Wicked King (Kings of Temptation #4)

1. Endless Dance with Death

CHAPTER 1

ENDLESS DANCE WITH DEATH

M arco

The damp air of the abandoned warehouse clings to my skin, heavy with the stench of rust and old seawater. My twin brother, Nico, stands at my side, his breaths measured, a stark contrast to the rapid thundering of my heart that I’m certain must be echoing through the stillness. Beside him, Jimmy and Max are crouched with guns drawn. None of us are strangers to this endless dance with death, but tonight, the air is electric with something fierce, something desperate.

A simple visit to one of our warehouses to check on inventory had turned to this. A fucking deadlock. Ever since Qian’s death, the Four Seas have been out of control. Without a strong leader, their violence grows more wild, more reckless. And tonight, they have us cornered, their whispers slicing through the silence like the faint hum of a blade. Their shadows, a sea of navy, loom across the stacked crates and the moonlit floor of the warehouse .

Nico raises his hand and signals, three, two… and one—the world erupts in chaos.

Gunfire thunders, a deadly symphony of violence. I duck behind a container, the cold metal a sharp contrast to the warmth pooling in my veins. I peek around the edge, my eyes cutting through the murky darkness to meet the hungry gazes of our assailants. Fucking Lei Wang and his rebel squad. They’ve gone completely off the rails.

I squeeze the trigger, my gun kicking back against my palm. The bullets fly through the warehouse like vengeful spirits seeking retribution, cutting through the air with a purpose. Somewhere to my right, Nico releases a round of destructive strokes, his shots finding their marks with the precision of an artist. Funny, since my brother paints to escape the madness of the world in which we live.

"Marco, watch out!" His voice cuts through the gun blasts, and I swivel, catching the glint of a barrel in the dim light. My body moves on instinct, years of survival threading through my muscles. The shots ring out, a staccato against the lower hum of battle, but I dive behind a stack of crates.

Missed, bastardo .

The damned Four Seas are relentless, the growing numbers following their new rebel leader an ever-encroaching tide. They must be stopped.

Bodies fall, whispers turn to shouts, and the bloody dance continues. I hazard a glance over my shoulder at Nico. It’s been a while since he’s participated in a shootout. He’s taken a backseat since his precious Maisy moved in. Now, my brother is completely pussy-whipped. I can’t say I blame him, the redhead is gorgeous, but for me, variety is the spice of life.

Max crouches behind a tower of crates, discharging his weapon with deadly precision. My twin’s driver was a sniper in another life. Now he prefers chauffeuring the CEO of Gemini Corporation around town than this sort of shit. But when you lead two lives, the upstanding CEO in the spotlight and the mafia boss in the dark shadows of night, the two tend to blend at the worst possible times.

Sirens wail in the distance, and the barrage of gunshots fall away as quickly as they’d started. Nico appears beside me and clasps my shoulder. “Let’s get the hell out of here before the cops swarm the place. Gemini Corp cannot afford this sort of bad publicity.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

Jimmy stalks out of the shadows, his dirty-blond hair driven up in spikes. With my brother taking a backseat in the underground operation, his former right-hand man has started clinging to my side. “I lost Lei.”

“Fuck,” Nico grits out. “That asshole needs to be put down if we have any hope of establishing some sort of peace in Manhattan.”

Smoke veils the warehouse like a shroud, bodies strewn across the concrete. Dodging lifeless forms, I follow my brother out with Max and Jimmy trailing behind us.

I grunt. “Peace, that’s funny.” As if the ongoing feud between the Italians and the Chinese wasn’t bad enough, there were still the Russians and the Irish, and now the Puerto Ricans were making their move.

“You have to admit things have been better with the Kings since… you know.” Nico pushes the metal door open with a loud squeal.

Nodding, I press my lips into a tight line. Our half-brothers, Luca and Dante Valentino run King Industries by day and the notorious Kings by night. Until a few months ago, my brother and I had dedicated our lives to ruining theirs. Then Nico fell in love, certain secrets came to light, and everything changed.

The streetlamp in the dim alleyway flickers as we quicken our pace with the howling sirens nearly upon us.

“I don’t think we’ll ever find peace with the Four Seas, not now that Qian’s gone and Jia is in charge.” In charge , that’s laughable, really. The female heir of the Four Seas’ throne wants nothing to do with her family legacy, which is exactly what has resulted in this shitshow.

