Curling my damaged ring in her clenched fist, she rakes her derisory gaze over me again. “You look like shit, but it suits you. You have finally found your true place in this world,” she taunts, as Z reappears in the doorway, panting.
Did the asshole actually run up and down the stairs to do her bidding?
What an idiot.
With cold calculation, Saskia snatches the hammer from his hand and stalks to the chair, placing the ring down on top of it. Her eyes glisten with devilish delight as she looks at me before lifting the hammer and bringing it down on my ring. She gleefully attacks it, smashing the pretty diamond, breaking the tiny emeralds surrounding it, and battering the platinum band until the ring is nothing but splintered shards on the floor. The seat of the chair is cracked, the legs barely able to hold it upright.
My eyes dance over the broken remnants of my ring, and it feels like my heart is rupturing behind my rib cage. Intense pain settles on my chest, making breathing difficult, but I work hard to hide it. I won’t give that bitch any satisfaction. She doesn’t know that ring bolstered my courage and fueled my hope every time I looked at it. She doesn’t know how precious it is because Ben designed it with me in mind. She won’t know I still harbored hope Ben would rescue me in time to make our wedding day.
She will never know because I won’t give her any more ammunition to hurt me.
“You were always a petty, spiteful bitch, but that’s low even for you,” I say, feigning nonchalance.
“Do you want to talk about spiteful?” she hisses. “Let’s talk about how you have made it your life’s mission to steal everything that should rightfully belong to me!”
I know Saskia is prone to bouts of extreme drama and delusion, but this takes the cake.
She clicks her fingers at Z. “Get me another chair,” she snaps, “and make it quick.”
Like a dutiful lap dog, he races out of the room, into the next cell, emerging with an unbroken chair. He unashamedly ogles her as he sets it down in front of her.
Ignoring him, she perches her bony ass on the hard wooden chair, pointing at me. “Sit!” she demands.
“I’d rather stand.” I flatten my back to the wall and glare at her.
“I said sit, so you will sit,” she retorts.
“Make me.”
She looks at Z, and he storms toward me, shoving me roughly to the floor. I scream in pain when he stomps his booted foot on my hand. Bones crack, shooting excruciating pain up my arm.
“That’s enough,” Saskia says, grinning like all her Sundays have come at once. “Stand outside. I’ll call you if I need you.” He looks like he wants to protest, but one cutting look from my bitch of a sister, and he leaves us alone, closing the door but not shutting it fully.
“We’re going to have story time, Sierra. I know how much you love making up fantasies for Rowan.”
My claws come out, and I snarl at her as I cradle my injured hand to my chest. “Don’t you dare talk about my son. If you even mention his name, I will gouge your eyes from your sockets before your lackey has time to save you,” I growl.
She flashes me an amused smile before continuing as if I haven’t spoken at all. “You know part of this story. The part where I met a boy from the wrong side of the tracks and fell head over heels in love with him. But you don’t know the background. Daddy promised me to Felix when I was thirteen, and the marriage arrangement stated we would wed after I came of age, sometime before I turned nineteen. Felix was handsome, and I knew I would have a good life with him, but I wanted to experience what it would be like to date other boys before I committed myself to one man, so I sweet-talked Daddy into agreeing I could date for eighteen months, provided I remained a virgin.”
She shivers in the cold room, rubbing one hand up and down her arm. “The irony is, I only flirted with Ben and agreed to a date as a bet.” She giggles. “We met at a club in the city, and I could tell he was dirt-poor. Chastity and Verona said I wouldn’t last a week with a man who didn’t have the resources or the wherewithal to treat me how I deserved to be treated, and, well, you know how much I love a challenge.”
I always wondered how they met and how they ended up dating. Ben is gorgeous, and I’ve no doubt she had the hots for him, but he had nothing, and ordinarily, Saskia would not have looked twice at him. It’s making more sense now.
“He captivated me almost immediately, and while winning the bet indulged my competitive streak, keeping the man thrilled me more. Daddy wasn’t pleased at first when he saw how attached I had grown. That’s when he started digging into Ben’s background. After a few months, he discovered he was the illegitimate son of Angelo Mazzone, and that changed everything. Daddy came to me with a new proposal. I was to get Ben to propose and let him take me to bed. Giving my virginity to another man would render the contract with Barretta null and void, leaving me free to marry the Mazzone heir!”
Her eyes sparkle, and she bristles with self-importance. “Felix was only the consigliere heir. This was a huge step up, and Daddy knew with me on his arm that Ben and I would rule all of New York one day. We had it all worked out. Ben would concede to Daddy as the overall don of La Cosa Nostra, and he would serve as his underboss. We would have more power and wealth than I ever dreamed of!”
Her eyes glaze over, and I wonder if she is even present. I can picture her daily, sitting in front of her mirror, spewing this imaginary crap, visualizing herself as the new mafia queen.
“And then it all fell apart, and I was enraged.” The dreamy expression on her face evaporates, replaced with a scary mask of anger that sends chills up my spine. “Angelo’s heir was murdered, and he yanked Ben to New York just as we were making our move.”
“You seem to have conveniently forgotten the part where Ben broke up with you.”
She darts forward, slapping me across the face. “Don’t fucking interrupt me when I’m speaking.”
You know, I do believe my sister is insane. I have always known she is cruel and mean and jealous and vindictive, but she is so much more than that. She is a complete whack job.
“We only found out recently that one of Daddy’s soldiers killed Ben’s half-brother to halt our plans.” She cackles, and the sound raises goose bumps on my arms. “Daddy repaid him for that, and I burned his house to the ground,” she gleefully admits.
She can only be talking about Terry Scott. This is why he was living in fear. God, Ben will be so shocked when he discovers this truth. But why is she referring to him as one of Daddy’s soldiers? And why would Ben ever concede to my father as the main boss? I thought my father washed cash for The Outfit, but it’s clear now he is so much more than that.
All the tiny hairs lift on my neck as I try to slot the last puzzle pieces into place.
“Of course, we timed it to perfection.” She prattles on. “Knowing it would bring Ben back to Chicago. Bumping into him on the street with Rowan was unplanned, but I thought it would work to my advantage until you had to go and ruin everything!” she screeches, digging her nails into her thighs.
My blood boils, like it does anytime Saskia mentions my son. She has never shown him the slightest interest.
“Not that it’s darling Rowan’s fault, of course,” she adds, wearing a fake adoring smile that snaps the tenuous control on my emotions.