Page 11 of Sinful Daughter (Dark Mafia Sins 2)

I love her, but we’re complete opposites. I’m the oldest and expected to be the example for my sisters to follow. Luna, who’s two years younger than me, gets to run the gambling side of things for my father. She doesn’t have to lead by example. She enjoys using her gun and knives to her advantage. I swear it’s the reason she gets away with more shit than me.

“How about I trade my life for some information?” he asks, sounding bored and more annoyed that he can’t go on his way.

“Go on,” my sister says.

“The Mancinis took your gun shipment.” Theo sighs like him telling us this is killing him. He runs his hand through his hair, the opposite side to where the gun presses against his head.

My heart stills, waiting for my sister to realize he’s a cop. Before I try to explain why he would say that, Leo appears and hits him over the head with his gun, knocking him out cold.

“What the hell, Leo?” Luna complains. “I wanted to do that.”

“Let me take him out back and bury him,” Leo says to her, both ignoring my presence.

“I’m right here. I get to decide what I want to be done with him.”

Luna laughs, amused. “Whatever. A thank you would have been nice. Leo, clean this mess up.” She walks away whistling, and Leo and I don’t speak until she is far enough away.

“He’s a cop,” I whisper, giving the reason why we can’t kill him.

“More reason to do it. I looked into him. He’s an honest cop. We’ve tried paying this guy off, but he refuses.”

I nibble on the side of my bottom lip. “Dump him in a field alive to send a message.”

Leo is still looking at me like I’m making the wrong decision.

“Go home.” He points his finger at me. “I’ll meet you back there.”

I watch Leo pick up Theo and toss him onto his back. My heart still hasn’t slowed as I watch the men leave.

An hour passes,and Leo is still not back. How long does it take to toss a body? I get a sick, twisted feeling in my gut that maybe Leo was lying to me. He could have shot him and put him in a hole. These thoughts eat at me until I can no longer take them. Leaving my room, I walk down the stairs. Our house is quieter than usual. Checking out back, I see Luna arrived home after me. She must have followed me to be sure I was all right. She’s out back arguing with someone. Their silhouette is mostly hidden in the shadows, as Luna stands on the outskirts of the property lights.

No one is outside watching me get into my car by myself. I wonder if this is what Katrina feels when she ditches her guards. Instead of freedom, I feel guilty. Maybe this is why my father thought he needed a son older than me. He knew I was never cut out to be in the family business. Even Luna works for the company when she feels like working. My father has never once asked me to help him until now, but he made it sound more like a threat than I was welcome to join.

I head straight for the field we use. The backroads are vacant. My eyes keep looking at my rear-view mirror, expecting a car to be following me. I’m doing nothing wrong. I’m double-checking Theo is alive. That’s all. I’m a concerned citizen.

Coming toward the field we’ve used before, I slow down. It looks vacant, with the longer, dying grass. He must have woken and left. Before I turn back, a black cloth catches my attention. I don’t remember him wearing black, but what if Leo used that to cover his dead body? Stepping out, I look around me. I hear the odd howl and the slight rustle of the wind, but that’s it.

My feet slip, walking down the ditch, making me lose my balance, but I don’t fall. The crunch of the grass echoes around me with each step. The body is large like him but facedown. My toe nudges his leg, and it feels like dead weight. My heart sinks. I should have made Leo promise not to kill him. But would that have put him in danger with my dad?

When my foot goes to move him again, a hand shoots to my ankle. The motion is fast, and I lose my balance before a man who’s not Theo is on top of me. He has bad breath, yellow teeth with a few of them missing.

I scream out, and the man smiles, bringing a knife down toward my chest. I watch it in slow motion, waiting for that piercing pain to tear through my skin.

CHAPTER 8

Iwake upwith a sharp pain in my temple. I open and close my eyes, trying to get my bearings. As I’m stirring, footsteps come toward me, so I hold still, tasting dry grass in my mouth. The urge to spit the taste out is strong with the blades poking into my lips. My left arm pulses like I’ve been dropped on it. Each breath is a brief intake, trying to move as little as possible. I count their steps with my short inhales of oxygen.

“Another fucking body to bury?” complains a voice. A hard thud lands beside me, their heavy limb landing on my calf. My muscle pulses as if a hammer landed on it.

I hear gunfire; the ground beside me shakes with the bullet going clean through whoever is next to me. I refuse to allow myself to breathe, staying still like a statue. My lungs protest while the voices stay beside me, having a conversation.

“We’re going to have to come back to clean this shit up,” another one says. I wish I could open my eyes to have a visual of who’s out here. The temptation to look up dances through me. I know I could convince these guys to give me information if the scenario were different. I could use them to my advantage. But I’m frozen still with them having power over me in my current state.

“The Mancinis just shot up our businesses with the guns they stole.”

“Should I shoot him just in case?” They kick my leg hard, and I bite my tongue.

“Get back in the car, or we’ll find ourselves out here too.” The voices retreat. I want to jump up, needing more information about this battle between the families, which has been slowly rumbling into something more. It won’t take much to tip the scales and an all-out war to begin.

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