Page 94 of Savage Saint
Then destroy them from within.
Jerzy and Nicolosi's master plan.
I wasn't a victim.
I was a weapon.
"Kasia? You're scaring me."
Alessa's voice breaks through the fog in my head, pulling me back to the car. The streetlights flash by in a blur as we speed through the empty streets. I look down at my hands, surprised to see them covered in blood. When did that happen? The men at the club. Right.
"There's blood on your clothes," Alessa says, her knuckles white on the steering wheel. "Are you hurt?"
"Not mine," I say, my voice sounding distant even to my own ears.
The memories keep coming, faster now, like bullets being loaded into a chamber. Click. Click. Click. Each one sliding into place with terrifying precision.
I remember everything now.
The plan had been perfect. So perfect. Let Nicolosi brand me with his mark. Pretend to get captured. Be found by the Santoros in that shipping container. Gain their trust. Learn their weaknesses. Then destroy them from within.
But everything went wrong.
Nicolosi must have panicked. He went into hiding, leaving me in that container for days instead of hours. The evidence that was supposed to lead the Santoros to me sooner never got planted. The infection from the brand burned through me likewildfire. Dehydration. Lack of food. By the time Angelo found me, I was barely alive, my memories lost in the fever haze.
"I know who I am," I say, the words hollow in my mouth.
The Red Widow. Jerzy's perfect weapon. The assassin who leaves no trace, feels no remorse, makes no mistakes. Until now.
And Angelo... God, Angelo. I wasn't just meant to kill him. I was meant to break him first. Make him trust me. Make him love me. Then destroy him. Destroy them all. That was Jerzy's plan. His revenge on the Santoro family for some past slight I never fully understood.
"Kasia, please talk to me," Alessa pleads, her green eyes darting between me and the road. "What's happening?"
"I'm remembering," I whisper. "Everything."
My hands start to shake. I've killed so many people. Men, women, politicians, rivals. Faces blur together in a gruesome slideshow. I was good at it. Too good. I took pride in my work, in being the best. In making Jerzy proud.
But Angelo. He saw me. Not as a weapon or a tool, but as a person. He held me when I cried. He protected me. He made me feel things I'd forgotten existed. Made me want things I'd been taught never to want.
And I was sent to destroy him.
"They call me Red Widow," I say, the name bitter on my tongue. "I'm an assassin."Jerzy's assassin.
Alessa's sharp intake of breath fills the car. Her hands tighten on the wheel as she processes this. I wait for her to pull over, to kick me out, to call Dante. She does none of these things.
"You're not making sense," she says carefully, but I can hear the fear in her voice.
"I was sent here to infiltrate your family. To gain your trust and then destroy you from within." The words spill out of me like poison. "I let them brand me, tattoo me, so I'd look like one of Nico's victims. It was all planned."
Alessa pulls the car over suddenly, the tyres screeching against the wet asphalt. She turns to face me, her expression a mix of horror and disbelief.
"That's not possible," she whispers. "You nearly died in that container. You had no memories."
"I wasn't supposed to be in there that long. Something went wrong. The infection, the dehydration... it wiped my memory." I laugh bitterly. "Ironic, isn't it? The perfect assassin, undone by bacteria and bad timing."
Alessa grabs my arm, her grip surprisingly strong. "Whatever you're remembering, you're not that person anymore."
I pull away from her, unable to bear her touch. "But I am. I'm the Red Widow. I've killed people, Alessa. So many people."
