CHAPTER 1 

SLOANE. 

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my jacket and sighed looking at the damage done, the burning building with goods worth thirty million inside. 

Two of my men died there and I have no idea what that bastard was trying to prove when he made a hit on one of our warehouses, he did the same last week attacking our warehouse on the west. 

"Fucking piece of shit!" I cursed under my breath, the day I see him I will make sure he dies a slow excruciating death. If the bastard thinks he can get away with this he is insane. Everyone knows what I did to his elder brother and I won't hesitate to put a bullet in his brain if we ever cross paths. 

Our families have been enemies even before I was born and I remembered how my father always mentioned the Sokolovs whenever something bad happened and I grew to hate them too. 

And they gave me even more reasons after the eldest son of the Sokolovs kidnapped me and my friends when I was my senior year in high school, I was only seventeen back then and Koyla thought he could get away with it so I pretended to be defenseless and waited until he turned his back on me then I slit his throat with a box cutter. 

I escaped on my own and I can still remember that day. It was my first time taking someone's life but I couldn't stop when my friends' lives were at stake and I wiped out the men in the mansion. When Dad came to get me he was shocked to find only corpses behind. 

I earned the name devilish angel after that night, no one knew I bawled my eyes out in the shower that day, no one knew I still have nightmares from that night. 

And now... Fucking Chase Sokolov won't let me be, he has ruined almost everything for us and he almost killed my father in a shootout last month and he traced all my friends from back then and killed them sending tiny pieces of their bodies to me in gift boxes. 

Hatred is not enough to describe how I feel about him, the name alone makes my fist clench in anger, thinking about all the things he has done makes me want to risk everything to kill the bastard. 

"How many?" I asked Javier, my father's right-hand man because he got here before me. 

"Three dead, sixteen severely wounded my lady" He replied and I nodded watching the men try to take out the fire, "How did this happen? Those idiots didn't notice something was off about the shipment" I seethed angrily. 

"They didn't notice, and I was told someone ordered pizza before the explosion," He said and I turned to him with furrowed brows. 

What does that mean? Is it some kind of code? 

"Don't waste my fucking time Javier what do you mean by ordered pizza?" I snapped imperatively. 

"You see they believed he might be responsible for this, the delivery guy. The guys were dead when the alarm went off, and the explosion happened minutes after he left" He explained and I was even more confused. 

"So you are saying our killer is a pizza delivery guy?" I questioned incredulously. 

"I think it was a hitman disguised as a pizza guy, we can't find any footage from earlier today the whole thing was wiped out which means-"

"This was meticulously planned and the pizza guy had help, then again the Sokolovs have been a pain in the ass for months now I won't be surprised if Chase is responsible for this" I gritted out, his name always left a sour taste on my tongue. 

"Or it could be someone else" Javier voiced out and I raised an eyebrow. 

I don't think I have another enemy apart from Chase Sokolov. 

The damn Russians were the only bone in my throat, the number of times I have escaped death isn't even funny anymore and that bastard won't stop until I die. 

Maybe he did this to throw my focus off him, so he can catch me off guard and finish me off himself instead of sending his goons. 

"Don't tell my father what you just told me, is that clear?" 

"But-"

"I gave you an order Javier or do I have to remind you how things work here, my father isn't here so I'm in charge and I can put a bullet in your brain for trying to challenge me and he wouldn't be bothered. This conversation is over, make sure you clean up the mess and quietly, if Detective Ryan comes give him the usual and tell him to fuck off with his useless team I don't want the authorities sticking their noses in our business. And send me the location of the Sokolov's new hotel" I ordered and walked toward my Harley. 

"Understood," He said. 

I mounted my BMW bike and drove off instantly, leaving the burning building behind. I have other things to worry about and I will pay back for this with something he holds dear. 

He recently opened a hotel in the East and it's the talk of the town, everyone keeps talking about it and I was impressed when I saw a picture of the massive building. 

Too bad it's going down now. 

I got home and went straight to my father's room ignoring the maid's greetings as I climbed up the stairs. I entered my father's room and met him with one of his young mistresses, she sat on the bed massaging his leg. 

Daphne, or whatever she was called I gestured for her to get out and she scurried out of the room. 

He grunted something under his breath but I didn't care if I interrupted what he was doing with the girl. 

"We need to talk about what happened today," I said and he hummed. 

"Did Javier tell you anything?" He asked and I shook my head. 

"No. Is anything wrong with your health? The doctor said you would be up and running in a few months" I pointed out. 

"That's none of my concern for now, and I'm glad to take this break. I found a way to stop the war with the Russians" He remarked and I froze. 

"What?" My voice rising a bit. 

"I didn't know I had a deaf daughter, you heard me clearly the first time" He replied curtly. 

"What do you mean you found a way to end the war?" I asked perplexed, there is no way to end the war Chase made that clear and he wants me dead. 

That's the only way to end the war. 

"The Russians came to us with a deal, a way to create an alliance with them and put an end to the killing and destruction" He answered and my heart pounded loudly in my chest. 

No. 

They wouldn't... 

Why? 

"I'm assuming there is something else" I swallowed a hard lump in my throat, the Russians are known for one thing, their alliance is either by blood or marriage. 

Marriage.

I dread the sound of that word most especially when it involves the Sokolovs. 

"We will seal this deal by holy matrimony"