Chapter 37 Daughter of the enemy
Lina’s POV
The air inside the bungalow smelled like gun oil… and tension so thick it felt hard to breathe.
Carlino walked out of the study without looking back. He didn’t slam the door. Didn’t say a word. That was worse. His silence built a wall between us—tall, cold, impossible to climb. His shoulders were stiff, his steps measured. He had that look again.
Not Carlino the man.
Carlino the king.
“Lina,” his father rasped from the doorway. He didn't look like someone I had conversations with, he looked different. He looked like judgment carved into human skin. His cloudy eyes dragged over me with open disapproval.
“Go to your room. This is no place for girls who jump out of windows.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. My voice didn’t shake, even though my pulse was sprinting. “If this war is about me, I’m staying for the parley.”
Carlino stopped at the end of the hall. He didn’t turn around, but I saw the muscle in his jaw tick.
“Let her stay,” he muttered. “She’ll just crawl through the vents if we lock the door.”
Night dropped fast, heavy and suffocating. The bungalow didn’t feel like a safe house anymore. It felt like a fortress waiting to be tested. Shadows moved across the yard—guards, armed and silent. Inside, the living room had been stripped bare except for a heavy oak table and four chairs placed under the chandelier like a stage set for something ugly.
A treaty was signed by Carlino's father and Kailen's. The treaty was supposed to keep blood off the streets.
Tonight, it felt more like a noose. At exactly 9:00 p.m., headlights swept across the walls. A black sedan rolled up the gravel driveway.
Kailen stepped out like he was arriving at a business dinner, not a war meeting. His suit was perfectly tailored, not a wrinkle in sight. His hair slicked back. Calm. Polished. He looked like a CEO.
Not the man who’d pumped gas into a basement to try to kill me, or the man who threw attacks like he was throwing bones for his puppies to play with.
He walked into the house like he owned it, and my skin crawled.
“Carlino,” he greeted smoothly. Then his eyes slid to me. “And the little bird. I see you’ve managed to keep her alive. For now.”
“Sit,” Carlino said from the head of the table. His tone was like he was bored. Lazy, almost.
But I knew that look. He was a coiled spring pretending to be relaxed.
I stayed near the sideboard, fingers resting against a heavy glass decanter just to have something solid to touch. Kailen looked at me—not with hunger.
With recognition.
And that scared me more.
“Let’s talk about the debt,” Carlino said, voice lower now. Colder. “You hit my shipments. You targeted my home. You broke the treaty multiple times in less than two weeks. Investors, business partners, stocks, everything crashing.”
Kailen laughed, sharp and humorless. “The treaty?” he said. “You mean that piece of paper our fathers signed after your old man put a bullet in mine and stole the empire?”
His gaze flicked to the Old King in the corner.
“You built this throne on my father’s grave, Silvio. Don’t talk to me about rules when you didn't follow them.”
“Your father was weak, he was a traitor,” the Old King croaked. “I did what was necessary.”
“And now,” Kailen snapped, turning back to Carlino, “so am I.”
Then he said it.
“Give me the girl. Renounce the empire and maybe I won’t burn this bungalow down with all of you inside.”
The room went still.
Carlino leaned forward slowly until his face was inches from Kailen’s. “She isn’t a dock. She isn’t a debt. She’s mine. And if you touch her again, I won’t just kill you. I’ll erase your entire lineage until the name Kailen is nothing but a footnote in a history book.”
Kailen smiled.
“You’re so protective. The great Mafia King, undone by a girl bought from a debtor. It almost sounds poetic.” His eyes sharpened. “But do you even know what you’re protecting?”
“I know exactly who she is,” Carlino said.
“Do you?”
Kailen turned toward me. A chill ran down my spine, the look he gave terrified me.
“Lina. Do you remember much about your father? Mavien Gray?” Then he decided to ask a question.
A chill slid down my spine. “He’s my father. What about him?”
“He’s the name on your birth certificate,” Kailen corrected. “But Mavien Gray was a sterile drunk.”
My stomach dropped. That's a lie. My father is the most responsible man I've ever met.
“Alyssa—your mother,” he continued softly, cruelly, “was far too beautiful to stay loyal to a man like him.”
“Shut up,” I whispered, disgusted at his words. Disgusted at the fact he was trying to disrespect my mother.
“Kailen, enough,” Carlino warned, his hand drifting toward his gun.
“No,” Kailen said. “She deserves to know why I’ve been hunting her.”
His eyes locked onto mine.
“You’re not just a leverage. You’re a loose end. A stain on my family’s bloodline.”
The room tilted. Confusion spiraling inside me. What does he mean?
“What are you talking about?” I dared to ask, my lips quivering, petrified at his words.
No, no, no. They can't be real.
“My father didn’t just do business with the Grays,” Kailen said. “He had Alyssa.”
The words landed like a gunshot.
“You’re not Mavien Gray’s daughter, Lina.” He smiled devilishly. “You’re my father’s bastard.”
Silence swallowed the room. That's a lie.
“You’re lying,” I said, but my voice sounded far away, it sounded weak. I didn't believe in my own words.
“Check the records. Blood types. Dates.” He leaned back, satisfied.
I looked at Carlino. Waiting for outrage. For denial. For something. He didn’t look shocked. He looked guilty.
“You knew,” I breathed.
My eyes moved to Carlino's father, and he had the same knowing look on him. They all knew. Everyone in this room knew except me.
“Lina—”
“You knew?!”
My voice broke, raw and sharp. “You both knew I was related to him?”
“It didn’t change anything,” Carlino said, pain flashing across his face. “I was trying to protect you from this—from him—from what it would do to you.”
“Protect me?” I laughed, and it sounded hysterical. “You let me think I was just collateral damage. But I’m the reason for all of this."
Kailen stood, adjusting his jacket. “The truth hurts, doesn’t it, sister? Besides, you're not entirely the reason.”
Sister. The word made me want to throw up.
“And here’s the best part that I absolutely love,” he added. “Since you’re technically part of my bloodline, the treaty gives me custodial rights over your fate if Carlino can’t prove you’re… useful.”
Carlino was on his feet in a second, gun aimed at Kailen’s forehead.
“Get out.”
“I’m going,” Kailen said calmly. “But remember, Carlino—you’re sleeping with the enemy.”
He looked at me one last time.
“Every time you touch her, you’re touching my father’s blood. Remember that.”
Then he walked out laughing.
I couldn’t breathe.
Carlino stepped toward me, hand reaching.
“Tesoro, listen—”
“Don’t,” I said.
My voice was empty.
“Don’t ever touch me again.”
I turned and ran. Past the hallway. Past the bedrooms. Straight for the back door. I needed air. Space. Something that wasn’t lies and blood and monsters.
Humid night air slammed into my face as I burst outside. I didn’t stop running until the house was behind me, lights blurring through tears I didn’t remember starting.
My chest burned. My thoughts were louder than any gunshot.
You’re his blood.
You’re the reason.
You’re the stain.
I bent over, hands on my knees, trying to breathe, trying to exist inside a body that suddenly felt borrowed.
Footsteps pounded behind me.
“Lina!” Carlino’s voice cracked through the dark.
I flinched at the sound of my name.
He slowed when he got close, like I was a wounded animal that might bolt again.
“Don’t,” I said without turning around.
“Don’t come closer.”
Silence stretched between us, thick and shaking.
“Tell me it’s not true,” I whispered. “Tell me I’m not his.”
Carlino didn’t answer.
And somehow, that hurt more than anything Kailen said.