ANGEL'S WRATH by SK (SIN CITY HEAT) (40 page)

 
 
 
"In due time, Angelo. In due time. Just know that your brother will pay as the others have for what he did to my sister. Your brother took Isabella away from me. Now I'm getting ready to take him away from you."

 
 
 
 
Your brother took Isabella away from me. Now I'm getting ready to take him away from you.

 
 
 
 
Those words had barely cleared Melania’s lips before Angel headed towards her in long, angry strides. When one of her men tried to step in his path, Angel delivered a quick jab to the man's throat, bringing him to his knees in an instant. Angel's pace never slowed, his eyes remaining fixed on Melania.

 
 
 
 
Reaching her, he clamped a hand around her throat and lifted her by the neck until she almost dangled on her toes. Melania's men pulled out their weapons and aimed them straight at Angel at the same time Angel's men whipped out theirs, a gun in each hand, and directed them at Melania's men.

 
 
 
 
Angel's attention did not stray from the woman in front of him. Although she struggled and gasped for breath, she held a hand up telling her men to hold their fire. A perverse sense of pleasure covered her face. Melania enjoyed pain. It was like foreplay to her. The fact that it was being inflicted by Angel brought her to an elevated state of euphoria.

 
 
 
 
He'd always been so good at giving her what she needed...

 
 
 
 
"Melania listen to my words and hear them well, hm? If anything happens to my brother or his family, if one precious hair is harmed on their heads, know that there is not a rock on this earth you can slither under that I won't overturn to find you. What happened to your sister was unfortunate, but it's a potential consequence of the world she chose when she became involved with Garcia. Dominick was thrown into this through no fault of his own. If you want vengeance..." He leaned closer until his face was inches away from hers. "Come after me."

 
 
 
 
Angel released Melania and tossed her back as if she were little more than a rag doll. Her men caught her before she hit the floor and held her upright until she pushed them away. Jaxon stood staring at them, not knowing what to think about the situation he'd suddenly found himself in. All he'd wanted was his family's company back. Melania said she had business with Angel, but she never went into what that business was and he hadn't asked.

 
 
 
 
Massaging her neck, Melania gave Angel a slow smile. "I understand perfectly, Angelo. But where would the fun in that be?"

 
 
 
 
Furious beyond belief, Angel pushed his words out through gritted teeth. "Really, Melania? You think this is a game? Well, let me give you some incentive to take things a little bit more seriously. I knew you were up to something, so until I could find out exactly what you were planning, I took out a little insurance."

 
 
 
 
Melania looked on with wary suspicion as Angel pulled out his cell phone and called a number. The confident expression on her face slipped a notch as she waited.

 
 
 
 
"Put her on," Angel ordered to the person on the other line.

 
 
 
 
He hit a button to put the call on speaker. A rough, gritty male voice whispered to someone else in the room with him. "Say hello. She's waiting."

 
 
 
 
Seconds later, an obviously frightened woman called out tentatively. "M-Melania?"

 
 
 
 
Horror and fear flooded Melania's face. "Mamá!
Mamá!!
"

 
 
 
 
"Melania?" Melania's mother began screaming and speaking in rapid fire Spanish. Melania tried her best to calm her mother and reassure her that everything would be fine.

 
 
 
 
"It's okay, Mamá...wait..
.
Mamá..." Melania paused and put trembling fingers to her temple as the hysteria in her mother's voice grew. "He won't hurt you...Mamá, stop crying,
por favor...
I promise, everything will be…
"

 
 
 
 
Angel hung the phone up before Melania could finish. "Mamá?" Frantic eyes met Angel's before she visibly made an effort to calm down. "Where is she, Angel? What have you done
to her?"

 
 
 
 
"She's fine. Whether or not she stays that way is up to you. Let's talk. This is what I want you to do, Melania. You're going to forget any and everything even remotely connected to my brother. Your mother hasn't been hurt, this time. But you have a false sense of security when it comes to your mamá. You might think you can protect her every second of the day, but you can't. The same way you can get to my family, I can get to yours, any time I like...including your mother."

 
 
 
 
Melania screamed in outrage. She reached over and snatched the gun from the hand of the man standing beside her then pushed the muzzle against Angel's left temple.
 
One of Angel's men quickly directed his aim at Melania but Angel only smiled and continued talking.

 
 
 
 
"You know me, Melania. You know me very well. I will start a bloodbath and massacre your whole got damn family...starting with your mamá. Then, I'll pick the rest of them off one by one. I won't even need a reason. I might wake up one morning and get pissed off just thinking about this shit and order a hit on that baby brother of yours whom your family dotes on. He's a senior at UCLA now, isn't he? What's his name? Antonio? Or who's to say I won't have a fucked up day and order my men to go after your older sister who lives in Los Cabos. Or her husband. Or any one of her six children..."

 
 
 
"You son of a bitch," Melania whispered as she realized exactly how much he knew about her close knit family. "Do not think this is over, Angelo. I swear to you it is not. You might have won this round, my friend, but the war is far from over. You'll see me again. I promise you."

