Page 52 of Sweet Revenge

Looking around, I saw his men retreating, heading for the open doors. I took a deep breath, “It’s over, you asshole.”

Somehow, he managed to chuckle. “This ain’t over,” he told me. “Not by a long shot.”

That was when I looked out the open warehouse doors and saw what was happening in the parking lot. From one side of the concrete expanse to the other, all I could see was a long line of black vehicles, flying in at us at top speed, like a squadron of jet fighters.

“Who the fuck is that?” I asked, feeling my heart beginning to race in my chest.

Behind me, my mother’s voice replied, “Reinforcements.”

As she began to laugh, I realized, she didn’t say who they were here to reinforce.

CHAPTER31

ELISA

The scent of Lillian’s perfume made it hard to breathe. The whole time I’d been trying to fire this gun at moving objects, hoping to keep my father’s thugs at a distance, she’d been cowering down next to me. I noticed she’d made a phone call, but I didn’t know to whom until she stood up and announced that reinforcements were here.

Watching the flight of SUVs come swooping in from the parking lot had my stomach churning. This couldn’t be good. Lillian had always been kind to me when I was staying at the Petrov mansion, but I’d gotten the feeling lately that her decision to be with my father had nothing to do with him brainwashing her into it. No, she seemed to like the limelight, the power, and looking at her now, I could tell that she felt like she was in control of everything.

With the vehicles closing in, I stepped out near her, ready to start shooting again the moment it was necessary. I saw my father staring at her, the expression in his eyes telling me more than anything Lillian could’ve ever confessed. He was in love with her. I’d seen him gaze at my mother like that a time or two when I was younger, but then it had faded. Likewise, he sometimes looked at Alex or one of my other brothers with that sense of pride and admiration, but he’d never, not once, ever looked at me like that.

Lillian’s eyes were narrowed, and when she saw my father staring at her, an amused laugh sprang from between her crimson lips. It all became clear to me at that moment. She wasn’t some idiot broad who’d just gone along for the ride with my father. No, she was calling the shots.

That was what my father had alluded to when he was beating the shit out of me in the basement, wasn’t it? That Lillian had been tricking Daemon? That she’d made him think that he needed to take out his own father, when really, it was her?

“It’s Yushenko’s boys!” someone above me shouted when the SUVs rolled to a stop and someone got out.

“And some of Zarnov’s as well,” another guy shouted.

Daemon’s shoulders drop slightly, and I knew this couldn’t be good. “That’s fine,” he shouted above the din. “We’ll reunite the family again now that La Rosa is out of the picture.”

“You really don’t fucking get it, do you, boy?” Lillian stepped a bit closer to where Daemon and my father were facing off against one another. My father was sitting near Daemon’s feet, sucking in air, and he looked older than I’d ever seen him before, his face cracked and bleeding. Daemon’s eyebrows nearly touched as he stared at his mother, trying to figure out what she was getting at.

“What are you talking about, Ma?” he asked, taking a step toward her.

She pulled a pistol from her fur coat and waved it at him. “I’m telling you I’m in charge, Daemon. I always have been and always will be.”

“What?” Daemon took another step, and she moved the gun, keeping him at bay. I was about three paces closer to her, so I slowly moved up, wondering if I could grab it away from her without getting the man I loved shot.

My father broke into a chilling maniacal bout of laughter that had all of us focusing our attention on him. “You’re blind, asshole. I guess falling in love with my bitch daughter did make you weak. I’ve never called the shots when it came to Lillian. She’s always been in charge of all of this.”

Daemon’s eyes went big. Lillian’s face broke into a wide smile, confirming that what my father was saying was absolutely true.

On the floor, my father continued to spill the tea. “I would’ve done whatever she wanted me to do just to have the chance to be with her. Oh, my beautiful Lillian. Such a temptress. Such forbidden fruit.” He shook his head and returned his gaze to Daemon. “But she’s been playing all of us, dumbass. She never loved me.”

“Shut the fuck up, Alexander,” Lillian warned, her voice full of venom.

“She’s been using me, just like she used you to kill your old man.” My father was either delirious or feeling quite bold for someone lying on the floor bleeding. I took another step closer to Lillian, shoving my gun into my waistband to have both hands ready to go for that weapon.

Still empowered, my father said, “It wasn’t your father who had that girlfriend of yours killed, Daemon. It was—”

My eyes were on my father’s face when the bullet pierced his skull. He gasped, moving his head slightly in the direction from which the bullet had come. When he realized it was Lillian who had pulled the trigger, the corners of his eyes drooped slightly, in disappointment, I had no doubt. Then, he grimaced and fell backward onto the concrete, gone.

Shocked, I stared at him a moment longer as I took two more steps in his direction, which brought me even with Lillian. She was giggling like killing her husband was something she did every day, or wanted to anyway. As much as I hated my father, I couldn’t believe he was dead. A thousand different emotions came over me, and all I wanted to do was run to Daemon and bury my head in his chest and let the feelings overwhelm me.

“What the fuck?” Daemon asked, turning to look at her.

“I killed him. So what?” Lillian asked, the smoking gun still in her hand.

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