I was still trying to figure out what had happened in that room fifteen minutes ago. The special task Hunter had given me should have pushed me to the verge of panic. But panic was nowhere to be found. Instead, I felt strangely focused and calm. A blush formed each time I thought about the reason behind it…I couldn't have been more grateful that Fifi and Ace decided not to comment on my state when they returned to my room. Of course, Ace barely stifled a laugh as he helped me smooth all the delicate layers of my gown. Fifi fixed my makeup quickly, but we no longer had time to tie up my hair.“Shouldn't your personal maid be here, helping us?” Fifi raised her brows as she looked at me with a wry smile.“Gianna took a few days off,” I explained. Truthfully, I found it a little strange since it was Marcello who had told me about it. He'd said that Gianna was sick, but she'd looked fine the day before. I couldn't help but think it was yet another one of Marcello's ways to mess with me. Fo
My face hurt from keeping my faint, polite smile plastered as the mercilessly long line of guests congratulated Hunter and me on our marriage. My back muscles burned from holding my posture as straight as possible. Not to mention that this little crown on my head was getting heavier by the second, and even lifting my chin had become a struggle.“You're doing great,” Hunter murmured between shaking hands and listening to insincere praises. “It'll be over soon.”“I sure hope so,” I grunted and saw him stifling a laugh.Thankfully, I was able to memorize the ridiculously long list of guests, the information about their families, and their connections. I even separated them into groups based on what I had learned. The first group was the less important families, mostly too weak to stand a threat. In the second group, I placed all the families that either openly supported Hunter or could have been called potential allies. The third group was where I put those with rather hostile attitudes
HUNTERI watched my firecracker in awe. She kept her expression blank and her chin high, calmly observing her father and his wife walk away with their heads low. Catherine might not have realized that yet, but more than a few people watched her interaction with the Duncans. They evaluated her strength, deciding whether or not she was someone easy to mess with. She passed the test flawlessly. She had proven she could use the authority she had been given. I knew that act cost her, but I would not let others see any cracks in her mask.I stepped closer just in time to pull her into my arms as she stumbled. “Careful, firecracker,” I murmured against her ear. “I know you're tired. It'll be over soon.”She turned to me, her chest heaving and falling at a fast pace. “I… I humiliated them,” she breathed out.I could see that righteous side of her crawl out to the surface, but I wouldn't let her feel any remorse. “You did what you had to,” I told her. “And you were fucking hot while doing it.”
CATHERINE“God, those Blandini bitches just sit there and glare at us.” Bella Rossi clicked her tongue and folded her arms across her chest.She was one of many Mafia Princesses at the wedding, but so far, she was the only one who seemed genuinely friendly. Her family had been engaged in a few business projects with Hunter's father back in the day, and Hunter had been doing some business with Bella's father as well. Certainly, I would have never put my guard down around someone I had just met, but my instincts were telling me that this cute-looking girl with curly brown hair and large brown eyes was relatively safe. Besides, Fifi had known Bella before, and she liked her. Perhaps I was starting to like her too…“Those idiots are just jealous,” Fifi huffed, and Bella nodded in agreement.“Sure they are.” Then she not-so-discreetly pointed at the tall one with shoulder-length chestnut hair. “Especially the oldest, the one in the middle. Her name is Daniela, and she used to brag that she
My breath caught in my throat. What was Dante doing here? And where were the guards? If there was anyone Hunter's men would have immediately marked as a threat, it would have been him!“Cousin?” Daniela breathed, her eyes widening. “You want to help HER?! You can't be serious!”I hated to admit it, but she took those words out of my mouth. There was no way Dante wanted to help me. He had no reason to. If anything, I could bet he wanted to use this situation to screw me over. Not to mention that his mother was Blandini. His cousins should have been the ones he sided with, right?Dante gave Daniela a cold smile, and she stumbled back. I had no idea what kind of game he was playing, but I sure as hell wanted no part in it. Then he grabbed Daniela's hand, rubbing the spot where the thorns protruded from her skin. She cried and jerked her hand away. “Are you crazy?! That hurt!”The smile he gave her made my stomach churn. “I didn't think you're such a crybaby,” he purred.“S-she's injured,
HUNTERIt took Dante and his men twenty minutes to turn my wedding into a fucking war zone. We could have easily avoided it if it weren't for some fucked-up sentiment for the old times and the old rules. As the future Don Cartelli, I was supposed to respect those rules as if they were the utmost sacred law… or rather the only law that applied to us. But those rules didn't grant us peace. They brought bloodshed.No one in their right mind would invite enemies to their homes, but somehow it was expected of me to welcome all those at the top of the food chain. As if I needed their presence to sanction my marriage. As if I needed their approval to know my actual strength. As if I needed them to witness and acknowledge that I met all the conditions my grandfather had written in his will.We all knew what it was. This was a test… and a chance for our enemies to defeat me on my own ground. Certainly, we could have prevented the attack… to some extent. He had monitored the area, but we couldn
