Page 46 of King of Obsession (Kings of the Underworld #1)

Word travels fast, and in our world, it travels even faster. In the underworld, information is the biggest bargaining chip. So, when Cato calls me, I pick up, already knowing what he wants.

“Why isn’t she dead yet, Enzo?” His voice is neutral.

Like every word he utters, he weighs before speaking.

Cato is not a big talker; he’s an action driven man and something tells me he would like nothing more than to come to Reno and kill her himself.

He’ll die before stepping foot in my territory.

Alliance is moot when it comes to Luciana.

It’s been one month, but I knew from the start that I wouldn’t kill her.

“What I do with her is none of your business.”

“Do you need a fucking reminder of who you’re talking to?”

“When and if she dies, it’s for me to decide.”

I hang up, aware that this could cost me the alliance and then all other agencies will have to pick sides. If the Syndicate labels you as an enemy, you’re already dead. But they can’t come into my territory. The losses would be too severe on both sides.

As I watch Luciana with my sister, I can’t believe I will risk it all once again for her. My alliance with the Syndicate is fragile. Soon, I will take over the Council even though the Syndicate believes it’s under their purview. One power strike after the other.

The girls eat ice cream on a bench in the garden, they seem close like it should be. This was Luciana’s place all along. I am not only hiding her true identity from her and everyone else, but also protecting the father who was behind it all.

After Luciana betrayed me, I opened my father’s letter which said, Open when you’re in love . I never thought I’d open it, but I respected his wishes.

In it, he confessed his greatest remorse: the attack that killed Mikail’s mother was supposed to take out his father.

My father wanted Reno for himself. The entire I am starting over with no seat on the Council was a ruse.

He and Augustus were secretly aligned in their desire to get their hands on the West Coast. Augustus sent a team of killers.

But neither of them realized the wife and one-year-old daughter were in the car.

That baby was Luciana, and my father never knew she survived since the car explosion covered all their tracks. Riddled by guilt, my father broke every tie afterward. The mess up was the only reason the entire process of leaving the Council went smoothly.

Guilt overcomes me, hiding the truth from my best friend and partner. While it’s not my sin to confess, the longer I keep his sister away from him, the more I become complicit.

But fuck, I am not done with her. Every night I fuck her senseless, to appease the growing need and my desperation to keep her at any cost, knowing full well I can’t.

In the last four weeks, she has settled. My men even respect her. These stupid motherfuckers always lose bets against her.

She has proven to live up to her reputation. She can shoot from even two miles right in the middle of the target. With all the money she made, she and my sister shop. I think this woman would forsake eating for a high-end garment.

My men wear uniforms, not her. She struts in her skirts and shirts while wearing high heels. Every night she loses them as I fuck myself into her as if that’s my sole duty in this world.

And Kill, the fucking traitor, wiggles his tail at her as if he’s not a killing machine. She turned him into her lap dog, following her around the property.

She even gained the attention of my mother. Which is why I am waiting in the sitting room to have coffee with her.

I am enraptured by the sight of Luciana with my sister, chatting animatedly, when my mother enters. “It’s her, isn’t it?”

I turn to her. “It doesn’t matter.” All is doomed between us.

“I didn’t raise a quitter.”

I sigh, knowing full well it has nothing to do with that.

“Your sister likes her.”

It’s easy once she removes all her masks.

“She’s her friend,” my mother says, clear relief in her voice.

“I think she’s Luciana’s first friend too.”

“You’re not getting younger. You need a wife,” she insists.

“She’s not Italian.” I try to come up with excuses to keep from saying fuck it all and embracing the madness once again.

“I don’t care about that. Neither do you. So why are you coming up with excuses?”

“Do you think Father was a good man?”

He wasn’t and neither am I.

She places a soft hand on my chest. “You’re the man this family needs. I took your father for who he was.”

I don’t want to tarnish his image in front of her, so I remain quiet, resuming watching Luciana and my sister through the window.

I spot Mika’s car approaching and I kiss the top of my mother’s head. “See you later, Mother.”

“Take care, Enzo.”

Outside, I see him perched against the side of his car. With arms crossed just like his ankles, he pins Luciana with a hard look. She says something to my sister, who laughs. The image is so wholesome it warms my chest. In another life.

“I don’t like her near Dahlia,” he grumbles.

“Take a fucking step back. They’re getting along.”

