Chapter 39

Nikolai

T he brief moment of shared relief that De Luca is finally dead and we're all still alive is short lived as we hear guards rushing toward us, no doubt drawn by the gunshot.

"Get behind something," I order Arianna and Adelina, picking up the dead guard's gun, prepared that I might have to fight our way out.

I find cover and aim my gun at the door as De Luca's men come running in, guns drawn. They spot the dead men and I'm just about to fire when Adelina calmly steps out from her hiding place.

"Stand down," she orders.

To my amazement, they obey her.

What the fuck is going on?

"You can come out, they won't hurt you," Adelina states confidently with a smile on her face.

I hesitate for a moment, trying to process what's happening, but before I can decide how best to handle the situation, Arianna steps out, clutching Mads.

"What's going on Adelina?" she asks, confused and frightened.

Immediately, I come out, my gun trained on the men, and place myself between them and Arianna.

"Nikolai, really, there's no need for weapons. These men answer to me," Adelina says calmly. I'm not sure what is happening here, rather than the scared, beaten woman who turned up unexpectedly at my safe house, Arianna's sister is standing tall with the bearing of a queen surveying her domain.

I lower my gun fractionally but don't put it down. Seeming satisfied, Adelina nods. She walks over to the body of her father and kicks him sharply in the ribs before spitting on him. Behind me, I hear Arianna's sharp inhale at the sight.

"May you rot in hell Papa dearest," she hisses, then turns to Arianna. "Well done, Arianna, I was worried you wouldn't have the guts to pull the trigger. It seems we're more alike than I thought," she says with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.

"Can you please explain what the fuck is going on?" I ask tensely, looking from Adelina to the guards and back again. Their weapons are still drawn in readiness, but they appear to be looking to her for orders.

"Oh, of course, you have no idea! Why, I planned this whole thing," Adelina exclaims triumphantly. I had no idea what Arianna's sister had been like before, but the woman standing in front of me appears less like a victim, and more like some of the sadistic men I have had the misfortune of dealing with in the past.

Arianna is rigid with fear, and I sense that she is as unsettled as I, by the change in her sister.

Adelina smiles in a manner that brings to mind a snake, coiled and ready to pounce on its cornered prey, "I knew you'd never ally with my father and that you wanted him dead by your hand, or dear Arianna's, so I had to orchestrate a way for that to happen without you becoming suspicious. Of course, Father was only too willing to go along with my plan to kidnap your child. We knew you'd come running to save us both. Though the stupid old fool didn't think you'd kill him." She gives De Luca's dead body a prod with her toe, eliciting another gasp from Arianna. "He thought he was so safe with my men guarding him. That our alliance would protect him. As if I'd continue to ally with an idiot like him!" she exclaims her eyes ablaze with a crazed look.

"Why not just kill him yourself? It's clear you had access and the means to do it," I ask keeping my voice level.

I don't like the frantic energy that's radiating off her. The scared, vulnerable woman who came to us is no longer there. Now, she's like a wild animal, unpredictable. Just as likely to seem sweet and tame one minute and bite you the next.

"Where's the fun in that?" she says with a laugh. "Besides, I figured you'd be more amenable to an alliance if you got to take out the man you've been hunting for the past couple of years. That you'd owe me one," she adds with a shrug that's anything but casual.

"Adelina, I don't understand. What do you mean ally with you? Why are these men listening to you? Why would you take my daughter from me and risk her life?" Arianna asks her voice tremulous and confused.

"Must you be so dense, dear sister? The child was never in any danger, it was all under control. And I thought it would be obvious," she cries throwing her hands up and pacing the room like a caged tiger. " I'm Don Di Stefano!"

"You mean because of your husband, his men answer to you?" I ask, not following her.

She shakes her head and looks at me like I'm an imbecile. "No. I didn't say that, did I? I told you my husband Di Stefano is dead, I killed him. I just didn't tell you when I killed him."

"When did you kill him?" Arianna asks, her voice small and I can tell she's as amazed by the change in her sister as I am.

"Let me see… oh it must have been six years ago?" Adelina replies nonchalantly.

"Six years and you never once tried to contact me? To come back for me!" Arianna asks, clearly hurt.

