CHAPTER NINE #2
“They also blamed the Italians in a weapons deal that went horribly wrong last year and got us mixed up in an unintended war with the Vitales for months,” Valdrin adds. “It forced us to torch our armory.”
I school my expression to hide the horror churning in my stomach. “You want me to take out Connor Quinlan?”
Noel’s smile melts into pure satisfaction. “Who better? You’re trained. Stealth, weapons, discipline. It’s in your blood. Your father’s blood. You have a legitimate reason for revenge.”
Dread pools in my stomach. They want me to kill one guy. A capo. It’s too easy .
“Are you lacking in hitmen?” I lean against the back of the chair. “Take him out yourself.”
“He’s elusive. Heavily guarded.” Noel returns to his side of the table.
It hits me like a bullet to the chest .
La Femme Nikita.
The Russian Sparrows.
I’m a woman.
They think I can get close to Connor in a way no one else can. But do I really want to kill a man for a father I never met? A man that my mother said was so dangerous that she hid me from him.
Even if Levin Berisha is my blood, I consider what will happen in this city if an Irish Mob capo turns up dead. The Albanians don’t hold the same clout as other families, being new and seen as interlopers.
All hell might break loose. Do I want to watch the city crack open with chaos?
Clearing my throat, I say, “And what happens after I kill Connor?”
Noel waves his hand around the penthouse. “This will be yours. I will see to it that you inherit everything. The power, the money, the title.” He lifts one brow at me. “You’ll be a princess. ”
Hearing that word again with more reality attached to it makes my head spin. “If it’s mine, why do I have to earn it?”
Noel sends a look to Valdrin, who stands off to the side, hands in his pockets.
“You have to prove you are strong enough to keep it,” Valdrin answers.
I glance around. “And with one death, this place will be mine?”
“ And mine,” Noel says in a sinister tone.
“Wait. What?”
The kyre eyes me with daggers. “You will live here with me.”
Finally, the scam is revealed.
I’ll send you one thousand dollars if you send me a fifty-dollar gift card .
“Why will you live here?” My throat goes dry. “Level with me, Tahiri. What’s the catch? ”
“The catch, Raina ,” Noel sneers, “is that you must marry me. The council agreed to make me kyre on the condition I marry Levin’s rightful heir.”
Everything inside me turns ice-cold. Two hands land on my shoulders. Not threatening me or detaining me. Calming me. I look up and it’s Valdrin, nodding.
It’s all right, kid. I got your back.
I must be delusional to trust a complete stranger.
I get my shit together and smile with a slow, lethal grin. Noel smiles back. He thinks I’m considering it. Like I actually want him the way other women fall at his feet and suck his dick in his club.
Then, before I can stop myself, I start to laugh. Not polite, not nervous. A real, full-bodied what-the-fuck laugh.
Noel’s eyes glint with amusement. “Something funny to share with me?”
“Yeah.” I push back from the table and smash the glass with my fist. “Is that strength enough for you?”
“What the fuck?” Noel jumps up.
My arm screams in pain, and blood trickles from busted stitches, but I ignore everything and step over the shards to get right in Noel’s face. With a deep husky drawl, I say, “I’d rather put a bullet in my own skull than marry you.”
Anger boils in Noel’s eyes at my disrespect. He backs me against the wall with his hands around my throat. “Is it me you object to, or marriage?”
“Marriage. And you.” I catch Valdrin go still at how Noel is touching me. “I don’t know you. And I don’t want any of this.”
“Then stay Raina Riatt. The DEA agent who put dozens of mafia-connected drug dealers in jail, and not always with the most lawful methods. I will dox you so fast, you’ll be dead or abducted by sunrise.”
Shaking, I realize the catch isn’t the marriage. It’s that I don’t have a choice.
“That’s enough,” Valdrin roars. “Someone clean up this glass before our princess starts slitting throats with it.”
Noel stiffens at his tone and releases me. “Let’s see how far you get out there on your own.”
With lackeys in tow, the kyre struts down a long and shadowed corridor of the expansive penthouse.
“I’ll walk you out,” Valdrin says and gently takes my arm. When I whine in pain, he loosens his grip. “You’re bleeding.”
“Yeah, one of the guys from that club stabbed me. My stitches must have opened.”
“I’ll call a doctor.”
“No. It’s fine,” I bristle. “I’ll stop at a clinic.”
“This should cover it, seeing you don’t have medical insurance anymore.” Valdrin opens his wallet and hands me five hundred dollars. “You did good tonight, Raina.”
His note of approval sends a warm rush through me. Mom never asked about my job, just my love life. When I tried talking about my team and how I was fighting a drug war, her eyes would glaze over.
“And here.” From his back pocket, Valdrin takes out my gun and hands it to me with no hesitation.
“Thank you.” I take the cash and let the 9mm rest in my palm to see if Valdrin reacts.
He doesn’t, so I put it back in my side pocket.
“What now?” I ask with a tight throat.
“We wait for your decision.”
I glance around. “Why aren’t you just abducting me?”
“I talked Noel out of it. I know you,” he says low with a smile. “We will be crowning a new kyre again if you have to live with Tahiri against your will.”
Finally, someone who understands me.
“I don’t know if I can kill someone,” I admit. “On purpose. By myself.”
“Connor Quinlan is our enemy. You’re not alone anymore. You have us.” His words sound reassuring, but my brain has trouble processing them.
I have no job, and I’m all but blacklisted from getting another decent one. Noel will announce my address to every enforcer in every organized crime house I’ve messed with.
It seems doing shady shit is my only option. One bullet in one guilty man’s brain, and I inherit a fortune and a brotherhood of people just like me.
“I’ll be in touch,” I say to Valdrin just to keep them guessing.