Demented Devil, page 1
EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2022 Winter Sloane
ISBN: 978-0-3695-0666-5
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Editor: Audrey Bobak
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
To my readers, I hope you enjoy reading Sofia and Maxim’s story as much as I loved writing it.
DEMENTED DEVIL
Winter Sloane
Copyright © 2022
Chapter One
Sofia opened the car door and slid next to her sister, Aurora. Aldo, one of her father’s loyal men, raised one dark eyebrow at Sofia but wisely decided not to comment.
Aurora gave her a quick and assessing look before letting out a musical laugh. Dressed in her ratty pajama top pants and with all her dark curls sticking up, Sofia suddenly felt self-conscious. She combed her fingers through her hair, but the curls refused to be tamed.
Her sister looked sharp in her sensible gray business suit and four-inch heels. Not a strand of Aurora’s pale-gold hair was out of place. Her normally glacial blue eyes held a hint of amusement.
Aurora had taken after their elegant and beautiful mother, while Sofia always felt clumsy by comparison. Their very dead and beautiful mother. Sofia suddenly remembered why she skipped her morning coffee. It wasn’t just to avoid seeing or talking to her father. Sofia’s stomach lurched, thinking about the arrangement their father, Lorenzo Bianchi, made recently. As Don of the Bianchi Familia, his decisions were always final.
Memories Sofia had locked in her head threatened to spill out of their prison. Sofia saw herself kneeling in front of her mother’s corpse, her white dress and hands drenched in her mother’s blood. Aurora putting her hands on Sofia’s thin shoulders, gently whispering in her ear to stand up, to be strong because Father would not want them to appear weak.
Sofia had been eight years old, and Aurora had only been two years older than her. The two of them quickly grew up after that.
“Sofia, don’t tell me you just woke up,” Aurora said.
The car lurched forward. They were on their way to whatever important business Aurora was about to attend.
Even before Aurora received her business degree, their father had already ensured she was entrenched in the family business. She started as an intern and worked her way up the company ladder. Now she was his personal secretary and attended every important meeting he did.
Much to their father’s frustration, Sofia had stubbornly forged her own path. Even from a young age, she had refused to be a pawn in their father’s twisted games. Instead of a sensible business degree, Sofia had picked a degree in digital media. She paid her way through college by working odd jobs. Sofia made it clear to her father and the familia that she didn’t need anyone’s help.
Once Sofia graduated from college, she distanced herself from the familia, but she kept in touch with her sister.
Sofia returned home for a couple of days to dissuade Aurora from making the most terrible mistake of her life.
They had limited time. It only took twenty minutes, thirty, if there was traffic, to reach Bianchi Tower, the familia’s head offices downtown.
Aurora would be in back-to-back meetings all day.
They had to have this conversation now. Lorenzo had already hired someone to make all the wedding arrangements. He wouldn’t ask for the bride’s or groom’s input. He would simply deem it unnecessary. Sofia wouldn’t be surprised if the wedding planner had already found a location for the wedding.
Sofia clasped Aurora’s long and manicured fingers and looked pleadingly into her eyes. While they kept in touch, they weren’t close as they used to be in the past.
“You can’t do this, Aurora. You can’t marry a complete stranger just because Father wants an alliance,” Sofia said.
“The Don has made his decision,” Aldo interjected.
“Stay out of this,” Sofia snapped.
He looked unhappy, but what could he do? Today, Aldo was playing the role of bodyguard. He took out his phone and pretended to be busy. That suited Sofia just fine.
Aurora opened her mouth, about to say something else, but Sofia beat her to the punch. She had plenty of ammunition left.
“He can’t keep doing this,” Sofia argued. “You’re not a puppet on strings.”
Aurora yanked her hand back. Her blue eyes turned cold, and for a second, Sofia feared she had already lost her sister. She worried their father had done a good job of turning Aurora into one of his pawns. Then Aurora’s expression softened.
“I’m not doing this for Father, Sofia, but for the familia. Do you understand the precarious situation the familia is in?” Aurora asked. “Plenty of livelihoods depend on this alliance. Do you have any idea how many people are in our employ?”
Hesitantly, Sofia shook her head. She had been living on her own for two years and relishing the freedom that came with it.
Sofia told herself she was no longer interested in familia politics. Deep down, she knew she couldn’t change the family she was born into.
She and her father might have a complicated relationship, but he still sent men to check on her once a week. That meant he cared in his own way. Then again, if one of her father’s enemies ended up killing Sofia, that would make him appear weak. Appearances were everything to their father.
“I have certain responsibilities,” Aurora said. “I can’t just abandon them.”
“Don’t start with that,” Sofia interrupted.
“I won’t bore you with family politics, but we’re on shaky ground right now,” Aurora told her. “The familia lost three of its important shipments over the last two months. Rival groups would close in like sharks that have scented blood in the water.”
Aurora used a good analogy. The same night their mother died, Lorenzo lost two of his important allies.
