Brutal King (The Seven Deadly Sinacores #7)

Chapter 1

1

SOFIA

A Few Months Earlier…

“A gilded cage is pretty, but its bars have the same exact purpose as iron ones. To hold someone prisoner.”

Jenn rolls her eyes. “You’re so dramatic.”

“Am I?” I lift my gaze toward Victor. “My ride is here.”

She looks in the direction I’m staring and gasps. Leaning against the car parked next to the sidewalk of the shopping center, is my driver.

“Damn. How did Victor know where you were?” She grabs my arm and whispers, “Do you think your brother placed some sort of tracker on you?”

“Yes,” I say matter of fact. It annoys me to no end that Luca would do this to me.

After ditching my economics class, I met up with the one friend I’m allowed to have because she’s passed the “vetting” process my father set in place.

I’m sure the only reason that happened is that she’s a straight- A student with absolutely no ties to any criminal organizations, a clear background check, her parents are both surgeons who have also set high expectations upon their daughter, and they overprotect her by providing her with her very own bodyguard.

Pops was so afraid I’d be corrupted by some bad influence—never mind his own occupation— that it didn’t occur to him I might be the one to corrupt a friend.

Not that I’ve corrupted Jenn against her will, she’s been more than willing to be set free from her cage. All I’ve done is give her some ideas. Very little arm twisting required.

Today is a good example of that. It was much too beautiful to remain cooped inside, studying a subject so boring I nod off the instant Mr. Wells starts to speak. So, I suggested we slip outside for some fresh air. I never said where, that was all Jenn.

Unfortunately, while she was able to lose her guard, it appears I wasn’t as lucky.

“Albert was easier,” Jenn says, referring to my old keeper , as I used to call him. “I liked him more.”

“Which is why Luca let him go.” I sigh, recalling with fondness the days when we could get away and no one would be the wiser. Albert either didn’t notice, or was too tired of chasing after me to care.

“Guess your brother is stricter than your dad was,” Jenn remarks the obvious.

I nod in agreement.

After Pops died, Tony, my sweet eldest brother, tried to push for more security measures. But I easily persuaded him to let me live a little. To remember what it was like when he was twenty-one. He was easy to convince because he was soft and kind and his heart was so big.

But he still tried to do his job as my guardian. As long as I asked for permission, and he knew where I was at all times, I had a semblance of freedom. I could go out with Jenn whenever I pleased, to campus parties, restaurants, shops.

It all ended two months ago when Tony was murdered and Luca took over the famiglia and with it, my life.

Luca isn’t like my father. But he’s not like Tony either. I’m not sure if he’s even anything in between.

I must admit it took me by surprise, even for someone who was always pigheaded. Luca wasn’t one to be corralled by anyone. He rebelled against my father’s control from the beginning. It’s why he moved out the second he could and went on to form what Pops called “his own little gang” with his best friend, Gunn Sinclair.

Out of anyone, I thought he would have been sympathetic toward my need for freedom. A chance to make my own way, choose my own life.

However, it was the complete opposite. Once Luca took control, the bars around me slammed into place so fast I barely had a chance to react. I’ve attempted to talk to him about it, but he shutters his expression and closes himself off to anything I have to say.

It is the way it is because he says it. There’s no compromise.

To an extent, I understand him wanting to come in with a show of strength. He feels the weight of the world on him right now. The responsibility of a big territory like the Sinacore’s is great.

What I don’t get, is the level of protection he’s focused on me. He’s so afraid someone will hurt me, he has not only reinstated all of our father’s rules, but has me watched at all times. Victor isn’t just a driver. Oh no, we don’t do that in the Sinacore family. Anyone who works for us must first and foremost be lethal. It says so on their application.

Our chef, for example, can not only cook a perfect steak, but he can wield his knives against any attacker with deadly precision.

Our housekeeper, Nan, might be older, but she’s one of the best shooters I’ve ever seen.

That means our driver isn’t just a driver. Victor was a transporter for the cartel for years before he came to work for my father. His only mission now is to make sure I get from point a to b alive, and kill anyone who gets in the way.

I let out a long sigh. Luca has put me in a protective embrace that is as suffocating as Pops’s was. More so.

I’m not sure if I can endure it again.

“Come on.” I take Jenn by the hand and drag her toward the car. “We’ll give you a ride.”

She peeks around me at Victor and comes to a screeching halt. “He scares me. I’ll just meet you at the dorm.”

We hug goodbye and I turn to face my guard. I fight the urge to shiver. He is scary looking, huge, with his dark hair in a buzz cut that easily shows the thick scar on his scalp.

