Fallen Ashes |✔️

Vengeance

"What's wrong?" Ash's cool voice filled the space between us as I continued to move back, finding it hard to breathe.

It was Vero. Noone else could have been desperate enough to follow my movements. And now he had taken out his rage from last night to seek some sort of twisted retribution.

I signalled to Ash to shut his mouth as I moved towards my car.

This had been a huge mistake.

"How much further will you run from me Venus?" The unspoken words lingered between us.

"No." The single word was a gasp, enough to make him stop in his tracks but I wish he hadn't stopped.

"Don't you want me?" He purred as I fixated upon his delicate features, the killer beneath. Truly a dark angel.

I do, part of me screamed but I continued to step back, shaking my head in refusal.

I hated him for making my question myself, to send pangs of electricity coursing through my body that made me want to grip his neck.

"I'm getting married. You know that." I hissed, begging him to stop speaking as I tried to leave immediately but couldn't bring myself to leave him there, not after seeing the burning desire in those eyes.

"You don't belong to that pathetic excuse for a man." He huffed.

And I could have sworn something like pain flashed across his expressionless features as I whispered "I will."

I knew the microphone was there, with Vero likely listening. I had no choice but to let the conversation continue- to let him hear what I wanted him to hear.

"Don't come by the mansion again." Sending him away was for the better, I supposed, especially with him on my father's radar now.

He reached for my arm- not forcefully but almost inviting me. I felt his touch as if a cloud had swept over my skin, feeling the calluses in places likely from his rigorous training.

"Did you think I could fall for you?"

"Haven't you already?"

Yes. God, part of me wanted to feel his lips over mine, if only once. To feel the body beneath his exterior.

"Coming after me will only get you killed." I whispered, unable to look him in the eyes, inches and eternities between us.

"There's worse things to lose than my life." His gaze settled upon me again.

As I prepared to enact one final deception. One final blow to him to keep him away, to keep him safe.

I had no idea why I bothered to protect him- after all, I needed to get closer to the Italians. My next target mattered more than a man I hardly knew. But I couldn't get away from him, not when some intangible force kept bringing us closer.

I plastered a smirk on my face, compelling my features to show the swaggering killer what he needed to see. Not the afraid agent whose every word triggered an inevitable outburst from Vero.

"I don't have time for warming the beds of enemies."

His movements were a blur as I found myself pinned to the tree behind.

"Your eyes say something different." I almost pushed him away as I became lost in the brilliant sapphire orbs of his slightly upturned eyes.

Every fibre of my being longed for him, to choose this reality over a forced marriage I'd never accept.

But I knew Vero was listening, and would kill us both if he ever found Ash.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, my heart splintering at the wounded noise that came from him as he turned his back to me.

"Get the hell away from me." I hissed.

Look at me. I never chose any of this.

I swayed on my feet, unable to trust my traitorous legs as they buckled at the sound of my own voice, coated with lies and a hatred that didn't exist for the man who now couldn't stand to look at me.

If Vero or my father ever found him... I feared the blast radius, a devastation that would likely destroy us both in the process.

I could have sworn hurt flashed across his features, leaving me unable to face him again. I couldn't do this- not when I had a target to kill, a wedding to hold off. Perhaps mafia agents didn't have the capacity to love- especially not Venus Castellanos. A princess, he'd called me. I wondered when the lines between princess and prisoner had began to blur.

I drove back to the mansion in silence, contemplating every word I'd spoken, every lie I'd said whilst gritting my teeth to keep us both alive. It had to be worth it.

The Prince of Scars.

I tasted the sound of the title, wondering how it related to the Italian mafia.

From what I already knew, the italian mafia leader had a direct rivalry to my father, exceedingly dangerous and secretive in his affairs. And if Ash worked for them- he could lead me right to the Prince himself.

I never imagined how the children of the Italian crime boss lived their lives- if their lives were similar to my own. To feel the same despair, the same fear of having your life already dictated with costly consequences for deviation. Weapons for their father as I was.

It was a possibility. A likely one.

Undoubtedly his children were deadly- and a son with a skill in knives, in torture or pain or killing.

Scars.

Going after the life of a mafia boss was likely impossible, especially with their own security measures, the power they held to eliminate any threat to their reign. It would be an act calling for outright war, a line in the sand to separate us, to wait for a retaliatory blow that could create shockwaves across the underground mafia clans across the states.

But killing one of their children with the stealth and precision of an agent such as myself... it was enough to unsettle the Italian mafia boss, enough to threaten him into losing faith in allies. A blow to the inside to leave them grief-stricken and vulnerable to an attack from all sides.

My father was playing a dangerous game indeed... and I began to wonder how many sons he had... how many mafia princes could try to escape the reach of a Queen.

And if an agent like Ash had already approached me, the lines between outright enemy and ally were certainly blurred. Perhaps I had more to fear from his cunning than he let off.

My train of thought stopped in its tracks as I pulled into the mansion grounds.

To the sight of Father and Vero waiting outside.