THREE

"You should have died when I killed you."

—John le Carré

JENNIE

"What are you hiding from me, Lisa?" I asked, as we danced in the middle of the ballroom.

She pulled me closer to her. "I could say the same for you, love."

"True, but I'm discussing those secrets with family, not outsiders." I searched around for the blonde she had spoken to, but she had disappeared and no one else seemed to notice or even care. She wasn't somebody with title or fame, but either had or knew something of worth to be able to speak with Lisa privately.

"Are you jealous, love?" She squeezed my ass. "Because you shouldn't be. I love you and you alone."

"That's the fifth 'I love you' you've said tonight. I'm really going to kill you once I find out what you did, aren't I?" I said calmly. I would remain so until she gave me a reason not to be. I truly wanted to beat the shit out of her until she told me, but the sick fuck would more than likely enjoy it.

She sighed. "You, love, may just kill me when I tell you."

"Lisa…"

She kissed me so hard and passionately, she all but lifted me from the ground.

"After the gala," she whispered as her eyes begged me to drop it, "okay? After the gala?"

I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all. Whatever she was hiding, that made her act like this—like I was a time bomb waiting to explode—was probably going to make me do just that.

"Do you ever wish you could be like them?" she asked, nodding at the political interns helping with Senators Myoi's campaign. They were all around the same age, if not older, than us.

"You mean do I wish my life was filled with nothing but exams and school, getting a degree I won't use for a job I hate, and student loans I can't pay off? A life of binge drinking, and horrible sex that I think is good because of the binge drinking?" I looked them over. "No, I don't wish I could be them. It sucks to be them. That's why they're here, hoping that if they stand close enough, and say the right things, they have a chance to escape their shitty lives."

"Don't hold back, love, it's not in your nature." She laughed, spinning me around before bringing me back to her. "You've never wished your life was simple?"

"It is. I get what I want and if you stand in my way, I will wipe you off the face of the earth, then go after everyone who shares your DNA. Simple." I smiled.

She smirked as well. "Now you're just trying to turn me on."

"You're always waiting to be turned on." Proving my point, I pushed my breasts up against her and I could feel her hardening against my stomach.

"Did you get a smaller gun?" I asked, trying to feel around for it.

She moaned as I grabbed her through her pants, squeezing tightly before pulling away. I was having so much fun toying with her tonight. Her eyes glared at me as I turned to Marco and Evelyn cutting into their dance.

"Evelyn, do you mind if I cut in? Lisa wishes to dance with you."

Evelyn eyed me carefully, as if she could read my damn mind. The woman had her own set of superpowers, I swore.

Shaking her head at me, she kissed Marco before turning to Lisa who glared at me evilly.

"Watch out, Marco has two left feet. It's taken me years to work around it." She winked before taking her daughter's hands.

"She exaggerates." Marco huffed, offering me his hand.

"I'm sure, just don't step on my toes." If he did, I would ram my heel into his knee.

"I will do my best, your highness." He laughed, looking around the room. "I must say, your plan for this country is worrying me."

"Why, because it's possible?" I asked.

He nodded. "Exactly. I would have settled for a Supreme Court judge. But, then again, I no longer have that type of power."

"No, you do not." He always seemed to forget. "My father gave up power because he was dying. Why did you? You're young…enough, and you don't seem to be dying."

"You know the answer to that." He sighed, looking over to Evelyn. "This was never supposed to be my life. I saw what my father did for a living and he enjoyed it. He enjoyed it like you and Lisa enjoy it. He saw that and only forced me to work harder. I never understood why my older brother was going to take over."

I already knew this but let him speak anyway.

"He died young," he whispered sadly. "We all die young. He was around your age then. I had just turned eighteen and met Evelyn. We fell hard for each other. Any moment I could find, I was with her, which in turn led to her getting pregnant with Bambam. My plan was for us to take my inheritance and live on some remote island somewhere. But, when my brother died, I had to step forward. I hated the life with a passion."

"And now you can't let go."

He was good at what he did. The stories of young Marco were the things that nightmares were made of.

"It's like a possession," he whispered. "It crawls into your soul and takes root. You have no control over it. You allow it to grow, because it helps. It's the reason you can let blood flow across the floor like fine wine and not flinch. It helps you become the monster you need to be. The only side effect is that it's always there. No amount of holy water can wash it off. So there's no letting go. I will forever be who I allowed myself to be, and the person I allowed myself to be enjoys the chaos."

Truer words were never spoken.

"Evelyn must love hearing about that."

"She understands. There are two halves of me, always at odds with each other, but she always wins out." He chuckled glancing back at her.

"True love conquers all," I mocked, rolling my eyes before glaring at Lisa.

"So, why are you torturing my daughter?" he asked as we danced much slower than everyone else.

"Because she's keeping things from me. Important things you wouldn't happen to know anything about, would you, my dear father-in-law?" I looked into his eyes and he raised an eyebrow at me.

"So now I see that my thoughts are worth something?" he questioned.

"Yes, now they are. So again, what do you know?" I hated when people made me repeat myself, why waste words?