“She’s training her.” If it were up to him, he’d wrap my sister in cotton.

“So what? Look at her, Mika. She’s more open.”

He groans a noncommittal sound, and I say, “Cato called.”

“It’s a wonder it took him so long.”

“I’ll deal with them.”

A muscle in his jaw ticks. “So, you won’t kill her?”

“No.”

“Never?” he tries, although, with his slight nod, he already knows the answer.

“I can’t.”

He shakes his head at me, and I add, “Regardless of the outcome, I am taking the Council back under my thumb.”

“You’ll claim your seat?”

No. The one who deserves it will get it. And then she’ll be out of my influence, gone for good.

“No.”

His brows bunch together. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“You’ll find out. I want Luciana for myself a bit longer.” Just as I say that she turns her head, our eyes locking. Her silver gaze swallows me whole in her unyielding orbit.

“And then what? You’re going to let her go?”

The question pours a truckload of misery, making my shoulders droop. “I have to, and she’ll return to her family.”

“You found them?”

I nod, incapable of telling him the truth right now.

He jerks his chin toward her. “Does she know?”

“What do you think?” I sigh, exhausted to fight with myself over my feelings for her.

Our conversation is interrupted when my sister and Luciana appear.

Dahlia says to Mika, “I bet you ten th—”

But Luciana nudges her, and my sister says, “Are you sure?”

The other nods, grinning and so eager I can’t wait to hear what it’s all about.

“A hundred thousand dollars that Luciana is a better shot than you are.”

I know she’s better. No way I’ll take that bet. But the ego of my friend is a wild beast.

“Deal.”

I slap my palm on his back. “Mika, my friend. Write the check now.”

The little bet piques all our men’s attention, and as we head toward the shooting range in the golf carts, Luciana slips into mine while my sister goes into Mika’s.

“I need tomorrow off.”

“You already do whatever the fuck you want.”

She rolls her eyes at me. “Why didn’t you bet?”

“You’ve made enough money to spend on your extravagant purchases. Your room overflows already.”

“Maybe I need a bigger one.”

We’re too exhausted after our nightly fuck fests for me to tell her to go to her room and she is too sleepy to leave my bed. But come morning, the spell dissipates, and we pretend we didn’t sleep with me still buried in her pussy.

My mouth draws in a hard line, and she says, “You’re freezing me out, Enzo. My patience is nearing its end.”

“Did I fucking give you the impression I was on the table? We’re fucking. Your life is in my hands. I have all the power, and you have none.”

A flash of hurt crosses her eyes and strikes my chest.

She sighs. “You’re going there? Really?”

“I so fucking am. What are you going to do about that?” I challenge her.

She sticks her nose up in the air and I am pretty sure she is plotting ways to hurt me, unaware that I am constantly aching—craving her with every intake of air.

I would rather cut my heart from my chest than stop loving her.

Fucking weak and pathetic man that I am.

It doesn’t help that she didn’t even try to escape but made herself at home.

The air between us thickens, making it difficult to breathe. Thankfully, we reach the shooting range where my men train and where they’ve lost all their earnings one after the other in the past weeks.

Mika struts over to the shooting range, sure that he will win. My money is on her.

They pick up their guns and fuck if she doesn’t look sexy with the Glock in her hand.

“Three rounds. Fifty meters. Two hundred fifty meters and one thousand meters,” Lorenzo informs.

My sister says something to Luciana and Mika groans, looking ahead.

They both shoot at the same time and when one of my men comes back with the targets, hers hit the bullseye just like his.

Luciana stares at their almost identical shots and readies herself for the second round.

They fire and hers is once again dead center. It’s his turn to glare at the results.

When the final round begins, they exchange weapons.

She’s in her element, being one with the rifle.

On her belly, Luciana adjusts the scope, inhaling deeply and letting her breath out slowly and controlled as she pulls the trigger.

Mika does the same, but when the results are known, Luciana is the winner.

“We both hit the center,” he says, being a sore loser.

“Really? Let’s raise the stakes. An object in a living person’s hand. I pick…” She looks at my sister and I swear, murder is written in Mika’s eyes. Dahlia nods, excitement coloring her face.

“No,” Mika says through a clenched jaw.

My men stare riveted, their gazes moving from me to Luciana, most surely thinking I will put a stop to this.

“Stop telling me what I can and can’t do,” my sister scoffs.

“No,” I say as her brother. This will never happen.