Chapter 40 – VALENTINA
Forty
VALENTINA
Summer school. Coming from AJ, not surprising. Her first year of high school was…rocky, to say the least. Her rebellious streak reminds me a lot of Remi, which is probably why I love her so damn much.
The halls and smells of this place bring everything back. Some good memories, some not so much.
AJ isn’t answering my texts, and I’m tired of waiting. Her classroom’s empty, too, and I’m starting to wonder if she was ever here today, or if she cut class entirely…until the rising sound of chants and crashing furniture reaches my ears.
A fight.
I don’t even have to guess. I already know she’s involved.
The courtyard is chaos. A crowd of maybe twenty kids has formed a circle, half filming on their phones, the other half climbing onto chairs, yelling and egging the fighters on.
I scan the scene, hoping—stupidly—that my little sister’s just watching from the sidelines.
But I know better.
I shove my way through the mob until I reach the center, where AJ’s got a boy nearly twice her size locked in an armbar. He’s tapping out, but she’s not letting go.
“Alessandra!”
Her blue eyes meet mine, and she has the audacity to smirk.
“Let him go. Now.”
She arches a brow in defiance, twisting just an inch more. The boy squeals, his free hand slapping the floor in pain.
“Now, AJ!”
She holds my gaze for one more second, then finally releases him. The boy rolls onto his side, clutching his arm and groaning. AJ stands, brushing her hair out of her face like she didn’t just body a kid twice her weight in front of his peers and countless livestreams.
“Hey, Val. Ready to go?” she says, picking up her bag and dusting off her uniform skirt.
I say nothing, just watch her stroll past as the crowd breaks into laughter and hoots.
“AJ, wait,” I call after her, and she halts the moment we’re back inside and out of earshot.
“Look, before you go full mom-mode on me, he deserved it, okay.”
Her sincerity makes me glance back, wondering if I should go finish what she started.
“What did he do?”
“He’s a lying, perverted bastard. His fragile ego couldn’t take being shot down, so he started spreading rumors. And when I confronted him, instead of apologizing and admitting he’s a piece of shit, he grabbed my ass.”
She glares over my shoulder, and I don’t miss the tremor in her hands. Not out of fear, but the urge to do more than give him a sore arm.
“I’m sorry,” I say, pulling her into a hug. I need her close to ground me, to stop me from doing something that’ll land me on the evening news. Too many witnesses and too many phones. But this isn’t over.
“He’s lucky I didn’t knock out his teeth and break his fucking arm. I would have if you hadn’t stopped me.” She shrugs. “But I guess kicking his ass in front of everyone will haunt him for a bit. Pussy.”
“Are you okay?” I say, throwing an arm around her as we head toward the parking lot. “I’m sorry that happened to you. Has he ever done anything like that before?”
“He wouldn’t be breathing if he tried that a second time.”
I laugh and tug her closer. “That’s my girl.”
She smiles, her eyes lighting up when she sees my bike. “Not that Poison Ivy isn’t cool, but I need one of these.” Her hand glides over the leather seat. “My birthday is coming up. Hint, hint.”
“Yeah, so Mom can kill me.”
“Fine. I’ll take the Supra instead.”
“Keep dreaming, scrappy.”
Poison Ivy’s still with Remi. The mad scientist is patching her up after Balterra clipped her, bled all over my door, and Maksim punched a hole through my window.
She’ll be out of commission for a while.
I need to smooth things over with Casper before word of Balterra spreads and things go sideways.
Speak of the devil.
CASPER: Val, meet me at my shop. Need to talk.
Shit. I wonder if this is about Balterra.
ME: Be there in one hour.
CASPER: Going out of town. Need you asap.
I look up at AJ, already perched on my bike with her helmet on.
ME: Are you alone?
CASPER: Of course.
ME: Okay. Be there in ten.
“I need to make a quick stop before we head back home.”
Her arms circle my waist, voice filtering through the speaker. “I’m certainly not complaining. Just watch out for cars this time.”
“You’re not funny,” I grumble, and she snorts before dissolving into laughter as I pull into traffic.
“Where are we going?”
“To a friend’s place. You stay outside. I’ll be in and out.”
“A guy friend?”
“Yeah.”
She snickers. “Does Maxy know?”
“It’s nothing like that.”
“You like him a lot, don’t you?”
I hesitate. Eight years apart, Aj and I are close, but she doesn’t get everything the way Remi does. Still, the truth pushes its way out of me in a sigh. “I do. I love him, AJ.”
There’s a long stretch of silence, just the wind and the hum of the engine, until she squeezes me tighter from behind. “I’m happy for you, Val.”
A smile cracks across my face, and I slide a hand over hers. “Thank you. That means a lot.”
“But when Papi kills you, can I have this bike?”
“You little bitch!” I laugh and gun the engine, making her jolt and scream-laugh behind me.
We roll into Casper’s lot a few minutes later. A white Camaro sits alone, eerie in the empty space. I cut the engine, swing off the bike, and shake my hair free from my helmet.
