Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 62569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
It was a blur walking up the stairs behind them. Needing to touch Ace but ready to collapse at any minute over the idea of losing Lily.
Losing them both.
I couldn’t focus, couldn’t think.
“This is the best way.” Ace stopped in front of me. Mark let him. “Trust me.”
“Don’t leave me,” I begged. “Please. Please don’t leave us.”
“Your life will always be mine—now let mine…be yours.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “It was beautiful, a little nightmare that turned into a dream I never thought I’d be given. Thank you for making the darkness warm.”
I rushed out after them to the front. Every man in attendance was lined up and armed standing up front. The gate was open on the other side a black limo and a tall woman leaning against the hood of it.
She was stunning, with long black hair a svelte shape and red lipstick that you could almost taste by just staring at it.
That’s who he’d dated?
That’s who he had been in love with?
I would hate her even if she was a saint sent from heaven.
The man next to her was holding Lily in her car seat.
I jumped forward.
“No.” Ace shook free from Mark and started to walk toward her. It felt like an eternity as the other man began his walk toward us.
Ace stood in front of her. They talked.
He nodded and then he leaned in and hugged her like they were best friends.
What the hell was going on?
Did he really betray us?
Was he lying?
I rushed toward the man holding the car seat and pulled her free from him. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking as they undid the restraint and pulled Lily against my chest.
She’d been sleeping. Thank God.
Ace was still standing there. He nodded. And hung his head. He nodded again and then she handed him a gun.
He took it, aimed for her head and pulled the trigger. When it was all over with, he took one look over his shoulder at me and smiled.
30
ACE
The one where the enemy surprises you.
“It was deep cover.” Sienna sighed. “There’s always a boss. I thought I could fight it. I didn’t want to kill you, I wanted you to have a life without this.”
“And yet you stole my child. Tell me why I shouldn’t rip your spleen through your mouth?”
“You can kill me how ever you want.” Her bright blue eyes filled with tears. “I was given a few months, apparently miracles are only in stories and brain tumors like to kill. I’d rather go out this way—besides, it’s all part of my plan. La Nebbia will need a new boss who’s already got an in—talk about deep.”
I looked up toward the sky. “You don’t get a miracle, and yet I do?”
“You deserve it for what I put you through, for the way you grew up, for all of it—take care of that baby, at least now your father-in-law doesn’t have to kill you, he just has to get along with his enemy.”
“You made me their enemy and got me inside the family all at once. They can’t kill me, they have no choice but to keep me, and whoever runs La Nebbia will be watching.”
“Well…” She handed me the gun. “Don’t let them down, you’ve got a syndicate to run and a family to join, she’ll need to make it believable.” She looked beyond me. “And she’ll have to take on the mark of La Nebbia to swear her allegiance.”
“She gave birth. She can handle a tattoo and a fake betrayal.”
“Thought so.” Sienna gave me one last watery smile. “Thank you for allowing me to go out this way.”
“Maybe there are—”
“No options.” She smiled as more tears slid down. “Let me end on a good note, Ace.”
“Go in peace, Sienna. You enter alive.” I took a breath. “And you will have to get out dead.”
“I accept.” Her smile was wide. “And now I must leave.”
“May God have mercy on your soul,” I rasped. “For I will not.”
I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger. Dropped the gun, stole a mocking glance at the family, got into the running limo and ran away.
Lily was safe.
Raven was safe.
And I’d just been given complete control of the one thing the five families wanted to destroy but now needed to keep.
Me.
“Sir,” the voice said from the front. “The boss is calling, phone’s on the seat.”
I picked up the phone and hit accept. “Yes?”
“This wasn’t a part of the plan.” The male voice cracked; it sounded far away. “I’ll be in touch with the next target—until then, make them accept you by any means necessary. You’ll be given instructions on your wife’s tattoo. She betrays us, she dies. You betray us, you die. You both betray us, your family dies. We already have people in place.”
That’s what I hoped he’d say. “I understand.”