Maniacs (Depraved Sinners 4)

He lets out a deep breath, his hand curling around my body and holding me close to his chest. “I hear you, babe. We were wrong to demand you stay behind. We saw that reckless need for blood in Gia’s eyes and she wasn’t going to stop until she had your heart beating in the palm of her hand. I couldn’t see past that. I’m sure Roman has his own reasons for wanting to keep you away from all of this, but where you’re concerned, I can’t see reason.”

His forehead drops to mine, and I breathe him in, my knees shaking beneath me. “I know,” I murmur before awkwardly pulling away from him and fixing my pants around my waist.

Marcus tucks his cock back inside his pants, doing up the fly as I move back into him and capture his lips once more. “Come on,” I whisper, dreading what comes next before indicating to Gia’s body sprawled beneath the heavy frame of the shattered chandelier, her eyes wide and staring straight back at me. “We need to figure out what the hell all of this means for us.”

Marc nods and slips his hand into mine before pulling the lone diamond out of the palm of my hands. “What’s this?” he questions, looking it over, the smear of blood now long gone.

I shake my head while shrugging my shoulders. “Don’t know,” I mutter as he leads me through the wreckage. “It was just sparkling and for some reason, I felt the need to pick it up. I don’t know, consider it the first thing to go up on my trophy shelf.”

His jaw drops and he looks at me as though he’s just seen a ghost. “Nu-uh. You only get a trophy if you were responsible for the death, and as I recall, it was my knife that got lodged in her spine.”

I stare back at him. “No way,” I say, snatching the lonely diamond out of his hand. “That’s bullshit and you know it. My bullet is what dropped the chandelier and crushed her. All you did was paralyze the bitch. Besides, if that were the rule, then by all rights, I should be able to take your cousin’s tongue off your shelf.”

Marcus watches me through a narrowed gaze. “I knew you played dirty, but I didn’t know you were quite so ruthless,” he tells me. “I earned that tongue fair and square.”

“You weren’t even there,” I mutter under my breath as he leads me through to the kitchen where Agent Davidson leans against the counter, a mug of steaming coffee in his hands and a first aid kit spilled out over the expensive granite.

Roman hovers over Levi, whose wounds have been cleaned and bandaged, and digs his fingers into Levi’s shoulder, getting a good feel for the damage as Levi’s face twists with pain. “Fuck, alright,” Levi spits, pulling away from Roman’s poking and prodding. “This ain’t helping shit.”

“Makes me feel better,” Roman mutters under his breath before noticing me and Marcus moving into the room.

All three of them raise their heads, a strange hesitance in their eyes. “What?” I demand, stopping by the entrance, having seen that look more than enough times over the past few months to know it means nothing but bad news. “Spit it out. I haven’t slept in what feels like a lifetime. Let’s just get this over and done with.”

Roman goes to speak when Agent Davidson pushes off the counter and places himself between us, stealing the spotlight. “Congratulations,” he says with a tone that fills me with unease. “You are now the most powerful woman in the country.”

My gaze sweeps to Roman and Levi while gripping tighter onto Marcus’ hand. “Elaborate.”

Roman lets out a heavy breath and looks as though he’s about to take a bath in acid. “Gia’s dead, Empress. You’re her heir.”

I shake my head, knowing what they’re suggesting but not liking it. The whole point of this was because I didn’t want anything to do with her or her empire, and now they’re trying to tell me …

“Say the words,” I beg him, an unknown heaviness settling into my chest. “I need to hear it. I need to know exactly what you’re telling me.”

“Shayne,” Roman says. “You are Gia’s heir. You’re the leader of the Moretti family.”

Marcus scoffs beside me, shaking his head. “Every empire must have its Empress.”

“No, no, no, no,” I say, shaking my head as bile rises in my throat. “This is a sick joke, right? I can’t rule over the Moretti empire. That’s … it’s fucking ridiculous. I’m twenty-two and have connections to you guys. There will be a massive target on my head.”

Levi nods as if already coming to this concussion a million times over. “Yep.”

I begin to pace.

Agent Davidson steps toward me, his eyes softening in a way I never once saw while staying here, and I can’t help but wonder how he feels about all of this. “I can assure you, Shayne, this is certainly no joke. I’ve been undercover here for over six years, and this is about as serious as it’s going to get. You need to be prepared. They are going to make you choose—your family or them.”

“They?” I ask. “Who is they?”

“The Moretti family,” Davidson says. “Just as the DeAngelis family has all of its members, so does the Moretti family. They are just as awful as you can imagine, probably a lot like the extended members of the DeAngelis family. They don’t even know about you yet, and the moment they become aware of Gia’s death, it will turn into a race for her position. She has been holding the reins of this family for far too long, and these men have been terrified of her, but you … you’re just a girl, mixed up with the DeAngelis family who hasn’t had a chance to prove herself. They won’t like you, and they’ll do whatever it takes to knock the crown right off your head.”

I search his eyes, desperate for some way out of this. “Can’t I just … give it to them? Walk away?”

Levi shakes his head, his big, dark eyes coming to mine. “Doesn’t work like that, babe. If my father came to us and said here, I don’t want it anymore. We’d take it from him and put a bullet in his back the second he walked away to ensure he never came back to lay claim over leadership. You’re not any different.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?”

“Do what any one of us would do,” Roman tells me. “Take it by the horns and shoot down anyone who dares to question you.”

“They’re not going to like us together.”