Page 126 of Cinder
An entitled brat who has no respect in the underbelly of St. Boniface and the surrounding counties.
“He promised her to Viktor Olicheckoff as part of an alliance,” Santo adds.
That detail shoves a stake right through my gut and conjures a rage in me like I’ve never known.
She must’ve been terrified.
My fingers tighten into fists, my short nails biting into my flesh.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
I’m looking at Santo but I’m asking myself.
Did she try to say something, and I was so caught up in my fucking feelings, I missed the clues?
My mind spins rapidly, flicking back the pages of the last couple of weeks. But I can’t recall anything.
“Ella is fiercely protective of her sister, Lucretia. She’s young and suffers from PTSD after their mother was murdered in front of her. Luca used Lucretia’s frailty to ensure Ella would do everything he told her to do. If she didn’t, he said he’d feed Lucretia to his men.”
Venom boils in my veins.
“If she’d said something, I would’ve helped,” I say.
Helped?
No.
I would’ve gutted her half-brother with a spoon and then hand-fed his innards to him.
“Luca knew Ella was a fighter. Knew she might say something. So he upped the stakes and sent Lucretia out of the country. Ella knew if she didn’t do as she was told, she mightnever find her. It was the perfect insurance for Luca to get what he wanted.”
“Which was?”
“To be king.”
My eyes flick to his. “And how the fuck do you fit into all of this?” I demand.
“Angelo was my family. My best friend. But Luca got to me too.”
“How?”
“He threatened my daughter and her kids. Knew everything about them. Where they lived. Where she worked. Where they went to school. He said he’d kill them if I didn’t help him. And I believed him. You look into his black eyes, and you realize you’re looking into the eyes of a soulless man.”
“You didn’t warn Angelo?”
“Luca went to my daughter’s home. Took photos in her bedroom. Sat on my granddaughter’s bed. Knowing he had contact with the Bratva, I couldn’t risk it. No matter how powerful Angelo was, the risk was too great.”
“What did Luca want in return for letting your family live?’
“He wanted Angelo gone. But he needed help.”
“You helped kill Angelo Moretti?”
“No. He and Viktor took care of that. But he wasn’t killed in a car bomb. Luca killed him the night before, and then he and Viktor set up the car bomb. My role was solely to make Ella believe it.”
“Why?”
“Because Luca knew the only way he could get the syndicate behind him was to make them believe they were under attack from an outside enemy. Unite them in fear and lead them to victory. It was nothing but smoke and mirrors. There was no enemy, and when some of the men started to question him, he either killed them or made them rich.”
