I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head to the side. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Really. I promise.”
“You Trassatos are all cut from the same cloth. You’re a bunch of backstabbing pieces of shit.”
The bathroom door flung open, hitting the wall with a loud thud. “What the fuck is going on here?” Kon roared, the muscle in his jaw twitching and his blue eyes icy. He looked intimidating as hell with his tattooed hands, scarred knuckles, and the small bend in his nose. All of it put together told the story of a man not afraid to fight and get his hands dirty, and right now I prayed he’d channel all that aggression to getting Renzo away from me.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Konstantin
Blood pulsed through me violently, mimicking the roar of a plane engine in my ears. My vision narrowed. Three steps and I had my hand curled around the collar of this asshole’s shirt. I yanked him to the side, flinging him into the metal bathroom stalls.
“What the hell, man?” He held his hands up in surrender. “Miss Trassato and I were talking. That’s it.”
“Is that true, Carmela?”
“H-h-he…” A sob hiccupped from her mouth, and my rage multiplied, coating my vision in a haze of crimson. “He threatened me.”
Although I was pissed when I walked in, it didn’t compare to what I felt right now. I lunged at Renzo DiTonno, hammering him into the bathroom stall twice.
Bang. Rattle. Shake.
His fist snapped up, connecting with my jaw. My head whipped to the side. Who the fuck did this guy think he was? He’d pay for this. Nobody came into my domain, my world, and manhandled my date or took a cheap shot at me. He was as good as dead.
The DiTonnos needed to keep their people in line or I would grind them into the dirt. My dad cut a deal with them when they were at war with the Trassatos, and we expanded our business with them from pushing drugs in their territory to bigger stuff.
In the process, I got a little cozy with some of the guys. We had similar business interests, and we all banked some serious cash scratching each other’s backs. Now that the war with the Trassatos was over, I didn’t know how long our arrangement would last. I didn’t care either way. If they pulled back, I had other people waiting in line to do business with us.
I rammed the heel of my hand into the tip of his nose. The loud cracking sound bounced off the white tiled walls and blood spurted out of his nostrils. I grabbed my switchblade from my pocket, flipped it open, and pressed it against his neck, gawking with sick fascination when a drop of blood trickled onto the collar of his shirt.
“Either you’re dumb as a stick or you have balls of steel coming into my bar and pulling this shit.”
He grabbed my wrist, pushing the knife away from his throat. “The Trassatos are liars. Every single one of them. I don’t care what Alesio wants. I won’t share air with them. They killed my brother for no fucking reason.”
“I don’t give a shit what they did. They could’ve cut off your dick and mailed it to your mother. It doesn’t matter to me. When you walk through my door, you play by my rules. You’re here to gamble, not settle scores, especially with women. Got it?”
“You’re gonna defend her? She’s probably spying on you for that crazy bastard Nico. Everyone knows he plans to marry her. It’s only a matter of time. She’s toying with you.”
“You really think I need dating advice from you?”
Hearing Nico’s name pissed me the hell off. I pushed Renzo, and he dropped to his knees. I kicked him in the side. “Now get the fuck out of my club before I gut you like a fish.”
He scrambled to his feet, his eyes narrowed into slits and the vein at his temple pulsing hard. “You’re going to regret this. My family will—”
“Do nothing,” I interrupted, flinging open the door to the bathroom. “Even I know you’re on their shit list. That’s why you’re here instead of at the two-bit strip club the DiTonnos run. If I tell them you attacked Carmela Trassato, you’ll be peddling drugs on the corner to support yourself.”
His shoulders slumped, and he backed up, halting right outside the threshold. “Rocco deserved what he got. He screwed with my brother’s woman. I don’t care if they were broken up. Rocco knew better. They were friends. Dominick and Alesio passed the whole thing off as a misunderstanding, except they fucked up. I know the truth and I’m not the only one.”
The color leached from Carmela’s face, making her ruby-colored lips stand out in sharp relief. She teetered to the side, clutching the bathroom sink basin to steady herself.