That’s all Jenn sees. A scary looking man. She has no idea that Victor isn’t just scary looking, but actually scary.

That’s because she assumes the Sinacores are rich, not that we’re part of the mafia. If she knew, I doubt she’d still want to hang out. I can’t afford to lose my only friend.

Loathe as I am to do it, I make my way to the car. But I’m not two steps in when the tip of my sneaker catches on a crack in the sidewalk. I brace for impact, my hands in front of me protectively as I go down.

Strong arms wrap around my waist and I land gently on my knees. I immediately turn to see who has just rescued me from the nasty fall, but before I can catch more than a glimpse of dark hair, the tall guy is walking away, his gray hoodie concealing him from view.

“Thanks!” I call out after him.

He waves a hand over his head in a “no-problem” sort of gesture.

“Are you all right, miss Sofia?” Victor is in front of me now, offering his hand.

I take it and he pulls me up onto my feet. “Did you see that? I almost ate shit.”

“I saw.”

“Lucky that guy was passing by.”

Victor gives me a curt nod as he looks toward the guy who is quite far now. “Lucky.” I walk behind him to the Cadillac sedan. He opens the back door for me. “I hope you enjoyed your day.”

I toss my bag inside, but pause before getting in myself. “Were you following me this whole time? Or does Luca have a tracer on me somewhere.”

“Yes.” His one word reply leaves a lot to be desired.

“Yes, you were following me? Or, yes, I have a bug on me.”

“I’m answering the question you didn’t ask.”

“Which is?” I urge him to continue.

“You will always be found. There is nowhere you can hide, that we cannot find you.”

“That sounds like a threat.”

“It should.”

I wish I could see his eyes through the very dark aviators he likes to wear. It’s kind of hard to read the unmovable hard lines of his face. I can never tell if he’s serious or just messing with me.

Lifting my Cannon EOS to my eye, the lens aimed at him, I say, “Smile.”

He doesn’t flinch when I snap the photo. Doesn’t move a muscle.

“Whatever.” I slip inside the vehicle and he shuts the door. A few minutes later, I’m tucked back behind the safety of my cell at Columbia University.

My phone buzzes in my back pocket. I ignore it and continue with developing my analog film, transferring to the photo paper, then dipping it into the tray filled with developer, followed by the one with the stop.

I’ve barely pulled the paper from the rinse tray when my phone rings. It’s Luca’s ringtone, the one that’s called Sci-Fi because it feels like I’ve been abducted by aliens since he took over my life.

Of course, I ignore him.

I hang the developed photograph to dry and view my work. A smirk paints across my lips.

“There you are,” I say. Victor’s image stares back at me, and this time, I can see him .

That’s what I love about photography. You might be able to hide from the naked eye, but not from the lens.

Again, my phone rings.

“Ugh. Fine!” I take off my gloves and exit the darkroom. “Hello.”

“I’ve been calling for fifteen minutes.”

“I thought I was allowed to take the classes I actually want to on my own time. So that’s what I’m doing. Something I’m sure you’re aware of since you’re watching everything I do.” I scan the room, searching for any suspicious person. A student that doesn’t belong, perhaps. Or maybe even Victor lurking behind a desk.

“I’m not watching you the way I should be,” he says with a huge dose of regret. “And I don’t have a problem with your pastime, Sofe.”

I grind my teeth to keep myself from barking at him that the fact that he considers my passion a pastime is the problem.

“This isn’t a hobby for me, Luca. I’m serious about a career in?—”

“When I call, you answer. Understand?”

Letting out a breath in hopes of calming my ever-increasing anger, I say, “Yes, sir.”

He lets out a breath too, and when he speaks again, his tone is softer. “Sofe, we have an enemy like we’ve never had before. One I have no idea how to protect you from.”

“I don’t need protecting. I can take care of myself.”

“Not from this. So when I call and you don’t pick up and I don’t have eyes on you, I begin to imagine you dead in some fucking ditch. Or worse, gutted in a dirty hotel room.” There’s so much pain in his voice, it makes me regret not having answered him.

Tony’s death was hard on both Luca and me. Even though our older brother was the one Pops groomed to take over as Godfather of the Sinacores, he never achieved that level of ruthlessness our father had. He was gentle and caring. It was in his DNA, and it could not be changed.

God, I loved him so much that sometimes I forget Luca did too because it is in his nature to be ruthless. It translates into the way he loves too, I guess. Ruthlessly. Fiercely. Annoyingly protective.

But the point is, that he loves. He loved Tony. He loves me. That realization tempers my reaction to his overbearingness. I don’t want him to agonize over my safety, always afraid that what happened to our brother will happen to me.