Sofia’s stomach lurched. By shipments, Sofia knew Aurora meant drugs and guns.
Growing up, the two of them privately liked to pretend their father was a normal businessman. Deep down, they had always known his legal businesses were just a front.
Lorenzo reared them both to be excellent liars. If anyone asked Sofia what her father did for a living, she always gave scripted answers.
After her mother died, Aurora and she were instructed to tell their classmates and teachers their mother had died of a heart attack. For a while, Sofia believed those lies as well. It was a lot easier than confronting the awful truth. That her father’s enemies killed their mother to hurt him.
“I don’t want to hear this,” Sofia said.
“I know.” Aurora expelled a sigh. “I would prefer to leave you out of this as much as possible, but I need you to understand the reason I agreed to marry Maxim Semenov.”
Hearing her sister utter that monster’s name sent shivers down Sofia’s spine. She knew who Maxim was. Everyone in Giland City did.
The press frequently mentioned him in the papers. He owned a couple of companies, and he was frequently seen on the news hanging out with politicians and actors and actresses.
Recently, Sofia had seen a picture of Maxim in the newspapers. He was standing with the mayor and the newly elected chief of police.
Maxim was an accomplished liar. A black-haired and steel-eyed devil in a ten-thousand-dollar suit.
Like her father, Maxim’s many businesses were a front. Maxim was the new Pakhan of the Semenov Bratva. Rumor had it Maxim murdered his father, the previous Pakhan, in cold blood. His father was just one name on a long kill list.
“I hear he’s a beast,” Sofia whispered. “Aurora, he killed his last wife. I don’t want you to end up dead.”
“That’s just a rumor. There’s no evidence of that,” Aurora said with a laugh.
She said those words in a dismissive tone, but Sofia could always read her sister like an open book. Aurora’s left eye twitched. A telltale sign she wasn’t being truthful.
Marrying Maxim unnerved her, but she would never admit it, even to Sofia.
“He listed his last wife as missing,” Sofia went on. “But her bones could be resting under the floorboards in his bedroom for all we know. She’s just one of the many bodies he’s buried.”
“I’m used to dealing with men like him,” Aurora said dismissively, and Sofia knew she meant Lorenzo.
The two of them could pretend all they wanted that Lorenzo still possessed a shred of decency in him, but they couldn’t ignore the mountain of corpses Lorenzo left behind.
“What if you’re out of your league? Have you even spoken to him in person, met him?” Sofia demanded.
Aurora shook her head. She looked like she always did. So put-together that it appeared nothing could faze her, even an arranged marriage to a brute who might make her life a complete nightmare.
“We arranged a lunch meeting this Saturday at one of his newly opened restaurants,” Aurora said. “The press will also be there. The next day, our wedding announcement will be in the papers.”
Every word that came out of Aurora’s mouth sounded so stiff, so formal. Aurora didn’t even know this man’s cha racter or what he was really like.
Was she really going to throw away her entire future just to appease their father?
Sofia understood the familia had plenty of people under their employ, but if their father was supposedly good at what he did, then he didn’t need to give his only loyal daughter away to a stranger.
“But Aurora—” Sofia began.
“We’re here,” Aldo announced, interrupting her.
He got out of the car and held the door open for Aurora. Sounds of honking cars and conversations filled Sofia’s ears.
“This discussion is over,” Aurora said.
Her perfect mask was back in place. Sofia’s sister had disappeared, replaced by the persona the public called the Bianchi Ice Princess.
“Once upon a time, you told me you dreamed about marrying a good man and building a simple life with him,” Sofia argued, desperate to get her point across. “You said you’d be content with a small house and maybe two or three kids running wild in the yard.”
Lorenzo had always been the domineering figure in their lives, but he’d always been distant. Absent save for moments when he needed his daughters to create the image of the perfect family for the press.
After their mother died, there was just Aurora and Sofia.
“If I won’t marry Maxim, then would you take my place?” Aurora asked bluntly.
She must’ve seen the truth in Sofia’s eyes because a self-satisfied smile curved on her lips.
Did Aurora know she didn’t just inherit their mother’s looks but also their father’s capacity for cruelty?
With no words left to say, Sofia remained silent. I did this, Sofia thought numbly. Her sister no longer had any options for a normal life. One of them had to remain in the family business. By selfishly choosing freedom, Sofia had damned Aurora.
Aurora stepped out of the car. Sofia couldn’t leave their talk like this. She didn’t care if someone from the press caught her in her pajamas.
Lurching out of the car like a graceless fish, Sofia would have fallen flat on the dirty sidewalk if not for Aldo grasping her arm.
Regaining her balance, Sofia looked out for Aurora. She started for the glass doors that led to the Bianchi Tower.
“Aurora, wait!” Sofia yelled.
She turned, much to Sofia’s relief. Sofia hadn’t lost her. Not completely. The two of them could figure this out. Sofia refused to let Aurora marry a monster just to satisfy their greedy father’s ambitions.
