The Deadliest Sin Series Complete Collection, page 138
I run my fingers through his dark, unruly hair. “No, it doesn’t. But it sounds like you have a guardian angel out there somewhere.”
He barks out a humorless laugh. “I’m more likely to have demons than angels, kotyonok.”
“That’s true of all of us, isn’t it?”
For a moment, he remains still, considering my words before he nods. “Da, kotyonok. We all have demons and have committed the worst of sins. And it feels like we are all finally being punished for it.”
I squeeze my cunt around his semi-hard cock still buried inside me. “But you’re still alive. And as long as you breathe and your heart beats”—I press my hand against his chest, to where his heart thunders rapidly—“then there’s hope that we will still succeed.”
His dark brows rise. “You still want to move forward when we have so many unknowns?”
“Isn’t now the time to strike? When my brothers and Kat and Galen are off their game? When they’re looking elsewhere for threats?”
He narrows his gaze on me. “I told you—I won’t hurt Galen. The Irish, Italians, and Russians have controlled this city long before the Albanians and your brothers move into it. That’s the way it’s always been, the way it should remain. We need to get back to the old ways, when the families respected each other. Galen understands that and will fall in line.”
“You believe that even after your confession at the meeting?”
“He was angry, but when we reveal our true plan to him, I do believe he will be on board.”
“Even if his sister doesn’t forgive him for allowing Felipe to be removed?”
His grip tightens on me, and he leans in, feathering his lips across mine as his cock fully hardens inside me again. “The only person I care about is you, kotyonok. Galen can deal with the fallout in his own way. Once we’ve regained the city fully, he’ll understand why we had to make sacrifices.”
“What are you sacrificing, Valerian?”
He pulls his hips back and rams into me harshly. “My heart—to you.”
The knock on the door behind me breaks the spell Valerian has cast over me, and he growls low.
“What is it?”
“You need to get out here, pakhan. Now.”
¡Mierda!
The concern in Dmitri’s voice doesn’t sound good.
I squeeze around his cock again in a last-ditch effort to get him to ignore whatever is happening on the other side of that door, and he issues a low groan as he pulls out. My body instantly weeps at the loss, and he releases my hips, letting me slide down the door until my feet hit the floor.
He nudges me to the side so I’m hidden and opens the door as he tucks his dick back into his pants and redoes his belt. “What the fuck is going on?”
“We have armed visitors outside.”
“Bylad!” Valerian glances over at me as I pull my pants back on. “You stay here.”
Like hell.
He steps out into the hall and hustles after Dmitri while I race to the nightstand to grab the gun Valerian keeps there. I pause at the door and wait for them to get far enough away not to notice I’m following, then slip out of the room and hustle to the end of the corridor. Reaching the end, I press my back against the wall so I can hear, but no one can see me from the living room.
Valerian’s unwavering voice floats to me clearly. “Felipe, Andres, to what do I owe this unexpected, surprise visit?”
How the hell did they find us here?
“Let’s drop the pretenses, Valerian.” Felipe’s voice comes cold enough to send a shiver down my spine. “You know why we’re here.”
He isn’t playing. He came here for something and isn’t leaving without it.
Heavy footsteps sound in the living room, and I peek around the corner to try to ascertain what’s happening.
Felipe and Andres stand just inside the door with two men behind them, guns drawn, pointed squarely at Valerian, who stands with Dmitri, Aleksei, and two others, equally armed.
Valerian offers a cool smile. “I’m not sure what you mean, Felipe, unless you’re here with your brother to enact some sort of revenge on me for what I did to Kat”—his gaze flicks over to Andres—“which was one hundred percent earned on her part, Rose. And you know it.”
Andres issues a low snarl and looks ready to shoot Valerian, but Felipe nudges his arm down.
“If we wanted him dead immediately, we would have come in shooting instead of knocking, hermano.” Felipe turns to Valerian. “We want our sister, and once we’re sure she’s safe and out of the way of any stray bullets, then I’ll allow my brother to draw the blood he feels is warranted.”
SOFIA
This is so bad.
How does he know I’m here?
Valerian just grins at Felipe, unconcerned with the overt threat and promise in his words. “And my men will stop you.”
A slow smile spreads across Felipe’s face as he opens his hands wide. “Then, it seems we’re at an impasse.”
I step out from the hallway, my free hand tightening to a fist at my sides at the dick-swinging going on while I raise the gun and point it at Felipe and Andres with the other. “No, we aren’t. All of you are going to put the weapons away.”
All eyes turn toward me—a smug smirk on Valerian’s lips and shocked looks from Felipe, Andres, and their men.
Felipe holsters his weapon and approaches me, arms open, while Andres’ gaze darts from me to Valerian suspiciously. “Sofia, you’re all right, mija?”
I hold up my free hand to stop his advance, centering the muzzle at his chest. “Don’t come at me like that.”
His dark brows fly up. “Like what, mija? I’m so happy to see you’re okay and just wanted to embrace my sister.”
Acid churns in my stomach, rising in my throat. For years, I managed to hide my disdain for them, to keep it buried deep below the sweet smiles and soft demeanor I maintained while growing their empire. I allowed them to believe I am someone I am not. But it’s time for them to understand who and what I really am.
