“Daddy said he’ll cut me off if I don’t stop seeing you.”“And what did you say?”“I told him to go to hell with his money. He can’t keep wielding his wealth over me like a weapon!”“Attagirl! I’m proud of you.”She grinned and kissed the tip of his nose. They were lounging in his bed on Saturday afternoon.They hadn’t seen each other in over two weeks because Jake had been out of the country on an important business trip to Japan. He’d deliberately made himself unreachable from her because he wanted her to miss him. It worked.“I thought I’d been in love before but I was wrong,” she said softly. “This is the real thing.”“I feel the same way too.”“Do you mean that?”“Completely.”“Aww… Jake!”“I brought a special gift for you from Japan.”“You did? Ooh, let me see it!”Her excitement made him smile. He reached for his bedside drawer and pulled it open to remove a small gift wrapped in baby pink foil and tied with a crimson bow.“Ooh!” She squealed delightedly when he gave the gift.

“Did you kill my wife and my mother-in-law?” Silence. “Answer me, you sick bastard!” “Yes.” Gasp. “What?” “Yes, what? What are you saying yes to?” “The question. My answer to it is yes.” “God! So it was you all along!” “A smart man with half a brain would’ve figured it out a long time ago, but you were too busy looking at life through rainbow-tinted eyes to see beyond your nose.” “What the fuck!” “Who told you?” “That doesn’t matter.” “My lucky guess goes to Mamba.” “Why did you do it?” “To encourage you to join The Association.” “But I already agreed to join!” “As a base member. The double homicide made you thirsty for the top-tier spot and that was what I wanted.” “Why the hell are you telling me all these things?” “Because you asked. If you insist on marrying my daughter and becoming my son-in-law, you’ll need to grow some real ba

“What now?”“It’s back to business as usual.”“Are you nuts? They now know that I’m on to them. I’m sure they know that I got that info from you.”“Don’t panic. They won’t make any sudden moves because they don’t know exactly how much you know about them. Just play it cool and act normal.”“What’s normal? This father-daughter tag team might be warming up to take me out tonight. I have a daughter to protect too, remember?”“I know. Trust me, Zeus won’t make any move for now. I know how he operates. He’s going to keep checking you out to see how much you know before he makes a move.”“I don’t like any of this. All I ever wanted was a chance to leave my horrid past behind and live a good life with my child. I never wanted to be involved in this mafia-type battle between you and your boss.”&ldquo

“Liar!” Mamba shouted at Zeus. “That thing is fabricated.”“It looks like the real thing,” Jake remarked as he continued to study the document.“It is the real thing,” Zeus insisted. “I am your biological father, Athena.”“Stop it!” She screamed.“I was in love with Maria Mendici when we were younger,” said Zeus. “Then she was Maria Milan. She was from a humble background and I had nothing. Her parents wanted the best for her so they matchmade her with Roman Mendici who fell in love with her at first sight.”Mamba lowered the gun. She was intrigued by the story and Jake was relieved that nobody would be dying there yet.“It was a cruel twist of fate because Roman and I had become friends and he was mentoring me on how to start my first business,” Zeus continued. “I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I was in love with M

“We will make everything official after the funeral,” said Jake during a meeting with Diamond and Zeus’ attorney.“That sounds reasonable,” said Mattias, the lawyer. “However, we still need to decide what to do with Athena Milan’s share of Hector’s empire.”“My step-sister is dead,” Diamond informed him flatly. “Too bad Daddy never got a chance to rewrite his will before he died of that awful stroke. He was going to give her share to Jake.”“Oh, I see,” said Mattias, intrigued. “But that’s a bit confusing, considering that you two signed a prenup before getting married.”“Daddy wanted it nullified too,” she replied quickly.“Is that so?”“Let’s continue this conversation after the funeral,” Jake said firmly. He wasn’t ready to go into that prenup matter just yet.“That’s fine,” said Mattias. “Please accept my condolences once again.”After the lawyer left, Diamond faced Jake and asked, “When am I getting my share of your bounty? This should be a 50-50 partnership, you know. I could’ve