Page 11 of Heartless Sinner

“Remember our conversation about changing Son rules?” Enzo asked me.

“Sure do.” I removed the book from the hole and tossed it on my desk.

“First change: Get rid of the formal Ask. It’s a stupid rule anyway.” He headed toward the door and whistled. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?”

“To inform Cory he can’t have Daphne.” He paused at the door. “You’d better pray to whatever god they worship in Calira that he doesn’t fight it.”

I followed him out of my dorm.

It was time I made the princess of Calira mine.

Whether she fucking liked it or not.

“I’m not retracting my submission,” Cory declared, blocking the doorway with his arms crossed. “I chose Daphne, and I want her. No one else claimed her, so I did.” His Caliran accent came out thicker with each word.

On the walk here, I’d told myself to stay calm, stay controlled, and not commit another murder tonight.

Less than two minutes into our conversation, my plan was already falling apart. I was ready to snap this fucker’s neck.

I shook my head slowly. “She was already claimed.”

“No, she wasn’t.” He dragged a hand through his black hair. “I checked.”

The smell of pizza drifted from his room. I glanced past his shoulder at the open box on his bed.

“Why her?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Daphne’s from my country. We grew up together.” Cory shifted his weight. “She and I make sense together. And maybe we’ll have something real after.”

Enzo gave me a told you so look.

Yeah, yeah, you were right, asshole.

Cory wanted her for life.

Over my dead fucking body.

Or rather, his dead body.

He could join his twin in hell.

“Peter wanted her first, but sadly, he didn’t get that chance,” Cory continued like I gave a fuck. “He was in love with Daphne.”

“How fucking precious,” Enzo said under his breath.

“Honestly, both of us were.” Cory’s fingers curled around the doorframe. “He was two minutes older than me, so our father said he got first choice.”

“Sounds like you’re benefiting from him missing,” Enzo accused.

Smart. Better Cory think we suspected him than the other way around.

“I’m not.” Cory straightened away from the doorframe. “Once I’m officially a Son, I expect all of us to find out what happened to him. He couldn’t have just vanished.” He made a poof gesture with his hand.

He was wrong. Peter had done exactly that. Enzo knew a funeral home owner who’d reduced his body to ashes.

Another perk of having the Mafia on our side.