"No. I won't accept it."
"You don't have to, but it doesn't make it any less true."
"But why wouldn't he tell me?"
I laid my hand on the nape of her neck. "Maybe he didn't know. Maybe he just found out."
"How?"
I shrugged. "Has anything noteworthy happened lately?"
Her hands fell to her lap, revealing her flushed face, moistened with tears. "His mother just died."
"She could have left it in a note, or he could have found some evidence proving he was your half-brother."
"But why would that matter? Sal is still older, so he still has birth rites."
"I don't have it all figured out, but this morning when I looked into your eyes, I realized that they reminded me so much of Cane's. You both have a small fleck of green running through the brown of your right eye."
"I'd never noticed that."
"Well, how often did you gaze into his eyes?"
"How often did you?"
"I'm trained to retain details, I do it automatically."
She pressed her palm to her forehead, seemingly trying to process the information. "Can you ever turn off the SEAL?"
"No, I can't."
"My fuckin' brother. Are you serious?"
"I'm not entirely sure, how can I be?"
Sloane beeped into my earpiece. "I can!"
Mellissa perked up. "What do you mean, Sloane?"
"I was kinda eavesdropping, and I pulled up Cane's birth certificate."
"Tell me," Mellissa urged.
"You already know," Sloane replied.
Her shoulders slumped—defeated. "So that's it—Sal killed my dad and my brother. My father was an evil man, but Sal has taken it to a whole new level."
Static blared through the earpiece. "Can you hear me?"
"Yeah, we can hear you."
"I know this is the most inopportune time, but are you two ready? He's a block away."
I twisted to key in the ignition. "We're ready."
I glanced over to Mellissa, who was wiping away her tears. "It's time."
"Yes. Yes, it is," she murmured.
With my right hand on my gun and my left of the steering wheel, I stepped on the gas and pulled out in the street the second I saw the bumper of Sal's SUV. I rammed into the side, t-boning the vehicle. The impact smashed the metal and forced it to flip on its side.
The horn blared through the smoke of the busted engine. I hopped on top of the hood of the Hummer, then jumped onto the side of the SUV facing the sky. I readied my finger on the trigger, aiming the gun at the passenger window. As soon as I could get a good look, I realized the driver had been killed instantly. His bloodied face was smashed against the steering wheel, keeping constant pressure on the horn.
I swept my aim to the back of the car, ready to pull Sal out by the nape of his neck and deliver him to Mellissa to pay for his sins, but the backseat was empty.
MISLED
"He's not here," I yelled back to her.
"What do you mean he's not there? Sloane said he was on his way." Mellissa pushed on her earpiece. "Sloane. Sloane. He's not here."
The intermittent static that was present earlier had turned into a low hum of white noise. "Sloane," I called out.
There was no reply. "That fucker betrayed us."
Mellissa shook her head. "He wouldn't."
"Then where is he?" I asked, raising my hands in the air as I jumped off the side of the SUV.
As soon as my feet hit the ground, I jumped in the Hummer and stepped on the gas.
Mellissa crawled into the passenger seat and pulled her seat belt on. "Where are we going?"
"Fuck this dancing around shit, I'm going to the fuckin' den of the beast." I slammed on the gas and headed for Sal's house. "Fuckin' Sloane, I'm gonna kill that motherfucker the next time I see him."
"I just can't believe he would do that to us."
"Well believe it. He's a fuckin' snake, and only out for himself."
We zipped down a few streets, taking turns entirely too fast, almost taking out a stop sign. I gritted my teeth, trying to hold back the anger brewing in me. Sloane had double-crossed me one too many fucking times, and I wasn't one let shit like that go.
Sal might have to take the brunt of my fury for Sloane since he was my first stop. We pulled up into the driveway and flew out of the car. At this point, I was running on pure adrenaline. I stood in front of the heavy, wooden door, shooting out the lock. Lifting my foot, I rammed the sole of my boot into the door, causing it to fly off its hinges. The two assholes giving me a hard time during my last visit were the first two to step out from the hallway. They were each holding a gun, aiming them at us.
I aimed my piece at them, but before I could pull the trigger, two shots fired. My eyes widened, hoping they hadn't taken out Mellissa. Glancing over at her, she was standing firm, holding her gun like I'd showed her. Two loud thumps pulled my attention back to the two men who were now lying dead on the floor.
"What the fuck?" I asked astonished.
"I'm a lady, and you only need to show a lady how to do things once." She shrugged and walked down the hall.
I lifted my jaw off the floor as I watched her walk intently down the hall. "Fuck me—she's fuckin' hot."
Before I could round the corner, another gunshot went off. My wits immediately came back to me, and I rushed down the hall to Sal's office.
SAL
Isaiah stepped in, aiming his gun directly at my head. "Put the gun down, Isaiah."
"Let her go, Sal. I'm gonna fuck you up."
"Well, that's no way to negotiate now, is it, my friend?"
"I'm not your fucking friend," he growled, keeping his eye on Mellissa who was struggling against my grip around her neck.
