Reign of a Billionaire : A Dark Mafia Enemies-to-Lovers Romance

Chapter 11Liana, Present

The next night, I watched the scene unfold in front of me while dread weighed heavily in the pit of my stomach, threatening to buckle my knees.

Yesterday, I sat at a table in downtown D.C. with these men. Today, I hid in the shadows. My mother loved to parade me around dinners and social events with these freaks, but when it was time for the deals and transactions to happen, she left me out.

I never complained. It worked for me. It gave me the freedom to do what I needed to do.

Like standing outside an ominous looking, abandoned building under the blanket of night. The sound of a ship horn came from the murky waters, signaling there was life around us. The wrought-iron gates surrounded the deserted construction area. Long shadows lurked in every corner, waiting to come out and adding to the creepy vibe of the place.

The wind howled, reflecting the storm raging inside me. The skies cracked with thunder as two of Cortes’s men stood in the middle of the abandoned warehouse in Canton. My heart pounded in my chest, cracking my ribs.

My mother stood there, indifferent and wrapped in her fur coat as she inspected her latest crop of goods. It was a lucrative venture that came with mortal consequences and stained even the most troubled soul.

I watched their exchange—two enemies who had a penchant for destroying people’s lives. The Brazilian cartel. The Russian mafia. Two leaders who were willing to tolerate freezing temperatures, shivering under their heavy coats.

My mother remained a silent observer, her lips curved into her signature humorless smile.

The men stood by their leaders and kept their hands readied on their guns. They discussed business in hushed tones, making it so I was unable to hear the details. Weapons and alcohol were traded.

I didn’t move—knowing weapons and alcohol were only the face of the operation. A disguise for what was to come. It was their next trade that kept me here, sticking to the shadows. These situations weren’t a novelty to me. I had seen this exchange plenty of times over the past decade. I should be used to it by now.

I wasn’t.

The doors of the shipping container opened and I inhaled a sharp breath. At least a dozen young girls lay there, unconscious, unaware of the dangerous men—and woman—standing mere feet from them.

The cold air whipped at my face, but I couldn’t feel it. I’d weathered Siberian temperatures. I was used to the evil of humans. I had thick skin. I’d lived through loss. My twin. Ghosts I couldn’t remember.

A life as Sofia Volkov’s daughter had prepared me for a lot of things—crime, cruel men, manipulation. But never this sight.

Shaking off the distracting thoughts, I squared my shoulders. The cold metal pressed against my waistband, the knife digging into my thigh, which I found reassuring. Dressed in fleece leggings and a warm sweater, all black, I waited for one of the two most lethal mobsters of the underworld to leave.

Unaware of my presence in the shadows, the leaders exchanged a few more words and shook hands. And then, they headed away from the docks. My mother’s men left along with her. Perez took only his personal bodyguards, leaving two behind to handle the cargo.

“Showtime,” I whispered as I made my way through the construction site, keeping my steps silent and light. Cortes’s men were too busy to notice me as I approached them from behind like a ghost in the night.

My heart clenched as I watched one of them cop a feel of a young, unconscious woman. The stifling sensation of hatred and despair surged through my veins. The failings of man floored me every time I witnessed it.

I gave my head another shake, refusing to be distracted by emotions. Those served me nothing. Instead, I focused on saving these women. If I was going to do this right, I needed to have a clear mind.

As I stalked toward them, I reached for my knife and pulled it out of its holster. I always preferred it over my gun. It got me in and out with less chance of detection.

By the time I made it to them, the icy wind pinched my cheeks. I inhaled a deep breath, every muscle in my body tense.

“Having fun, boys?” I asked, not bothering to mask the derision in my voice while my heart raced in my chest. The two men halted mid-movement, and before they could reach for their weapons, I made my move. I pounced, slicing the backs of their knees in fluid movements, and both collapsed onto the cold dirt ground.

They scowled at me, but before they could move, I straddled one’s back, uncaring whether I cracked his spine or not, while at the same time stabbing the other one through his palm.

The second guy let out a scream when I grabbed the nape of his head and smashed his skull against the ground, blood splattering everywhere. His body twitched before going limp, his dead eyes staring at me accusingly.

It didn’t bother me at all. I only wished I could have prolonged his horror a bit more.

“Geez, that was over way too soon,” I muttered with a labored sigh. “The only rock in the whole yard and it had to find itself underneath his skull.”

The asshole trapped underneath me grunted, scowling at me over his shoulder.

I pulled out my blade nailed inside the dead guy’s palm and brought it to the other guy’s throat, shutting him up.

“You crazy bitch,” he growled, causing blood to sputter out the sides of the blade’s puncture wound.

“You have no idea how crazy I am,” I murmured against his ear. He stilled below me, fear trickling out of him like smoke. “I’m going to savor your pain so fucking much.”

My knife pricked deeper into his skin, and he into the dirt.

“P-please,” he begged, but his pleas meant nothing to me. The girls they kidnapped had begged too. Cried and prayed. These bastards reaped the benefits and forgot all about them.

“I wonder if you ever showed those girls any mercy.” The disgust in my voice was unmistakable. “Give me one instance, and if I find it to be true, I’ll spare your life.”

As if. You played in this world, you died in this world. It was the unspoken motto, one he should know well.

He remained still, licking his lips nervously as his puny brain scrambled. He wasn’t able to come up with one, to no one’s surprise. The bastard couldn’t even name one situation when he’d even attempted to spare these girls. Didn’t even have the creativity to make one up.

My eyes flicked to the container full of unconscious girls as I wrenched him up and sliced across his Adam’s apple. He shrieked, but the moment I pressed the blade harder, it turned into a gasp.

“Shut that door, suka,” I ordered, tilting my chin toward the container while still holding the knife to his neck. “I don’t want the girls freezing to death.”

He crawled, pulling his body forward to shut the door with trembling fingers. My lips curled in disgust at his cowardice. These men were brave when it came to helpless women, but put them at someone else’s mercy and they were crybabies.

Once he shut the door, his gaze shifted to me, considering me. I watched his fear slowly fade as he took all of me in. A petite young woman. I looked weak, but I wasn’t. I’d been to hell and back, and I’d never let anyone overpower me again.

I could see the decision cross his expression before he lunged at me. I anticipated the move, taking a step to the right. My knife slammed into his shoulder, and a bloodcurdling scream pierced the frigid air.

He face-planted into the dirt, and I grabbed a fistful of his hair, slicing my blade across his neck with more force than before. His blood spilled into the dirt, pooling around him in fits of gurgles.

Maybe I should feel something, but I didn’t. No remorse. No fear. Nothing.

I kicked his body and let him fall to the ground with a satisfying thud.

It was time to take care of the innocents.