Angelica Fergus must have made a deal with the devil and refused to fulfill his end of the deal. The world was certainly against him. It wasn’t usually easy to spot a Bratva boss and find a way to get close to them but Yakov was different. He hated Fergus so much but although Curtis was the latter’s son, Yakov frequented Inferno. He also happened to be one of Heston’s acquaintances—I would call them friends but there was no such thing as friendship in that iceberg’s dictionary. At least something good came out of Heston. The following night was Curtis’s night too so I asked to tag along with him now that Nana had left. He looked happy to bring me along, which was a relief. When I got changed, however, he groaned in frustration. “Did I do something wrong?” I glanced down at myself. He pulled me up against him. “How the hell do you expect me to get any work done when you look like this? All I want is to push you against the wall and tug down your dress to feel those beautiful boobs.
A woman playing poker like a pro was nothing surprising. The poker casino had seen its fair share of all sorts of pros. New champs came in every night and not every one of them was playing a fair game. Cheating was not impossible as long as you didn’t get caught—hence the rule against weapons in case things got out of hand. On the other hand, a woman handing out her husband’s money like candy because she kept losing was comical, especially when said husband kept buying more chips with a grin. It was almost as if he was happy to lose. How exactly did it turn into this? Well, I had shot my mouth off about how horribly I could kick Curtis’s ass in a game of poker. When he brought me to the basement casino to see me prove it, I couldn’t even beat a rookie. I don’t know whether or not I was actually that bad at it—I had never been interested in playing it but I wasn’t trying to win. My aim was to get a chance to speak to Yakov Yenin. I was buying time until his arrival by making everyon
CurtisI had waited for this day for years. Filling in the discharge sheets felt like a dream I didn’t want to wake up from. Mother was packing her belongings with the help of Gina and once they had loaded her bag into the trunk of my car, mother came running into the doctor’s office with Gina hot on her tail. “I’m going to miss you, Crystal.” She said, pulling Mother into a hug. “Is it wrong that I’m sad you’re leaving?” Mother shook her head. “I’ll miss you too. And no, I’m sad to leave too. Though let’s be honest, I’ll only miss the nice gardens that look good in paintings. The medicine, I can do without.” I didn’t want to rain her parade but she would still need to take her medicine. That would be a battle for later. After exchanging a few more hugs and cheek kisses, Gina left and since I was already done with the discharge papers, I handed them to Mother’s doctor and picked up the little bag of her prescribed medicine. “Ready to get back to the life you have always missed?” I
My father probably had enough enemies to fill a city the size of Silverwood. Anyone could have done this to him but I had a strong feeling it was related to a mafia family. He had poked more than enough trouble with those. Besides, the gruesome torture wasn’t about killing him. If they wanted him dead, we would be hearing from a mortician instead of a hospital—if he didn’t mysteriously disappear, that is. His condition was worse than Giancarlo described it. We quickly realized the culprit had specifically taken away all his means of communication. He couldn’t talk and neither could he write down whatever he wanted to say. They had broken the fingers of his right hand beyond restoration. “Why does this MO feel so familiar?” I glanced over at Giancarlo, who was leaning against the ward’s door with his arms folded over his chest. “A hundred bucks say it’s the Angel of Death.” That wasn’t quite right. The Angel of Death would leave a message inscribed on his body and kill him. “He pro
Angelica Did I mention I made a deal with the devil? Well, I gave him an inch and now he was asking for a mile. I had an ominous feeling as soon as I heard that eerie tune I had reserved for the secret phone I used to communicate with The Viper. It wasn’t just the fact that The Viper couldn’t be calling me at random that gave me the chill. It was the knowledge that I had been sloppy enough to not turn the phone off after the last call. That, and the fact that I already knew the caller had to be Yakov Yenin. The Bratva were a sneaky lot but I had thought Yakov had much better things to do than pester me once our deal was done. I was wrong. I rummaged through my bag for the phone and my suspicion was confirmed at the sight of the new contact number. I answered it in the lowest voice possible despite being alone in the room now that Curtis had left earlier. “Who the fuck is this?” A deep laughter preceded Yakov’s jovial voice. “I’m glad you answered, Printsessa. Didn’t want to have
“I tried to close my eyes, Arciero.” Yakov grinned, making fun of the entire situation. Curtis was furious.There had to be something I could say to explain why I was at the same table with the man he warned me about and why I didn’t tell him I was coming here. It didn’t seem like it but there wasn’t any situation I couldn’t get myself out of—I was a professional liar, for heaven’s sake. But seeing him standing there, obviously battling the urge to punch Yakov in the face and drag me out of there had my brain short-wired. I couldn’t string two words together.Was there any chance the floor could open up and swallow me alive?I didn’t wait for him to drag me out. I walked over to him, trying my best to remain silent in case I said something that would make things much worse.Any hope that we could forget about what he just witnessed flew out through the window as soon as we got to his office and he locked the door behind us. “Explain.”I could have made something up about wanting to pl
Curtis“Don’t forget the chocolates. That’s the best part of a picnic.” I heard Mother say on my way downstairs. In the living room, Angelica was packing a picnic basket of some sort. She stopped when she saw me and wiped her hands on her dress.“Where are you two going?” I asked, taking a peek into the basket. I wanted nothing more than to steal one of the cookies packed in a transparent cookie box but Angelica and I weren’t exactly in talking terms right now.“On a picnic.” Mother answered. “Do you want to come along? It will be fun, I promise. We baked your favorite cupcakes.”While that was tempting, I had a better idea about where to go if they wanted to go out. “I’ll drive.” I offered.“You don’t need to.” Angelica was quick to say. “We are only going to the garden.”“I have a better idea.”I picked up my keys. The two exchanged glances before Angelica picked up the basket and left the picnic blankets on the couch. We wouldn’t need them.Mother was first to take the backseat and
Angelica “Angel, your ring is so pretty.” A little girl said to me, touching my ring finger with her own little one. She had just introduced herself as Sasha. “Thank you. Do you want to try it on?” I asked. I had caught her staring a few times with interest and when she heard my suggestion, her eyes lit up and she nodded excitedly. I slid my ring off and onto her thumb. Her smile made my heart melt. Soon, all the kids were surrounding us to check it out. The next thing I knew, I had flowers in my hair. “You look just like Rapunzel.” A little girl gasped. “Rapunzel has blond hair, Amber. Angel’s is black.” Sasha corrected her. “Angel looks like an angel.” Another girl said, and soon I was being called a princess, a model, an angel, and every compliment in the kids’ dictionary. “You’re all so adorable.” I squeezed the closest of them into a hug. I didn’t realize how much I loved kids until I started meeting so many of them. “Will you stay with us?” A little boy asked. I couldn’