“Stay here. I’ll be out in a minute. Call me if you need anything.”
She nods and tugs off her own helmet.
The chimes above the door jingle as it swings shut behind me. The garage is dark, too dark, but a thin strip of light bleeds from beneath Casper’s office door. My voice echoes in the hollow space.
“Casper? I’m here.”
Silence.
Something coils low in my gut. Instinct. Warning. I curl my fingers around the knob, hesitating, for half a second, then shove it open.
He’s at his desk, hunched over his laptop, earbuds in like he doesn’t have a care in the world. Relief loosens my chest, just enough to take one step inside.
“Shit, for a second I thought—”
Cold metal presses against my temple. My words crumble, and my breath stops. But it isn’t me I’m worried about. Everything inside me sharpens to a single, vicious truth. AJ outside, alone, and completely vulnerable.
“What the fuck, Casper?”
A second man emerges from the coat closet, a gun leveled at my chest. These men look different than Balterra’s typical entourage. They’re too polished. Mafia, maybe. Someone bigger.
Casper stands abruptly, ripping his earbuds out, guilt written all over his face. “Valentina…I-I’m sorry.”
His voice shakes. His hands tremble. And I know he isn’t lying, that he was coerced somehow, threatened, or even paid to lure me here. But it’s too late. The damage is already done, and I’ll never forgive him.
“What is this?” I grind out.
“They’re looking for Dom.”
My stomach drops, but my glare doesn’t waver. “What does that have to do with me?”
The gun jams harder into my temple. “Don’t play dumb, Cain,” the one beside me snaps. “This is bigger than you. So I suggest you start talking.”
He knows who I am. Casper could’ve told him, but something in his tone, it’s familiarity.
He didn’t just learn it. He knew it.
“You have a gun to my head, and I don’t even fucking know you.”
The guy from the closet steps closer, smirking like he’s been waiting for this moment. “Henry. And that’s Pike.” He gestures to the one holding the gun. “Now open that pretty mouth and tell us what we want to know.”
From behind me, Casper stammers, “Val, just tell them. It’s not worth the hassle.”
I stare at the man I trusted and called a friend and defended against Maksim’s accusations. “You sorry son of a bitch. You sold me out and lured me here. I thought we were friends.”
“I’m sorry. What was I supposed to do?”
I shake my head, the betrayal bitter on my tongue. “You coward…he was right.”
The man steadies the gun and barks, “Talk.”
A shot cracks before the words even finish.
The first man folds, blood spreading across his shirt.
Instinct snaps me around to find AJ, gun in hand, diving as rounds from the second gunman punch through the wall.
She fires again from outside, precise and ruthless.
I drop low behind Casper’s desk and find him curled into himself like the pussy he is.
He starts to stammer useless apologies, but I end him with one clean right hook. He goes slack on the floor, out before his mouth can move. “Asshole.”
“Val! He’s hit—come on!” AJ’s voice is frantic. I make a run for her, and we sprint for the back door and scramble onto my bike.
“Go, go, go!” she shouts.
For a split second I think we’ve bought ourselves a clean getaway.
But just a breath later, the second gunman explodes through the garage and tackles her to the pavement.
She hits hard and my heart clenches. I have no idea which gun is in play, but there’s no time to think.
That’s my baby sister. She takes a blow to the face before I can reach her, but keeps fighting, exactly as she’s been trained to do.
I toss the bike, yank the knife from the strap on my ankle, and sprint into the fray, aiming for his carotid. The man pivots as AJ drives a throat punch into him, and my blade bites into his shoulder instead, spinning him down in a spray of cursing and red.
“Alessandra, run!”
Of course she doesn’t listen. She plants her heel, snaps open the blade hidden in the tip of her shoe, and slashes across his throat with a calm, practiced brutality. He falls to his knees, choking, and she goes in for another blow.
That’s when I see her, a silhouette framed behind splintered glass. I dive for Alessandra as bullets tear the air above us, hurling us flat against the brick.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“Val, my gun,” she pants. I snatch the Glock and thumb the mag. A handful of rounds, enough to take this bitch out.
“Stay down,” I order, shoving her face into the dirt.
The woman starts to reload, and I push off, hurling myself upright and pouring lead into the gaping hole of the building.
She stumbles back, blood staining the front of her shirt.
I clamber inside, boots crunching glass, and stand over her and pull the trigger, but the gun jams. I curse through my teeth.
“You shot at my baby sister.”
She gurgles blood and spits in my face.
I wrench the weapon and lash her with it until she’s choking on a cocktail of blood and teeth.
When she raises a trembling hand, begging without words, I catch sight of her ring…and my stomach drops.
A familiar signet.
Ares.
The garage falls into an eerie silence except for AJ’s quick steps behind me and my own ragged breaths.
“Alessandra,” I say, my voice flat. “Go to the bike. Now.”
“Val, what is this? What’s happening?”
“Blood oath.”