CATHERINEI realized what had just happened and froze. The back of Hunter's jacket was soaked in his blood. I had no idea where he was shot, and I could only pray the shot wasn't lethal. The time seemed to slow down. I saw a menacing smile spread across Dante's face. He shifted his grip on the gun, aiming at Hunter's head. Hunter's gun fell to the ground as he lowered to his knees, preparing to lurch. I might have screamed as I heard the shot, and it took me a second to realize it wasn't Dante who fired…I blinked and saw Dante bent in half, holding his bleeding arm, his weapon lying on the ground. The sounds of several voices and footsteps came from the left—Hunter's men. If I hadn't been already sitting on the ground, I would have collapsed in relief.Dante cursed, turned around, and started running. Before I drew another breath, I saw Hunter lunge after him, following him through the gate and disappearing into complete darkness. “No!” I cried out, struggling to rise to my knees. Go
HUNTERI was furious and fucking tired. I didn't know how long I had chased Dante before he reached a dead end. I rammed him down, sent a few blows, and was more than ready to end him… until I realized he wasn't alone. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground, and that fucker was driving away in a black SUV. My men came less than a minute later, far too late to stop them.The one who helped Dante could have killed me—should have killed me. I had no doubt he had a gun and a perfect opportunity to shoot me in the back. And yet, I had been left alive. Spared. For some reason, that pissed me off even further.“Hold still,” Fabio Lanaro grunted, glaring at me. He had been the Cartelli's family doctor since I could remember, which meant he was most likely old as fuck. He was excellent at treating gunshot wounds, but perhaps after years of working for the Mafia family, any doctor would excel at that. Unfortunately, aside from that, he also excelled at being a rude prick and a giant pain in
CATHERINEI had a dream. I was running through a dark tunnel. Shouts and rough grunts echoed behind me. I couldn't understand them. I only knew that if I stopped, I would die. So I kept running, even though my lungs burned and my muscles turned into stone. I was cold. I was hopeless. I was alone…‘You can stop now, Catherine,’ someone's voice coaxed. ‘You can go back.’The voice sounded familiar, although it was etheric and breathy. It didn't seem to come from one place. It vibrated around me. It pierced through me. I wasn't even sure if it came from the tunnel or I heard it in my mind.‘Catherine, stop.’ The sound was gentle, pleasant, and yet filled with strength and confidence.I slowed my pace, then dug my heels into the cold ground. “Mom?” I whispered, looking around as if the voice could somehow materialize.‘Go back,’ she said. ‘He's waiting for you.’Hot tears gathered in my eyes. “He?” I croaked.‘It's over, Catherine.’ A warm smile filled every note. ‘Go there. Celebrate your
A hand on my shoulder jerked me awake. Wincing in discomfort, I straightened up in my seat and blinked, adjusting my vision. The sympathetic smile on Lazar's face told me I must have looked like shit. His eyes drifted to the side of the bed where I held Catherine's hand.“No changes, I see,” he muttered.I looked at his sleeping great-niece and shook my head. Then I turned to him and cleared my throat. “The doctors say this might take a while before she wakes up.”The night she had gotten shot, I'd nearly lost my mind. Luckily, Lazar's doctors had taken care of her immediately. Ironically, the shot might have been the thing that saved her. The massive blood loss had lessened the Pink Opium's effect, and after the blood transfusion, the poisonous drug had left her body.Lazar fixed his eyes on me. “But… she will wake up.” I wasn't sure whether it was a statement or a question, but I still nodded. A sliver of relief relaxed his features, but then he clenched his fists. “I should have pr
My finger turned heavier, curling on the trigger as I imagined his brain splattered all over this fucking corridor. But I wasn't the only one feeling bloodthirst. Dante wanted to kill me just as badly; I saw it in his rage-burning eyes. He tried to mask it with cold amusement, but I could nearly taste the fury radiating from him.“Is she inside?” he purred, jerking his chin at the ajar-open door to the storage. “Such a stubborn little thing, isn't she? She's dying because of that stubbornness.”Every fiber within me filled with lethal calm. “You did this to her? You gave her the Pink Opium?”The fucker smiled, triggering a new urge. No. He wouldn't die from a single bullet. He deserved to be skinned alive and torn to fucking little pieces.He lifted his gun, aiming at my head. “She will die within an hour. The latest booster works that way. Although, I have to admit she used it well. Did she tell you she killed five of ours until the initial effect wore off?” Cold laughter slipped free