"Nothing, dear daughter-in-law," he replied, spinning me around a little awkwardly, but I adjusted. "Which bothers me, seeing as how Lisa was speaking to Interpol."

I stopped. "Repeat that last part again."

He froze, realizing that he did in fact know something that I didn't.

"Marco, now is the time to use more words, not less." I dug my nails into his arm.

"Rosé, the blonde woman she spoke with upon entering, she's family—or ex-family. Lisa's second cousin, her parents planned to betray the family, my father killed them. Rosé was given money, but no connections and went into…"

"I don't give a shit about who she is or how she came into being. I want to know why the fuck Lisa is speaking to Interpol." Now I was pissed, pulling myself away from him, I turned towards Lisa and her mother.

They were speaking causally, but after tonight, they wouldn't be speaking at all if he didn't tell me what I wanted to know.

"Once again, Evelyn, I'm so sorry," I cut in, glaring into Lisa's eyes. "But it seems your daughter and I need to have a little chat."

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Please don't make a scene, dear. The press."

"Of course, there are private rooms here, correct?" I didn't even wait for her to answer. Instead, I brushed past Lisa and towards the grand staircase.

I could feel her, her warmth, and the heat rolling off her as she followed me. Opening one of the doors, I let her in first.

She looked me in the eyes before stepping inside. Sadly, the sight of Victoria riding Nickhun with her head thrown back and his face buried in her chest kissing her breasts, greeted us.

"OUT!" I yelled, causing them both to jump.

Victoria shot off him and pulled the sheet around herself quickly, her brown eyes wide and shocked.

Nickhun on the other and was livid. "Are you fucking kidding me? This is the first time we've been this close to each other in months!"

"This is me giving a fuck. Get out, or I swear, Nickhun, I will feed you your own dick."

"You should go." Lisa sighed, looking for a mini bar.

Nickhun grumbled.

"Now."

"I'm going! For the love of Christ, Lisa, did you tell her already?" he yelled, grabbing his boxers.

Lisa groaned loudly. "Why is it that you and Bambam can't seem to keep your goddamn mouths shut! What is she made of, Kryptonite? The moment she comes by the both of you can't hold water? When I say shut the fuck up, that means shut your bitch-ass up!"

She told her cousin…before me?

"Nickhun, sit back down, you too, Victoria. Both of us may be widows at the end of the evening."

Nickhun stood up, but I pulled a gun on him and he sat back down.

"Somebody better start explaining before I start shooting." I waited and neither of them spoke. "Have you people been setting me up?"

"What the hell, Jennie, seriously?" Lisa said.

"Well you see, things aren't adding up for me, Lisa. You're talking to people; you're talking to the police. Tell me to my face, you bastards. Have you been playing me for a fool? You're setting me up, aren't you?"

She just stared at me dumbfounded…and hurt. "You really think after everything we've been through that I would betray you? You're my wife."

"Think of it as a compliment. I know how much you like power, Lisa. With me out of the way, you could take—"

"We found your mother," she snapped at me, as her nostrils flared. "I had Nickhun back-hack you, he was deleting and rewriting codes as you searched because I wanted to be sure what we were dealing with before sending you down the goddamn rabbit hole. I was trying to protect you because I was worried about what this would do to you; how this would hurt you. Everything I do is for you, and you think I would sell out? For what? Power I already have?"

I looked back to Nickhun who now stood with Victoria behind him, neither moving, nor daring to speak.

Slowly, my hand lowered as I tried to think.

"My mother was killed in a plane crash by the Valero."

"Your mother, goes by the name Scarlet DeRosa, and she controlled the Valero, or at least your grandfather did as part of the DeRosa Family. She's a pit bull for him, a hired gun. Here," she pulled out a flash drive, "It's a list of every last person she's killed. Your mother, is a cold-blooded killer. You grandfather, is a Mafia Boss, and they knew about you, yet still they had the Valero come after us. Most likely, he sent them after us. Now that the Valero is gone, who knows who will come next?" She snapped.

My mind was spinning.

"You should have told me," I whispered, trying to think, but I was drawing a blank. "You were fucking out of line! How dare you Lisa! Who the hell do you think you are?"

"YOUR WIFE!" she roared back, "You want an apology? Ask your mother, better yet, ask your bloody father. They were the ones lying to you for years, not me! I did what I had to do. You would have emotionally compromised everything. Not because you're weak, but because you're human. Everything you are is a product of what happened to you. You are who you are because your mother was supposedly murdered. But she wasn't. Finding that out—"

"You think you know me! What, after only a year? Screw you, Lisa Manoban. I am who I am because I made myself this way. I had a right to know! But instead, you went behind my back like a two bit crack-headed bitch." My whole body shook, all I could see was red.

"I went behind your back because I wanted to come to you with all of the information, not half of it. Why? Because I knew you would overact!"

She thought I was overreacting?

"This is me overreacting," I hissed, pointing my gun at her.

"Jen—"

I fired.

Fuck her! Fuck them all.