The Mercenary Queen Came Home for Her Twin

When I crashed the engagement party, soft orchestral music was drifting through the hall.

Isabella wore a priceless diamond tiara and a stunning custom wedding gown that must have cost a fortune.

She was hanging on Marcus's arm, glowing with happiness.

My parents sat in the front row, all smiles.

I blended in with the guests and watched it all coldly, but I didn't make a move. Not yet.

Killing them outright would be letting them off too easy.

First, I had to find Cecilia.

I slipped past security and made my way to my sister's old room on the estate. I still remembered the way.

I'd bought this mansion for her as a wedding gift before I left.

But now my sister's beloved Steinway had been smashed to pieces.

Even the hundreds of silk handkerchiefs I'd had made for her in Paris hadn't been spared.

They'd been crumpled up and thrown on the hallway rug like garbage.

A heavyset maid named Rosa was standing on one of them, grinding the dirt into it with the sole of her high heel.

She looked up and saw me. For a second she froze, then contempt spread across her fleshy face.

"Well, well. Cecilia? Since when does a worthless thing like you have the nerve to crawl out of the basement?"

She'd mistaken me for my sister.

I said nothing. My eyes were locked on her neck.

That sapphire necklace was a birthday present I'd had made for my sister.

"The necklace. Where'd you get it?" I asked.

The maid stroked the stone smugly and lifted her chin.

"Ms. Isabella gave it to me! All your old clothes and jewelry belong to her now!

"Even the scraps she tosses away are more than trash like you could ever dream of having."

"Is that so?" I gave her a thin smile. "Take it off."

The maid acted like she'd heard the joke of the century and shoved me hard with one meaty hand.

"You're out of your mind! It's Ms. Isabella's engagement party, and you have the nerve to cause trouble? Get back down to the basement!

"If the Don sees that miserable face of yours, he'll have you skinned alive again!"

I let her push me back half a step and caught the one word that mattered.

"Again?"

The maid gloated, spit flying.

"Scared speechless, are you? Last week you crossed Ms. Isabella, so the Don personally ordered them to withhold your medication.

"Bet your bones have been aching like crazy these last couple of days. If it weren't for the Payne family's name, you'd be in a psych ward by now!"

Last week. I'd been fighting a gang leader in the rainforest, and every bone in my body had ached the entire night.

So these bastards were the ones torturing my sister.

When I didn't say anything, the maid thought I'd caved. She swung her rough hand at my face.

I caught her wrist. "Why did they throw her in the basement?"

I stared into her eyes.

The maid struggled.

"Because she was jealous of Ms. Isabella and tried to push her down the stairs!

"Nobody wants you, you mad dog. Who do you think you are? I'm going to cut up that face of yours for Isabella!"

With her other hand, she grabbed a sterling silver letter opener off the table and thrust it at my eye.

I smiled.

I tilted my head. The sharp edge grazed my hair.

I snatched the letter opener away and clamped my left hand on the back of her head.

Fist in her hair, I slammed her face into the broken glass on the carpet.

"You like stomping on things? Then lie down there and enjoy it."

I ripped the sapphire necklace off her neck, planted my foot between her shoulder blades, and pressed the blade to her jaw.

"Now lick up every piece of glass on this carpet and swallow it. Every second you hesitate, I pull a tooth."

The maid shook her head in agony and opened her mouth to scream.

With a flick of the blade, I slashed her tongue.

"I don't think you've got another tongue to spare, so don't make me ask twice."

Hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.

Three bodyguards in black burst in. Grant, the one in front, drew a stun baton that crackled with blue sparks.

"Cecilia! Let her go! On your knees!"

The maid shrieked as if someone had just thrown her a lifeline.

"You crazy reject, you think you're tough? Kill her!"

Grant swung the stun baton at my temple.

I twisted aside and dodged the sparks.

I caught his wrist with my right hand and bent it back until it snapped.

Crack! The sickening sound of breaking bone set my teeth on edge.

He was on his knees before he'd even finished screaming.

I stepped on the back of his neck and ground his face into the carpet beside the maid. "Once she's done swallowing the glass, it's your turn. You can lick up the little pieces she leaves behind."

The other two bodyguards stared at the insane scene, frozen, too scared to come any closer.

The bodyguard under my foot roared, "The Don will never let you get away with this! He'll kill your whole family!"

I pressed down harder, and the rough carpet scraped his face raw.

"He won't let me get away with this?"

I leaned down with a cruel smile.

"Good. You'd better pray he brings his men right now."

Terrified, the bodyguard finally shut up. He was shaking all over.

I lifted the letter opener and patted Rosa's ashen face with the cold flat of the blade, taking my time.

"Now tell me. Where's Cecilia?

"Think carefully before you answer. If you lie to me, I'll take off your fingers one by one."