Page 34 of Sins of the Orchid

Sins of the father are the daughter’s to pay.

You crumbled my empire.

Now I’ll crumble yours.

Blood for blood.

It’s her turn to scream.

Rage as cold as ice shot through my veins, and my teeth clenched with fury, making my jaw hurt. Death surrounded us, women that could be Amore but weren’t…. a warning. They didn’t have her, but they were coming for her. The question was why?

Regardless of the reason, one thing was for sure. They had signed their death warrant. I would kill every one of those fuckers. There would be no mercy from me. My ears buzzed and blood pumped through my veins feeding the inferno, making me see red.

Fiery rage.

Crimson blood.

Scarlet hair.

I inhaled a deep breath, the smell of death and blood mixing in my lungs. Then my eyes locked on a woman, her eyes a pale blue, staring into nothingness. Wrong eyes. I needed to focus my mind on the green gaze, the colors of cool moss that soothed me from within. I needed a clear head. If I was to protect Amore, I needed a clear mind and lethal aim.

I re-read the message. The message was clearly for Savio.Blood for blood. The question was were they coming for Savio’s blood or Amore’s? If this container was any indication, my bet would be they were coming for Amore. In order to make her father pay.

Turning back to Luigi, I hardened my gaze and my tone.

“Amore can’t stay in New York.”

CHAPTER10

Santino

Ithrew the bloody clothes into the fireplace of my office and lit the match. The fireplace came in handy, more than once, for burning evidence. We came back from our raid in Harlem barely an hour ago. It was rather bloody and deadly, for them. I had to clean up in my private bathroom before getting to my office work.

I was still annoyed that the most important one got away. He was the one we needed. That fucker was after Amore.

* * *

Carrera got a tip. The men that dumped those dead women on my dock were hiding in Harlem. We didn’t hesitate.

I had a weapons room in most of my establishments that I used for business. I tucked one gun in the back of my pants and one in my holster.

“Help yourself,” I offered Carrera. He had his own weapons, but I’d rather go straight to the location and deal with this than take a detour.

With a nod, he stepped forward and armored himself with knives and a couple of guns.

“This next thing might take the relations with Venezuelans to a whole new level,” Gabriel said. “Are you ready for it?”

He studied me, expression grim.

“They took it to a whole new level when they dropped a container full of dead women on my dock,” I gritted out, my eyes cold and my jaw ticking. “When they attacked Amore.”

He stilled. “They attacked her again?”

Gabriel waited, his whole posture tense. Carrera had never met Amore, but for some reason, his interest in her rubbed me the wrong way. Call it me being an overprotective big brother… no, not brother. Maybe a cousin. Whatever!

“No.” I didn’t elaborate further. The truth was that this war started a long time ago with Amore’s grandfather. And when they came into my city and dared to attack a girl under my protection… they took shit to a whole new level.

Carrera stood back as I took one more weapon and left. We swept out of the room, down the hallway, and out the back door from my downtown strip club.