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“Do you have any idea why?”
Carina shook her head. “No, but I’m guessing it can’t be good, since he wants to see me right after he speaks with you. He told Joey to be ready to fetch me when you’re done.”
I knew my place as the daughter of a don held little security in the hierarchy of the business. I wasn’t his son, so traditionally I couldn’t become the boss when he died and neither would Carina, but after years of proving myself, killing when told to and keeping my mouth shut when others didn’t, my father had announced that I was his underboss. A role I’d have to continuously prove to the family members until the day I died. When the time came for me to step up, I’d have to be prepared to always watch my back. I’d have no one guarding it.
I hadn’t always been up for the position, as no woman ever had, I was once just the boss’ daughter. Then death took someone close to me and that completely changed me. I wanted my revenge, and felt I’d have to get it myself. What better way than having a mafia family at my disposal?
I let out a deep breath. “All right, I have to shower. You know how he doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” I turned the knob to the water on and then considered how nice the hot water would feel burning away the blood from my skin. The sting of the heat against my skin absolving me of what I had not just witnessed but also partaken in.
You don’t harm a Montrelli, not in this city,I thought before I turned the cool water knob on to make it not so searing hot.
Carina hadn’t left. Instead she was sitting on the counter with a worried frown. She would be freaked out by the blistering temperatures I enjoyed after a nice torture session.
This was not the life I had originally wanted for myself. It was dark and full of bloodshed that would only lead to heartache, as I had already experienced time and time again.
In the past, before the event, it had been something I’d turned into a fairytale in my mind. I thought a strong young man, someone I imagined like my father would show up and become my prince charming. I’d be the mafia princess, swept off her feet in love. Then life happened, and instead, I became a strong enough girl to save myself.
I knew I wouldn’t live a long life. No respected family wanted a woman as boss. Once the don passed away there would be a countdown. So I was ruthless now and getting done what needed to be done.
I took one second of letting the cold water wash over my face. I’d have to take another shower later to let go. Showers were the only place I could let my guard down.
Not able to embrace the normal rituals I enjoyed after a torture session, I hurried to towel off while Carina sat and watched from the closed toilet lid.
“Do you think Father is going to punish me for what happened at the club? I wasn’t supposed to be out that night, but midterms were just so hard. I needed to let some stress out.” Carina worried her bottom lip, as her shoulders stiffened.
Another difference between Carina and me was our schooling. She had continued with college. She earned an undergrad degree in political science and was in her final year of law school. Father felt having our own lawyer would be beneficial to the family. She was currently doing some paralegal work for a firm closely related to our father in order to get some experience.
I’m proud of her and her accomplishments, but I hated the idea of her being a lawyer for the family.
I, on the other hand, had given up after earning my degree. Just enough education to make me dangerous but not enough to earn my father’s complete respect.
Marco Montrelli was a man with enormous power—his actual thought process would disturb most people. However, we had been raised by this manic psychopath and had lived to tell the story.
“No,” was all I said to Carina as I passed by her without looking her way. I needed to focus on the task at hand and not worry about how this meeting was going to affect her.
I got dressed in a silk slip tank top and tucked it into a tight black pencil skirt. I slid my gun garter up my thigh to its very invisible place and then shrugged on a blazer to look a little bit more professional. Many years ago I had learned that I always needed to dress to impress with my father, and you never knew what the day could hold.
Body bags or business luncheons with city officials, we had greased many hands over the years and bought many meals with those same officials to seal a deal with our family.
I had a reputation to uphold. He’d certainly had it beaten into me over the years.
Black heels completed the look that matched the matte color of my black Glock 17 9mm. I never went anywhere without it. Previously, I had joked with one of my father’s other foot soldiers that it truthfully was my best friend. The only problem was that it was the one thing I could count on to get me out of trouble.
Normally, I would do a full face of makeup and at least blow dry my hair until it was long and straight, but not today. I brushed my hair into a quick ponytail then smoothed my wet hair back and into a tight bun. With time running out, I didn’t do much to my face. A few clean and simple strokes of makeup completed the natural look. But, let’s be honest, my looks did nothing for me. I was all sharp angles and toned physique. A survivor's body. I wasn’t Carina soft and curvy, I was lethal muscle.
It didn’t seem as though any effort had been put into it, which was precisely the look I was going for as Father would already be disappointed I had wasted time showering before coming to his office. I frowned at myself in the mirror and wondered what mood I’d encounter when I went into his office.
“How do I look?” I turned, asking Carina as I set the brush down. She’d been waiting on the bed while I prepared for whatever Father had in store for me.
I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say to her—comfort wasn’t really an option as I had no idea why we were being called to his office. I did what I always did when I didn’t know what to do, I ignored it, dismissed it, or pretended I didn’t know what was going on.
Father rarely held back from giving me orders or news over the phone, so to be called to his office after doing the dirty work that he had already been informed was taking place didn’t bode well for me.
That meant that whatever he wanted to talk about wasn’t the typical conversation that could be held over a phone. This was much more serious and something I would have worried about being overheard since my phone was possibly being tapped. It might actually land me in jail if he spoke of it over the phone.
I sighed. “Don’t worry too much about him. He’s asked me to come in first, and I’ll let you know what he wants as soon as I walk out the door.” I wanted to comfort her, but she was going to have to face him on her own when I was done. He was the only person I couldn’t protect her from completely. No matter how hard I tried.
Carina nodded, but her eyes still held a smidge of fear. For years she’d had a healthy dose of fear when it came to our father, but I worried how long I had until she looked at me with the same emotion. If she knew what I was capable of, she might not be willing to trust me in the way she always had before.
