Page 5 of Unchained

“Fine.”

I sigh, watching the email come in with the sale paperwork. I run this family and built our new generation of wealth from the ground up. Legit businesses with a purpose, not just thug work.

“The Sterling brothers saw you kill Fab. You really think they’ll have a vendetta against you? Doesn’t Harper still speak to you?”

A tight knot forms in my stomach and my heart sinks. Harper Jones. The country girl who came to me asking if I could kill the man who blackmailed her into marrying him. And I didn’t help her, which I’ll always regret.

The girl who would have died for her man.

The woman who taught me what it meant to have a friend. A real one. Not family. An actual girlfriend I could drink cocktails with.

“Not much. Although she did agree to be my bridesmaid. Sort of.”

They know Fab disobeyed my orders and went against me. But I am still a Milano. Their family's rival. They won’t trust me an inch.

My brother tried to kill Ace and smashed up their car while a pregnant Harper was inside.

My own flesh and blood did that, and I have no doubt I will pay the price.

But I need an in with Enzo Testa—the most powerful man in organized crime across the globe.

I want to prove to him we can run LA before he initiates his own plan to have one of his families wipe us out. I know it’s a ticking time bomb; I’ve heard chatter that the plans are already in motion. The only way I save everything I’ve worked and sacrificed for is by forging my own way.

Marry Colten Sterling and prove to them I am useful. That they need us. That LA is worth having only if the Milano family has it.

Or, worst case, I show them exactly who they’re messing with when they piss off Gianna Milano. I’ve trained for this since I was a kid.

I’m a woman, but I’m probably the most powerful one they’ve come up against.

And they’ll never see it coming.

But I do value my friendship with Harper. So, for once, I’d rather play nice with option one.

“What are you thinking?” Dom asks.

I blink at him and take my red lipstick out of my Chanel purse. “About world domination, brother. Nothing major.”

“And how does that look today?” he jokes.

I chew on my lip. “Well, it either looks like a one hundred and fifty-acre ranch burning down, figuratively, I mean, that would take some serious manpower. The other option is Colten and I become the ultimate power couple to ever exist.”

He arches his eyebrow. “You think the latter could actually happen in this lifetime?”

I shrug. “Stranger things have happened, Dom. I showed mercy recently, remember?”

His eyebrows shoot up his forehead. “That’s true. You cried too, seeing Harper in such a state, and when they found the baby's heartbeat.”

I swallow. “Don’t ever mention that again.”

Over the last year, I’ve cried twice, which is more than I can remember in my entire adult life— once when I saw Max’s body and once when Harper’s baby was alive.

But it’s true. I do have a heart. Somewhere. Deep down. It’s there. Not that I’ll ever let many people be aware of that fact.

CHAPTER FOUR

Colten

“How’s she doing?” I ask, resting my hand against the wooden beam as the vet turns to me.