Corrupted Queen - Nicole Fox Page 0,3

the majority of the docks, and then a couple of years ago, my father made a play for power that backfired and left us with nothing but a measly strip. By killing Andrew Walsh, I was able to retake our original territory.

It was supposed to be our turn of fortune. Instead, it has been anything but that.

“Yes, but now the monkey on his back has jumped to our back.” Vito drains his glass and sets it on the table.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I say.

“Refusing to talk about it won’t make it any easier.”

This is common ground for Vito and me—him wanting to discuss an issue that I am closed down to.

I shake my head, swirling the amber liquid around my glass. “My present priorities are maintaining control where I can and bringing Alexis and Harry home.” I look up at him, meeting his reassuring charcoal gaze. “Have you heard anything from Gio?”

Gio Demarco was the man Vito assigned to bring Alexis to the hospital a month ago, and also the man who let her get away. He insisted on leading the hunt to retrieve her due to the injured pride of being outmaneuvered by an emaciated woman toting a baby.

“Not yet. From what I understand, that Clara girl is being a tough customer. She will make the call soon.”

“Make sure they don’t hurt her,” I say sternly.

Alexis already hates me, but if anything happens to Clara, she’s just as likely to burn down my mansion the second I bring her back here.

“I’ve warned the men not to harm a hair on Clara’s head,” Vito replies. “Though from their initial report, it seems like she’s doing a good enough job destroying herself without help.”

I wave dismissively. “That is not my concern. Let me know the second Alexis is in custody.”

Vito nods and leaves me.

I tip my head back and study the cornice. Dentil blocks give way to elaborate grapevines, whose leaves lift from the ceiling as though, at any moment, a breeze could dislodge one and send it drifting down. This room has always been a favorite of mine. The oversized lacquered oak table, with its many leather scroll-back chairs, makes it ideal for dinners or meetings, and it swims with light from the long bank of windows along the south side.

The one downside is that without the benefit of other people, this room feels painfully empty. It eclipses me with its hollowness.

I finish my drink and lift out of the chair. My legs burn where the bullets ripped through skin and muscle, and I wince. Once I start walking, the pain begins to ease, though it flares up again when I climb the stairs.

I turn down the hall and head for my office. That is the only place in the house that hasn’t felt empty since Alexis left. She and Harry took up so little space physically, yet it feels like their departure has left a crater the size of Texas.

I remember waking up from surgery after my showdown with Andrew Walsh and the feeling of peace that washed over me, knowing that Alexis and Harry were safe. He held her captive for three agonizing days, and now that I had her back, I was never going to let anything happen to her again.

And then Vito informed me that Alexis had escaped with Harry, and it felt like being shot all over again.

I have spent the past month tracking Alexis’ movements and trying to head her off, but she always slips from my grasp. At the same time, I have been negotiating for territory and trying to broker a peace with Andrew Walsh’s son, Patrick. It has not been easy. Patrick understands the cost of his father’s war more than most, though from what I understand, there was no love lost between them.

That being said, I did put a bullet between his father’s eyes. That tends to brew bad blood.

I have just opened my laptop and started to sink into the familiar rhythm of work when there is a knock on my door.

“Come in.”

Vito enters with a strange, pinched expression.

I sigh. “I take it the extraction did not go well.”

“I don’t know how she keeps doing it,” Vito complains. “I would question Gio’s abilities, but ever since she slipped his grasp at the hospital, I have never seen him so determined to succeed.”

I slam the lid of my laptop closed and grit my teeth. “Go,” I order. “Tell Gio and Angelo that if she escapes again, there