are you ready to sign them?”

Eric’s response to that had been to grunt and spit blood in Kyle’s direction.

Not a good decision.

Reaching out, Kyle caught the man’s obviously broken arm in a crushing grip and squeezed.

“Ahh!” Eric screamed in agony. “No, no, no, no!” he shouted when Kyle continued to tightened his grip.

“No what, Eric?” Kyle asked, leaning closer to hear the man. “I can’t hear you. Perhaps you didn’t hear my question?”

Eric coughed up blood before inhaling a loud gasp. “I heard,” he croaked. “I heard, I heard.”

“Then answer me,” Kyle commanded. “Are you ready to sign my deal, Don Bonaducci?”

“Y—yes …”

Kyle tightened his grip. “Yes?”

“Yes!” the man shouted. “Yes, yes, yes …”

Spit and blood oozed from his mouth as he wept the word yes over and over again until Kyle released him, nodding his head with a smile, satisfied that Eric had finally answered his question.

“Fantastic,” Kyle clapped his hands. Then he pointed at the man, giving him a stern look as he did. “Now, it’s important to remember that you have thirty days to return every penny of the money you stole. And in accordance to this contract, the Salerno Organization has the right to execute any man or woman in your organization that comes near any of our territories with the intent to cause harm without effecting the validity of this peace deal. Also, if your family so chooses to attack us again, the peace is automatically null and void, and we are free to burn your entire organization to the ground. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” the man answered breathily, giving a flick of his hand. “Yes …”

Kyle nodded, pleased with how quickly the man responded. “Very well.” Kyle opened the contract. “Now, I don’t have a pen, but,” he sighed, looking down at the blood covering the floor, “we can be creative. Here. Give me your hand.”

Bringing up his knees, Kyle laid the open contract on his leg, then reached over and grabbed Eric’s hand.

“There’s only one place that you need to sign your full name. Then two, where you can just initial.”

Dipping Eric Bonaducci’s finger in his own thick, red blood, Kyle began helping the man sign his name on to the contract. It was difficult. Kyle had never helped a man sign a contract using blood, but as they moved along, it seemed they both got the hang of it; Eric helping Kyle as he moved his hand, locking in the peace deal that would bring both of their families some rest for a long while.