Making sure no one in the lab is within ear shot, I press against the wall and speak quietly. “Please don’t worry about me. I’m not Tony. I have no power in our family. There’s no reason for anyone to want to take me out the way they did him.”

He remains silent for a moment. Then, “You have no idea how wrong you are.”

“I’m not scared, Luca.”

“You should be of the Ferryman.”

A shiver crawls up my spine at the name. I don’t know all the details. What I have been told has been done so begrudgingly, the rest has been through my own snooping because I hate being left in the dark all the time. It was like this with Tony and Pops too. I’m a mafia princess. A porcelain doll born into a world of brutal criminals. It’s like I’m covered in bubble wrap, but I can still see through just enough to understand that the people around me are violent.

None of it has put fear in me like the Ferryman, though. First of all, the name sounds creepy as hell. But that’s not what terrifies me. It’s that he’s a real threat against my only living relative. Luca is all I have left.

From the little I’ve learned, the Ferryman has been taking out the heads of the families that killed his father. Even though the Sinacores had nothing to do with it, at the time, Luca thought he’d murdered Tony too. By the time it was discovered that it had been Uncle Ray who used the Ferryman’s calling card to fool us— two pennies were placed over Tony’s eyes— it was too late. Luca was involved now.

Just because the Ferryman didn’t kill Tony, doesn’t mean he’ll spare Luca’s life. But me?

“You need to worry about you, Luca,” I say. “You’re the one in danger.”

“Anyone I love is in danger. He’s a very powerful man, Sofia. Too powerful for us alone. I’m going to propose an alliance with the other families he’s after. It might be the only way to bring him down. And if we do, he’ll stop at nothing to destroy that. I can’t have you anywhere near this.”

“I’m not,” I assure him. “Columbia isn’t?—”

“Far enough,” he finishes for me.

Something acrid begins to stir in the pit of my stomach. “What does that mean?”

“You’re being transferred to Stanford.”

“Stanford?!” One of the students in the lab glances up from his paper. I mime ‘sorry’ and step all the way out into the hall before speaking again. “Stanford? As in, California?”

“Good. You’ve heard of it.”

“Luca, Columbia wasn’t my choice, but I accepted it. I took the classes Pops wanted me too. I’ve obeyed every order.” Not exactly true, but he doesn’t need to know that. “I’ve done everything asked of me in exchange for the little freedom I have. Now you want me to give up my only friend and the only class I actually love? No. Not happening.”

“It’s not up for discussion.”

“I’m twenty-one years old, Luca. You cannot tell me?—”

“I pay for your tuition which means I can decide where you go.”

“I’ll get a student loan and a job. Which I want anyway,” I declare, all of the softness toward my pigheaded brother gone.

“Doing what exactly?” The question is dripping with skepticism of my capabilities, and it grinds on my nerve endings.

“I’ll make coffee, clean toilets, or maybe I’ll pull a page from your book and sell drugs.”

“The hell you will!”

“You don’t think I can? I’m getting an education in political science and government for crying out loud. Not only can I sell illegal shit, but I can probably do it better than you.”

There’s a loud exasperated sigh. “Sofia.” Teeth grinding. “I have no doubt of your abilities. But the last thing I want is for you to go into this business. You’re better than that. I just want you safe.” And there it is again, that pained tone that makes my heart squeeze. Then he ruins it by saying, “So don’t give me a hard time. You’re going to Stanford even if I have to drag you there myself.”

My grip around my phone tightens. For the briefest of moments, I wish it was Luca’s neck. I wish I could hurt him.

“Yes, brother dearest,” I mock. “Brother knows best.”

“I do,” he says, completely missing the movie references. “You’ll like it. You’ve always wanted to see the world. This is the start to that.”

“You’ll actually let me?” I ask, adding my own skepticism to the question.

“When I kill the Ferryman, we’ll talk.”

“Yeah right.” He’ll never give me freedom. If it’s not a ferryman, it will be a slayer or some other killer.

“Sofe—”

“Whatever.” Now it’s me that cuts him off as I hang up.

A text message comes in two seconds later.

Luca: Victor will be waiting at the door at seven in the morning. Be ready

.

Something wicked suddenly possesses me, and I grin.

I look up to the ceiling and press my hands together, my phone between them, and say in a singsong voice, “Oh Ferryman, oh Ferryman, come to me. Come save me from this awful man, come take me home with thee.”

My smile fades and I’m filled with horror as I realize what I’ve just said. If the Ferryman were to come for me, there’s only one place he’d take me. To Hell.

“I didn’t mean it,” I whisper.

But there are some things you can’t take back.