Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
His screams were high-pitched before turning wet as his lungs filled with blood. His insides spilled out and landed with a splat on the concrete. Dmitry took a step back, his pants and clothes covered in the red, viscous fluid.
Josh fell to the ground, a corpse at my brother’s feet. Dmitry turned to face me, holding up the knife and showing how his hand was covered in blood. He chuckled and cleaned the blade off on his pant leg.
“Clean this up and get rid of the body,” I addressed our men and gestured for Dmitry to follow me out. We headed down the dilapidated corridor until we found ourselves in an old office.
“That bastard thinks he can come into our territory and take out one of our own?” Dmitry spoke instantly, his voice a vicious whisper. “Maksim was at the bottom of the fucking barrel, but he was one of ours, and Gio just—”
“Just calm down,” I interrupted, my voice icy and controlled. It sure as hell was a stark contrast to the inferno burning within me.
I could hear Dmitry breathing hard, and after a second, he grunted and started pacing.
“This is the second time we’ve heard about The Stygian Syndicate.” My mind raced as I thought about all of this. “Aside from Gio and the Cosa Nostra being involved in taking out our men—”
“Gio might have gone rogue. We have to be level-headed right now. The Cosa Nostra may not even know he’s gone off the fucking deep end.”
I cocked an eyebrow at my brother. “Dude, we are the furthest thing from being level-headed.”
Dmitry turned and started pacing again.
My fury only intensified. “It makes sense.”
Dmitry looked at me like I'd lost my damn mind.
“Gio has always been ambitious. Look how he stepped up after his father was taken out. He runs his crew like a fucking drill sergeant. None of those men would go against him.”
“You think Gio is involved with The Stygian Syndicate?”
I shrugged and ran a hand over my hair, not sure how to answer Dmitry. “I don’t fucking know, but Maksim clearly knew shit about them, which he never told us about.”
“But we can’t rule out that Gio may be involved with them or, at the very least, knows about this fucking group. Being allies means he should have told us because, if it affected him, it could affect us.”
Every scenario of Gio being involved with this rogue group that was stirring shit up played through my head. I knew it probably was for Dmitry too.
“Shit, man. This is a problem. More than just a traitor we can take out to send a message to others. This is coming from inside our goddamn house.”
“Yeah,” I exhaled and scrubbed a hand over my jaw.
Fuck, did Gio know about Tatiana’s attack? Clearly, this Stygian piece-of-shit group was involved with that, given our intel. And if Gio knew about them, he’d for sure know about her assault.
The realization was like gasoline on the fire inside me. I thought about Tatiana’s attack.
My sister. Our blood.
I looked at Dmitry and saw he was already staring at me. He was thinking the same thing I was.
“We have a lot of shit to talk about.”
He nodded after I spoke, his jaw set with determination. “Gather our men. We’re going to get every single fucking detail and find out how deep Gio is involved with The Stygian. After that, we’ll deal with him taking out our men.”
As we left the backroom, I felt a thrill of anticipation move through me. The promise of violence and retribution was intoxicating, but hanging on to that same thought was the fact that Gio might have betrayed us.
I focused on that dark beast within me, the monster who I let sink its claws deep within me.
I stayed in my element where I could focus on what I knew—and felt—best.
Darkness. Violence. Payback.
This war had just started, and fucking hell was I ready to bathe in blood and chaos.
21
GIO
Several weeks had passed since Tatiana and I started… whatever it was we were doing. And with each passing day, with each moment we spent together, I felt myself falling deeper and fucking harder for my pretty, little Russian princess.
She was an angel, and I was the devil keeping her for myself.
I was Hades and refused to let my Persephone go.
Because she was mine, and I’d never had anything that was truly… mine.
When we spent time together, it was all physical. My mind was filled with thoughts of all my needs and wants. I could barely think straight when she was around, this primal part of me demanding I mark her from the inside out.
Breed her.
We didn’t talk about personal matters. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to but because, when she was near, I couldn’t fucking keep my brain focused on anything but her. My duties and responsibilities faded. All that mattered was… Tatiana.