Page 64 of Sweet Revenge

The idea that it was all over, that our enemies had all fallen and we were finally at peace, took away any remaining chill I felt in my bones. With Daemon’s arms around me, I could give into the exhaustion tugging at the edge of my mind. “I love you, Daemon,” I said again. “More than anything.”

“I love you, too, my beautiful angel.” He kissed the top of my head again, and I let sleep claim me, knowing tomorrow would be the first day where everything was different and I could wake up without fear.

CHAPTER38

DAEMON

Alex La Rosa’s eyes were still bruised, and his nose was slightly more crooked than it had been before I used his face as a punching bag. He sat across from Elisa and me in my mother’s sitting room—what had once been her sitting room anyway.

Now, I supposed it was my sitting room. It needed some redecorating as most of the furniture screamed middle-aged rich woman. Red velvet chairs, white lacy curtains, and a large mahogany desk in the corner that truly served no purpose. The more I looked around the mansion in my mother’s absence, the more I realized she was a pretentious decorator. I’d probably end up redoing the entire place, even though I didn’t intend to make this my house full-time. No, I had other plans for that.

It seemed a bit strange seeing Alex here, especially since he was sipping tea out of a dainty porcelain cup with hand-painted pink flowers on the sides. He gobbled up the ladyfingers the maids had put out like he hadn’t eaten in days and had no manners. Every time he stuffed his face with a couple of them at the same time, Elisa cringed next to me, as if she couldn’t believe her mother had raised such a savage.

Maybe he was this way because her mother hadn’t had as much sway over him. It had been evident to me since the moment I met him that Alex was a daddy’s boy. Now that Alexander was dead, he had inherited his kingdom, so we sat across from one another, drinking tea, and agreeing to be civil. Otherwise, we would’ve met in the boardroom with some whiskey and cigars.

“It’s pretty simple,” I told him as he washed down the last of the cookies with the small amount of tea that fit in the cup. “Everything is settled between us now. You’ll go back to Boston and do whatever the fuck you want to there, and you’ll stay out of Chicago and leave it to me. There’s really no point in us continuing a feud our parents started when we have no beef between us.”

“Well,” Alex began, cocking his head to the side, “I’m not really happy about you drugging me, kidnapping me, and beating the shit out of me.” His broad shoulders nearly touched his ears and then fell down again. “I could’ve done without all that.”

“True.” How could I argue with that? “It was a means to an end.”

“An end that got my father killed.” He narrowed his gaze at me, and the two large men he’d brought with him who flanked his chair shifted on their feet.

I wasn’t scared of any of them. Not only did I have my own army waiting in the wings in case things went south, but I was pretty sure I could take all three of them. But that wasn’t my agenda for today. I really wanted to smooth things over between us so I could give Elisa as much peace in her life as possible.

“Dad got killed because he tangled with the wrong woman,” Elisa interjected, using a more sympathetic tone than I’d ever heard her speak in when she was talking about her father. No doubt, she wanted to connect with her brother on some level so he’d feel more comfortable making this agreement. “If he hadn’t married our enemy, he’d still be alive.”

“While that may be,” Alex began, “that woman happened to be his mother.”

“And I killed her, so we’re even.” I didn’t have time to keep placating him at every turn. “Listen, if you want to keep going at one another, we can, but I don’t think that it’s what’s best for either of us. You have interests in Boston that are being neglected while your focus is here in Chicago, and I’ve got prospects on the horizon here that I’d like to investigate rather than fighting you at every corner. Continuing this unnecessary fighting doesn’t do either one of us any good.”

He heard me then. His head rocked back and forth slightly before he let out a sigh and said, “Fine. We’ll go back to Boston and leave you the hell alone. For now. But that doesn’t make us friends, and it sure the fuck doesn’t mean I forgive you for what you did.”

“Don’t be expecting a Christmas card from us either,” Elisa said, arching an eyebrow. This guy had been just as much of an asshole to her as her father had, so I couldn’t blame her for only being able to play nice for so long before her true feelings came out.

We all stood, and Alex and I shook hands. Elisa offered him a slight wave goodbye but didn’t reach out to touch him. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and signaled for Vin, who was waiting in the doorway, to show them out.

With Alex gone, I turned to Elisa and smiled and ran my thumb along the smooth surface of her cheek. “There. That’s done.”

“Do you think he’ll keep his word?” One eye twitched a little, letting me know she was nervous about her family continuing the hostility.

“I do.” Giving her a reassuring smile, I pulled her to me. “It’s not in his best interest to continue to be a pain in my ass, and I think your brother has a little more sense and a little less need for vengeance than your old man.”

She nodded but didn’t say anything, which made me think she still wasn’t certain. I wasn’t either, but I had already proven I could squash the La Rosas if they came for me again, and in the week since everything had gone down here, other bosses had come knocking at my door, figuratively speaking, wanting to make amends.

Rumors had spread, and in the end, I’d gotten credit for taking out Alexander La Rosa, and everyone thought my mother had accidentally overdosed on valium after his death. Strong enough to take out my enemies regardless of my only family members’ interest, but not so cruel as to kill my own dear mother in cold blood—that was the Daemon Petrov the crime world had spoken into existence.

“Want to go for a walk?” Elisa asked me. “It’s snowing a little, and I could really use the fresh air.”

“Sure. We can take a look at the fountains. They’re always beautiful in a light snow.”

We headed to the coat closet to get warmer attire and then went out one of the back doors closer to the walkway that headed to the gardens and the fountain.

The air smelled crisp and clean as large, fluffy snowflakes fell from the sky, meandering about on a light breeze before accumulating on tree branches or joining their predecessors in small drifts along the grass. It wasn’t freezing out, and the snow was light enough to make our walk calm and enjoyable.

“Do you know what any of these plants are?” Elisa asked, gesturing to the winterized bushes and shrubs that stood dormant along the sides of the walkway. Most of them were brown and leafless while the carnivorous varieties spread their evergreen boughs to collect the snowflakes like something out of a holiday movie.

“I know that those are cedar,” I said, pointing to some trees in the distance, “and that one with the pinecones is probably a… pine. And—no, that’s all I know.”