"Let me go, you asshole," Mellissa cursed, scratching at my arm.
"Now, now, dear sister—" I took a moment and forced my lips on hers. "—I've wanted to do that for so long."
"What the fuck?" she yelled, spitting in my face.
All I could do was laugh. If she only knew, she might've enjoyed it as well.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Sal? She's your goddam sister."
"Oh, but she's not," Sloane walked in from a secret passage behind the bookcase he'd discovered for me while looking at blueprints for the house.
Isaiah's aim shifted to Sloane.
"Choices, choices," I mocked. "Friend or foe? Friend or foe? Ain't it the worst feeling, not to know?"
"What the fuck, Sloane?" Isaiah asked through gritted teeth—his eyes narrowing, focusing in on his target.
"Tell him what's going on, Sal," Sloane urged with his usual charming smile as he leaned his shoulder casually against the wall.
I wasn't one to take orders from anyone, and it was something I'd never said aloud, but I was ready to admit it to a room full of people I was going to kill anyway. I panned the room, excited for the bomb I was about to drop on them.
"What the fuck is going on, Sal?" Mellissa asked, trying to catch her breath from the tight grip I had on her neck.
"I'm adopted."
Mellissa stopped struggling, her arms dropping to her sides. "What do you mean?" she asked quietly.
"How many different ways can that mean something?" I asked, annoyed by the asinine question.
"Is that why you killed Cane?" Isaiah hollered from across the room.
"He threatened to go public. Even as a bastard, he had more rights than I did. So he had to go."
Isaiah cocked the hammer of his gun, the sweat beading on his brow. "Enzo?"
Mellissa's body instantly tensed up at the mere mention of her high school love. "Why are you saying his name? I told you that in confidence," her voice began to buckle under the strain of sheer, unadulterated emotion.
"Did you kill Enzo?" Isaiah asked, moving his index finger from the side of the gun to the trigger.
"Nope. Can't take credit for that one. That was dear old dad, that was." I chuckled. "I love this game. I
tell you a secret, you tell me one—let's lay all our cards out on the table, shall we? But first—" I pulled Mellissa back to my desk where I pushed a special security button I had Sloane create to contact the associate whose cellphone was closest in proximity.
"Yeah, boss?" Tino's deep voice responded.
"Get in here. Bring everyone."
"Yeah, boss."
I covered Mellissa's mouth with my hand, the warmth of her breath tickled my hand as she screamed. "Now, to tell you a dirty little secret before the guys get here."
"What could you possibly have left to say?" Isaiah shook his head as he locked the door behind him, all the while keeping his eyes set on me.
"I killed mama, too."
The minute the words shot out of my mouth, Mellissa's body seized, frantically trying to escape my grasp.
Isaiah spit on my floor then shook his head. "Why the fuck would you do that?"
"It was for her own good. She was so sad after I killed papa, too—oops, I hadn't told that secret yet." I chuckled. "Welp, it's out now!"
"You sick motherfucker."
I bent over and took a bow, dragging Mellissa's body along with me. When I stood up, I leaned over, using Mellissa's body as a shield as I pushed the security button again.
"Yeah, boss."
"Where the fuck are you?"
"Yeah, boss."
"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Yeah, boss."
Sloane pushed himself off the wall, chuckling to himself. "I got a secret."
My face went limp as I began to realize my guys weren't coming. "What did you do, you little snake?"
"So you know how I do that whole hacking thing?"
I didn't reply to his smug question.
"There's this code, which can easily capture a voice and then I can make said voice say whatever I want. Now, granted, I didn't have much time to figure out all the intricacies of the types of genius questions you might ask, or the kind of answers a guy under your employ might give, but I took a gamble. Yeah, boss was said 277 times yesterday alone. So, it was safe to say you were used to hearing that."
I was foaming at the mouth. "You goddam, son of a bitch."
MELLISSA
Sal pushed me away and aimed his gun at Sloane, who pulled a gun from his waistband in response. Before he could pull back the hammer, I grabbed the gun and spun around, pressing the muzzle to Sal's forehead. His eyes widened, the terror in them made my heart skip a beat.
"Say hi to dear old dad for me." I pulled the trigger, shooting him in the forehead.
His body flung back from the velocity of the bullet, projecting his body over his desk. He gurgled for a moment as he took his last few breaths—his eyes still wide open.
Isaiah snaked his arm around me, pulling the gun from my trembling hands. "One and done. You got your revenge," he whispered in my ear.
EPILOGUE
ISAIAH
What's the use of gaining the whole world when you lose yourself in the process? There is no use. Sal had everything, and he threw it all away because he couldn't stand the thought of sharing what he had with his own family. And now—now he's sharing eternity with them in an unmarked grave in a field somewhere I'm not even sure I can remember how to get to.
