Page 34 of King of Obsession (Kings of the Underworld #1)

Well, I am still alive.

Hope was never something I believed in or counted for myself. Will, on the other hand, I had plenty. Will to escape the forlorn situation I found myself in as a child. Will to pave my own path. I didn’t even consider love, believed in it even less—until him.

I know I hurt him. For a few seconds, I thought he’d kill me when he pulled the trigger. The relief I felt was instant, and my heart grasped onto the small hope.

Maybe not all is lost. All my life, I did things using my brain. Now, I’ll let my heart guide me.

I have no idea how long I’ve been here, shackled to this chair and binds that slowly have bitten into my skin. My wrists are red and achy.

The wound in my arm pulses, but the pain anchors me. If I can hurt, it means I am still alive. Being Enzo’s captive is better than being on the run. I’ll use the time to mend things. I refuse to believe that everything is wrecked between us.

But who knows? Maybe next time he graces me with his icy presence, he’ll kill me. It looks grim on my side, but if I don’t remain positive, I won’t persevere.

I understand his thirst for revenge as a similar one flows through my veins. I want to eradicate the Council, leaving Augustus for the end. The ease with which he discarded me stings a hundred times worse than the bullet wound.

The door opens, and I hope it’s Enzo. Disappointment settles low in my chest when I see an elderly man in a white jacket accompanied by a hulk of a man. His dark eyes find me. I doubt either of them knows much, but they’re wary.

As the doctor approaches me, I push my body forward. “Boo.”

The screech he lets out makes me laugh, and the guard says through a clenched jaw, “Do that again and see what happens.”

I roll my eyes at him and let the doctor tend to me.

Lifting and twisting my arm, he examines my wound, then he prods it. I clamp my mouth shut, trapping the wail in.

“She needs antibiotics, but it’s a clean suture.”

“Could you do it better?” I ask, not wanting to go through that discomfort again, but I will if I must. It has nothing to do with vanity. Fine, maybe a little but more with wanting to forget the embarrassment of someone untrained shooting me.

Do I hate Chiara for that? No. It was all on me. But failure is something I hadn’t dealt with until I couldn’t kill Enzo. That was like opening Pandora’s Box, and I couldn’t shut it in time.

“I’ve studied medicine, miss. What do you think? But I couldn’t do it much better,” he says, almost impressed.

“Do it.”

“Wait,” the guard says.

I glower, knowing exactly who he is about to call.

After a brief conversation, he just shakes his head at the doctor.

Egotistical asshole. I keep my mouth shut and twist my bound hands that are so numb, I worry I won’t be able to use them again.

“When will these come off?”

“You’re a prisoner. Don’t forget your place,” the guard smirks.

How I’d love to put a bullet through his skull. Then we’ll see if he has a reason to be so smug.

My belly rumbles loud enough for both men to hear, but they leave, ignoring my situation. I won’t beg for food, that’s for sure.

Alone, my thoughts pose a bigger threat to my sanity than the cuffs and this block of cement. Looking to my right, I notice a prison cell, and I stare longingly at the bed.

I am tired, hungry, and pissed off, but I’ll be damned if I let him break me.

Maybe I am delusional, but if he felt even the slightest bit the way I did about him, he won’t kill me.

That’s my saving grace, but our love story is riddled with betrayal and sewn tight with deception.

We have no future. We never did. I should think of an escape plan, but I am done fleeing, especially from the only man who ever loved me.

Time in here has the nasty habit of deceiving me. It could be minutes, or it could be hours. The only sure thing is that it passes while I can’t do anything else but endure.

When the door opens again, I recognize her instantly—his sister Dahlia. They have the same shaped eyes, only hers are more blue, appearing lighter. Her dark brown hair falls in loose curls down her back.

She’s dressed in jeans, a white T-shirt tucked in her waistband, and matching sneakers—plain as if she doesn’t want attention on her. She’s beautiful, almost angelic, radiating innocence and goodness.

She could pass as just another Mafia princess used as chattel to secure the best deal.

Enzo would never use her like that and in their world, she’s seen as spoiled goods. While no one knows for sure what happened to her, you don’t spend seventy-two hours captured by the ones who killed your father and remain intact.

I jerk my chin to her, wanting to test the princess. “Are you going to stare at me all day? I am not a monkey in a cage.”

“Even they have more freedom than you do,” she says haughtily.

