Page 24 of Legacy

“The spectacle of it all is nauseating. I keep reminding myself all of this is for a purpose.”

“Yes, to avenge our family and take back what belongs to us.”

“The home we knew no longer exists, Laya. Look around you. He destroyed the simple beauty of it. Elias said we won’t have to spend a night under the same roof as that bastard.”

“At least you have that.”

“I’m not sure I’d want to stay here even if he lived somewhere else.”

Laya’s lips tightened as rage washed over her features, then just as fast calmed before she set a hand on my arm. “Our memories will always belong to us. A home is what we make. Once we achieve our goal, we will rebuild and preserve what is left.”

“That is something we can look forward to in our future. One of the many prizes at the end of our mission.”

Laya scanned the room. “Eventually, the masses will tire and make their departures.”

I smirked this time. “I wouldn’t count on it. They are all gawking at us. I can guarantee they still haven’t recovered from the shock of our survival or the fact we have returned fifteen years later. They expect something volatile to happen.”

The room buzzed with conversation, and many of the people gathered were familiar to us. We knew of them or had interacted with them. Some had even been kind to us as children. Then, there were women similar in age to me and my sisters, whom we once considered friends. They were nothing but strangers now.

Many shot us glances and only a few approached us to speak and rekindle acquaintances.

“If I were in their place, my anticipation level would sit at a thousand.” Laya pressed her hand to her chest in mock expectation. “Think about it. While we hid, our enemies grew richer off our territories. Now, you marry the son of the man who orchestrated the demise of our family. This is entertainment at its finest.”

“Want to help me give them a show?” I lasered onto three individuals who deserved as painful deaths as Ozias.

They had pretended to be Papa’s allies, took the wealth he brought to them, and then betrayed him. With my new father-in-law, they’d stolen and carved up what was rightfully Vitalis territory. What was my sisters’ territory.Myterritory.

Cristo Caras. Morisi Bella. Pello Korba.

For years, I’d repeated their names like a mantra.

And here they were right before me, the marked men.

Laya turned, shifting her attention behind her. “I wouldn’t dream of denying you the pleasure of poking at them. You are the Vitalis, after all.”

Laya’s words settled over me.

I was the Vitalis, the eldest in the family, the one to bear the title.

I headed the family and represented it.

“You are correct. I’ll go say hello.”

“And I will warn Vik. Good thing he packed the place with Vitalis soldiers so no one gets any ideas.”

I worked my way through the crowd, my focus on the men laughing and talking without a care in the world, enjoying the fruits of what was created by Vitalis hands.

It sickened me how they enjoyed the wedding of the woman whose family they helped tear apart.

My rage ripped through me, ready to unleash. The desire to shoot them right here, in front of everyone, clawed at my nerves and incited every one of my dark desires.

As I moved in closer, I pulled every ounce of hatred back, reminding the anger fighting inside me of the goal.

I wouldn’t lose control and give the bastards anything over me.

Fuck every last one of them.

As I neared, Pello Korba lifted his hand, inviting Elias to join the men. Seeing him drawn into the circle with my enemies fueled my agitation.

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