everything. Even got a little show. Enzo won’t know what hit him. Just trust me, revenge will be much more satisfying this way.”
“You better be fucking right, and never talk back to me again, do you understand? I’m your boss now.” I look him straight in the eyes, so he knows I’m serious. I might need him breathing, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be injured.
“Yes, we’re clear,” he says, smoothly taking the seat across from me.
My mind drifts back to Lorenzo, my hate for him stirring the fire in my chest. I hate him with a passion nothing could rival. He has everything I didn’t; he took from me without a word, a simple thank you never passing his lips. I don’t want just what he has. I want so much more. I want the empire, the money, the authority, the women, and once he is dead, it will all be mine.
“Did you decide when you’re bringing her?” I ask Eli again, wondering when he will tell me the rest of this plan he’s devising up.
He smiles smugly. “I had to do a little storytelling to Lorenzo. He’s a bit shaken up with everything taking place. He killed John, Amara’s uncle…”
So, who cares? What’s the point of being a ruthless killer if you have a heart? That alone is why I would make a better king to the empire than he ever was.
“I see he’s gone more than soft then. Bargaining for his life now, is he?” The thought alone has me wanting to scream to the heavens. The man expected us to praise him while he did things like this. No fucking way.
“Not so much bargaining for his life, but for his lover’s… I think he loves her more than he let on. Taking her will close the deal indefinitely.” Eli sounds full of himself, and I just hope he is right.
“You could have already taken her.”
“Yeah, but don’t you think it will be way more fun if she comes with me willingly? If she chooses me over him?”
I stare at him for a few seconds, making sure I’ve actually heard him right. When I realize I did, I throw back my head and start laughing.
“That would be more than fun, but we can’t just assume things, Eli. We have been sitting and waiting for a decision to be made. Your job is simple. Go in, make a deal, and bring her to me kicking and screaming if you have to. If you fail to follow through, I will kill you.” My voice is cold, and I mean every single word.
Again, he smiles, and all I want to do is to wipe the fucking floor with his face. Who does he think he is?
“Something funny, Eli? If I didn’t need you, you would already be dead… Think about that for a second.” I glare at him, waiting for it to sink in, but as the smile sticks to his cheeks, my blood boils hotter. This is how Lorenzo lost control. He wasn’t stern enough. He wasn’t hard enough.
“Boss, you must know something about me. I will take your orders well, but since this is my plan, I will run the show with it—”
Before he can speak another word, I cut in, “Eli, the last person who gave me an order was Lorenzo, and you know where he is going. I dealt with his ass for years, watching him take everything from me. He ripped my life apart and killed the one person I loved.” I speak the words without even realizing it. I pushed those memories to the darkest place in my mind, so deeply that I hardly ever thought about her at all.
I keep telling myself I’m doing this for power, and I am, but that was not the seed that started it all.
“What happened?” Eli asks, curiosity showing in his features.
My mind wanders back to a time when I was careless, loving, and even free.
“Mack. Mack,” Delilah screeched my name as I pushed her on the swing. I had never loved someone as much as I loved her. She was only two years younger than I was. The Princess to another mafia. I didn’t care though… Our love had blinded me, and in the end, she had to pay the costs.
“Did he kill her?”
“He didn’t… I did.” Anger radiates in my words as I feel the urge to lash out.
“He made you do it, didn’t he?” Eli asks, a little too eagerly. That sets me off,