I square my shoulders and shake my head. “I don’t want your embrace or your rescue. All I want is what I’m owed.”
Andres finally lowers his weapon from Valerian and approaches. “What are you talking about, mjia?” He shakes his head, glancing over his shoulder at Valerian and the men still in the tense standoff. “What you’re owed?”
That fact that they can stand in front of me, oblivious to the fact that they’ve been caught in their lies, that their betrayal has finally caught up to them, makes me bark out a laugh.
They exchange a look that makes me wonder if the twin-telepathy thing really does exist.
Felipe settles his hard gaze on me. “Mi querido hermano, I think we have misjudged this situation.” He peers over his shoulder at Valerian. “Sofia is here of her own free will, and we’ve greatly underestimated her.”
Andres’ lips twist into a sneer. “Is this where you’ve been this entire time? Cutter’s friend Preacher let us know that you’d recently resurfaced on the web, and he tracked you here. We assumed you were in trouble. That—”
“I’m not the one in trouble, mis querido hermanos.”
But damn Preacher for finding me.
I knew once I started truly deep diving and trying to help Valerian sort out this threat that there was a chance someone would find me. Covering my tracks from most people is easy. Hiding from a master hacker like Preacher isn’t. He’s even better than I remembered.
Valerian chuckles and makes his way to stand beside me, bringing with him both his men and those belonging to my brothers, who all still hold their weapons ready to fire should anyone cross that invisible line we all walk the edge of so dangerously.
He eyes my brothers, that smug smirk coming back and earning him a death glare from Andres. “You two have no idea what you’re up against in your sister. My little kotyonok has claws.”
I finally lower my gun and step into Valerian’s hold, wrapping an arm around him possessively as he pulls me snugly to his side. “I know everything, mis hermanos. And not just what you think I do. I know it all, every bloody, backstabbing, merciless, unforgiveable detail, going all the way back.” I let my gaze drift to their men standing behind him as a warning. “And if you want your secrets kept that way, I suggest you listen very carefully to what I have to say.”
Any humor drains from Felipe’s face, and Andres’ knuckles whiten around the grip of his gun.
A warm smile at knowing I’ve won—at least temporarily—grows on my lips. “Valerian and I are together. In every sense of the word. We share everything. Now, he knows your dirty laundry, too. And unless you want me to spill every single bit of it to the world, all the evil deeds you’ve done and people you’ve fucked over, all the things that will land you in prison for the rest of your life or worse, you will give me what I have worked so hard for.”
Andres shakes his head, still confused about what’s really happening here. “What is it you want, Sofia?”
Felipe glances at him before smiling at me. “Don’t you see, hermano? She wants the Blood Rose Cartel.”
“What?” His eyes widen. “But she can’t possibly—”
I step out from Valerian’s arms, prepared to do battle with the men who were supposed to love me, care for me, and protect me from everything vile in this world instead of dragging me right into it. My hand holding the gun remains steady as I raise it to them again. “I can’t possibly run the business? What the hell do you think I’ve been doing for the two of you for the last seven years?” I snort and shake my head. “You are both clueless. Blinded by your own ambitions and lies.”
“Oh, I see you quite clearly, mija.” Felipe takes a half-step toward me, hand up in surrender. “You’ve been planning this for some time, haven’t you?”
The hint of respect in his words and eyes makes my chest tighten for a moment, but I breathe through it and nod. “Yes, but I was forced into action early when you came to Chicago. I knew you and Andres would end up at war, and I had hoped you might eliminate each other and make it easy for me to step in. But you never make anything easy, do you, hermano?”
He offers a genuine smile. “What fun would that be?”
“It would have made things simpler, far less work for my men and me.”
Andres raises a brow. “Your men? What men?”
Valerian chuckles and steps up beside me. “Haven’t you two heard? Your sister runs the Luna Cartel.”
For some reason, hearing Valerian say it with such authority and pride makes all the hurt that has brought me to this moment worth it. All the tears, the hours and hours at my computer working, the feelings of betrayal at what they did to me.
My brothers stand speechless, unable to process his words, unable to believe I am capable of it.
“Don’t look so shocked, mis hermanos. I’ve run ours since I was fourteen, too. And now, it’s my time. I’m giving you one chance to step down, to go back to Colombia or wherever else you want to, to disappear with Kat and Rowan and never show your faces again, never interfere with my business again. It’s time to retire.”
Felipe keeps his hard eyes on me, and looking at him now, it’s hard to imagine anyone ever believed he was the pious priest he portrayed himself as for so long. “Or what, mija?”
This man who shares my blood, who shares our real last name, who should have stood up for our family, is the one who killed the people who brought us into the world and handed me over to a cartel like I was some commodity to be traded. “Or…” I move the barrel of my gun up to point between his eyes. “I’ll do what you did to our parents.”
All the air sucks from the room in an instant, both of them going stock still and tense.
“When I said I know everything, I mean…I know everything.”
I look to Andres, the one born Felipe, the one destined to be a priest who ended up in prison and became that which he always hated so much. He, of the two, deserves the least of my ire. But he was still complicit in the plot to lie to me, to keep me insulated from the truth, to keep me locked away in an ivory tower where he believed I belonged.
