Page 56 of Sweet Revenge

My father was dead. I still hadn’t processed that fully, and now wasn’t the time. I wouldn’t cry over him, but I still needed to process it all, and I needed to focus.

Around me, the city streets flew by, and when we turned off the main road, I recognized the neighborhood. We were definitely going to the Petrov mansion.

Lillian spoke to her accomplices in Italian. I understood some of it, but most of it was spoken too quickly for my lagging brain to comprehend. What I did grasp clued me in that they were certain Daemon would come for me, that he’d come storming through the front door like some sort of thoughtless kid who just wanted his toy back.

If I had to bet, I’d say they were about to be wrong about that. I had no doubt in my mind he would come for me, but when he did, it wouldn’t be like that, obvious and suicidal. No, Daemon would be smart about it like always. When he came for me, I needed to be ready.

We pulled up out front, and the guy I’d been crushed against for the last half hour or so grabbed me and hauled me out of the vehicle. My eyes traveled up the massive house. I took it in and reminded myself to breathe. Every fucking time I came here, I was a goddamn prisoner. That needed to change.

Flashes came back to me as I was led inside. The dog cage. Daemon’s room. His bed. Him. Not everything about the Petrov mansion was a bad memory, but just once I would have liked to walk into this house feeling welcome.

“Take her to the office,” Lillian barked. “I’ll be there in a sec.” She stayed in the foyer for a moment, shouting at the maids and other house staff to prepare them for what she believed was about to happen. Then she turned to her minions and started lecturing them about staying diligent.

By then, my thick-fingered escort had me at the office and shoved me inside. Pulling out a chair at the conference table, he said, “Sit.”

I did as I was told and had a quick look around the room. If I’d been in here before, I didn’t recognize it, but it looked like the typical mobster meeting room out of a movie. If I had to guess, it was Daemon’s father who designed this room, not him. Heavy oak furniture, thick velvet red drapes on the window, dark wood paneling on the walls. Across the room, a huge aquarium with enormous vivid fish brought a bit of life to the space, but even the fish looked menacing as they swam around live plants, their bulging eyes seeming to glare at me.

My head was still spinning, clearly, if I thought the fish were a threat. I wanted to lie down or, at the very least, drop my face onto the table and rest, but Lillian traipsed through the door a second later, still swigging champagne out of the bottle. She had a laptop tucked under her arm, which she set on the table along with her drink before she approached the fish tank.

“There they are, my little darlings.” She purred like they were puppies, not aquatic creatures with three-second-long memories. “How are you today?”

She’d left the door open, and for a moment, I considered running, but a steady stream of dangerous-looking men occupied the hallway as they made preparations for my rescue, so it would do me no good.

Lillian opened one of the doors in the stand beneath the aquarium and pulled out a container of fish food. She sprinkled some in and then made a face. Bending down, she looked inside and then shook her head. “Gio! Bring me more pellets for my fishy friends.”

“Yes, Ms. Lillian,” a deep voice replied from the hallway. Leaving the top of the tank open, Lillian wandered back to me, a cruel smile making her look older than I’d ever noticed before. “Well, here we are.” Pulling out the chair at the head of the table, she plopped down. “I’ve been dreaming of this day since before you were even born.”

Resting my head back against the chair, I tried to keep my eyes focused on her. I didn’t think she intended to hurt me, but I had to be ready for anything. I said nothing, only waiting for her to continue. Clearly, she was enjoying her victory lap.

“Your father deserved that bullet in the brain. He was weak, like all men are. Saw a beautiful woman and started thinking with the wrong head. You know, he’d been in love with me since we were in junior high?”

If I was meant to answer that, she’d have to forge on without a response. I didn’t even blink.

A giggle escaped her lips, and she continued. “He was about the same age as Daemon was when he fell for that little whore, Jenny. God, I was so fucking sick of hearing him talk about her.” She picked up the bottle of champagne and swallowed more down. By now, I figured it had to be mostly gone. She’d be drunk off her ass soon, if she wasn’t already.

Hearing about Jenny did pique my interest. My father had been trying to tell Daemon that his mother had her killed, not his father, I was sure of it. So when she said, “I had to make sure that little bitch was out of the way,” my suspicions were confirmed.

“Your father was wrapped around my finger so tight, he was like a coiled snake, ready to spring. I thought we’d get married, but then, I caught wind of the Petrov family and realized they were even more prominent than the La Rosas. When my first gross husband made me an offer, well, I had to leave Alexander behind. Why settle for the La Rosas when the Petrovs’ business was stronger, more powerful, and had billions more in assets?”

I wouldn’t have even bothered to listen to her go on and on if I wasn’t planning on telling all of this to Daemon later. If there was a later. He deserved to know, so I tuned in.

“Except Petrov wasn’t a pushover like your father had always been, and I found my hands tied for years. I carried four sons for that bastard, but I groomed each of them. I needed them to be on my side. Then that fucking whore Jenny came along and almost ruined it.” Slowly, she shook her head, staring off at nothing. But when her gaze returned to my face, she was laser focused. “That’s why she had to go.”

I managed a nod of understanding, which only encouraged her to keep talking.

“Andhehad to go, too. I bided my time, slaving away for him, and when I finally got the opportunity, it wasn’t difficult to get Daemon to turn on him. After all, he wants power, too.” Another giggle, another swig, another confession. “But before I even knocked him off, I returned my attention to your father, deciding I may as well take over both syndicates eventually, and it was easy. He still loved me.”

Suddenly, she had my undivided attention. I wanted to ask her when that happened, when she discovered that my father still loved her. I didn’t have to voice the question, though. She was in a chatty mood.

“Five years ago, I got him to do the unthinkable and help me take out your sweet mama, who never did quite fit into this lifestyle.” Her red lips curled up around her white teeth in a snarl.

Fury coursed through my veins. Without thinking, I hopped up out of the chair. “You did that?”

“Sit the fuck down!” She picked up the champagne bottle and hit me on the head with it. Still woozy from before, I couldn’t fight back and stumbled backward, my bottom barely catching the edge of the chair.

“Stupid bitch.” She drank the last dregs from the bottle, finishing it off while my blurry eyes tried to focus on anything other than her. The pain in my cranium stirred anew. I pressed a hand to the top of my head and was thankful it didn’t return red.

“Hey, assholes! Come tie this bitch up!” she shouted toward the door. It took a few minutes for anyone to acknowledge her, but when they did, a different fat-fingered thug came in and tied my hands in front of me while Lillian mumbled about Gio never coming with the fish food.

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