The warm breeze wafted by me and the sound of the surf crashing against the shore soothed my nerves. The day I'd been waiting for had actually arrived, and all eyes were on me as I stood between Sloane and a priest under a white, wicker archway. I'd asked her to marry a few months after she'd shot Sal, thinking she'd turn me down. After all, who'd wanna marry a low-life like me? But to my surprise, she accepted with open arms and a tear in her eye.
She was everything I wanted in a woman, but didn't know I needed. My mother would've been so proud, and it hurt my heart to know she would never meet the one and only woman I'd ever fallen in love with.
Sloane admitted he had been working on hacking Sal's phone system for a while, trying to figure a way out of owing him for the rest of his life. Once he realized Sal wasn't in the car, he implemented his hack and headed to Sal's to assist us, but the earpieces failed, causing the static we'd heard once he moved too far away from his laptop. Unfortunately, in his haste, he'd left it at the safe house. After Mellissa killed Sal, Sloane and I worked together to clean up the whole thing. He focused on the technical aspect by hacking into the County Registrar's server, and added a death certificate for Cane and Sal, citing a car accident as the cause of death. I employed the skills the military embedded in me and disposed of the bodies of Sal, and the two assholes from the hallway in a place no one would ever find them.
Mellissa, as the only heir to Salvatore Sabella's crime family, took over. And despite what her father said about women being weak, she ruled with an iron-fist, but still managed to garner the affection of the community, since she poured the wealth she gained back into rebuilding the city's broken neighborhoods. The same neighborhoods that Sal and his father had decimated while in power.
"There she is." Sloane nudged me with his elbow.
I cleared my throat and tried to straighten my bowtie. She was beautiful as she walked onto the red-carpeted aisle, covering the white sand. Her long white dress trailed behind as her hair—long and flowing—blew gently in the wind.
I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was going to be my wife, and I vowed that I would be everything my father and her father never were. She was going to be my everything, and I knew I would be hers.
The music flowed in—soft and slow—matching the rhythm of her march. Only a few more seconds and she would be standing next to me saying I do.
"You can still run," Sloane leaned in and whispered, grinning from ear to ear.
"I'll never run again."
ABOUT PENELOPE
Penelope Marshall was born in the Philippines, and raised in Southern California.
She picked up writing in early 2016 and instantly fell in love with the craft. Her writing runs the romance gamut from sweet romantic comedies, to tough alpha male military suspense thrillers, with a little young adult, and paranormal thrown into the mix.
A good plot twist is what drives Penelope's writing, striving for that jaw dropping moment at the end of each book.
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ABOUT TIA
Tia Lewis is a romance author from the Midwest who writes about smart, sexy, sassy women and hot, possessive alpha males. Her favorite bad boys to write about include sports players, mafia, bikers, billionaires, and the bad-ass next door. You can find her cooking, reading, or traveling when she's not busy working on her next release.
Want to be kept up to date on new releases? Text LEWIS to 31996!
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ALSO BY PENELOPE MARSHALL
DEADLY SIN SERIES
A BAD BOY MAFIA ROMANCE:
WRATH
For years I was a good wife, watching my husband, Christian, the mob boss for the Cerisi crime family, sleep with every woman in sight.
But all that changed after an impromptu girl's trip to Chicago which led me to a passionate one-night-stand with a handsome, blue-eyed, stranger who was everything Christian was not.
Unfortunately, he wouldn't be a stranger for very long.
All I wanted was to put that night behind me.
All he wanted was to relive it…
DEADLY SIN SERIES
A BAD BOY SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE:
ENVY (COMING SOON)
A year ago I lost the love of my life to a man who didn't deserve her. Honestly, I probably didn't deserve her either.
So, I started over. Ready to dive into m
y work and forget about women and the heartache they brought. Until my uncle died, yanking me back to a city I wanted nothing to do with—yanking me back to Kelley.
I had left her in my rear view mirror when I was a kid trying to make a name for myself, and seeing her again brought back every feeling I wasn't ready to deal with.
-LIAM
COMING SOON!!!
AN EX-SEAL ROMANCE:
INDECENCY
What happens when two alphas want the same woman?
Death...that's what happens.
Hunter is an ex-Navy SEAL who now works for Citadel, a private security company. A chance meeting with Celeste, after a car accident, leaves him drawn to the wounded girl, who is still covered in fresh bruises from being held captive by Rez, an iron-fisted mafia boss. Hunter promises her safety, but an old friend has the capability of ruining everything with one phone call.
A BAD BOY MILITARY ROMANCE:
BETRAYED
I'd been deployed for too long.
All I wanted was to get back to Sierra and the baby girl she was carrying.
Little did I know what kind of hell I would be walking into the minute I stepped off the plane.
Sierra was gone.
My baby was gone.
All that was left of them was a ransacked apartment and unanswered questions.
She'd left me. Betrayed me.
Well—that's what I thought.
Until I got the phone call...
MILITARY SUSPENSE:
MR. BLACK SERIES
ABSOLUTION
Cole Almen is home from the war, but he suffered a terrible loss…
Misled: A Bad Boy Mafia Romantic Suspense Page 8
