Page 87 of Secret Seduction

He’s quiet for several seconds before he says, “I’m going to put you on speakerphone. Say it again.” He changes the setting. “Go ahead.”

“Ding-dong, the bitch is dead.”

I gasp because there’s only one woman he would call a bitch.

“Are you serious?” I ask, my voice shaking with emotion.

“As a heart attack …” Matteo says. “Or in her case, as a burning mansion.”

“What happened?”

29

Matteo

One Hour Ago

“Jesus Christ, Antonov. You’re going to kill him,” Lucian barks as I stand over my opponent in the middle of the boxing ring at Lucian’s Gym.

“My bad.”

I’ve had a lot of pent-up aggression lately with no outlet. Leysa keeps luring me in and then escaping under my nose. I’ve lost too many good men, going after her, and she thinks it’s a fucking game.

I have two ways I keep my emotions in check—fighting and fucking.

With Dani being pregnant, I’ve been trying to be gentle when we have sex—despite her saying she’s not going to break. And since she won’t let me fight underground, the tension in my body is wound so tight that I feel like I’m going to snap at any second.

“I—”

My words are cut off by the sound of my phone ringing.

It’s Kaleb, one of the men who works for me and who has been actively looking for Leysa.

“What’s going on?” I ask, knowing he only calls when it’s important.

“We have her.”

A rush of adrenaline courses through me.

“Where?”

“Eric Vanderbilt’s house. She’s in there with one of her men.”

I bark out a laugh. So fucking predictable.

We framed Vanessa’s mom, Ilene, for the murder of Eric Vanderbilt, but then I had an idea. With the DA in my pocket, I asked him to do me a favor and spread the word that Leysa Santiago was considered a suspect. He submitted several pieces of fabricated evidence, linking that bitch to the crime scene, and then I told my men to wait and watch.

And sure enough, she took the bait.

“On my way.”

Without bothering to change, I throw on my shirt and shoes and run out the door, needing to get to this psycho before she realizes she’s been set up.

Twenty minutes later, I pull up to Eric’s ostentatious mansion. Kaleb texted that she was in the west wing, most likely scouring for the evidence that she thinks might convict her for the murder of the mayor.

We have the house surrounded, but I told Kaleb not to touch her. After the shit she’s pulled—having my wife kidnapped, having my sister damn near raped, sending men to attack the women at the spa, and having the warehouse where we house our underground fights shot up, just to name a few—I want to look this bitch in the eyes when I kill her myself.

I pull my gun out, prepared for anything, even though Kaleb said she’s alone, and have it aimed to kill.