Page 36 of Scandalous Kingpin

“Not again,” she sputtered, shaking in her filthy rags. “You can’t torture me again, Christian.”

I refused to feel sorry for her, not after hearing his story. Maybe being born into this world had tainted me from the start, or maybe I believed in an eye for an eye.

Christian pulled out a gun from the waistband of his blood-smattered jeans.

“You want to know what I hate more than cruel bitches?” He stepped closer, the gun lax in his hand. “Cowards.”

My eyes slid between the two of them, my breath held in anticipation.

“Angel, you shouldn’t have to see this.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

His gaze flicked to me in surprise and I gave him an encouraging nod. I might not fully understand what made this beautiful man the way he was, but I knew that permanently eliminating this woman from his life would bring him peace.

But also, there was a part of me that wanted to ensure he followed through. The darkness inside him tempted him with revenge, and although I understood it, it made me distrust his choices when it came to Vittoria DiLustro.

“What?” Vittoria had the audacity to act shocked. She turned to me, her bottom lip quivering like the greatest actress who everlived. “I don’t know how I got wrapped up in this, but you have to help me. Christian is crazy. You should know he needs to be committed?—”

A dark chuckle escaped Christian and he tsked. “Still refusing to take responsibility. I’m the product of your actions,Mother.”

“You’re no child of mine,” she spat, ignoring his words. She tried to scurry back, the chair rocking from the force of her movements. “You’re not my son. You arenotmy son!” she screamed.

“Thank fuck,” I interjected. “You don’t deserve to have any children, let alone be around other human beings.”

Something in my eyes must have made her realize I’d be of no help because her face blanched.

“Time to say your last prayer,” Christian said as he walked toward the woman, kicking her knee so hard a sickening crack sounded.

As her chair tipped over, his boot slammed into her face. She groaned, blood spurting from her nose as her lips moved in a prayer uttered in Latin. But she was no longer the focus of my attention. It was Christian and the expression of euphoria on his face.

Every second around this woman he was growing increasingly intoxicated. It must derive from the control he exerted over the person who’d taken it from him when he was a child.

Vittoria watched him with cruel eyes.

“I’ll always h-haunt you,” she snarled, her teeth chattering. “Even in death. And so will Father Gabriel.”

“End it, Christian,” I told him softly. His eyes lifted to mine. After a second of staring at me, he turned to Vittoria.

“May the Holy Spirit free you from this miserable life and your sins swallow you whole with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

A chill passed through me and I stared wide-eyed as he aimed his gun at her head. That was a bit… scandalous. I’d heard rumors of his famous last rites in the underworld, but hearing them stated was a bit too much.

“Wait—” Vittoria uttered, but she never got to finish whatever pathetic plea she’d been about to spew.

It was so quiet I could hear my own heartbeat when Christian’s gaze suddenly came to me. And just like that, our marriage agreement was set and sealed.

In sin. In blood. In stone.

Chapter Seventeen

IVY

Cobra’s soft snores echoed all around me as I read—correction,triedto read.

It had been twenty-four hours since Vittoria DiLustro was shot, her body buried in an unmarked grave. Soon after, Christian brought me and Cobra to his penthouse in the heart of Philadelphia.

The moment we passed the threshold of the luxury penthouse, he’d said, “There’s food in the fridge. Stay here. Cobra will protect you.”