Ruthless Prince (Dark Syndicate 1)

“What transaction?” That could anything. They have transactions taking place daily. Everything from million-dollar to billion-dollar deals in drugs or diamonds, or some other shit.

“I don’t know what it is,” Yev rasps.

Fucking Riccardo. Damn him. This goes right back to all that money he owed. I should have guessed he would be up to shit.

What the hell is he up to?

Yev starts to laugh. “Look at you, caught in a net. I hope Vlad wipes you out. Maybe take that pretty little wife you have and fuck her while you watch. Maybe chop off her head too, like the last girl. Pretty girl. She begged for her life before he killed her. What was her name? Alyssa?”

I pull my gun and fire one bullet, getting to him before Tristan can. The bullet lodges right between his eyes, and blood splatters all over me.

Four more bullets echo next to me, leaving my brother’s gun. Tristan shoots, firing one bullet after another until the life leaves Yev’s body and all that’s left is a bloody mash-up of blood and gore.

Fuck, he was one of the guys who took Alyssa, and he was talking about my wife. I understand Tristan’s pain now more than ever. I understand his loss. I understand how he must blame himself because neither he nor I could stop them from taking Alyssa.

They killed her because she married him.

I don’t realize I’m shaking, seething with rage with the gun in my hand, until Dominic rests his hand on my shoulder.

I look at him and grit my teeth.

“Focus,” he says, but I can see the storm brewing in his eyes. “We need to focus.”

Shit. How can I focus after hearing that? I try because I have to.

I turn to Tristan, who lowers his gun.

“I need to cool off,” he says and walks out. I allow him to go. He needs to walk off his distress. We watch him go.

“I have to contact the syndicate,” I say. I’ll call Pa first. “I need to find out what transaction Vlad is waiting on.”

“I can look into that and see what I can find out,” Dominic says.

“Thank you, brother.”

“Don’t worry. Try not to worry about Emelia,” he tells me.

If anyone can see straight through me, it’s him. He has a way of seeing past my hard exterior. That’s why he needed to be my consigliere. Even if it’s just to calm me the fuck down.

I won’t allow anything to happen to Emelia.

Once again, Daddy Dearest strikes.

Pa has been going over the Syndicate creed of protocols and policies. I think of them and know straightaway what the fucker is up to.

You keep what you kill. The Syndicate has a protocol called Code Ten. It’s a way of preserving the wealth accumulated and keeping it within the group.

It provides that when one member dies, the remaining members receive their shares and wealth. Ten percent of yearly earnings are put into the Syndicate funds That currently stands at five hundred billion. That’s just the money side of it. There is also the value of services and business specialties the group owns together. If Riccardo wiped out the Syndicate and was the last man standing, the fucker would get everything.

We screwed with him, but little did we know he must have been planning this shit for a while. When his cartel deal went bust and we shit all over his plans, that must have really pissed him off.

Now I know what’s going on.

He wants to kill us all. Me included. And take everything.

That will be how he gets his daughter back.

Chapter Thirty-One