Page 29 of PortCity Killers

I resisted the urge to cut him a look, not wanting any more attention dragged to him until we were both well out of Valentina Giovenni’s line of sight. Don stepped back, letting Valentina take over again.

She stood behind Collin as he wavered, her hand on his shoulder, the other wrapped around a long, ornate dagger. Her long fingers were polished, nails clipped short and steady when she lent the knife in my direction.

I didn’t take it, staring at the blood red of her nails as she daintily held out the knife.

When I didn’t move, she made a soft noise behind her throat, “Take it,muñequita.”

I did, my hands gripping around the hilt. When I felt the full weight of the blade, I watched her fingers trail down the sides. A small line of red welled across the tip of her finger, but she didn’t so much as flinch.

Instead, her eyes were on me, steady and focused like a predator ready to pounce.

She lowered a knee, bending down to hold up Collin. With both hands she gripped his head and neck as they lolled around; her tongue darting out to lick up his cheek just like she had mine last night.

Through it all Collin didn’t seem to even be here with us. He had to be drugged. His clammy skin was pouring sweat, and he couldn’t seem to keep focus on any one particular thing.

“You want to help clean up your brother’s mess? Now is your chance,” Valentina’s smile was wide, her teeth bright and full like a tiger yawning down at it’s kill. “Prove to me that you have what it takes to walk out of this club.”

The dark gleam in her eyes only enhanced her beauty, making me shiver. I could see the spark that made people say she was fucking crazy. Demented. The trickle of bloodshed that made her just as scary as any of the men who had passed through this office, no doubt.

“I thought you said the information was good.”

My voice was soft, but sure. Bryce wouldn’t have given me bad information unless he hadn’t known it was bad in the first place. My brother? Maybe. But not me.

The sick feeling in my stomach made me question how much I was willing to do to save myself—to save Jaymes. It wouldn’t be the first person I’d killed, but one man in self-defense did not a seasoned killer make.

“And it was. It paid for your brother’s life. This is to buy his silence.”

For once my brother had the brains not to speak. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“And I didn’t ask what you thought, mi amore,” Her smile fluttered with an amused laugh that seemed to ring off of the high ceiling rafters like bells in a cathedral.

I wanted to swipe the smile right off of her face—to slap her and see the handprint I would leave. Her green eyes glittered as if she knew exactly what I was thinking as I gripped the hilt of the knife tighter, willing myself to imagine it was her I would be sinking the damn thing into.

I’d been backed into one too many corners in my life, and it was starting to get a little fucking old.

“Come now,” she nodded in front of Collin, “It will be quick and painless if you do it correctly. I will show you.”

I looked at her, my anger apparent if the tinkling giggle she gave was any indication, “He is the reason you are here. Him and your darling child of a brother. He used him,manipulatedhim. He is not a good man for you to protect as fiercely as you do your little cub.”

Don stepped closer to us, “You can do this, or someone else can, and you can forfeit your life for your brother’s.”

I looked at Valentina who simply watched behind me, not negating a thing Don said. I refused to look over my shoulder, refused to follow her eyes past me to where I knew Jaymes stood.

I felt bitter bile rise up inside me. I loved my brother fiercely, the same way I loved anyone, but I was tired of being the one to come in and swoop him up out of his messes, tired of rescuing him with little to no appreciation for what it was causingme.

I’d spent my life being beat, broken, and bruised for him, and he still found a way to crawl under my skin and fuck things up. It was unfair to him, maybe, but it was so, so fucking unfair to me.

The Giovennitwins— it seemed strange to think of them as twins now that I knew —waited with calm eyes and patient smiles that held a mangled vindictiveness that had my nerves twisting inside of my body. I let that poison fill me as I dropped to my knees.

There was no way that we were both walking out of here alive unless I put down the man in front of me. My chest tightened at the smile Valentina slid towards me.

Wasn’t that what I was here for? To show Valentina who was responsible? To sign his death warrant anyway? What was the difference really?

But it was different. It was one thing to sign the warrant; it was a whole other thing to be the one to pull the trigger...so to speak. There was a small shuffle behind me at my hesitation.

“Alex-”

Valentina sent Jaymes a sharp look. “I would caution you only for the sake of your sister. This is your doing, pup. You should have thought a little harder before you decided to steal from me… now an adult has to pay that price.”

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