 
 
 
 
"For your sake, I hope I don't. Because, Melania, if I see you again, then I'll start believing you just disregarded everything I've told you today. Let's be clear. The next time I lay eyes on you, I
will
kill you."

 
 
 
 
Lifting his hand to the gun, he calmly pushed it away from his head, and swung his attention to Jax. "And that goes for you as well. I advise you to get far, far away from here. The fact that you're my half-brother is the only reason why you're not dead already. But that's your last free pass. Don't ever come near Nikki again."

 
 
 
 
Giving them one last lingering look, he slipped a pair of shades on and headed for the door. His men followed behind him walking backwards, their guns still aimed at Melania's men. He'd just opened the door when she called his name. Angel turned around slowly and stared at her without speaking.

 
 
 
 
"I've changed my mind, Angelo. I think I'll give you one last clue. Or call it....how did you put it?
Incentive.
" She reached in the pocket of her dress and pulled out something the size of a postcard and brought it to him. She held it out until Angel impatiently grabbed it out of her hand.

 
 
 
 
Glancing down, he saw it was a photo. In that moment, his world tilted on its axis. He blinked several times, praying that he wasn't looking at what he instinctively knew to be true.

 
 
 
 
As he continued to stare at the picture, Melania's throaty amusement filled the room. Her confidence restored knowing she now had leverage of her own, she blew him a kiss.

 
 
 
 
"
Adios, papi.
Until we meet again."

 
 
 
 
Angel's grip tightened on the photograph then slipped it in the pocket of his jacket. His features composed, and revealing nothing of what he was thinking, he left out without another word. Melania's laughter drifted behind him.

 
 
 
 
As he walked to the elevator he pulled out his cell phone. When the other end connected, he didn't waste time with small talk. "I'm on my way to pick you up. I'll be there in thirty minutes. Be ready."

 
 
 
 
Almost an hour later, Angel and Dominick were in the back of Angel's luxury car being chauffeured around by Dre. After Angel finished telling Dominick about the visit with Melania, the silence in the air was thick with tension. Angel's mind was working furiously, knowing the rest of what he had to tell his brother was going to change his life forever.

 
 
 
 
"I don't understand." Confusion blanketed Dominick's face. "What does she mean I'm one of the people responsible for Isabella's death? I haven't seen Bella in years. I mean, like you told her sister, we were both using each other, a means to a common end. The last time I saw her, she was fine."

 
 
 
 
Truly perplexed, Dom shook his head and stared blindly out the window. He hadn’t thought about Isabella in a long, long time. She was part of a past he'd put behind him. Those years from the ages of sixteen to twenty-one seemed like they happened to a different person a lifetime ago. Sighing from deep within his chest, Dom thought back to that particular period in time...

 
 
 
 
The first time Dominick laid eyes on Isabella had been in the visitor’s room at the minimum security prison where he was serving out the remainder of his sentence. He was sitting at a table with Chino, one of Angel's foot soldiers, but kept his attention on a beautiful woman several tables away. Her name was Isabella and she visited Garcia religiously every weekend without fail.

 
 
 
 
The two of them watched each other for months. Dominick had noticed her interest in him on the first few occasions he’d seen her, but he kept it movin'. He didn’t run from beef, but he didn’t go looking for it either. Isabella was trouble he didn’t need or want.

 
 
 
 
Until now.
 
 

 
 
 
 
He'd been transferred here from juvie after he turned eighteen, two and a half years ago. Although he’d seen many horrors in prison, especially to young inmates around his age, none of it had touched him, and he knew it was because of his brother's protection. Even so, Dominick never let his guard down. The hard knocks education of prison taught him to still watch his own back against those who weren’t easily swayed by Angelo’s influence.

 
 
 
 
Like Julio Garcia.

 
 
 
Seeing Isabella listening to something Garcia was telling her, Dominick was aware that she knew he was watching her, but her attention never diverted from the man she was visiting. However, when Garcia leaned to the side to scratch his leg, her eyes met Dominick’s in those few, brief seconds and exchanged an intense glance which scorched blazing hot across the distance. When Garcia straightened, she quickly looked down.

 
 
 
 
Garcia froze and turned around slowly to glare at Dominick with icy, dangerous eyes. Undaunted, Dominick didn’t turn away. He wanted the muthafucka to know he was staring at his woman, wanted him to see the message in his eyes he didn’t even attempt to hide; he planned on fucking the bitch. The threatening gleam that shone in Garcia’s eyes told Dominick he got the message loud and clear.

 
 
 
 
The battle lines between the two men had been drawn months ago when Dominick found his cellmate hanging from a beam in their cell, dead from an apparent suicide. Jonas Walters had been a sixteen year old kid, sent straight to an adult prison almost a year ago after he’d been convicted of murdering a cop, a crime he swore to Dominick he didn’t commit.