Page 59 of Taken by the Mafia King (Kings of Philly #1)

KILLIAN

“ S tupid bitch.”

My mother’s voice was the only sound in the foyer when I rushed out of my office and looked up just in time to see her shove Sera from the top of the stairs.

Sera’s arms shot out, but she didn’t manage to grab anything. Her body sailed through the air in slow motion, like a kite riding the breeze but quickly losing the current and heading to the ground in a rush.

Instinctively, I dove with my arms out, reaching for her, praying I could cushion the fall.

My knees bit into the cold, hard floor, cracking the mosaic marble.

I gritted my teeth against the silent scream of pain radiating through my legs.

Sera’s head landed on my shoulder, my arms beneath her back, holding her off the unforgiving floor.

Pulling her to my chest, I looked up at my mother, who stood at top of the stairs with a fucking smug look on her face.

A choked sob escaped Sera that cut me so deeply I found it hard to think rationally for a moment. I turned her in my arms to face me, still holding on tight, and reached up to hold her face in my hands. I looked into her eyes and she tracked me easily, no sign of confusion.

“Did you hit your head?” I asked.

She clung to my shirt and shook her head.

I looked back up at my mother, whose expression had shifted from gleeful to irate.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” I roared. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

Mother puffed on her cigarette and tossed it on the carpet, tamping it out with her foot. “Doing what you don’t have the balls to do, son.”

“Get back to your room,” I growled.

“I am your mother. Carmine built this house. And I made you. Who the hell do you think you are? I told you to discard her. You had your chance to do it cleanly. But clearly, as the matriarch, I’m the one who has to handle business.”

I’d stopped listening after the words “made you.” I gently lowered Sera from my lap onto the marble, where she pushed up on her hands, her weight on her right hip.

I moved to the bottom of the stairs, my knees aching with every step.

“I don’t give a fuck who built this house.

This house is mine . This syndicate is mine .

Dad is dead. I’m the fucking king now. I have warned you time and time again to stay out of my business.

This is your final warning, Mother. Don’t make me regret giving you another chance.

Blood is not thicker than water. You should know that by now. ”

She looked down at me with nothing but hate in her eyes. Her gaze shifted to where Sera lay on the floor, trying to find the strength to get up.

“Your weakness is showing, my boy,” she taunted. “You’re running this house like a brothel and losing control of your whores. It’s not my fault this one is so clumsy. She fell, Killian. What was I supposed to do?”

“Stop talking,” I said.

She smiled and rolled her eyes, chuckling to herself as she turned on her heel and walked down the hall.

Growling, I turned back to help Sera, giving her a hand as she got back to her feet. Her body trembled like she’d been dumped in icy water, and she wrapped her arms around herself in a tight embrace.

The look on her face had me wanting to tear the world in half and lay it at her feet, if only to see that fire in her eyes again.

But this was her fault. If she’d only listened to me, she wouldn’t be in this position to begin with. The anger toward my mother shifted. I bit back an irritated grunt.

“Thank you,” Sera said weakly. The tone of her voice was enough to set me off. Were we back to that? The scared little girl, frightened by everything?

“You did this to yourself. I’m sick of your misbehavior, Serafina. Barging into my office. Thinking you own the place. Thinking that you own me.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her eyes glazing over a bit.

“Don’t start with me,” I growled. “Don’t play meek and coy now that you almost got yourself killed.”

Her gaze settled on her feet.

I ran my tongue over my lower lip and took her by the arm. My mother had lost her mind, but she was right about something. I’d lost control of Sera, giving her too much freedom.

I walked her up the stairs and back up to her room.

She didn’t protest. She walked to the window as I came into the room behind her and slammed the door closed.

“You’re done, Sera. I can’t allow you to freely move around this house anymore.

It’s too dangerous, and you’re stirring up all kinds of shit. ”

“Just kill me then.” Her eyes flashed with something beyond sadness when she turned to look at me. Was she caught in a memory? Still dazed from the fall? I couldn’t decipher what was happening in her mind. “Why are you waiting?”

“What?” I took a step toward her but halted when she looked at me over her shoulder, her eyes glazed with tears.

“Your mother was strong enough to try, at least. I would have been thankful for it. As I fell, I almost felt relieved.”

“What happened to the girl from last night?” I asked with a thick, short laugh laced with rage. “Or the one who stormed into my fucking office carrying a goddamn finger?”

“You should have just let me hit the tile! Why are you stringing me along? Do you know how much this hurts?” Her voice broke and shattered through the room.

“Learning all of my family’s secrets like this?

Knowing that I was so worthless to my own father, the only family I had left in the world, that he’d sell me as a sex slave and profit from his own daughter’s body, her misery, and her death?

You wouldn’t know, would you? You can’t possibly know what this feels like. ”

“Sera.”

“Don’t,” she said with a wave of her hand. Some of the paleness retreated from her face as she sucked in a sharp breath and met my eyes. “You should have let this end. You should have let your mother kill me because it’s obvious you can’t finish the job.”

“Sera, what the fuck is the matter with you?”

“I know who I’m talking to!” she cried. “I know who you are and what you’re capable of.

I know that you’re the Mano Della Morte, the most feared boss in history.

But when it comes to me, all you want is games.

I’m tired of playing. End this merciless act, please.

” She came forward, taking my hand and placing it on her neck.

Her pulse throbbed beneath my hand as she pressed it hard against her skin.

I wrapped my fingers around her dainty neck on impulse, but I didn’t squeeze. I could. I could’ve ended her right then and there like I had so many others.

“Do it,” she whispered. “You won. You broke me. You’ve tortured me to the point of insanity. I don’t know who I am anymore. I don’t know up from down and I have no idea where to go from here. Do it, please.”