Page 113 of Nikola

Fuck it all.

“She was never supposed to be born,” she hissed as she failed to push herself into a seated position. “One disability in a family is an accident, two is a stain on a family tree.”

I reached for my knife from the holster around my chest and stabbed her frail arm, twisting it with a gleam in my eyes and a cruel smile on my lips.

Her scream followed, and I waited for echoes of it to cease before I said, “Skye is the highlight of any family. A star shining so bright, she blinds everyone around her. You, on the other hand, may call yourself The Duchess, butyouare the stain.”

I slashed a long cut across her abdomen, drawing another scream from her as she coughed up blood.

“It took you long enough to put it together,” she cackled.

“Why not let her be?” Sasha asked, leaning against the wall beside me. His posture was relaxed, but it was all a front. He wasjust as enraged as Dante and me, blaming themselves for failing Skye. The truth was, we all failed her. “Why come after her after all these years?”

She shrugged. “Revenge has a long memory, and that child and her bastard father ruined my family.”

Alexei narrowed his eyes, all too familiar with lunatics, and recognized Diana Bergman for one.

“Or maybe you should look in the mirror and own your fuckup,” Sasha said in a cold voice, adjusting her IV to ensure she didn’t die prematurely. “Now for the last time, was the Spanish mafia aware of your plans?”

Lo and behold, the first husband to this woman held a soft spot for her and had a hand in Dante’s torture twenty-some years ago. He teamed up with cartel members who were now long dead, but we needed to know if the heirs were in on this. We suspected not, since those criminals were usually involved in sea raidings and kept to themselves.

When she didn’t answer, I twisted the knife inside her abdomen, inflicting pain that wouldn’t kill her.

“No,” she finally answered in a hoarse voice, her beady eyes on me. “But I know everything about them. I could be of use to you.”

I smiled cruelly at the disgusting woman, but I didn’t shut her down. I needed more answers. “How did you know that Skye would be at Revelation?”

Uncle Sasha shot me a curious look, but I ignored it, keeping my attention zeroed in on the old woman for any telltales of a lie.

Diana laughed, although the sound was dead. She’d given up. “My last husband was a member. I retained the access and sent an exclusive invite to Enzo Marchetti.”

I stiffened. “The Marchettis are working with you?”

She shrugged, the stench rolling off of her in waves.

“He found me. I knew his crazy mother once upon a time.” I shared a glance with Sasha, but neither one of us said anything. “I guess he wanted answers.”

“What kind of answers?” I demanded.

“Who and what she was.” She coughed, then continued. “I saw an opportunity and offered him an exclusive invite to Revelation. How he used it was up to him.”

“In exchange for what?” I demanded.

“A small favor.” She coughed again, spitting up blood. Death was coming for her steady and fast. “That he used his newest software he sold to the FBI. It tops the one by Nico Morrelli and erases any search results typed in from certain IP addresses.”

“That’s why I couldn’t find you,” I hissed. “That’s why search results related to Skye’s foster care records kept coming up blank.”

“Smart, ha!” She smiled, most of her teeth missing. Over the last week, the woman had forgone her dental implants.

“That doesn’t answer how you knew that Skye would be in the club that night,” I insisted. “Unless?—”

“I demanded he use it to bait his fiancée’s friends to the club as well. I spun a tale of a long-lost great-granddaughter.”

I shook my head.

The lengths she went to end Skye terrified me, so when she locked her beady eyes on me, I felt no regret pulling out a gun and pointing it at her forehead.

Bang.