SEDUCING MY SISTER'S KILLER

Chapter 3 - Marked by the Mafia

"You don't belong here," Fernandez said, smiling like a warning.

The gala was everything I'd expected from the Diego family,excessive, dangerous, and dripping with blood money disguised as charity. Crystal chandeliers cast dancing shadows over faces that belonged on most wanted lists, and the air hummed with the kind of tension that came from putting too many predators in one room.

I'd chosen a sleek black dress that hugged my curves without screaming for attention. The goal was to blend in with the other mafia wives and daughters, to look like I belonged in this world of beautiful killers and elegant monsters. But Carlos's eyes had been on me from the moment I'd walked through the doors, tracking my every movement like I was the most fascinating thing in the room.

"Marie, I'd like you to meet my sister, Fernandez," Carlos said, his hand settling possessively on the small of my back. The touch sent heat spiraling through me, and I hated how my body responded to him despite everything.

Fernandez Diego was stunning in the way that dangerous women always were,all sharp edges and predatory grace. Her dark hair was pulled back in a severe chignon, and her dress cost more than most people made in a year. But it was her eyes that held my attention. They were the same midnight black as her brother's, but where Carlos's held warmth, hers were cold as winter steel.

"A pleasure," I said, extending my hand with a smile that didn't reach my eyes.

She took it, her grip firm enough to bruise. "Carlos tells me you're new to Colima. Where are you from originally?"

The question was casual, but I heard the interrogation underneath. This woman was a guard dog in designer heels, and she'd marked me as a threat the moment I'd walked in.

"Here and there," I replied, keeping my voice light. "I don't like to stay in one place too long."

"How... interesting." Her smile was sharp enough to cut glass. "Most people need roots to feel secure. Don't you ever worry about not having a place to call home?"

I had a home. Until your brother destroyed it.

"Home is wherever you make it," I said instead, letting my own smile turn predatory. "Some of us are just better at adapting than others."

Carlos squeezed my waist, a silent warning to play nice. But Fernandez wasn't done with me yet.

"She's not one of us," I heard her say to Carlos as they moved a few steps away, thinking they were out of earshot. Her voice carried the kind of authority that came from a lifetime of being obeyed without question.

"That's what I like about her," Carlos replied, his voice dropping to that intimate tone that made my skin prickle with awareness.

I masked my smirk behind my champagne glass. If only they knew how right Fernandez was. I wasn't one of them,I was their destruction wearing a pretty dress and a false smile.

But every step I took deeper into this world felt more dangerous than the last. Not because of the threat to my life, but because of the threat to my mission. Carlos was supposed to be my target, not my weakness. And yet here I was, letting him touch me like he owned me, letting him introduce me to his family like I was something precious he wanted to protect.

The realization made my stomach clench with something that felt dangerously close to guilt.

"You're sleeping with a killer."

Antonio's words hit me like a physical blow as I opened my apartment door. He pushed past me without invitation, his face twisted with rage and something that looked like heartbreak. The photos scattered across my coffee table like fallen leaves, each one a piece of evidence I couldn't deny.

Carlos entering the warehouse. Carlos with blood on his hands. Carlos walking away from the building where my sister had died.

"You think you're in control?" Antonio slammed his fist on the table, making the photos jump. "You're not. He'll bury you too, Marie. Just like he buried Sarah."

I stared at the images, my hands shaking as I picked up one that showed Carlos's face clearly. He looked different in the photo,colder, more calculating. This was the man who'd killed my sister, not the one who'd made me breakfast and told me he wanted out of the blood.

"Say something," Antonio demanded, his voice breaking. "Tell me you're not falling for him. Tell me this is all part of your plan."

I opened my mouth, but no words came. How could I explain that the lines were blurring? That when Carlos looked at me like I was the only woman in the world, I forgot why I was supposed to hate him? That his touch made me feel alive in ways that terrified me?

