The city is covering its ears against the wails of the emergency services speeding towards the ever-growing number of fires. Chicago is sporting a dirty-gray hat made of smoke like a gangster who just walked into a bar and forgot to remove it.
And the rat is still in its hidey hole, cleaning its whiskers and plotting its next move.
I never had Xander Amory down for a coward, not really. I expected him to help me bring this feud to its natural conclusion tonight, one way or another. But it seems that I misjudged him—he is only prepared to fight when he isn’t on the defensive.
Or perhaps he believes that I’m done with Gianna Sedric already.
This will be his biggest error yet, and one for which he will pay dearly.
“Why doesn’t he come to stop us?” Tamara stands beside me watching as my men set fire to yet another building in yet another territory that is unofficially claimed by the Sicilians.
“He thinks that because he forced his way onto my land and took Gianna, he has the upper hand. But he has learned nothing since he became the head of his family. I will not stop until I have destroyed everything that he owns.”
“Pakhan.” Ivana flanks the other side of me. “We might not be able to stroll into the next Amory territory quite so easily.”
“I think you’ve made your point,” Tamara adds.
“Which point do you think I’ve made?”
I’ve yet to deal with her part in Gianna’s failed escape attempt, but while I’m cleansing the city of Sicilians, I might as well flush out all the moles digging holes in my soil.
Tamara doesn’t flinch. “You’ve shown him that you’re angry about the printzessa’s abduction. Now that he has her, he will never hand her over. It’s a matter of principle.”
“So, what do you suggest I do now?”
“Arrange a meeting. On neutral territory, the way your fathers would’ve done.”
“I disagree.” Ivana’s voice could be mistaken for her sister’s apart from the abrasive edge that grates its way into the listener’s ears. “The Sicilians can’t be trusted. We might not be able to protect you. I think we should continue to flush him out. It will be seen as a sign of weakness if he doesn’t try to stop you; he might as well walk away with his hands in the air and divide the Amory Corp between his enemies.”
“So, you think I should fight, and Tamara thinks I should talk.”
I stare at the burning warehouse in front of us, the acrid smoke creeping into my lungs and making my eyes feel gritty.
This war has become personal. It is no longer about two families trying to prove that they are more powerful than the other, or that they deserve the largest slice of the city’s action. This isn’t about money or reputation or respect. It isn’t about casinos or weapons or drugs or any other organized crime that takes place in plain sight in the city of Chicago.
Xander Amory has stolen what’s most important to me and, whether he realizes it or not, I won’t rest until she is back in my life.
Ivana’s hand brushes mine to get my attention.. It opens up a tiny hole in my heart for the little kids who reached out to me from that stinking container as if I were an angel in disguise sent from heaven to save them. Somewhere beneath their tough exterior, there are two little girls still desperate for affection.
“I guess it depends on the outcome you want,” she says.
“There can only be one outcome.” I look at each of them in turn. “I am not going home without Gianna.”
“Then you have your answer, Pakhan,” Ivana says. “You must let Xander Amory know what you want. His response will decide whether you talk or fight.”
“Tamara?”
I know what she did. I don’t fully understand her motive, perhaps because I don’t love her in the same way she loves me, but I know that she encouraged Gianna to run away so that our lives could return to normal. Perhaps now she understands that what was normal before no longer exists.
She thinks about it, the roaring flames creating golden patterns across her face. “I agree with my sister. Either way, we’ll be right beside you as we’ve always been.”
It’s all I needed to hear.
“Contact Sergei. Arrange a meeting with Xander and make it clear that if he arrives without Gianna, I’ll understand that we are at war until the last man is standing.”
Tamara’s phone is already in her hand. Ivana is about to protest, either aware of her sister’s betrayal or having picked up on the tension between us, but I gesture for her to leave it be. This is Tamara’s chance for redemption. The sisters may have been my weakness all along, but I can’t turn my back on either of them without first allowing them to prove their loyalty.
“Now we wait.”