“I think you’re wrong, brother. You just need to be open to the possibility.”

I shake my head and mutter a curse. Qian was bad enough, a fucking psycho who kept his father’s head in a box after he murdered him to steal his throne. Before Qian was killed, he had tried to rope my brother into an arranged marriage with his sister, Jia. Nico had already met Maisy and was too far gone to even consider it. Ever since then, my twin doesn’t let a day go by without hinting at an arrangement for me and the dark-haired Asian beauty.

I’d rather gouge my own eyes out than marry into that family, that girl.

Sure, she’s hot as fuck, but tying myself to one woman for the rest of my life sounds like hell. I gave love a shot once and everything went to shit. Not to mention the extra bonus of inheriting the disastrous Four Seas… No, thank you.

There must be another way to keep the third leg of the Chinese Triad from imploding and taking down all the Lower East Side along with it. We just have to find it.

I slide into the backseat of Nico’s BMW while Max and Jimmy take the front. I already know my brother’s going to start in on his you-should-marry-Jia speech. I can feel it in the twitch of his jaw and the deep furrow of his brow.

“Don’t start,” I mutter as I shrug out of my jacket. There’s a hole in the sleeve and a matching one on my shirt, along with a gash across my bicep. I hadn’t even felt it in the chaos.

“Start what?” Nico eyes me in that predatorial way he has.

As identical twins, I can usually read my brother better than most. Despite the icy mask he wears, to me, he’s an open book. And maybe now to Maisy too. I find that oddly unsettling. “Trying to guilt me into marrying Jia Guo. ”

The hint of a smile curls his upper lip. Or maybe it’s a sneer.

“I’ve already told you, I’m not doing it.”

“You’re being selfish,” he snaps.

“So were you a few months ago when you refused her.” My eyes taper as I regard my brother. “If you think about it, this whole war with the Four Seas is on you.”

He waggles a finger at me, tsking. “Technically, it was Dante who fired the gun that took out Qian.”

“But it all came down to Maisy, didn’t it? If our half-brother hadn’t busted in guns blazing, you would’ve tortured the asshole to death anyway.”

“True.” He smirks.

“And, anyway, I don’t see a ring on Maisy’s finger yet. You could still marry Jia and end this.”

“Absolutely not,” Nico snarls. “I love Maisy, and I will spend the rest of my life with her. You have no one in your life.”

“That’s completely untrue! There’s Mel, and Laney, and the girl from the club the other night?—”

“Just stop.” Nico’s lips thin out. “And how many times do I have to tell you to stop fucking our executive assistant?”

I shrug. “But Mel does this thing with her tongue?—"

He raises his hand, cutting me off. “You’re only proving my point. It’s time for your manwhoring days to come to an end. For the good of all.”

A chuckle tumbles out. “I disagree. I don’t think the girls would find it good at all.”

“You better open the windows, Max, Marco’s head is getting so damned big it’s going to blow out the glass in the backseat.”

His driver laughs, then Jimmy releases a chuckle. Assholes.

“It’s not arrogance if it’s true,” I mumble.

“I find it hard to believe you’re that memorable in bed.” Nico cocks a dark brow .

“You’ve heard them moaning, fratello .” My twin likes to frequently remind me of our adjoining and thin office walls. “We could always swap places like we used to do when we were kids and see if Maisy notices a difference.” I shoot him a wicked grin. He’s so obsessed with his girlfriend he’d never take me up on the offer, and I know it.

“Don’t be a dick,” he growls. “I’d never do that to my little fox.”

“Lighten up, Nico. You’re no fun anymore.”

“That’s because I grew up, as should you.” His eyes narrow as they raze over me, and an uncharacteristic expression darkens his countenance. “What happened to Isa was a long time ago?—”

I raise my hand, cutting him off as darkness creeps into my vision. “No,” I growl. “Do not speak her name.”

He heaves out a frustrated breath. “Fine, but I don’t want to start a future with Maisy in the middle of a war zone, Marco. And I want a real life with her. I need to give her the happily ever after she deserves.” His hand closes around my shoulder and squeezes. “So please, I’m asking you to at least consider my request.”

Something about his tone and the dark shadows in his gaze tears at my insides. Nico has never pleaded with me for anything.

“Okay, I’ll think about it.”