Wicked Games by Jarica James

Otsana

The beeping of a heart monitor was the first thing I noticed. The second was pain. The third was the realization that I was alive. The monitor’s steady beep turned slightly erratic and a calm voice spoke out.

“Ah, you awake, Otsana.”

No, no, no. How is this possible?! I should be dead. This can’t be hell.

“It seems you are not happy to be home again.” That had my eyes snapping open, horror filling me as I stared around at the ornate bedroom from my childhood memories. I was in the same bed, the frilly cream comforter and expensive sheets the same, though the medical equipment was new. “Well, I’d say our deal ended early, but you left me little choice. That was a bold move, princess.”

“I’m not your princess, I’m their queen,” I bit out, my voice rasping and ending on a painful cough. He chuckled slowly, like my pain was fun to watch. And for him, it was.

“It is funny. That you fought to get out of this life, if only for a short reprieve. Yet you found yourself right back in their arms. Back in the mafia.”

Back in their arms.

The words startled me enough that my jaw dropped open. His smile grew wide as he watched the realization move across my face.

“Caught that, didn’t you,” he asked. “Yes, I knew about them. You think I would send you to a school I had no eyes on? I let you have your fun then I brought you back once I discarded that useless son of mine.”

He was apparently hellbent on dropping all his secrets today. “Why?”

“He thought I should leave you there, that I ran this Family with too firm a hand,” he said with a shrug. “No man or woman stands in my way, if you’ll recall.” He put emphasis on woman, a memory I didn’t know hitting me before I could stop it.

My sock clad feet muffled my footsteps as I approached my mother’s door. It was cracked open, the warm glow of her lamp spilling out into the dark hall. Father was away on assignment and I knew she’d be alone. I had another nightmare and she was the only one I was allowed to tell about them. But something stopped me short, my hand hovering just above the door.

“I told you, no more,” my mother bit out, her voice strong despite the desperation in her tone. “I am married to your son. I am not your toy.”

Curiosity won out my good sense and I leaned in to peek into the room. Eros was standing over her, his hand on her waist as he pushed her against the wall. She was wearing a barely there nightgown, a fact he definitely noticed.

“Ah, but you are,” he bit out. “I own all of you, everyone in this house. I’ve kept Otsana alive, made her my protégé.”

“Safe?!” mother screeched, voice rising as she shoved against him. “You’ve put her in terrible situations, tried to break her in every way.”

“Behave,” he warned. “My patience thins. And no, I’ve given her survival skills, taught her to be strong of body and mind.”

“I won’t do this anymore. She deserves to know the truth,” she shot back. Even from my spot I could see the tension in his shoulders.

“I forbid you to tell her, and this is over when I tire of you. Something I don’t foresee for many years,” he hummed, leaning in and pressing a kiss to her collarbone. When his hands moved to remove her gown she started to struggle, I stepped away, a soft chuckle following my escape.

The memory faded as realization sunk in. How I hadn’t remembered that for all these years was beyond me.

“Did you kill her?” He smirked, knowing damn well that he was pulling up awful memories. He always seemed to have that effect on me, bringing out the worst and rubbing salt in the wound.

“No. She did that to herself,” he said darkly. Something in his voice told me she might have been the only person on this earth he had ever cared about.

“Shouldn’t that be a sign? That two women killed themselves to get away from you?” I said bitterly. “I just failed.”

“Oh no, you succeeded. You never did anything half-assed, something you get from me,” he smirked. His white hair, white suit, and handsome face made him look like an angel, it was his best disguise. “We just made it on time. Yet another of my impeccable traits.”

“And not my father?” I challenged, matching his tone. The fact he killed his own son for asking questions did not settle well with me.

“Ah, but we are one and the same.” His words connected the last few dots, answering questions I had for years. Why he chose me to be his predecessor over my father, why he treated me differently than others.

“Of course you are,” I sighed, keeping my face even. I refused to give him the satisfaction of shaking me up. I’d process the mindfuck that was my life later. “Why am I here?”

“Because you belong here. And being my daughter is the one thing that keeps you alive.”

