Page 98 of Celestial Combat

She barely reacted. Just tilted her head slightly, looking at me like I was the only predictable part of her night.

“Why would you do that?”

She didn’t blink. Didn’t fight the grip, didn’t pull away. Her lips barely curved at the edges, in a mocking smirk.

“Because I’ve never lost.Until now.”

And then she pulled away.

Kali opened my car’s door, slid into the seat, and shut it like nothing happened.

I stood there, watching the GT3 RS – the car that matched her like a second skin – disappear into someone else’s hands.

Chapter 26

Present

Downtown, New York City

THE CAR WAS QUIET EXCEPT for the distant hum of the city. I leaned back in the driver’s seat of the Charger, letting the night settle over me.

Through the windshield, the docks at Pier 42 stretched out before me, a maze of steel crates, cranes and shipping containers. The East River lapped against the docks, black and endless, reflecting the fractured glow of the city beyond.

I could see Queens from here. Blurred, golden lights bleeding into the water, pulsing with a rhythm that belonged to a world I’d always kept separate from this one.

Until now.

The night air carried the sharp scent of salt, rust and gasoline, thick with the hum of idling engines and the distant echo of the city.

Trying to get away from Zane was like trying to outrun my own shadow. However, tonight, after an entire week of constant nagging and babysitting from the big, bad bodyguard, I’d managed to slip away from my dark knight.

It only required me sneaking into his underground’s office while he was handling some business in Python’s official gym, hacking into his systems, finding the security cameras and looping the footage.

I’d been gone for a good hour now.

I wondered how long it would take for Zane to notice.

I exhaled, then pushed the door open, stepping out into the cool night air. Figures moved in the darkness, passing crates from one set of hands to another, low voices blending with the occasional clang of metal against wood.

Firearms.

The real foundation of the Su Dynasty.

Trevor never would’ve let me come here. Not after what everything.

So I lied. Told his crew that he approved, that I was here on his orders. And they believed me. Because I was a Su.

Usually, I wouldn’t have interfered if Trevor asked not to. He was my brother, and I cared about him. I didn’t want to make his life any more difficult, especially since I refused to help him rule our family’s empire.

But after the news I received earlier this afternoon…

New York’s criminal underworld was shaking after the drama that unfolded at the Cosa Nostra’s sit-down today. It involved the one personnotpart of the Mob. Mybrother.

Who’d kissed mybest friend, Natalia – amafiaprincess, daughter of mobster Salvatore Moretti – in front of theentireFive Families.

The fact that the idiot was still alive was a miracle.

Meaning I’d get the chance to kill him myself.