Somehow, I expected someone different. From what I’ve gathered, both Enzo and Mikail treat her as if she’s a moment away from breaking down and never coming out of her room. I like strong women. Always have. That’s why I respect Chiara for what she pulled on me.

“True, but that goes for you too.”

She huffs and approaches me. “I am not afraid of you.”

“Why would you be? I am bound to a chair and you’re not on my hit list.”

I could never kill someone important to Enzo. I doubt my truth will score me bonus points, so I keep silent.

“Must suck for you that you’re out of commission.”

“Ouch.”

“Is my brother still on that list of yours?” she asks, and I can hear the love and worry for him laced in her suave voice.

No, he’s not. I purse my lips, hating that she knows that. My chances at redemption are slim to none.

She circles me and then stops in front of me. “You know what he told me shortly before you ambushed him?”

I grit my teeth, not wanting to hear what she has to say.

A small, sad smile touches her face as she continues, “You’ll like her.

Just give her a chance. Just like you, she’s surviving in a world of men.

” She inhales deeply. “My brother loved you, Luciana, to the point of not caring about anyone else. He planned to make you part of our family.” She exhales a long breath.

“I wanted to be wrong. But we’re not similar.

I endure and you take the easy way out. I face my demons every day, knowing what was taken from me can never be returned.

But there’s one way we are alike. We’ll never know love again from the ones we wanted most.”

“You’re too young to be this pessimistic.” Women in our lifestyle have it the hardest. Men pay with their blood. We pay it by forsaking our innocence.

She shrugs. “You’re one year older than me. We could have been friends in another life.”

“Why are you here?” It’s clear she has a mission. The small talk proves it.

“I’ve obsessively searched every bit of information about you. You never miss your mark. My brother should have died on the spot. I guess he was lucky…” She doesn’t sound so sure. She eyes me as if checking for something.

Sighing, I squeeze my eyes shut for a few seconds. I want someone to believe that I loved him. I did my best with the cards I was dealt—I am not only a soulless killer, but for a while I was a woman in love. And a woman in love does everything to keep the one she loves safe.

“Wow. You knew what you were doing. It had to look like that, right? Plus, you knew about the pendant.”

I glare at her, done with this talk. We’ll never be friends. I don’t need to atone for my sins in front of her. She can believe what the fuck she wants. I blew my chance with him and his family, regardless.

“I won’t tell him. He needs to believe that you betrayed him because if he forgives you, he’ll have a bigger problem. Losing the respect of his men.”

“Are you done?” I ask, wanting her gone. Her presence affects me deeper than I expected.

“Not yet. I warn you, Luciana. My brother won’t kill you. But I will.”

I arch an incredulous brow at her. “Can you?”

I doubt she could kill a fly. She has an aura of goodness surrounding her.

“Someone owes me a life, and that someone won’t hesitate to do that if I asked him.” Turning around, she walks away, leaving me with a lot of questions.

If I spend more time here, I will go insane.

Is that his grand plan because it’s starting to work. Without a source of natural light, I have no clue what time it is or how many hours have passed. I could have been here for hours or days.

My bladder is killing me, the pressure so hard I can barely hold on. It can’t be longer than a few hours, but being stuck alone in my head is a bigger torment than anything else. That’s why I planned my kills thoroughly, having plans B and C in place just in case something goes wrong.

I’ve never enjoyed spending time not working because I would have to look at my life and ask myself, Is this it? That’s why coming to Reno worked against me. It gave me time to discover something different, to live a life that was fuller, brighter—worth living.

I wouldn’t have stopped being who I am, but gained more. Even if I married Enzo, I would have never given up being a sniper. That would have been a waste of my talent and hard work. The what-ifs are the worst, slowly eroding my sanity.

The door creaks open, saving me from the agonizing thought process and derailing my attention, thankfully.

Enzo struts into the room. I roll my eyes to rile him up and maybe put me in a state of mind where I don’t focus on how good looking the asshole is, or how my stupid body clenches in response, craving things from him he’ll never give me again.

“Release me.”

“Ask nicely.”

“Please,” I spit out, so angry at how pleased he looks that I want to slap that smug expression off his face and then kiss him because he makes me crazy.

“Why?”

“I need to pee.”

He clicks his tongue, leaning against the opposite wall, not appearing as if he will grace me with a bit of decency. The asshole.

“Fine by me. I will just pee my pants.”

He arches an arrogant brow. “You wouldn’t.”