"Yes, sorry about that, but I had an empire to build, didn't I? At the time, Father was useful to me, and he didn't want me to contact you as part of our agreement," she says casually, as though unaware she's breaking Arianna's heart.

"What agreement?" I ask through gritted teeth.

"We agreed I would act as Di Stefano while running his Mafia and we would pretend that I was dead, and he was alive. It was easier that way."

It's clear now that my suspicions about her were correct. She wasn't who she claimed to be. She didn't seem surprised that Arianna had a daughter, and she knew exactly where to find me, something a prisoner would unlikely know. She's been playing us the whole time. I look at the fading bruise on her face and realize the woman is mad. She must have deliberately done this to herself to make her story more believable. I can't believe I fell for it, that I didn't trust my instincts.

"Why would he agree to that? Why would Di Stefano's men follow you?"

I'm genuinely intrigued by how this small woman had masterminded a powerful empire without anyone knowing. She looks offended, tossing her hair over her shoulder. In this moment, she looks like a twisted version of her sister, the evil twin.

"Because I'm good at it. Di Stefano was a fool. He didn't see my potential. Father knew he was weak, that he would use me as his bride to beat and rape, never realizing I was the mastermind behind all of Father's greatest achievements and plans. Father had raised me to take over his Mafia, but I wanted more. I wanted to expand it to greatness."

Arianna and I watch, amazed by what we're hearing.

"I suggested I would marry Di Stefano, endure him, and find out his secrets. I would get close to his men and give Father the ideas to suggest to Di Stefano to gain his trust. It was the perfect arrangement. But Di Stefano started getting greedy, more violent, drinking, whoring, and gambling. A loose end, likely to spend every dime we made. So, I took him out. His men were only too happy to follow me for the promise of bigger and better things. I earned their loyalty," she states jutting her chin out proudly.

Despite what she says, I suspect the men in her employ are only loyal to one thing, money.

"Father was happy to continue to follow my plans, they were after all far superior to anything the old fool could think of himself. But then he too outgrew his usefulness. Despite all my hard work, he still wasn't aspiring to greatness and was too stubborn to ally with you because of an old feud with your family. He had to go," she says with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.

If what she's saying is true, then she's more dangerous than we could have imagined. She's a master manipulator and clearly mentally unstable. I eye her suspiciously, unsure of my next move. I pride myself on running my business the old-fashioned way by the career criminal code of ethics, with no dirty underhand tricks. It's why I never wanted to partner with Di Stefano or De Luca. Especially since they both dealt in human trafficking of both adults and children—something I abhor. If she's the brains behind both their operations, I have no intention of partnering with her now either. She's deluded if she's convinced herself otherwise.

Quietly and calmly, Arianna comes to stand closer behind me, keeping Mads shielded but looking around me to glare at her sister.

"What do you mean, Father went along with your plans? Was it all you? Your faked death? The murder of Nikolai's father and the destruction of the Tanakas? The arrangement of my marriage to Lucchese? Selling Maria into that horrendous life only to bring her back and force her to take my place?" she asks, keeping her voice level and hiding the depth of emotion I know she must be feeling.

At the suggestion that it was Adelina who ordered my mother's murder, my blood runs cold. There's no way I can let her live if it's true. Revenge is so close.

"Yes, all of it!" Adelina exclaims gleefully clapping her hands together like a child on Christmas morning, seemingly oblivious to the fact that neither of us will be impressed by this information and that it will have the opposite effect.

"You're not the Adelina I knew. You let me mourn you. You allowed Father to control and force me into being something I despise. You let Maria be beaten and raped and treated like an animal. For what? Money? Power that you don't even get credit for? I don't recognize you. You're a monster," Arianna declares in horror.

"Don't you forget it, baby sis. I'm not the poor defenseless girl you knew. That girl never existed. You were always so weak, so annoying, just like that brat of yours, always crying. I had to pretend and play nice just to shut you up. Thank fuck Maria was able to keep you happy and out of the way. You were insufferable. I couldn't wait to get away from you and your soft, weak heart. I thought tonight that perhaps you've changed, become a sister I could be proud of—you didn't even hesitate to kill dear old Papa. But it seems I was wrong," Adelina spits, her face contorted in a mask of hate that makes Arianna recoil as though slapped.

And then all hell breaks loose.