HUNTER“Explain to me again, why do we trust this guy?” Rowan grunted as we marched through the tunnel.“We don't trust him,” I corrected. “We're taking a necessary risk.”Rowan glanced at Remo and Ferro as if hoping they would back him up. Luckily for them, they kept their mouth shut. Rowan, however, chose otherwise. “This looks like a trap. Why would this guy, who's apparently Lagunov's general, help us get into their fortress through some backdoor? It doesn't make sense!”I gave him a wry smile but didn't slow my pace. “I don't get it either. Then again, he had a chance to kill me twice. He didn't even try. Maybe he actually wants to switch sides.”Rowan gave me a look. “He killed Arianna without remorse.”“Perhaps he can't work around every order Lagunov gives him,” I reasoned. “Or maybe he simply hated Arianna.”“That I can imagine,” Remo commented dryly.Rowan lined up with me. “Basically, you dragged us into those tunnels because he wrote something about the documents signed by
Twenty-four hours had passed without Dante showing up in my prison cell, but that hadn't made me relax even for a second. I had been on constant alert, listening to every sound coming from the corridor. My muscles tensed every time I heard someone approaching my door, but I knew that I finally had to get some sleep…I'd used Maxim's trick to block the handle, but even then I allowed myself to rest for merely three hours. Drifting into a deep sleep wasn't an option, although I realized my body would soon run on fumes.My anxieties threatened to devour me, but each time I was close to panic, Maxim's words appeared in my mind. “They're coming, Catherine,” I mumbled to myself. “Just hold on a little longer.”A few more hours had passed, and I was slowly losing the fight to keep my eyes open. I was on the verge of falling into unawareness when the sound of heavy footsteps made me jerk up to my feet. Barefoot, I rushed to unblock the door. A second later, the door slammed open, and three me
My whole body began to rattle, and a high-pitched tone rang in my ears. It was a struggle not to fall apart as I silently prayed Hunter was alive. But if they had attacked the estate in Scarsdale, how many people had they killed? What about Gianna, Ferro, Enzo, Remo, or Rowan?“Thank you, Maxim.” Aleks Lagunov's icy laugh tore me out of my frantic thoughts. “That's great news,” he crooned as his eyes shifted to me. “Not so great news for you, I'm afraid. You see, Catherine, I can assure you that no one will come for you. Tomorrow, we will attack the Fedorov's estate and crush Lazar's little army. We know more than a little about your plans…” He pointed at one of the Italians sitting by the table. “Mr. Messino was kind enough to share more than a few details.”My hands fisted into tight balls. “Fucking traitor,” I strained through my teeth.Messino glared at me, but Lagunov laughed. “Such feistiness… Just like Katerina.” Then he locked his eyes on me, a grim smile stretching his lips.
CATHERINEI couldn't sleep. Drifting into unawareness in this place was more terrifying than Dante's presence in my room. I was exhausted, but my adrenaline levels were high enough to keep me constantly awake.Nearly every sound coming from the corridor made me flinch. The heavy steps brought chills down my spine, and the deep, cold laughter caused my stomach to roil. Dante hadn't visited me again so far, but I knew he would come and demand my answer. As if he had given me a choice…Three times a day someone walked into my room, bringing me food—mostly a slice of bread and water, sometimes an apple. Those servants never looked at me or spoke except for barking out a few commands. They had uncuffed my hand twice. Only for a minute, and only so I could take care of my physiological needs. Then I was cuffed again.I began to think I might lose my mind should I stay in this room and in this bed another day. My whole body began to ache, and I spent hours trying to shift the chain to make m
“Where are the fucking darts?!” Remo shouted through the communicator. “I've literally stuffed those fuckers with bullets, and they're still attacking the gates!”“Get a grip. You're not the only one pissed off by those zombie cunts,” Rowan hissed as he released another empty clip.All my men had been trying to fend off the attack at our gates for over an hour now. So far, the defenses we had installed around the estate turned out to be unbreachable, but those drug-fueled soldiers were relentless in their attempts to bring our fences down.“Enzo said the darts are on the way,” I said, aiming my gun at one of the bloodshot-eyed fuckers charging at the western gate. “In the meantime, aim for the heads.”Most of my suit was coated with blood. I hadn't had the time to change, and those renegades didn't die easily. Blood formed a red mist around our borders, and countless bodies lined the ground. Their losses were far greater than ours, but they kept coming, kept attacking…“Guys, I'm runn
HUNTERTwenty-six hours passed since Catherine had been abducted, and we still couldn't locate where she was kept. Potentially, she could have been in one of over thirty estates owned by Aleks Lagunov. So far, we were trying to narrow that list down, but excluding each location took too much time…After more than a few hours of useless quarrels, Lazar and I had finally gathered all our allies under one roof—my roof. Certainly, this agreement hadn't eliminated the mutual hostility, which currently satiated the air in the meeting room so densely, breathing had become a struggle. Well, at least none of them had chosen to resort to violence… so far.We all sat at the large oval table with Lazar and me on the opposite sides. We exchanged meaningful looks, then Lazar cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention. “My spies confirmed our previous suspicions… The Lagunov family's old estate was abandoned some time ago,” he said. “That means the renegades' main headquarters has to be elsewh