Page 54 of Mob Princess

16

Bonnie

My eyes openedthe next morning and the sun burned. I groaned as I rolled over, looking towards the bathroom door. I didn’t even know what room I was in any longer. One minute, I was with Israel, and the next minute I was sleeping downstairs. The sun streamed harshly through the windows, so I turned back over, tossing the comforter over my head.

Until I heard my cell phone buzzing on the bedside table.

“What now?” I grumbled.

I threw the covers off and sat up. The sun was out in a full-on spectacle, which meant I probably needed to get up anyway. I looked at my heels tossed onto the floor and my dress hanging over the edge of the bed. I looked over at the pillow and saw my day-old makeup strewn all over the white satin pillowcase. I reached for my buzzing phone and cleared my throat, but I didn’t check to see who was calling.

I really should have.

“Hello?” I asked.

“You’re in way over your head, Bon.”

I froze. “Pava?”

He chuckled. “What, I’m not even your uncle anymore?”

My back straightened. “Not after you tried to have me killed. Twice.”

“That’s the price of doing business. And you’ve been doing business on the wrong side of the fence.”

I rose to my feet. “I take it this is you calling me and telling me I have another chance to reconsider?”

“Oh, no. This isn’t that kind of phone call. You already had your chance, and even your cousin couldn't talk any sort of sense into you. This is another kind of phone call.”

“Are you about to set this penthouse on fire and go for round two? Because I’m pretty sure Israel’s upstairs.”

“You’re pretty sure? Are you sure you’re ‘pretty sure’? Even after the deal you two made?”

A shiver rushed up my spine. “What are you talking about?”

He chuckled. “You really shouldn't have gone and fucked with my businesses, Bonnie. I have ears and people in places you could never dream of, and I know more than you could ever want me to know.”

“Why are you doing this? Why the hell can’t you just leave us alone? Haven’t you killed enough people in your climb up the ranks? Weren’t my parents enough?”

The phone call fell silent before my uncle cleared his throat. “I see he’s really gotten his talons in you, then, if you really think I could kill my own brother.”

He’d tried to kill her. “All I want is the truth. All I want is for all of us to come out of this situation with what we want. Is that too much to ask?”

“In this lifestyle? Yes. I took you in, Bonnie. I raised you after losing my own damn brother, the only shred of family I had left in this world. Every time I looked at you, I saw him. You have his eyes, Bonnie. His wide, sparkling, telling eyes. And every time I looked at you when you were a child, it hurt me all over again. I relived that night all over again. Time after time. And yet, I still took you in. I still fed you, clothed you.”

“Groomed me to be a killer before you tried to kill me too.”

“Wow. He’s really gotten inside your head.”

“This is all me, uncle. You want me, not Israel. And if I have to keep chiseling away at what you love more than anything on this planet, I will. Is that clear?”

He snickered. “Have you even figured out what you want in all of this?”

I blinked. “What?”

“What’s your end goal, Bonnie? Hm? What do you get out of all this?”

I slowly sat back down. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

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