Page 99 of Wrathful King

I crawled to the spot where it landed and hid behind the couch, the cool metal handle biting into my palm. I peeked around and my lips parted as I stared at the three people behind him.

Hiroshi, Hana, and… Maria?

35

AMON

“Get out,” I growled. Out of all the places on this planet, I never thought we’d find themhere. In Romero’s home. “Now.”

My mother was as pale as a ghost. The second woman, whom I didn’t recognize, stared at me, pouty with displeasure. And then there was my right-hand man.

Hiroshi’s arm hung limp, blood spurting out of it like a waterfall.Good. He should bleed like a fucking pig. I patted him down and found no weapons.

“Any guards?” Reina called out.

“Just these fuckers,” I spat. “Hiding like cowards.” I locked my eyes on the woman hanging on to my mother’s hand like she was her salvation. So fucking wrong. My mother only ever managed to leave a trail of destruction in her wake. “I have no fucking idea who you are, but you get out too.”

“That’s M-Maria,” murmured Reina. She was standing now, but kept her distance. Fuck, I wished she was hidden away. I didn’t want her anywhere near these people. “She works for Papà.” Reina’s voice came from my side now and I groaned.

“Cinnamon girl, I told you to take cover.”

“I did, but now I’m here. What queen cowers, anyhow?” My eyes were locked on Hiroshi. He was the bigger threat. “Don’t you think that’s odd?”

“What?”

“That there are no guards.”

“I might if my cousin were still the head of the Yakuza.” Her gaze flitted between my mother and Maria. “But the moment any guard supporting Hiroshi and Mother learned I was elected as the head of the Yakuza, they dispersed like chickens. Didn’t they?”

No answer. Not that I expected anything to come out of Hiroshi’s traitorous lips. I wondered how long he had before that arm bled him dry.

“You’ve been playing me and Itsuki all along.” I locked my eyes on him, noting clenching of his jaw. “Did he even kill Ojisan?”

“He did.” He grinned. “With a little help.”

I ground my molars, fighting the urge to empty the magazine into his skull. “It didn’t all go according to plan, did it? You fucking snake.”

“You’re an annoying little shit,” Hiroshi grunted.

“Like I give a fuck,” I deadpanned.

His gaze turned to my wife when he spoke his next words. “And this one just fucking refuses to die.”

“Hiroshi!” My mother’s acting was up to par. She looked and sounded astonished.

I took a step, my grip tight on my gun, but my wife’s fingers wrapped around my wrist, shaking her head.

“Answers first,” she whispered, then turned her attention back to the three individuals who should have been behind us, supporting us, not stabbing us in the back. “Maria, what are you doing here?” Reina sounded more disappointed than I’d ever heard her. “Why did you let them in?”

Her face contorted into a menacing grimace and her lips curled.

“Ihatedyour mother. Selfish prima donna,” she spat. “She thought the world revolved around her yet all she did was destroy it.”Huh?There had to be a language barrier. I wasn’t quite following, and judging by Reina’s expression, neither was she. Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them away. “She didn’t deserve Tomaso.” Okay, if Maria announced she loved Romero, shit was about to get awkward. You’d think he was some kind of casanova of Venice. “She took Hana away from me.”

Confusion rushed through me.Wait? What? Did she mean Hana, my mother?

Reina glanced at my mother, then at me. I shrugged, not understanding the woman I’d never seen before. “Who took Hana away from you?”

“Your mother,” she screamed. “Aren’t you listening?”