"You're not the woman I knew," Antonio said, his voice dropping to a whisper. The pain in his eyes was unbearable. "The Marie I loved would never protect a monster."

The words shattered something inside me. I'd known Antonio had feelings for me, but hearing him say it out loud, seeing the raw vulnerability in his face, made everything worse. He'd been my partner, my friend, my anchor in a world gone mad. And now I was losing him too.

"I'm not," I whispered, the truth cutting through me like broken glass. "She died with Sarah."

The slap echoed through the apartment like a gunshot. My palm stung, and Antonio's head snapped to the side, a red mark blooming across his cheek. For a moment, we just stared at each other, both of us breathing hard.

"Get out," I said, my voice steady despite the chaos in my chest. "Get out and don't come back."

He looked at me for a long moment, his brown eyes swimming with unshed tears. "When he kills you, don't expect me to mourn."

The door slammed behind him, leaving me alone with the photos and the weight of my choices. I gathered up the images with shaking hands, staring at Carlos's face in each one. Was this the man I was falling for? Or was that man just another mask, another lie in a life built on deception?

I couldn't answer that question. And that scared me more than any threat to my life.

The gala rooftop was a sanctuary from the chaos below. Carlos had led me up here when the crowd became too much, when the weight of pretending to be someone else threatened to crush me. The city spread out beneath us like a carpet of lights, beautiful and deadly in equal measure.

"I'm not proud of everything I've done," Carlos said, his hands gripping the railing as he stared out at the skyline. The wind ruffled his dark hair, and in the moonlight, he looked younger, more vulnerable. "But I've never lied about who I am."

The irony wasn't lost on me. Here I was, lying about everything,my name, my past, my reasons for being in his life,while he opened up about his truth.

"Tell me," I said, moving to stand beside him. Our shoulders brushed, and I felt that familiar electric shock that came from being too close to him.

"My father expects me to be his legacy. The next generation of Diego power." His voice was rough with emotion. "My brother Arturo was supposed to be the heir, but he... he has his own way of doing things. Fernandez is brilliant, but she's a woman in a man's world. So it falls to me."

"And you don't want it."

"I want to build something different. Something that doesn't require washing blood off my hands every night." He turned to look at me, his eyes searching my face. "Does that make me weak?"

It makes you human. It makes you everything I didn't expect.

"It makes you dangerous," I said instead. "To your family, to your enemies. Change is the most terrifying thing in the world."

He laughed, but there was no humor in it. "My father says the same thing. He thinks I'm naive, that I don't understand the world we live in."

"Do you?"

"I understand that people die. I understand that power comes with a price." His hand found mine on the railing, fingers intertwining with a gentleness that made my heart skip. "I understand that some things are worth dying for."

The way he looked at me when he said it made my breath catch. Like I was one of those things. Like I was worth the risk.

"Carlos,"

"I know you're hiding something," he said, cutting me off. "I can see it in your eyes, the way you hold yourself like you're carrying secrets. But I don't care. Whatever brought you to me, whatever game you're playing, I'm glad you're here."

My lips parted, the truth burning in my throat. I wanted to tell him everything,who I was, why I was really here, what I planned to do to him. The words were right there, ready to spill out and destroy everything between us.

"I,"

The first gunshot shattered the night like breaking glass. Then another. And another. The sounds echoed up from the gala below, followed by screams and the crash of overturning tables.

Carlos moved faster than I'd ever seen anyone move. One second he was beside me, the next he was pulling me behind a concrete barrier, his body shielding mine as more gunshots erupted from the floors below.

"Stay behind me," he ordered, his voice transformed from gentle to deadly in an instant. This was the Carlos from the photos, the one who'd built his reputation on violence and fear. But instead of terrifying me, his protectiveness made something warm unfurl in my chest.

The gala had turned into a war zone, and I was trapped in the middle with the man I'd come to destroy. The man who was risking his life to keep me safe.

The man I was falling in love with despite every reason not to.