Chapter 29—Persephone

I’m not sure how to feel as Lukiyan and I pull onto the grounds of the manor.

A myriad of emotions flow through me, and I can’t decide which I should pick.

Yes, I’m relieved on some level, but I feel more broken than I was when I left here.

The last time I was here, Maya died, and the sound of war ripped my heart open.

Now my heart is ripped apart for other reasons that should be crazy.

On the drive here, I considered the possibility that I had Stockholm Syndrome.

But then I realized that I would have had to have fallen for my captor after he kidnapped me.

I was in love before.

I think I was in love from that night in Brazil when I first looked at him.

This man has lived in my head for over four months.

Now I’ll never see him again.

We drove in silence, and now that we’re here, there’s so much I want to say to him, but I hold back.

Part of me knows he’s right, but the other part—the fighter—wants to fight for the man she wants. So, I’m tearing up inside.

Lukiyan helps me out of the car, holding my hand, which he lets go of quickly.

That’s right. I forgot. We’re not lovers anymore, and to the world, we never were.

“Come on. Your father is waiting for you.” Lukiyan dips his head, and I give him a small smile.

We proceed up the cobbled path leading to the front door in the same tension-filled silence.

I plan to tell my father I escaped because it’s the truth. It goes without saying I’m to keep quiet about Lukiyan’s true plans.

No one will ever hear anything from me.

The door flies open before we get to the steps, and Father comes out.

Except for the patch on his eye, he looks like the man he was years ago when Mom was alive.

Or when he used to love me.

Shame fills me for a few brief moments, then uncertainty. Every time I’ve shown him affection, he’s pushed me away.

Lukiyan said my father truly loves me. I’m ashamed because I don’t know if that’s true. Yet as I look at Father coming toward me, I can see the love beaming from him. It’s all over his face. When he reaches me, I feel it when he hugs me.

He hasn’t hugged me in years, and it’s been so long that I can scarcely remember how it feels to be in my father’s arms.

I’d forgotten how safe it felt.

“You’re home,” he mutters in my ear. When he pulls away, he cups my face. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Shock flies through me. My father apologizes to no one.

“I’m sorry too. I—”

“No. There’s nothing for you to apologize for.”

“How about we take the reunion inside?” Frankie calls out, beckoning to us from the door with a broad smile on his face.

“I’ll take that as my cue to go,” Lukiyan states. “I’ll be away for the day.”

Father steps aside, and we both look at him.

Father thinks Lukiyan will be looking for Antonio, but only I know his actual plans for today. I worry about how I’ll be once he finds Antonio and leaves for good.

“Thank you, Lukiyan.” Father puts out a hand to shake his. Lukiyan gives him a firm handshake and gets back in his car.

I watch him drive away, missing being with him already.

When I look at my father, I can tell he knows I have feelings for Lukiyan, but I don’t think he will say anything about that.

“Come, let’s go inside. We can talk if you want,” he says.

“I’d like that. Is Raven here?”

“She’ll be coming by in a little while.”

“What about Alecia?” I pray she’s not here.

“I sent her away while we sort out what’s going on. I want to do the same for you.”

I'm grateful Alecia isn’t here. I couldn’t stand seeing her and her fakeness, but I hope he doesn’t plan to send me wherever he sent her.

We go inside the house, following Frankie into the living room.

“I should have told the maids to cook something,” Frankie begins, and Father and I turn to face him.

“I can do that, brother,” Father says, tapping Frankie's shoulder.

“You could, but I don’t think you’ll need food where you’re going.”

Before the confusion can even set in, Frankie pulls out his gun and shoots Father right in his stomach.

I scream as the sound of the bullet echoes through the air.

I don’t get a chance to process or recover from the shock when he shoots my father again.

“No!” I scream.

Father falls to the ground and I slump to his side, holding him as he bleeds out.

“Why?” I scream, glaring at Frankie in complete disbelief. “Why would you do this?”

“It was you… all along, wasn’t it?” Father stutters, his eyes fixed on Frankie. “It was you years ago and you now. I never wanted to believe it.”

“That’s because you’re a fool.”

It takes me a moment to absorb what I’m hearing. When I do, disorientation riddles my mind, along with shock and terror.

“But you got shot during the massacre years ago,” I point out.

“Take a bullet, and no one will question you. It was a non-fatal wound. I had to make it look like someone came to kill us all. I should have been the only one to survive. Then I would have inherited the family seat on the council.”

I understand immediately. When Lukiyan told me about Antonio earlier, something felt like it was missing because of the past.

Now I get it.

Uncle Roberto was the eldest brother.

He held the family seat on the Camorra council because it was his birthright. On his death, the inheritance jumped to my father. Because my father had daughters, our husbands would have gotten the seat once he died. Athena was older than me by five minutes, making her the eldest daughter. Her husband would have taken the seat, then her sons if she had any. If that was the case, my husband wouldn’t have even been factored in for a chance, much less Frankie.

He would have had to wait a long time to get that seat, and obviously it wouldn’t have happened in his lifetime.

“You should have died years ago, Brother, but you fucked it up.” Frankie waves the gun at Father again. “You left the house, and your miserable bitch of a maid called you back. It was a pleasure killing her and long overdue.”

He’s talking about Maya. He killed her.

My heart seizes in my chest. I’m so disgusted, I can barely look at him.

“You came back with the cavalry to save the day,” he adds. “And fucked things up for me.”

“Why now?” Father asks.

He’s shaking and feels cold in my arms. Blood is all over the two of us. I’m so sick of seeing blood. I’ve seen far too much of it spilled in my life.

I can’t lose my father to death as well. Not him, not after we’ve been through so much. I need to get him to a hospital.

“I waited all this time because you got tight with security, and killing you is no mere task. Years ago, I had people who could help, but you killed them all. I waited for the right opportunity to present itself.”

At that moment, Antonio walks in with a victorious smile. Judging from the bruises on his cheek and eyes, he looks like he’s been in a fight, but triumph is beaming from within.

“You bastard.” Father’s voice is weaker now.

“The marriage contract gave me an ally. Antonio didn’t want to wait for you to die or retire to get the empire, so I made him a deal. If he relinquished his rights to the council and gave it to me, I’d help him kill you.”

Being on that council is worth more than a legion of my father’s empires. Money and power are supposed to be used for the Circle and those in the alliance.

“The bonus was the device. I wanted that for myself, and you gave it to me.” Frankie smiles. “We needed to get Persephone back so Antonio could get what he wanted.”

“The girl and the empire,” Antonio says.

“Fucking bastard,” I spit.

“You’ll see just how much of a bastard I can be when I fuck your brains out.”

“Go to hell!”

“If that’s where I’m going, I’m taking you with me.” He laughs. “And your so-called bodyguard won’t be able to save you.”

Lukiyan. My God. He was just here. He didn’t know what I was walking into.

“I know he’s a fraud,” Antonio adds.

“What are you talking about?” Father asks.

“Your boy is from the Bratva, and if I’m right, he came here to kill us all.”

My God, this is a nightmare.

“Go, get the stuff in the office, then we’ll leave,” Frankie says to Antonio.

“Where are we going?” I cry.

“Somewhere far, far away.”