“That didn’t seem to matter for dad,” I pointed out. He shrugged.

“My son did not look like your mother,” he said simply, laughing at my horrified expression. He walked even closer to my bedside so he could stare down at me as he spoke. “She was mine, and you are my last reminder of her.”

“That’s sick,” I said, my stomach rolling with nausea.

“Well, this sickness saved your life many times, princess. Count your blessings and all that. Now, get some sleep, that’s enough for tonight,” he mused, standing up and walking out. My body was too weak to fight him on it, so I ended up staring at the ceiling. I’d have to bide my time. I knew my men would be coming for me, that they’d never believe I died no matter what they saw on those videos. So for now I would gather intel and kill Eros first chance I got. Him being my biological father changed nothing.

“Ah, there you are, cousin.” I closed my eyes as Little Tony sauntered in, far too confident for a man of his creep level. Just looking at him made my skin crawl and I made a mental note to kill him too. “I think you’ll be happy to know that Eros has agreed to my idea. You shall be my wife as soon as you are healed. He assured me the doctors said you’d be yourself by next week.”

I laughed. It was the only logical reaction to the incestuous ideas he was spewing. “Eros would never agree to that.”

“Oh, but he did,” he said with a shrug, sitting down on my bed and laying a hand on my leg. I shifted, but he didn’t move it, already getting a big head over the arrangement he allegedly figured out. “You see, I convinced him it was best to keep things within the family. We are second cousins so it is legal and our children will be from the two sides of our family joining together, twice as powerful as you or I.”

“Do you even hear yourself?” I asked. “This is insane and I refuse. Who do you think Eros will listen to? Me, or you?”

“You have betrayed us. Joined another Family,” he said with a shrug, but the idea bothered him. His eyes darted to the door and his hand was beating out a rhythm on his thigh now.

“Have I? Or have I forged an even stronger alliance than you could ever offer? I landed not one, but three mafia boyfriends with one of the most successful and clean empires in the country. We’d be unstoppable together.” My confidence in the words spoke volumes and he stuttered for a moment before rushing out. I didn't care if he proposed that to Eros, the triplets wouldn’t agree and I just needed him far away from me. I’d be killing them both or die trying, so I didn’t give a fuck what they decided. I was over letting old men and assholes decide my fate.

* * *

Keir

“Any last intel for us?”I asked Joe as I walked in. He was away from his computer for once, shifting through several metal cases on the table filled with tech for us to take. He nodded once and slid into his chair, pulling up video surveillance of the Priamos compound.

The place was lavish, from the glittering gold fountain out front to the ornate exterior of the mansion. Eros was proud of his money and flaunted it to the public.

“Here he is carrying her inside,” he pointed out. Otsana was limp in his arms, their car arriving right behind an ambulance that was unloading medical equipment in a rush. If he brought them in, then she was still alive.

“That’s good news,” I said with a sigh. My entire body unwound just a little, enough to breathe properly. Though the bloodlust pumping through my veins wasn’t in the least satisfied.

“Even better news,” he said with a grin. “We hacked into his security systems. It took me a lot of work, his guys are good.”

“But you’re better,” Killian grinned, clapping Joe so hard the poor guy buckled a little.

“That I am,” Joe agreed. “And there’s our queen.”

She was weak, otherwise she wouldn’t be lying in the bed still hooked to a machine. But from the way she spoke, the tension in her body, she was arguing with Eros. Both a brave and stupid thing to do. He was unhinged, and not in the way I lost my temper, but that psychopathic way that was a quiet calm that lured you into complacency before it obliterated your very existence.

“She’s alive,” Ky breathed. He sat down hard on the conference table, a hand to his chest. I knew exactly how he felt, the same pain ebbing a bit from mine. She was alive and we were on our way to her.

“Let’s go then. We have what we need. And Joe, keep us updated the entire way,” I ordered, grabbing a few of the cases and walking out.

“I’m already tuned into the comms,” he called after me. We had everything we needed to end this now, though I had little doubt that they’d all be dead by the time we got there, Otsana waiting on the throne with a snarky response. Either way, this was about to end.