Instagram: amarieauthor

Twitter: amarieauthor

Facebook: authoramarie

S A I N T

"How did this happen?" I asked Adriano as I stared at one of my young soldiers. Eye for an eye was carved into Beto's torso. It didn't take a genius to realize that it was Viktor's doing. He took one of my soldiers for the loss of his.

Glancing over at Adriano, I couldn't help but notice the longing look he gave Beto. He was a new recruit, a boy that Adriano took under his wing. Adriano saw something in him that I couldn't. He wanted to make a soldier out of him, but it was too late now. He was gone.

"I can't wait to kill that fucker with my bare hands," Adriano growled out. There was a blaze brewing in his eyes with fires reaching the sky. It was the same fire I had seen after the passing of his wife. Hatred loomed into the smoke and blew at the flames, aiding the fuel of vengeance.

"We will find him," I affirmed. I wasn't prepared to die without fulfilling my promise. If I had to push past the devil in hell to get to Viktor, I would. Nothing could stop the ache in my hands that begged to have Viktor's throat crushed between them. It was even impossible to ignore my heart that only beat to one day have my palms drenched in blood—Viktor's blood.

"When, Saint?" Adriano let out in a sigh. "It has been years since he did what he did, and we haven't even come close."

I snarled. As much as I wanted to snap Adriano's neck like a twig, I refrained. He was like a brother to me, someone I was forced to bond with from the start. Adriano was the last person in the world that would take a bullet for me. I trusted him with my life, and that was never an easy thing to acquire.

"We are getting more closer than you realize. Think about it, retaliation gets messy. It's too amateur, but yet, Viktor retaliated. We're getting closer to something, and he's trying to cover it up by acting out, hoping to get a rise out of us," I pondered vocally.

"What do you think it is?" Adriano questioned once his facial structure eased into realization.

There wasn't any answer I could strum up. We hadn't found out anything that we didn't already know in the past few weeks. Of course, it was easy to find one of Viktor's soldiers after Giovanni tracked him down, but a soldier meant nothing to Viktor. He had thousands of soldiers, one less wouldn't make any difference. It had to be something deeper than that—something new.

"Call me insane, but I think it's the girl," I stated.

"No one knows we have her," Adriano let out.

I slowly nodded my head trying to draw any connection to how Viktor found out about the best hacker in the game that we managed to obtain. Like a prize, she was ours, and I was sure it made Viktor envious. My only worry was how much he knew of her.

"Either the idiots that brought her weren't too careful at keeping her hidden, or we have a rat," I sighed. "I need to find Viktor as soon as possible, but from now on, we have a smaller team. No one knows anything unless I want them to know. It will be me, you, and the girl. That's all."

"What about Giovanni, and how do you know we can trust the girl?" He asked. I pointed towards our vehicle, indicating that we needed to leave. It was important for me to remember to send out someone to clean up the mess Viktor left.

"Only the people I named," I grumbled as we made our way to the car. "As for red, I have a feeling about her. She's weak and that makes her vulnerable to us and this entire operation, but she's also smart, loyal, and determined. Those are things that can't be taught to anyone. It's a skill that one must be born with, and she has it. I allowed you to take Beto under your wing because you saw something in him, I'm doing the same for her. She would be perfect for me—for us—for this."

"I don't know. With Beto, his father was a great soldier. Beta was destined for greatness. It's different with the girl. How are you so sure you can fix her?" Adriano drawled out curiously.

I smirked as I got into the vehicle, the thought of the many ways I could fix her up played out in my mind. I saw the darkened spirt in her when I said all of the right things to press her buttons. I found myself thinking back to that moment quite a bit. She was ready to kill me as her innocence moved to coward away.

"Because I am."

R E Y N A

"Did you grab everything?" Giovanni questioned as I threw a suitcase into the backseat. He eyed the suitcase with a raised brow but didn't bother to say anything.

I never had a lot of clothes. There was no reason to have anything other than a few pieces to go out to the beach in, and a few more to go to sleep in.

My uncle made sure I got a monthly check from his retirement to take care of myself. He wanted to be sure I dedicated my every bit of time to finding mom—not that minded. I only wondered what he would think if he saw me now.

My uncle feared Santino like a lot of men did. Saint did things—inexcusable things. Things that still found a place in the back of my mind. He was the face of my every nightmare. To think that I would be the one aiding a monster was a enough to make me cringe.

