Reign of a Billionaire : A Dark Mafia Enemies-to-Lovers Romance

“Oh, but I will,” I drawled. “You though, old fucker, you’re going to die.” I dragged the tip of my blade, cutting the skin on his neck enough to bleed but not enough to slice into his artery.

The bastard didn’t know how far I was willing to go.

“Even if you escape me, you won’t escape him.” He attempted to fight me, gasping for air. “Perez will end you. Just like he ended your sister.”

I froze, my heart stopping before jumpstarting into turbo mode. Santiago shifted his bulky form, but I tightened my grip on him. First, I needed answers. His death would come soon enough.

“You ended my sister,” I hissed. “I’ve seen the video.”

He attempted to fight me off, but the fucker was too out of shape and too old to stand a chance. “It wasn’t me.”

Blood dripped against his crisp white sheets. He bucked against me, and I moved the blade to the base of his neck. “Utter one more lie,” I gritted, “and I’ll make you bleed, nice and slow, so you can feel every drop of blood as it leaves your body.”

He stilled, fear clouding around him like a disease.

“It’s true. She didn’t die while under my care. Perez took her, then sold her using one of his Marabella Mobster arrangements.”

Images flashed through my mind. The video of her screaming while her body dissolved in a tub.

“Liar!” Fury surged through me, the room suddenly enveloped in a red haze. “I saw her body disintegrate with my own eyes. The video originated from your compound.”

The man laughed. “Stupid bitch.” I shivered from the fear and hope invading my entire being. Should I wish my twin alive or dead, I didn’t know. “It was doctored.”

My eyes welled up with confusion, but also hope.

“So she’s alive?” I ignored the way my voice cracked. It had nothing on the way my heart splintered. He laughed again, making my rage burn hotter. “Is. She. Alive?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

Hope and despair were at war in my chest. All these years, I’d never envisioned the possibility of her being alive.

“My mother…” My voice betrayed none of the turmoil inside of me. Unshed tears burned in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. “What does she know?”

He shrugged. “Why don’t you ask her?”

Mother lied to me, I realized with a new level of hatred. I always knew she was twisted, but this… this was a new low, even for her. My twin had a chance at being saved, and Mother did nothing. Fucking nothing!

Fury, hotter than ever, burned through me, making me see red.

Clenching my teeth, I pressed the blade farther into his flesh. “I’m asking you, suka.”

“My guess is she knows it all,” he gritted.

“You’re lying,” I said, desperation leaking into my voice.

He turned his head and smirked. “Am I?” Through the fog of pain, I knew he had to be taunting me. Stalling. “Your best bet is Perez if you want to find out where she is.” Is! Present tense. Before my hope could ignite further, he added, “Dead or alive.”

A tight band of anger wrapped around my ribs, turning my breaths shallow. This fury was directed at my mother. At the entire shitty underworld that used and abused innocent women.

In a sudden and precise move, I sliced his neck wide open. I slid off of him, careful not to get his blood on me. Instinctively, he reached up to stop the bleeding, but the gash in his neck was too deep. I took a step back, watching him gasp for air.

Blood soaked through his fingers, turning them crimson.

I didn’t move, not until the last flicker of life faded from his eyes.

As I stood there and took in my work, I decided that I would never go back to my mother. I’d find my twin—dead or alive—and take her where she always wanted to go.

Chapter 26Kingston

The church was brimming with people who came to mourn—or celebrate—the death of Santiago Tijuana Sr. The man was a piece of scum who had it coming, but that didn’t stop people from putting on a whole dog and pony show.

There were slimy politicians, leaders of various criminal organizations, and any other gutless criminal with ties to the underworld. Human hypocrisy always amazed me.

But then, I was here too, along with Enrico Marchetti, Kian Cortes, Giovanni Agosti, Lykos Costello, and the Callahans. Of course, Perez Cortes wasn’t here—not that anyone expected him to be.

“Are you ready to take over the Tijuana cartel?” Enrico asked Giovanni, the latter in a piss-poor mood since he stepped foot into this church. Nobody wanted to be here, but he seemed particularly eager for an out.

“You weren’t the one who killed him, right?” Aiden was the more reasonable Callahan. His brothers—reckless twins—apparently had a bet going that Giovanni had been the one to finally end his uncle.

“No.”

“What’s the problem, then?” demanded Enrico.

Giovanni’s jaw clenched and his green eyes flashed angrily. “No problem at all.”

“Do we have any other information on Sofia Volkov’s daughter?” Marchetti’s words had my full attention.