Chapter 6

I hadn't seen that cross since I threw it to Angie at the bar.

But it didn't matter anymore.

I gave her a cold, mocking look.

"So you've already decided it's yours?"

Angie faltered for a second, and the four of them immediately stepped in front of her to shield her.

"You gave it to Angie, so of course it's hers."

"Linda, apologize to Angie."

Angie's gaze slid past me and swept over every corner of the villa.

I'd decorated every room here myself.

The living room especially was filled with photos from more than 20 years of our life together.

Every birthday, we'd taken a family picture with my father, and each one had been carefully framed and set front and center.

Her eyes lit up, and she pulled down a frame at random.

"So this is what home feels like?"

My heart clenched. "Put that down!"

Angie turned around. All her usual timidity was gone.

Her smile was sweet and spiteful. "At home, my older brother and sister always freeze me out."

She placed the cross in my palm.

"I can forgive you for stealing.

"It would be nice if you'd lend me the villa for a while after you leave."

I didn't even think. "No way."

Dom was the first to react.

"Didn't I already tell you to sign the transfer papers?"

"I changed my mind."

The light in Angie's eyes went out. "Then I'll have no choice but to go by the book and report your theft to the family."

Michael's face darkened, and he immediately opened his laptop and printed out a fresh set of transfer papers.

"Linda, sign them."

He held out the document and a pen to me.

"Face it. You're not your father's pampered little princess anymore.

"Don't cost us our chance to get a foothold in the Leiden family."

The last of my affection for them vanished in that moment.

I shook my head and backed away warily.

But the other three blocked me.

Dom gripped my shoulder, and Rocco shoved the pen into my hand.

I fought them, saying no over and over.

But they just laughed it off.

I broke free, and with the self-defense moves my father had taught me, I twisted Vincent's arm and pinned him to the floor.

That wiped the smiles off the other three's faces, and they stopped holding back.

I couldn't fight off all three. They overpowered me and forced me down, and my hand got cut in the struggle.

The pain wasn't enough to make me cry.

But this was naked betrayal, humiliation at the hands of the people I'd once called family.

My face burned as they pressed it against the cold floor.

The feel of it made me sick, and I couldn't stop shaking.

Rage churned in my chest.

It blurred my vision and left my eyes burning.

They exchanged uneasy glances and loosened their grip.

"It's just a villa. We'll get you something better later.

"Okay?"

Michael stroked my hair tenderly.

But he still pressed my bloody finger onto the document.

Then I could only watch as Angie ignored my screams.

She tore every photo of my father and me off the living room walls.

She tossed them onto my bed like trash.

"Linda, take these with you.

"I don't need these."

Then she looked at Michael.

"I'd like to have a housewarming party here tomorrow. Okay?"

Michael was clearly taken aback.

He glanced at me without thinking. Maybe he was hoping I'd beg him.

All I had to do was cry, apologize, and admit I'd taken the cross.

Then he'd be willing to speak up for me.

But this time, the moment our eyes met, I was the one who looked away first.

Michael's expression hardened too.

"Of course you can. This villa belongs to you now."

He only wanted to make me angry.

It was just like every fight we'd had as kids. He'd always wait for me to cry and give in.

But this time, I wouldn't.

My mother died when I was little, and my father doted on me all the more.

Because his work was dangerous, he hoped that if anything happened to him, others would love me in his place.

But it turned out the four people he'd poured his heart into raising had never been our family.

They were traitors through and through.

The four of them left with Angie.

Two hours later, the Don's people sent me a message.

"The car has arrived."

I got up and bandaged my wound.

Then I copied the pinhole camera footage onto my own hard drive and destroyed the original.

I threw away the cross and got into the car with only the photos of my father and me.

The agent waiting for me handed me a document.

"Pass the special training and carry out the assassination.

"Then the Don will keep his promise and hand over your father's men and the assets he's recovered."

My throat was raw. "All right."

I signed the agreement and made myself a promise.

One day I'd come back here.

And I'd settle the score with everyone who had betrayed my father and me.