Fucking traitors. All of them. “You’ll never get away with this,” I say to them. “My father is awake and he will find you. He’ll make you pay.”
Their faces remain stoic. It’s like my words ricocheted off of them, like they’re made of Teflon or some shit.
“By the time your father is aware and awake enough to give orders, he will no longer have anyone to deliver those orders to,” Vincenzo says, a thread of anger in his voice. “Eamon will have already absorbed your organization.”
“Then why use me?” I’m stalling, my mind racing for optionsthat don’t exist while tripping over all of the bombshells exploding between my ears. “Why not just kill me like Riccardo?”
“Because you’re still valuable. The Kozlovs have plans, something about leverage, negotiations. I don’t ask questions.” He presses the vial into my hand. “It’s just something to help you sleep. You’ll wake up somewhere else, and we’ll have a longer conversation about the future.”
The Kozlovs. The fuckingRussians?They’ve been behind everything.
Them and…Eamon.
And nobody has any idea.
Sweat beads pop up along my skin. My entire body begins to shake, teeth chattering hard despite the muggy dank air surrounding me. I look at the vial, then back at Vincenzo. The man who bounced me on his knee when I was a child. He taught me to play poker and told me stories about my father as a kid. He stood by my mother’s side in the hospital and held her hand to comfort her while my father was comatose.
Mom. Luna. Sweet Lord…
“If I do this,” I choke out, “will you swear to leave my mother and Luna alone?”
Pain flickers in his eyes. “They were never part of this. I have no issue with Maria or Luna.”
It’s not a promise. But it’s all I’m going to get.
I raise the vial to my lips.
“I trusted you.” My voice cracks, a gaggle of tears lodging in my throat. “My whole life. You were family.”
“I know.” His voice is sad. “That’s exactly why this worked.”
He nods toward the vial but doesn’t ask again.
He doesn’t need to.
With a shaking hand, I twist open the vial and drink.
I cough and sputter, the bitter liquid burning a path down my throat. Almost immediately, my vision starts to blur. The edges of the room fray.
“That’s it,” Vincenzo says. His voice sounds far away, muffled like my head is submerged in water and he’s on the surface. “Just let it take you.”
I try to stand, but my legs wobble like Jell-O. The floor rushes up. The last thing I see before darkness swallows me is Vincenzo’s face. It chills me because he looks down at me with the patience of a man who has been waiting for this moment for a very, very long time.
CHAPTER 30
LOCHLAN
Seventeen calls.
Seventeen fucking calls, and every single one goes straight to voicemail.
I pace the penthouse like I’m losing my mind. Maybe I am. The place smells like her vanilla and citrus body wash, and knowing she’s not here, and might never be again, makes everything worse. Reaper follows me, whimpering as he stops outside the bedroom. The empty bedroom.
I never should have let her leave.
I should have followed her and figured out a way to make her listen. I was wrong to keep that secret. So fucking wrong.
“Pick up the goddamn phone, Adriana,” I mutter after dialing her number again.
