Live For It

|26|

{ZHARA DI MAGGIO}

p r e s e n t   t i m e

I guess I forgot that Zion Armani was my enemy. Not because of what happened last night, but because of the time I had spent trying to convince myself not to kill him. 

All that time had gone down the drain when I saw my Aunt's family tied to chairs in the goddamn dining room. 

Obviously, it wasn't something I was prepared for. 

The chairs were separated from the table, pushed to the side so my family wouldn't be near anything they could use to get out of whatever knots Xavier tied them in. 

My first instinct was to run to my aunt, uncle, and cousins with the biggest smile on my face, but then I realized what Zion had done. 

He clearly never keeps his word, so I guess it won't fucking matter if I don't keep mine. 

Turning on my heel, thankful Inan was still behind me, I reached for the gun in his holster, pulling it out and spinning behind him to get out of his reach. 

Putting the gun to the back of his skull, I click the safety off and finally look up at the Don himself. 

He was smirking, fucking amused by the situation. 

"You know, every time I think we have a deal, you go and fuck it up, Zion," I hiss, shoving Inan's back forward with my foot so he falls to his knees, giving me a view of everyone in the room. His hands are up in the air, showing he won't do anything that could risk his or anyone else's life. 

Good choice. 

"You're such a damn coward," I point my chin out in his direction, watching as he adjusted his suit jacket that seemed to fit his body so well. He glanced in my direction, and suddenly everything from last night hit me like a million bullets. With one shake of his head, he was stalking in my direction. 

"Raven, put the gun down before you hurt yourself," he teased, walking even closer, so I pushed the barrel of the gun into the back of Inan's head hard enough that he cursed. Zion paused in his footing, glaring down at me like I was the one who did something wrong. 

"Release my family, now," I order, not caring about his little reminder yesterday. 

"What did I say about you giving me orders?" he slipped his hands in his pockets, and it took everything in my better judgment not to get distracted by him. 

"You say a lot of things, Zion, and half the time you don't mean them. How should I know if that was another one of your pussy comebacks or not?" I flick the knife out of Inan's pocket and put it up to his throat, showing I wasn't playing around. 

Honestly, I wouldn't kill him. Maybe a few stabs to prove a point, but they don't gotta know that. 

"Zhara, listen to him," my youngest cousin, Lalo, breathes out, sounding exhausted and hurt when I hear him. I glance over at my family, seeing them all with pleading looks on their faces. 

The brunette sitting by Lalo is his sister, Ester, who never ever gives up, so whatever is going on must really be fucked up enough to make her stop fighting. 

My aunt nods in agreement, giving her usual comforting eyes to me and her husband, Alejandro. 

His tall form looked slouched in the stupid dining chair, and the usual brave man I knew was pretending to be strong for his family. 

Was this really my fault? Did I do this to them?

I trailed my eyes back over to Zion, ready to drop my weapons.