“Sofia, what now?” Aurora asked. A look of alarm crossed her face. She kicked off her heels and ran right at her like some kind of football player. Sofia couldn’t comprehend what was happening, not until Aurora tackled her to the ground.
She heard yells all around her. Nearby, a woman’s shrill scream made Sofia put her hands over her ears. Gunfire erupted. What the hell was happening?
Aldo shouted commands in Italian. Was he talking to someone on the phone?
“Aurora?” Sofia asked, remembering what her sister had done.
Aurora saved her, like all those years ago, right after their mother had died. Aurora had become her support system, and Sofia became hers.
Their father didn’t have time to grieve or console his children. He drowned himself in thoughts of vengeance instead. It seemed no matter how many people he ordered killed or irrationally blamed their mother’s death, he was never right again.
“I’m glad I got to you in time. I saw the sniper’s shadow…” Aurora trailed off.
Instinct told Sofia something wasn’t quite right with this scenario. With shaking fingers, Sofia touched the trail of blood down the side of Aurora’s lips. The color seemed darker than the shade of her lipstick.
Droplets hit Sofia’s light-blue pajama top. Blood. Aurora’s blood.
Alarmed, she stared up at her sister, at the life slowly fleeing her vibrant blue eyes.
Finally, she noticed the dark stain on her chest. It started spreading, spreading. The bullet found its home, after all.
Panic seized her. I must be back in my bed. This was all an awful nightmare. Except it wasn’t. Small rocks dug into her back. Aurora’s body felt heavy.
“No,” she whispered. “You can’t do this. You can’t leave me like Mother did.”
Her words sounded childish to her own ears.
“Promise me,” Aurora whispered.
“What?” Sofia didn’t know how to respond. After their mother died, she couldn’t speak for weeks.
“Stand by Father. By the familia. They’ll need you more than ever.”
Aurora shut her eyes and collapsed on top of her. Even in death, her sister looked dignified.
It was happening all over again. Someone she cared deeply about died right in front of her eyes.
A scream clawed out of her throat, then another. She couldn’t stop, even as Aldo pried Aurora’s corpse off Sofia’s body. He bodily dragged her back into the car, kicking and cursing.
Chapter Two
“Do you know what we do to rats, Peter?” Maxim asked the squirming man tied to the chair.
Peter spat out a wad of blood on the ground, then fixed Maxim and his brother Lev a grotesque smile. Grotesque because once Maxim unleashed Lev on Peter, Peter would need plenty of dental work done.
Only if Peter survived this interrogation, of course. It was unlikely they would allow him to leave this room alive.
The Semenov Bratva made an example of traitors. Every associate who joined their ranks understood the cost for betrayal was death, and it would not be a quick one.
“Do whatever you like to me. I will not betray my employers,” Peter said.
Lev looked at Maxim and raised one brow. He wore a sleek black suit underneath his dirty apron and blue disposable gloves, which were now stained with crimson.
Lev had never been quite right after a childhood incident, which left him permanently scarred for life, both mentally and physically. Their father’s enemies had taken Lev and their mother as prisoners. Only Lev returned alive, but not whole.
Maxim had been born with something vital lacking in him. Lev had been the compassionate one, the gentle soul in their family until Lev’s torturers had carved every goodness out of him and made Lev a little more like Maxim. Heartless.
“It seems we will not find satisfactory answers out of this one,” Maxim told Lev. “It is time to pay Mrs. Lebedev and her two children a visit.”
“Understood,” Lev said with a nod.
After becoming the Pakhan of the family, Maxim seldom needed to do the dirty work, but he insisted on being present for Peter’s interrogation.
Their organization had a strict hiring and vetting process. Maxim did not know how a slime ball like Peter Lebedev had wormed his way through the ranks. After this distasteful task, Maxim would need to have a word with his lieutenants, especially those in charge of hiring new recruits.
“You heartless bastard! You can’t.” Peter looked at Maxim with wide brown eyes filled with terror. He tried the bonds lashing his wrists to the metal chair, but struggling did no good.
He cursed Maxim and Lev, but he soon pleaded and begged.
Maxim had given him to Lev because his brother needed someone new to play with. Maxim, on the other hand, had wanted to test how loyal Peter was to his original employers.
“We have already given you plenty of chances, Peter. Your luck has run out,” Maxim said. “Lev, what are your plans for Peter’s wife?”
Lev walked to the small tray table next to the chair where Peter was strapped and picked up a pristine scalpel.
“I’ll start with this,” Lev said, caressing the blade with the tip of his pale finger.
That was all Lev need to say and do. Over the years, his brother had built quite the reputation.
“The Fedorovs. I work for the Fedorovs,” Peter screamed. Tears filled his eyes. “Please, please don’t hurt my wife and children.”
Maxim nodded to Lev, who put his scalpel down. He looked disappointed. Maxim exited the room. Sweat trickled down his brow. That special windowless room was designed specifically with no proper ventilation.