“I would say I’m sorry it’s come to this brothers, but that would be a lie. The Blood Rose Cartel no longer belongs to you. It will absorb the Luna Cartel and continue doing business under my sole leadership with my allies at my side.”
Valerian inclines his head toward the door. “I suggest you both take her suggestion to heart and disappear. She’s offering you mercy when I would not in her shoes.”
His use of my safe word makes warmth bloom in my chest, a reminder that he’s truly at my side in every sense, that he will defend me and what is mine with his men, his hand, his life, his blood.
Andres shakes his head, his mouth opening and closing a few times, as if he can’t believe any of this is happening. “This isn’t you, Sofia. This isn’t who we raised you to be. You shouldn’t be part of this world.”
The laugh bubbles up my throat and bursts out into the room, making Andres and Felipe flinch. “It’s a little late for that. You used my skills for the last almost decade to advance your goals. You pretended he wasn’t involved”—I motion to Felipe with the gun—“and maintained the ruse. You lied about everything important, even who you are, while I kept the business running and handled everything behind the scenes. You two brought me into this world just as our dear parents did before they were so cruelly killed. Don’t tell me I don’t belong. That this isn’t me. I am Sofia Rose. I am the Blood Rose Cartel.”
Valerian motions toward the door. “Leave here. Leave Chicago. Take your women with you. Disappear now. If you don’t, you know the consequences.”
Andres snorts a sardonic laugh. “We’re all dead anyway if we can’t stop this group after everyone. You say it’s the Albanians, but for all we know, it’s you two.”
His gaze darts accusingly between us, and Felipe nods his agreement.
“The timing of the ‘confession’ from Valerian at the meeting is quite suspect given this new revelation.”
Valerian shakes his head. “It isn’t us. What I said about my limited involvement with Berisha and Dragusha was true. But perhaps if you flee now, you can escape that threat and your sister’s, too. Dodging two bullets.” He grins. “Sounds like a wise course of action.”
Felipe considers me for a moment, his lips tilting slightly into a sad smile. “I’m sorry it has come to this, Sofia. Truly…”
He takes a step forward, and Valerian shifts to put himself between us, but I nudge him to the side, too interested in what Felipe has to say to worry about an ulterior motive on his part.
“One last embrace, sister?” He opens his arms wide. “It’s been far too long.”
For a split second, I see him again as the priest in vestments, the man who used to play with me in the churchyard, who read to me and nurtured me all those years until Andres finally came and took me away.
But it was all a lie.
I shake my head. “No, brother. That time has passed. Now, go and hope you never see me again because next time, I won’t hesitate to fire and rid this world of two more sinners.”
VALERIAN
Sofia emerges from the bedroom, hair disheveled, eyes red and glossy, arching her back and stretching her arms above her head, but the grin on her face makes me push to my feet from the table where I’ve been eating with Dmitri and Aleksei.
It’s the first time I’ve seen her smile since her brothers left almost two days ago.
“What’s that look for?”
She approaches and steps into my embrace, glancing at Dmitri and Aleksei. “Because I finally found something that might actually help us.”
Hope fills my chest. Sofia wouldn’t say something like that lightly.
“What did you find?”
She slips out of my arms and goes into the half-renovated kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. “Well, you know how Valentina and Cutter said they had information that some of the older men who used to work for the Syla and Morina groups have suddenly resurfaced?”
I nod and lean against the counter. “Yes, and Roan confirmed that since he’s been in Vlorë.”
“And the group that’s here now who have been attacking the five families traveled under names of Syla and Morina men who were killed years ago. Everyone thought it was just someone trying to set up Kat and make it appear she was behind it. But that wasn’t the only reason.”
“What other reason could there possibly be?” I glance back at Dmitri and Aleksei, who appear just as confused as I feel at this moment.
She takes a sip of her coffee. “I found some chatter that someone connected to the Morinas or Sylas is the one behind gathering the older members together, and it seems like the person is also behind the group we’re dodging bullets from.”
“Someone connected to the Morinas or Sylas?” I rub the back of my neck. “But there isn’t anyone left. Michael was the last Syla, and Kat took care of him. As far as the Morinas go, we know Konstandin is still alive, but he made it clear that he’s out.”
Dmitri barks out a laugh. “That doesn’t mean anything. He could be back.”
Sofia takes another drink and shakes her head. “I don’t think it’s him. There hasn’t been any mention of him or Rea in anything I’ve found. If he were back and building a new army to stage some sort of massive coup, I would have found some indication of it.”
Aleksei throws up his hands. “Then who?”
Offering a shrug, Sofia downs the rest of her coffee. “That…I don’t know yet, but I have somewhere we can start. A building was purchased here two months ago, using the name of Konstandin and Tarek Morina’s aunt…who died in Philadelphia two years ago."
I raise a brow at her. “How do you know that?”
She pushes up on her tiptoes to kiss me on the cheek, leaning into me and ensuring her body brushes against my crotch. “Because I am that good. I ran every name I could find tied to any of the Albanian families.”
