Page 132 of Assassin's Obsession

Good. Because tonight, twelve of them die with their don. But not their dona. I still have plans for Perla.

She will be my grandfather's downfall and after tonight, they both deserve nothing less.

Chapter 36

CANDI

The first thing I'm aware of is a pounding ache in my head. My throat is thick and tastes like I sucked on someone's dirty sweat socks.

My eyelids feel glued shut and it takes a concentrated effort to force them open. At first, I can't see anything, but my eyes slowly come back into focus and the moonlight through the window allows me to make out most of my surroundings.

I'm in a bedroom with huge windows and no drapes. The walls are naked logs meant to look rustic, but too polished to be anything but part of some rich person's vacation home. Thick trees obscure the skyline out the window.

We're definitely not in the city. I don't know much about Long Island, but those trees look too thick for anything I've seen on the island.

So, where am I? One thing I know: I'm not going to figure it out lying here.

Groaning, I force myself to sit up. The pounding in my head gets exponentially worse. I'm pressing on both sides of my temples in a vain attempt to alleviate it when the door swings open and bright light from the hall spills into the room.

"Good. You're awake." The woman in the doorway is beautiful in that cold, cruel villainess sort of way.

Or maybe that's just my circumstances talking. "You'd make a great stand-in for Cruella De Ville."

Oops. Brain to mouth filter offline. Is that a result of the drugs that knocked me out, or the fury roiling inside me at being kidnapped. Again. Only this time there's no Angelo waiting for me to arrive with his obsessive certainty we belong together.

Whoever this woman is, she doesn't work for him.

He would never let someone who works for him drug me and give me such a terrible headache.

The woman's perfectly painted lips twist in a moue of distaste. "Don't try to be clever, dear. It doesn't suit you."

"I'm not your dear and you don't get a vote. At least I'm smart enough to know what a huge mistake it is to kidnap the Angel of Death's beloved."

"Beloved?" she scoffs. "Angelo is no more capable of love than a dog can speak."

"I'd rather listen to Mars bark than your ugly voice."

There is something familiar about the woman's gray eyes and then it hits me. "You're the sorry excuse for a mother that gave birth tomy beloved."

Perla Caruso, or whatever her last name is now that she's on husband number three, wrinkles her nose like she smells something bad. "Pregnancy and giving birth was the worst experience of my life, but it was supposed to lead to my offspring becoming a don and eventually a godfather."

"Yeah, nothing like pinning all your expectations on the next generation, instead of making something of your own life. Too bad it didn't work out for you.Or not." Swallowing back nausea, I scoot toward the edge of the bed an inch at a time.

"My fortunes are changing. All my son has to do is his duty."

And that family thinks Angelo's the psychopath? "Maybe with enough fortune you can buy a better personality. Or even a conscience."

I swing my legs over the side of the bed and try to stand. But woozy, I fall back on my butt. I need a glass of water or something, but I'm not asking his awful woman for anything. Besides, I couldn't trust her not to poison it.

I stand again and manage to stay upright, even if I'm swaying a little. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Through that door." Angelo's mother points toward a door in the wall opposite the bed.

I head where she's pointing one slow footstep at a time. When I reach it, I step inside, find the light switch and turn it on before shutting the door.

It's less fancy than I expect based on the bedroom, with a single sink vanity, toilet and shower cubicle. And no window.

I'm pretty sure I couldn't manage to climb out one right now anyway.

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