by Bella J.
“Yeah.”
He smirked, seconds feeling like hours. “Her name is Alessia…Alessia Mancuso.”
My heart didn’t just stop. I didn’t just stop breathing. My entire goddamn body and mind came to a screeching halt when I heard him use his motherfucking surname when referring to Doe…to Alessia. It was so surreal, so insane, I couldn’t even form one coherent thought as I tried to make sense of the words that just left his disgusting mouth.
His head leaned to the side. “That’s right, Valenti. The broken, scarred girl you’ve been fucking is, in fact, my daughter.”
Time stood still. I had lost all sense of reality as I stared at the devil in front of me.
“He was my angel…the angel who gave me to the devil.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “It was you.”
Now it was his turn to look surprised. “What do you mean it was me?”
“It was you. You killed those men that night, the men who killed her mother. The men who almost killed her.”
“Ah.” The expression on his face turned almost nostalgic as he stared right past me into nothingness. “Her mother. Alexa. She was a beautiful woman. Strong, cunning,” a wicked smile curved at the edges of his lips, “a fucking vixen in bed. Unfortunately, the little slut got pregnant. She promised to take care of it and I was stupid enough to believe her. Now, imagine my surprise when she showed up at my doorstep ten years later demanding money, otherwise, she would bring shame upon my family by informing me of my…how can I put it? Indiscretions.”
With my thumb and forefinger, I rubbed the stubble on my chin, fighting against the beast who wanted out, who wanted to claw through Mancuso’s chest all the way back to his spine, only to crack it in half. “Alessia was an illegitimate child?”
“Yes. And her mother was starting to create problems for me.” He shrugged. “And that’s what men like us do, don’t we, Valenti? We eliminate problems.” A grin which seemed to be put together by pure malice crossed his face. “But that night, something told me to keep the girl alive. And look now,” he held his arms out wide, “it worked out great for all of us. I knew she’d come in handy.”
I could have remained sitting there, listening to the piece of shit telling his side of the story. But the fact of the matter was his side of the story didn’t fucking matter. Nothing about his story was anything but cold, heartlessness, and unforgivable cruelty. There were no words I could say. Only thoughts. Clear thoughts leading to one strong, distinct conclusion to all that had been revealed today.
I got up from my chair and fastened the buttons of my suit jacket, the hatred I felt toward this man beaming from my eyes as I glowered at him. Without a word, I turned my back on him, my heart bleeding for the woman whose pain I had now considered my own.
Mancuso called out behind me, “Remember our deal, Valenti.”
I closed my eyes, visions of a scared, innocent young girl forcing its way into my mind’s eye. I saw every scar, every wound. I saw the woman who would never be a mother, who would never know the bond between a mother and her child. For a moment, I felt her pain, her fear, the agony that had tormented her for most of her life. I witnessed the misery which had been imprinted onto her soul, and right then I embraced it all. I took all her sorrow, all her suffering and allowed it to possess me, to take control and make me do something I would never have done in the past.
Break my word.
I tugged at my jacket sleeves. “It’s a pity you know, the fact that your last option was to hand yourself over to me on a silver platter, bargaining a deal without the security of even one witness. Some would call that stupidity,” I shrugged, “brave even. But you know what I call it?” I swung around and felt the sharp blade of the hidden knife I had up my sleeve jab through Mancuso’s head, slicing straight through his temple, cracking through bone. “I call it karma.”
His mouth popped open, eyes wide, and blood seeping from the wound. I forced the blade deeper, burying it to the hilt in his skull.
In slow motion, I witnessed Mancuso’s lifeless body drop to the ground. I had never known satisfaction as I did at that moment, his blood staining the tiled floor. Finally, justice had been done. Not for me. Not for my sister. Not for my brother or father.
But for her. The woman who had imprinted herself on my soul.
Doe.
Lucio stepped in next to me, staring at Mancuso’s corpse, slack-jawed. “My mind is officially fucking blown.”
The seriousness of it all came crashing down on me like a boulder of shit. I turned to face him. “No one can ever know about this, Lucio.”
Confused, he narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“You listen to me.” I moved closer, my shoulders squared, my stance nothing short of sheer resolve. “What happened here tonight does not leave this room. No one can ever know.”
“Antonio, Doe is a Mancuso. Do you not think she deserves to know who she really is?”
“She deserves peace.”
He pulled his palm down his face. “Cousin, I get that. I do. And believe me, I love seeing this fucker bleed all over our goddamn floor. But besides the fact that we’ve been hunting this son of a bitch for fuck knows how long, and the rest of the family deserving to know that he was finally dead…bro, he was Doe’s father. You just killed Doe’s father.”
My gaze never left his. “I killed our enemy. I killed Doe’s father…but I also killed the man who sold her into a world that ruined her.”
Lucio stilled, his face as pale as a ghost. “Fuck me sideways.”
I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him closer, pressing my forehead against his. “Promise me, cousin. Promise me that what happened here will remain between us. Promise me you will take this to your grave.” I was so fucking desperate to keep Doe from finding out that not only did her father have her mother killed, but he was the angel who sold her to the devil—and I was ready to murder my own goddamn cousin if he didn’t agree.
He took my hand in his, the wolves tattooed at the top of our hands sealing our bond as we closed our fists. “I swear to you on my life, cousin. I will take this to my grave.”
I let out a sigh of relief. I knew Lucio could have been trusted with what would be the biggest secret I would ever keep. But no matter what happened, I would make sure Doe never found out. Never.
“What happens now?” Lucio tucked his gun back into his pants while I wiped Mancuso’s blood off my fingers.
After tossing the bloodstained cloth to the ground, I straightened my suit jacket and turned my back on the corpse lying on the floor. “Now we go fuck up some Russians.”
**To be continued in Mafia Queen**
About the Author
All the way from Cape Town, South Africa, Bella J lives for the days when she’s able to retreat to her writer’s cave where she can get lost in her little pretend world of romance, love, and insanely hot heroes.
She has a taste for dark, romantic suspense novels with mysterious, brooding bad boys and strong, sassy women who bring them to their knees. Add a little humor and a lot of sexy, and she’s in writer’s Heaven.
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