I grab a glass and press it against the ice machine dispenser. Several blocks drop into the glass with a delicate chime.
Carrying the bottle and the glass, I find a corner single-seater sofa and sit down, facing the windows that look outtoward the sunset and the city. I can’t see the ocean from here, but I can smell salt in the air.
I splash bourbon over the ice blocks and set the bottle aside on a small stone table next to the sofa. Spinning my glass, I swirl the golden liquid over the ice to cool it.
“Fuck,” I sigh softly, letting out a slow breath, “What a fucking mess.”
A sip of bourbon burns delightfully down my throat. The sharp bite of good quality alcohol sears through my body and has an instant effect on my thoughts.
Breathe.
Relax.
She doesn’t matter.
Focus on what’s important.
Outside, the sky is shaded in orange and purple hues. White clouds scattered low catch the orange and make it shine in saturated, luminous streaks.
Maria slips into my thoughts. The first time I might’ve seen her in a different light.
I was at Misha’s place. He was excited that his little sister was coming home from college for summer break. I hadn’t seen her for a while. Actually, I hadn’t even known she was coming until that morning when he told me she was coming home. At the time, he insisted on keeping her very secret and safe from the rest of the underworld.
I remember the moment she arrived.
A flare went off inside me.
Something shifted in my brain. That’s what it felt like.
Maria was beautiful. Beautiful beyond any woman I’d ever seen. She was radiant, smiling, and full of life. Her cheeks were rosy from traveling, and her smile was captivating as she rushed toward her brother to hug him. I saw a lot of love between them and felt a pang of jealousy.
I remember smiling as I watched them, fascinated by her sweet innocence as she gushed about how happy she was to see him and be home for the summer.
The three of us spent a lot of time together for the first three weeks. We got along really well, and the more I was around her, the more I liked her. I was getting to know her and finding out she was more special than I could have imagined.
But then suddenly things changed.
All of my city connections in the mafia ghosted me. I stopped getting invites. People stopped replying to my messages. Clients disappeared. I was cut off from group meetings, and even when I arrived in person to find out what the hell was going on, people didn’t let me past security.
It was insane. The ground was ripped out from beneath my feet.
It got worse when my life was threatened. Day after day, things escalated. I couldn’t even leave my penthouse without someone making an attempt on my life.
But the real breakdown was when I found out that Misha was behind all of it. He was the one pulling the strings and orchestrating everything.
I could only assume that our mutual and growing rise to power angered him in some way. He got greedy and didn’t want to share the profit of our work. The only way for him to have it all was to get rid of me…so he did. And apparently, he did it withoutmercy or a flicker of guilt over the fact that we were supposed to be friends.
In his eyes, we probably never were friends. He was using me until he no longer needed me. Then he threw me out like garbage.
I had no choice but to leave and come to Chicago.
I had to build from the ground up all over again. I started from nothing and made a new name for myself in this city.
And I don’t know if I can forgive either of them. Yeah, I blame both of them.
I swore revenge against the siblings, and I will have it. That’s why I took her. And that’s why I hate her.
The other guys in my alliance don’t know any of this, and I’m not ready to tell them yet. But soon, I might have to, because they need to know the truth about who she really is. This coy, sweet little persona she fakes is nothing but a ruse.