We are running out of rival territories to invade by the time Xander responds to my request. The delay has done nothing to soothe my temper, which has morphed from red-hot and hellish to the icy chill of a cold-blooded serpent with a taste for revenge. Someone should warn him.
Or not.
I’ve waited too long to watch him squirm and am almost tempted to kill him anyway. The only thing stopping me is knowing that he is married to Gianna’s sister Melissa, and I can’t face a lifetime of knowing that I lost the woman I love because I refused to let my enemy live. I will not allow him to have that power over me.
We arrange to meet in neutral territory on the outskirts of the city in a vacant lot of self-storage lockups.
I arrive first with Ivana and Tamara. Against their advice, I send Marco away in the car when he drops us off and warn my men to keep their distance and wait for the order to attack. When, or if, required. Everyone is under strict instructions to ensure Gianna’s safety, no matter what happens.
I don’t fear death.
When you live with the constant threat of it, death becomes a natural part of life. A stepping stone between this existence and whatever follows it when we pass. I’m not anesthetized to the sight of blood; I’ve simply learned to compartmentalize it inside my head. It’s a coping mechanism that I developed as a child after witnessing my first murder at the hands of my father.
So, when Xander Amory’s car rolls into the remote compound with the headlamps killed, the adrenaline rush spiking through me has nothing to do with the fear of losing my life, and everything to do with the alarmingly real terror that I might never get to see Gianna again.
My only consolation is knowing that her sister and my people will do everything in their power to keep her alive.
The car slowly comes to a halt some distance away from where I’m standing with Ivana and Tamara. The engine ceases purring. The night envelops us in balmy silence.
“Wait here.” I don’t look at the women flanking me.
“No, Pakhan.”
I don’t glance behind me, but I sense Ivana blocking her sister’s path with her arm as I stride purposefully towards the only car in the vicinity.
I’m a walking target. Xander might have the place surrounded by guards with their weapons aimed directly at my head, but I’m unarmed, and I’m trusting him to honor our mutual arrangement.
My heart thuds dully as I stop at an acceptable distance from the vehicle, my hands by my sides. The windows are tinted. I can’t see if Gianna is inside the car, but I’m acutely conscious that if she is, she’ll be watching me right now. How does she feel? Is her heart racing at the sight of me, so close but untouchable? Does she want to run to me, fling her arms around my neck and beg me to take her home?
Or have Xander and her sister had enough time to convince her that what we feel for each other isn’t real? My chest constricts at the very real prospect she might never want to see me again if they’ve been successful.
The front passenger door opens.
A woman steps out of the car, closes the door behind her with a gentle click, and faces me.
The resemblance to Gianna is uncanny, only this woman is a little taller, her features a little more defined than her younger sister’s as though life has filed them down to sharper edges. Her hair, even in the smoky twilight of the unlit compound, is as unruly as Gianna’s, and she walks towards me with the same easy gait. A reminder of what I’m missing.
Why is she here? I don’t know whether her appearance is a sign that Gianna is waiting for me in the car, or if Melissa came to break it to me gently that her sister wants nothing more to do with me.
The only thing I am certain of right now is that Melissa will have fought dirty to get her husband to agree to this, and there’ll be an army of men watching us, just itching for me to make a wrong move. I can’t blame Xander. I’d react the same way if this was Gianna meeting with him in my place.
“I’m Melissa, Gianna’s sister.” Her eyes appraise me, and I wonder what Gianna has told her about me. “Before we begin, I must ask you to swap places with me so that my husband can see my face. I’m sure you’ll understand why.”
I understand. Xander will have warned her to signal if she feels threatened. It’s a fair request, and one that I can’t refuse, not if I want this conversation to go my way.
It will also mean that my back is to Xander’s vehicle, and I’ll have to rely on sound and gut instinct alone to alert me to any movement behind me.
We circle each other and change positions. I’m willingly exposing myself to my enemy, but I hope Melissa sees this as a sign that I will do anything for Gianna. Her faint smile gives me a glimmer of hope that injects warmth into my chest.
“Is Gianna safe?” I ask.
