Captive Queen (Mafia Queens #1)
Prologue
PROLOGUE
GAbrIEL
I t was hard to watch my brother screaming.
But it was too late to prevent his death. If only he had listened to me. Now, I had to cross my arms over my chest. David reached for me, letting out a desperate scream. As his face was twisted in agony, a wave of revulsion rushed over me.
He was so pitiful.
It was best, perhaps, that it ended this way.
She was always going to ruin him.
My gaze flickered toward the house in the distance.
Celia’s bodyguard was dragging her up the steps. Armato had given up on carrying her; his hand was knotted through her dark hair. A bruise was blooming on her cheek. She was screaming.
But for me, all that noise had faded. It sounded like background music.
“You’ve got no stomach for violence, huh?” There was a nasty sneer across Royal Carmichael’s face. “Is your little brother your weakness?”
“I don’t have any feelings regarding violence. I don’t savor it like you do, and I don’t fear it, either.” I pulled my gun from my holster. “But I will end this, if you like. To show my loyalty.”
David swayed on his knees, his eyes wide in his bloodied face. My little brother used to look at me as if he adored me, but now he stared at me in terror.
It would have broken a better man’s heart.
“You should have stayed away from Celia Carmichael,” I told him. “I told you. Her father told you. Actions have consequences.”
I cocked my head to one side, studying him. In the distance, Celia was still screaming. The sound grew muffled as she was dragged into the house and shut away.
“You’ve brought her nothing but pain,” I told him. “And now, this ends with that cruelty on your conscience.”
I pressed the gun to my brother’s temple. He tried to get up, tried to lunge forward and fight. He always had so much spirit.
I pistol-whipped him across the face. His nose shattered. The next strike destroyed his orbital bone.
Being pretty hadn’t helped him much in life, after all. It had drawn him and Celia together.
Now he couldn’t look at me as if I had betrayed him.
I raised the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
One day, I’d own this whole city.
I’d do whatever it took.