CHAPTER FIVE

Achilles POV

Today was meant to go smoothly.

Enter the wedding. Shoot up Daniel Donovan for the bastard acts he committed against us. Kill his brother and kill our other enemy, Russo.

You know, a one stone, two bird kinds thing.

However, it seemed they knew we would come. I couldn't have that, people being able to tell my moves. I mean, they knew the AXE would come for their heads as we found out what they did but I loved to be silent about things.

More importantly, we were meant to have no witnesses.

Everything started going left when Emilio decided he couldn't be patient enough to wait for our men to come. I mean,we had been investigating these crimes against us for years, finally decided it and his blood was hot.

I get it.

He still rushed though. I cast a side glance to my brother, seeing how tense he still was. He needed his vengeance.

After Emilio shot the groom in the head, I had noticed how the doe eyed bride didn't flinch. She actually looked somewhat relieved that he was dead. Her gown was covered with blood and she stares at his body before she was tackled to the ground by her brother.

I assumed in the heat of the exchange she had managed to escape. A few of their brothers shit at us, but we were always prepared, and we never missed our targets.

Xiomar pointed out the Russo head escaping and I chased after him, my feet hitting the pavement while the SUV he drove almost blinded me with dust. He had escaped today.

That was when I saw the unflinching bride and her saviour.

Her brother, she said. She didn't cry for him. Even as I shot him, as his body crumpled to the ground. She just knelt beside him quietly.

I wanted to end her life.

I wanted to keep her.

Those eyes, they reminded me so much of someone we met once. Someone that made me ache with need, I never thought it was possible. That hair, the lips.

They reminded me of the girl that made me fuck only black haired and pink liped girls. They had to look like her, at least they tried.

She wasn't afraid of me, even when my brothers and I surrounded her. She wasn't scared. When Emilio dragged open the slit by her thigh, showing the beautiful tattoo that Xiomar had done for her, I realized too late that my brothers would want to keep this witness.

I still wanted her dead. We had a simple rule. Kill everyone, no explanation. The Mafia is no joke, the smallest witness would lead to the destruction of our family.

Finding out the sweet little girl we marked and the Russo bride were the same person was a punch to my gut. I had to kill her, yet I wanted to sink my cock between those red lips.

She had grown. Matured. Her boobs were fuller, her eyes much brighter like they carried secrets of death and shadow. She was an Italian woman, born into this harsh world. Her father was one of the most feared men in the world.

And we had just kidnapped her.

The car ride back was as bumpy as I expected it would be. I had already called for Diablo to clean up the parish. It was a shame having to commit murder on holy ground but I supposed it was just as befitting.

The Donovan family has killed my parents at a church after all.

“Diablo is going to take care of it?” Xiomar asks, breaking my thoughts. I nod in silence. Usually, he was the designated driver but I needed to handle this car today.

Lest I squeeze that pretty throat.

“Pretty, pretty, pretty,” Emilio whispers, sniffing her hair. She doesn't seem bothered by him, her eyes transfixed at the gun he has on her legs instead. Smart. He could pull the trigger at any time.

She looks up, and our eyes lock in the rear view mirror. She's so beautiful, I almost want to cry. Still, she's Russo.

I look away, focusing on the journey home.

“We should call Miriam, inform her we have guests,” Xiomar muses. Sometimes he acts like he cares about people. I know my brother though. It was all a ruse. I nodded. “Not tonight.”

Emilio was on his bullshit.

“Knock her out,” I say. Her eyes widens comically, but she says nothing. She turns and looks at Emilio, who is smiling at her.

“Sorry love, Boss' orders”

A quick chop to her chin and she was passed out cold in his arms.

He giggled.

“So, what were the chances of running into this little bird today?” Emilio muses, stroking her hair.

Xiomar shrugs from his position next to me, “I didn't know she was Russo’s daughter.”

I didn't either.

The man kept his daughter's under severe security. I doubt they had ever seen the sun. Her skin looks like it, like she had never run on a beach before.

“So, are we keeping her?”

I clutched the steering tighter. The house shouldn't be so far away. “I don't know yet.”

Emilio tsks. “You always know.”

“Well I don't. I said let's kill her but you both wanted to keep her and look where we are now.” I shouted at him.

I took a sharp left, one of the many roads leading to our private driveway. No one was allowed here, and we had sensors on the road and the cars, to identify intruders immediately.

“I told you to wait for backup, guess who rushed in and blew our chance away to kill those motherfuckers?” I screamed at Emilio again.

My youngest brother could be a real piece of shit.

I took in a deep breath, stabilizing my thoughts. It wouldn't be out of character now. I needed to think.

“Well, we could use her. As a pawn”

I glanced at Xiomar. “How? She might not be useful at all”

“Well, Russo would want his daughter back. And there's a reason he decided to team up with the Donovan family. This marriage was just to seal that partnership. So she is a useful pawn.”

Yes. That was true.

“Very well,” I said as our house came into view.

We were keeping the bitch.