Another smile: Melissa is keeping it light for her husband’s benefit. Trying to prove that I’m perhaps not the enemy he expected me to be.
“She’s safe. Talk to me, Leo.” Her voice is gentle. “Tell me how you feel about my sister.”
Leo. She has listened to Gianna enough for her to adopt the shortened version of my name, and I have to believe that this isn’t false hope.
“I love her.”
It’s the first time I’ve admitted this even to myself. But saying the words out loud only reenforces my love for Gianna, and my chest swells in response.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I will protect her with my life. I will do whatever it takes to make her happy, because my happiness is nothing compared to hers.”
Does this make me sound cheesy, like some lovesick teenager?
I don’t even fucking care.
I’ll scream it from the fucking rooftops so that everyone in Chicago can hear me.
I’ll paint the sky with aircraft trails declaring my love for Gianna Sedric if that’s what it takes.
Melissa studies me closely, her expression unfathomable. “What would you do if I said that she isn’t coming back?”
“I…”
I lick my lips, buying myself some time to reassemble my thoughts, making sure to keep my fists unclenched so that Xander doesn’t get the wrong idea. Did I read the situation wrong? Is Melissa here because Gianna couldn’t face telling me herself that it was fun while it lasted but now it’s over?
“I’d spend the rest of my life without a purpose.” I pause, trying to put into words the kind of man I’d become without Gianna Sedric in my world. “I guess I’d become the kind of cold-hearted monster she believed me to be when we first met.”
Something flickers behind her eyes. “My brother would’ve had me believe that Xander was a cold-hearted monster before I met him.” She forces a smile for the man sitting in the car behind me. “But he’s different when he’s with me. I see a side to him that no one else sees. I see what’s in his heart.”
I nod. I suspect that she isn’t finished.
“He would be angry with me for telling you this, but he calls me his sunshine.”
“Gianna is my printzessa.”
Melissa’s smile lights up her face even in the gloom, making her look even more like Gianna. “She told me about the puppy and the women’s refuge. I’m going to keep smiling, for Gianna’s sake, not yours, but she also told me that your brother claimed the refuge is part of the plan to defeat my husband.”
Fucking Andrej!
My jaw clenches, and I can feel a tic pulsing in my temple. I have to put all thoughts of him aside and focus on the present.
“I won’t lie. Opening the refuge will earn me some gold stars within the community, but I want to do it for Gianna. I’ve seen how passionate she is when she talks about her work. I promised her that I would never make her give it up for me. If she’s happy, I’m happy, and believe me nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing her smile.”
Melissa laughs then. “That’s a little too much information, thank you very much.”
I smile right back at her.
“I believe you, Leo. But one question remains: what do you intend to do about this long-standing feud with my husband? Because you see, I’m in love with him, and I can’t bear the thought of a life without him.”
“Have you asked your husband the same question?”
“Let’s just say that I’ve laid the foundations. He didn’t want me to come here and talk to you tonight.”
No surprises there.
“So, how did you convince him?”
“My sister said that if Xander killed you, I would never see her again, and I issued the same ultimatum to my husband.”
“She said that?” My pulse is racing. Melissa’s voice has softened during our conversation; she believes me, and with her on our side… Anything is possible.
“I need his word that he won’t try to stop me from marrying Gianna.”
“I’ll make sure that you get it.”
“There is one more condition. If we’re to reach some kind of truce, I need him to deliver the mole back to me.”
“I’m sure that won’t be a problem.” Her smile is genuine. She looks as if she wants to shake my hand or stand on tiptoes and kiss my cheek but can’t risk getting too close because we’re being watched. “One more thing, if you ever hurt my sister, you’ll have me to deal with, and I promise you Xander’s vendetta will be nothing compared to what I’ll do to you.”
Melissa walks back to the car.
Before she reaches it, the rear passenger door opens, and Gianna is running towards me. She launches herself into my arms and wraps her legs around my waist.
I kiss her. I don’t care who is watching, or who sees it as a sign of weakness. I kiss her and whisper over and over, “I love you, my printzessa. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
