Chapter 11 - The Snake in the Grass
Victoria Kensington stood amidst the glittering shards of broken glass.
She was soaked to the bone, her designer clothes clinging to her thin frame.
Her blonde hair hung in wet, jagged strings across her pale face.
She didn't look like a mob princess anymore.
She looked like a demon crawling out of the underworld.
And the silver revolver in her hand was aimed directly at Mateo’s chest.
"Drop the gun, Mateo," Victoria said, her voice eerily calm over the rumbling thunder.
Mateo didn't move a single muscle.
His assault rifle was still raised, but Victoria had the drop on him.
"How did you get past the perimeter?" Mateo demanded, his voice dangerously low.
Victoria laughed, wiping a streak of rainwater and mascara from her cheek.
"You think my father was the only one with men on his payroll?"
She stepped further into the room, her high heels crunching over the broken glass.
"My father was a dinosaur. An old fool."
Victoria’s eyes darted toward Beatrice, narrowing with absolute disgust.
"He actually thought Leo would negotiate for me."
"Leo just killed your father," Mateo stated flatly.
"I know," Victoria smiled, the expression twisted and entirely psychotic.
"Who do you think gave Leo the coordinates to the warehouse where he was hiding?"
Beatrice gasped, her grip tightening on the 9mm handgun.
Victoria had sold out her own father just to create a distraction.
She had sacrificed her entire family so she could slip through the cracks and come to the mountain.
"You're completely insane," Beatrice whispered.
Victoria’s gaze snapped back to the former maid.
"Shut up, you fat cow."
Victoria raised the silver revolver, pointing it directly at Beatrice’s face.
"I have spent two years trying to play the perfect stepmother for that brat."
Victoria took another step forward.
"I put up with Leo’s coldness. I put up with the ghosts in that house."
Her finger tightened on the trigger.
"And I am not going to lose my crown to a glorified servant."
Mateo shifted his weight, preparing to lunge.
"Ah, ah, ah," Victoria tutted, aiming the gun back at Mateo.
"I wouldn't do that, Matty. I have hollow-point bullets loaded."
Victoria glanced around the destroyed master bedroom.
Her eyes landed on the heavy oak door of the walk-in closet.
"Where is she?" Victoria sneered.
"Where is the little brat?"
Beatrice stepped directly into Victoria's line of sight, blocking the closet door.
Her hands were shaking, but her feet were planted like deep roots in the earth.
"You are not going near her," Beatrice said.
Victoria rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please. What are you going to do? Bake me to death?"
"Drop the gun, Victoria," Mateo warned again.
"Or I swear to God, Leo will peel your skin off while you breathe."
"Leo isn't here!" Victoria screamed, finally losing her composure.
Lightning flashed outside, illuminating the absolute madness in Victoria's eyes.
She leveled the revolver squarely at Beatrice’s chest.
"Move," Victoria commanded.
May you like
"No," Beatrice said.
Victoria’s finger squeezed the trigger.
