Page 11 of The Empress

I softly press the door shut before locking it. Walking to the double bed, I sit down on the side and nibble at my bottom lip while I process the new information.

I hate that our trip is being cut short, but from what I’ve just overheard, there’s something dangerous brewing in the air. We should go home before we get caught up in something bad.

Leaning to the side, I pick up my phone and type out a quick message to Kristen.

Haven: We’re cutting the trip short. Mom still has to change the flight, so I’ll send you the details once I have them.

The text goes through, and a second later, my best friend reads it.

Kristen: Oh no! Why? I thought you were having fun.

Haven: My mom doesn’t like my uncle, and we think he’s involved in something shady, so we’re coming home.

Kristen: Oh God. Yes, rather come home. I don’t want anything bad happening to you on the other side of the world.

Leo pops into my mind, and it has me typing another message.

Haven: In other news, I saw the hottest man ever tonight. I swear, he looks exactly like he stepped out of a romance book.

Kristen: Tell me you got a photo of him.

Haven: Unfortunately, not. I was too busy staring at him to think of stealing a photo.

Kristen: Boooo.

Kristen: Once you’re back, we can read all our favorite books like we wanted to.

Haven: Yeah. I’m going to shower and sleep. I’ll let you know once my mom’s booked our flights.

Kristen: Okay. Good night!

Leaving my phone on the bed, I get up and dig out a pair of shorts and a cami from my luggage. I’m too lazy to unpack, so I’m living out of the bag.

While I shower, my thoughts return to what Mom said and the conversation I overheard.

It’s such a pity things turned out this way. I was really looking forward to spending more time with Liliana.

LEO

Throwing the car door open, I climb out while scanning the other vehicles as they pull up to the shipping yard.

To my left lie piles of steel rods, and to my right is a building consisting of offices that’s attached to a warehouse. It’s pretty quiet today because there’s no freight being moved.

My gaze lands on Luciano, where he’s standing beside Klodian, who’s one of my best men. Luciano looks nervous as fuck, sweat pouring down his face and forming damp patches on his shirt.

He isn’t going to last long in our world.

Nicolo should’ve trained Liliana to take over the family business. She has more guts than her brother. Nicolo is old school, though, and he’ll never let Liliano take Luciano’s place.

“Ready?” Massimo asks while checking the magazine of his machine gun.

I begin to walk toward the entrance of the building, muttering, “Yeah. Let’s get this over with.”

I have thirteen men with me. My scout counted only four men guarding Vito Santoro, so the attack should go down smoothly and be over in a matter of seconds.

We enter the lobby and proceed down the hallway that leads to the entrance of the warehouse, where Santoro should be busy preparing a shipment of drugs.

The man has been smuggling cocaine through my territory, thinking I wouldn’t find out.