Page 34 of The Devil Can Be Kind

He had hinted when I’d first arrived here that his men had been watching me for a while, but months? All the while my family were oblivious to the silent threat lurking amongst the shadows…

“My turning up at The Venetian Prince that night was your doing then, I take it.” I guessed, thinking back to the VIP passes we had scored for the night and how my friends and I could not believe our luck.

“I see why you would think that, but no. It was merely a coincidence that you ended up at my club that night.” He said nonchalant.

“Your club?InLas Vegas?” I wasn’t sure I had heard him right.

Las Vegas was Mannino and Romano territory.

The city was divided right down the almost-middle, with my family owning the majority. The Romano’s were a small familywith less manpower, less ruthlessness, and less history in the city than ours. Our agreement over territory had been in effect for many years and left no room for anyone else. Or so we’d thought.

Did my family even know that the La Torre’s had moved right into their backyard? I doubted it, from the smug smile on his face.

Marco really hadn’t been lying when he said he wasn’t afraid of starting a war.

He shot me a knowing look.

“Initial talks did not go as well as anticipated. Abducting you did not seem to be enough motive to force Alberto’s hand, so I had my men deliver a package to your home in Boulder City as well. It contained images of your family going about their various daily routines. Your Mamma sleeping with the handyman at her shop. Your father meeting with his men at one of his restaurants, you driving around in your Hellcat and so on and so forth. We thought that it might give him the…nudgehe needed to submit to our demands.” He chuckled darkly. “It seems we were wrong once again.”

The safety of his family were on the line…and that wasn’t enough?

I was so lost in the thought that I scarcely registered a new plate of food being set before me.

“Your family promptly abandoned their residences and cut off all forms of communication. I believe their argument for not financing your release was that you are not an heir to your family’s empire nor have any useful information that they would want to keep out of my hands.”

The truth of his words cut deep.

I had long since resigned myself to the knowledge that I wasn’t worth a lot to my family. It had been a truth I had tuckedaway for most of my adult life…but it didn’t make it any less painful when confronted by it.

No! I was his daughter. That had to count for something!

“My fa?—"

“Your father is as abhorrent as he ever has been.” His words cut like ice. “If you think he cares about you Ada, you are wrong.”

“You would say that though, wouldn’t you?” I argued.

He signed and pulled out a small silver device, laying it atop the table.

It crackled for a second before two familiar voices rang out from the speaker, and my heart sank.

“Do you really think your pictures would intimidate me, boy?”My father’s distinctive voice scoffed through the recorder.“It will take much more than that, I assure you!”

“I am merely demonstrating that your days of hiding are over. You are the one who instigated conflict between our families and ran like a coward when the fighting started. Well, now you know I can find you wherever you are.”Marco’s voice was venomous, making him sound every bit the powerful Don he was.

“Iam not the coward who kidnaps young women to extort for money! As if that would mean anything in a man’s game!”The words were biting, and I flinched.

“Your own daughter really means so little?”I could hear Marco chuckle through the recording, but it didn’t contain an ounce of humor.“One hundred million for her release and I will end this conflict.”

“And why would I pay you that? No one is worth such a high price. She is of no use to me or this family.”His dark, maniacal laugh bled through the speaker.“Keep her.”

My father was just about to speak again when Marco stopped the recording.

Tears lined my eyes, and I was suddenly grateful he’d stopped it before I could hear anymore. I patted at my tears with my fingertips as if I were able to wipe away the hurt overwhelming me.

Rejection and hopelessness crushed my chest painfully until I had to will myself to breathe through it.

I didn’t realize how worthless I was to my family.

---