Page 1 of Vengeful Mafia Prince

Prologue—Giovanni

I sink down into the large leather seat opposite Valentina and Marcus. Both of them, my sister and my cousin, are eyeing me with open doubt. They have no idea what's going on here. But when they get it through their heads what I'm planning, I know they're going to be on board.

"What did you get us here for, Gi?" Valentina asks, furrowing her brow as she leans forward. My sister might normally try to put on the front that she's hard and tough, but when it comes to family, she's anything but.

And I know she's got good reason to be worried about me.

I flick my tongue over my lips, savoring this moment for just one more second before I come out and say it.

"I'm going to destroy the Westbrook family."

Her eyes widen. Marcus pauses for a second, taking it in, before he responds.

"And how in the hell do you intend to do that?" His voice is almost sharp.

He knows I would never joke about something like this, but he's struggling to see exactly how I'm going to pull this off. But I've already made my mind up. I know how this is going to go. And I'm going to finally take revenge for what they did to our parents.

Valentina's face pales. I know, for her as much as me, that name stirs fury in her throat.

"Don't even mention that name in there," she orders me, her voice catching at the back of her throat.

"I know it's been hard for us," I continue, clasping my hands together. "For all of us, after what they did. But we can't let it stand. They… they took our parents from us."

The words hurt to say out loud, as if some part of my mind rejects them still.

Valentina tightens her jaw.

"Yes and you know that we would have done something about it by now if we thought that was an option," she fires back. "You understand? We would have already made the move to destroy them if we thought we had the chance."

"You think I've been letting what they did slide because I just didn't want to take them out?" Marcus leans toward me, his eyes dark. I know his anger is directed at them and not me, but I still don't like being under his steely gaze like this.

"No," I reply. "And trust me, I've been planning this for a long time. You know how I've been taking some college classes, some business courses? It wasn't just to develop my skills for us. No, they offer an internship position every semester at the Westbrook company. And I just heard..." I pause, grinning. "That I got it. And you know who else did? His daughter. I'm going to work with her, get close to Devereux's daughter, and take that place apart from the inside out."

I let those words hang in the air. There. They can't say it's not a good idea. They exchange a glance, and I can see the hurt in Valentina's eyes. Sometimes, I think she would rather pretend that what happened to our parents never occurred thantake revenge for it. Maybe it would have been smarter for me to approach it the same way, but I'm never going to work like that.

"They killed our parents, Gio," Valentina replies bluntly. "You really think they're not going to do the same thing to you?"

I shake my head. While my parents were unlucky enough to get caught up in some turf war that edged onto Westbrook territory, there's no way they're going to come for me, too. They don't even know I exist. Before all of this, my parents did their best to keep me and my sister at arm's length from the family business. It was only during the last few months of their lives that they started to share the deep, dark secrets of it with me.

Almost as though they knew something was going to happen to them, like they knew they were approaching the end.

Two bullets in the back of the head, both of them shot dead as they headed home from a night out. They had always been playing a dangerous game, involved in what they were involved with in this place—dealing drugs, illegal gambling, filling out the underground world of this city with everything it needed to function.

"They don't even know I'm the one coming into all of this," I reply with a grin. "That's the beauty of it. I worked hard enough at college to get a job at Jacob Westbrook's company. I know it's just a front, but it's a way in. And when I start working there, they won't be able to hide a thing from me. I'll take it all to the cops, anonymous tip, and destroy it. Without anywhere to launder their money, they'll have to rely on his nephew's restaurants and bars to try and clean what they're making, and that's not going to work for long."

Valentina chews her lip. It's already started to look raw under her teeth as she tries to take in everything I'm telling her.

"But how can you guarantee that you're going to get the information you need?" she wonders aloud. "You don't know what people know. Or who you can trust. And Jacob Westbrook, he's not going to let things spill easily, not when he's been doing this for so long."

"I know," I agree. "Which is why I'm not planning to go after him. I'm planning to go after his daughter."

Valentina's jaw drops. This game I'm playing, it's a dirty one, and she knows it. But they destroyed my family when they killed my parents. I want to destroy them in the same way—seduce Elena, get all the information out of her, get her to betray her own father, and then turn it all in to the cops.

It's not the same as a bullet in the brain. But it's about as close as I can get while keeping my hands somewhat clean.

"You're going to... what, try and date her?" Marcus asks, incredulous.

I shrug. "I'm going to do what I need to do to get close enough for her to trust me. Whatever it takes, I'll do it."

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