Ruthless Prince (Dark Syndicate 1)

I harden my stare on Candace. I need to do something. I need to punish her. As I look at her, though, I feel the same way as my brothers do when it comes to her. She’s like family to us.

“How did you know about the cameras?” I ask. She knows that question means I’ll be drawing blood tonight.

She shakes her head. “Kill me, Massimo. Kill me instead.”

I grab her and catch her face, holding it so tight my nails dig into her skin.

“Fuck you. I can’t kill you. I love you like a sister. Candace… if you don’t answer my question, I’ll kill the whole security team. Forty men dead because you won’t give me a name. Or was it two?”

The tears come now. I know it can only be a minimum of two of my guys. Manni is my right-hand man, and Jake takes care of the cameras. The men watch the house and have a strict rota to keep things tight. That’s why people like the Shadows can’t just walk onto my property without a big fight.

“Please… don’t make me,” she begs. “We were just seeing each other, and it’s over. I was never supposed to tell anybody. We’d sneak out to the cave.”

As she says that, I know who it is, and I feel like a bastard for it.

Manni. It’s him. I remember the way he looked at her.

I release her, but she knows I’m not stupid and I know exactly who’s to blame.

“No, Massimo, please,” she cries.

Reaching for my phone, I storm out of her room and call Manni. She runs after me, trying to grab my arm. Every time she touches me, I wrench my arm free of her grasp.

Manni answers the phone.

“Yes, Boss,” he says.

“Get here now. Get to the main floor right the fuck now,” I demand and pull my gun from my back pocket. When Candace sees it, she screams and starts crying harder. Manni would have heard her.

“Yes, Boss, I’m on the way.” At least the prick has the sense to sound wary. He should.

I bound forward down the stairs. Candace follows. Her cries have everyone’s attention. Priscilla comes out of the kitchen, and Tristan and Dominic come rushing down the other set of stairs, panic on their faces.

I zero in on the one fucker I want as he walks in through the door. Manni stops in the foyer when he sees me, his face pale, his body tense.

I walk up to him and land my fist straight in his face, knocking him to the ground. Before he can right himself, I aim my gun at him and cock the hammer.

“You fucking prick. I hire you for a job, and you screw with me,” I roar.

When he sees Candace, he knows what the fuck I’m talking about.

“Massimo, please, don’t kill him,” she begs.

I can’t listen to her. I can’t look at her. All I see in my mind is Emelia lifeless in my arms.

She could have died. That’s the fucking bottom line. She could have died.

“Boss, I’m sorry. I should have had the camera’s fixed. I didn’t mean to—”

Rage makes me shoot the Ming vase by the door. It shatters. I hate when people use that excuse. They didn’t mean to. Of course, he did. If he didn’t mean to do it, then he wouldn’t have done that shit to me knowing the risk.

When I aim the gun at him again, Candace throws herself on top of him. I look at them both and seethe.

“Massimo, no, please.” She shakes her head. “Don’t do this.”

“Candace. There is always trouble. Remember Vlad? Remember how he killed Alyssa?” I shout at her.

She knows the past, so she remembers well.