Page 138 of My Mafia Queen

“They’re dead.”

Fangs of angst slide into my chest.

“What are you saying?” I murmur, my voice strained, my lips carved in stone.

This is so much worse than I imagined.

“Your sister had been taken away by four gang members.”

He watches me closely, expecting me to have a meltdown, and frankly, I’m about to have it.

What does that even mean?

“Gang members? Like Beau Anthony?”

“Yes. Maybe. He was probably there. Joe Lizard’s crew picked her up.”

“Who is…?”

“Someone who deals drugs and traffics women.”

My mouth drops open and stays like that.

A part of me is grateful that he considers me a grown-up, an adult capable of dealing with such horrific news.

Another part of me screams in pain, completely irrational and resentful.

“Why him? I don’t get it.”

I always knew there were some bad guys ready to do whatever it took to fuck with me. Jen knew it. She suspected it, and she was right.

He doesn’t answer right away.

“What about my friend? What happened to her? Do you know anything about her?”

Grinding his teeth, he ponders his answer, and that tells me the news about Jen is not that good either.

“She was out of the house this morning. And they picked her up close to her place or at her place.”

“Has someone seen anything? Did they check on her?”

“My men had already been pulled away from the house when it happened. This is the stuff I’m putting together now.”

“Okay. So what do you think has happened?” I ask, bracing myself.

“Whoever had surveilled your aunt’s house had done it for some time. They knew your aunt would be out this Sunday morning, and I suspect they set your friend up and made her leave the house and go to her place. It’s possible she left on her own, thinking she’d be back quickly. It’s also possible a ‘well-intended’ neighbor had called her and tossed something at her like ‘she needed to come back because she had a delivery, a pipe broke, or a drunk driver drove over her lawn and did some damage.’ Something like that. She responded to that call and left. They followed her and roughed her up.”

“They didn’t need to do that. Didn’t they have Tina already?” I ask.

“They messed with Jen because they wanted to send a message.”

“And what exactly is that message?” I mumble, baffled.

An icy cold grin creases his lips.

“They want to start a war with me.”

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