I had always had my uncle at my side on our quests to find my mom. When he passed away, I was alone, and I found myself making mistakes that my uncle would never even think to make. It was probably how Saint found me, and it was also going to be how every mafia managed to find out exactly who I was. Soon, I would be the mafia's most wanted.

"Yes, all of my clothes," I answered shyly.

"You didn't bother to bring your makeup? Purses? Jewelry?" Giovanni questioned. I shrugged my shoulders in response before sliding into the car.

He didn't waste a second in throwing the blindfold at me. "You know the rules. Tie it tightly and no peaking, Reyna. I will check."

I let out a soft sigh before tying the fabric against my eyes until a darkness surrounded me. It wasn't difficult to feel Giovanni's eyes on me. He wanted to make sure I had done exactly what he asked, and was pleased when he saw that I had.

"Sit back and put on your seat belt. I don't want to harm my replacement," Giovanni grumbled out as he started the car. I hugged my arm to my chest as I found my fingertips grazing the trail of goosebumps that sprang onto my skin from the beating cold air of the car's air conditioning.

"Replacement?" I repeated, holding the word that stuck out to me up the air, waiting for him to either grab it and shove it down his pocket with no further explanation, or shout it out loud in a plead for understanding.

"Yes, replacement. As in, you are taking my job, leaving me to be nothing but a babysitter and a chauffeur," he answered.

We were driving now. I could feel the vibrations dance with my body as the soft purr from the engine swayed with the rhythm.

Giovanni sighed. "I'm sorry. It's not really your problem."

"It's okay," I said softly, hoping he caught my words. There was more I could have said, but I didn't. It was difficult enough trying to reassure myself, there was no more faith or hope in me to even think about reassuring someone else.

"Yeah," Giovanni spoke just before shutting me up with music from the radio. I leaned back in the coolest of leather before reaching for a seatbelt. Once my fingers managed to grasp the buckle, I crossed it over my body before snapping it in place.

The drive back didn't last too long. The blindfold did a great job of silencing my view to utter darkness, but failed to silence my mind. Every thought—all my stress and fears that accumulated over the past couple of days—helped my mind sprint through time. I found myself looking back at everyone, wondering if they had it in them to catch up, but they didn't. It was just me in first place with the heaviest mind and the fastest time.

Giovanni opened the back door for me. He easily undid the knot behind my head, leaving the fabric to fall from my eyes. The first thing I noticed was the sun setting. All of the scattered clouds in the sky reflected the beauty of the pink and purple that illuminated from the sun.

My gaze didn't last long because Giovanni reached over me and dragged my suitcase from his backseat. He was quick to usher me into the house.

When I walked in, the first person I noticed was a man who looked like he was just about to head out. He was dressed in a classy suit with a hint of cologne radiating off of him and fanning my nostrils.

"Adriano," Giovanni greeted as we passed the fine man. He gave Giovani a curt nod before exiting the house. I eyed the door questionably for a while before continuing to follow Giovanni throughout the house.

"Adriano Morelli, Santino's underboss," I muttered quietly as the memory hit me like a wave. I remembered learning about him. He was almost as scary as Santino himself. A easily chill ran through my body at the remembrance of everything he did.

"You should probably stop calling Saint that. He hates hearing his name," Giovanni advised. I sealed my lips closed after that and just continued to move with him until we made it to my room.

"Wait," I said just as he opened the bedroom door.

He raised a brow.

"May I have a word with Santino first?" I questioned. Giovanni let out a loud exhale. His jaw clenched as he snatched his phone from his pocket.

"Get ready for bed. I'll call Saint and see if he approves your request," he sighed.

I nodded my head as I slipped into the room. The moment I was inside, Giovanni placed the suitcase inside of my room. I could hear the door close behind him. Satisfaction settled in my bones when I didn't hear the click of a lock.

I bent down by my suitcase and unzipped it before pushing it open. There was no telling how long I would have to be here. Letting out a sigh, I began to fold my clothing up to place it inside of the empty drawers.

After a few moments, the doorknob to my bedroom began to twist. I hurriedly backed away from it as far as I could, just in case it was Santino.

Just as I thought, the devil himself walked into the room. He looked at me behind narrowed eyes before his gaze managed to fall on my clothing. In particular, my panties.

"You asked for me, Angel," he said. I gulped as I nodded my head slowly.

I could only watch as he picked up my panties from the floor. My heart skipped a beat as he looked deep into my eyes.

"Why is that?" He smirked.