Page 21 of Mafia Heir's Alpha
The door to my cell opened, introducing light to the dim room. I blinked to adjust to the view but didn’t lift my head. I couldn’t look at Cord or Andro. Not after what I’d done.
A chair was dragged across the floor and placed in front of me, and then Cord sat down. I recognized his movements without looking at him.
A long sigh escaped his lips. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
I couldn’t look at him as silence filled the air. “I made a mistake.”
Cord snorted. “I’ll say. What should we do with you? If anyone else had done this, they would have been killed on sight or perhaps executed in front of the team as anexample of what not to do. I’m giving you a chance to explain. Beg me for your life, Rosco.”
I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. “Kill me.” I shrugged and finally glanced at the man who had been a brother to me for so long. “I’ve betrayed you in the worst way, Cord. For that, I’ll never forgive myself. But please…” The words stuck in my throat and my breath caught. I’d never pleaded for anything before. It didn’t come easily, but the alternative was too much to bear. “Don’t kill Ori. He didn’t know what his father had done. He didn’t know why we killed him…just that we did. He wrongly sought revenge for a man who didn’t deserve it. Let him live.”
Cord was quiet for a long moment. As much as I knew the man and could anticipate his every move any other time, I was completely clueless on what he was thinking. Cord was always the type who held his cards close to his chest and didn’t reveal his move until he was ready. But I was usually the man behind his shoulder who was privy to the information.
Not this time.
“His fate is already decided.”
My gut wrenched, and my whole body went tight with tension as I tugged at my restraints. A scream torefrom my lips at the news as indescribable pain filled me. “You killed him?”
Ori may have betrayed me, seduced me with the intent of bringing harm to my family, but I knew him. He wasn’t the hateful sort. Ori was kind, gentle. He had a good life ahead of him, away from this cruel world of mob bosses and deceit. He wasn’t a part of our world. He didn’t know the game, but he had gambled and lost.
I tipped forward, making my chains pull tight enough that I lost my balance and landed on the cold floor with a thud. Pain radiated through my knees, and my muscles protested the movement. Blood pounded in my ears and drowned out all other noise. “No. No. He isn’t— He can’t be—” Another scream escaped me.
At least they hadn’t done it in front of me.
Whether or not I would be executed publicly for my crimes remained to be seen. I didn’t care. They could do what they wanted with me.
Without Ori, I was nothing.
My life meant nothing.
13
ORI
Being held hostage inside a comfortable room was not something I expected. Once Rosco had been taken out of the dining room, I’d expected to be killed or put in some sort of dungeon. This house had to have one. My father’s house certainly did.
I knew now that those same cold, damp cells were where Rowan and other betrayers like him had been held and tortured. The images I’d seen in the FBI file kept me awake at night.
Those were the types of rooms I expected Cord to throw me in.
Instead, I was placed in a sparsely decorated room that had a bed and a small ensuite bathroom. It wasn’tlavish by any means, not like the rest of the house, but it wasn’t unpleasant. As long as they kept me fed, I could live in here forever.
The fact that I had once thought my father deserved to be avenged turned my stomach. Cord and Andro deserved a medal for wiping the world of that filth. If only they would let me explain. I probably should have led with that when I made my confession. It had all gone wrong so quickly.
I didn’t know where they had taken Rosco, only that they’d left me with strict instructions not to try to leave. Guards were outside my door, and I could hear them talking every so often, but it had been hours since anyone had come in.
What the fuck had I been thinking by announcing who I was in that way? I should have asked for a special audience with just Rosco and Cord. I should have given Rosco a heads-up. I’d been stupid to think they would have let me explain. I told them why I was there—my original plan anyway. They hadn’t given me a chance to tell them I didn’t plan on going through with it. I knew better now.
They’d never trust me.
Rosco would never trust me.
Hell, I’d be lucky to see him again.
I’d be lucky to see anyone again.
Andro and Cord would probably kill me.
