Serpent King's Bride: A Dark Mafia Romance Trilogy

The cold air bit at my skin as I stepped outside, the city lights below painting a picture of life going on as usual. But for us, for Nathan and me, everything was about to change.

And I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I was really fucking scared.

I found him there, his silhouette etched against the backdrop of the restless sea, shoulders hunched as if bearing the weight of our dark world. The sharp tang of whiskey reached me before I saw the tumbler in his grasp, the amber liquid sloshing gently with each of his troubled breaths.

“Rough night?” The words hung in the chilled air between us, my own unease a living shadow at my back.

He didn’t turn to acknowledge me, just continued to stare out into the abyss, where the waves crashed against the cliffs with relentless fury. On the table beside him lay a sheathed blade I didn’t think I’d ever seen before.

I stepped closer, the click of my shoes muted by the howl of the wind. Reaching out, I wordlessly claimed the whiskey from his hand, bringing it to my lips for a steadying sip. The burn of the alcohol was a small comfort, a fleeting warmth in the cold that surrounded us.

Nathan exhaled deeply, the sound almost lost to the symphony of the night. “Ba knows something,” he murmured, his voice a low rumble that sent an involuntary shiver through me despite my resolve.

“Knows what?” My heart hammered in my chest, dread coiling in my stomach like a serpent ready to strike. Nathan’s admission had the power to shift the precarious balance of our existence, and I braced myself for whatever storm was coming our way.

He finally turned, his brown-black eyes meeting mine in a gaze that was all too knowing. “Not sure exactly…just that he knows something, and him knowing something isn’t good.”

“What makes you think your father knows something?” I choked down the panic rising like bile in my throat. Kenny Zhou, the Serpent’s Head, was not a man to trifle with. His knowledge could mean life or death, and we had been dancing on the edge of a knife for too long already.

Nathan ran a hand through his hair, the motion betraying his agitation. He was a statue carved from darkness, but even marble cracks under enough pressure. “Ba called me into his office tonight. Dropped a bombshell.” The words were heavy, weighed down by the gravity of what he was about to reveal.

I steadied myself against the railing, bracing for impact. “What happened?”

“Alex,” he said, and the name was like a bullet, hitting its mark with lethal precision. My stomach plummeted.

“Kenny found him?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.

Nathan nodded, the muscle in his jaw ticking. “He wants me to go there. To deal with him.” There was an unspeakable heaviness in his voice, a burden no son should have to bear.

“Deal with him how?”

But I knew.

We both did.

“Need me to spell it out for you? Kill him,” Nathan said, then tilted his head toward the knife. “In Ba’s words, he wants me to put a knife in my brother’s heart–that knife, specifically.”

“Shit,” I cursed under my breath, feeling the weight of the glass in my hand suddenly as heavy as the tension that filled the air. The last of the liquor burned a trail down my throat as I drained it, needing something to fortify myself against the storm I knew was coming.

He nodded. “That’s right. Shit.”

“In that case…you want another?” I asked, holding up the glass to Nathan, whose dark eyes seemed to be lost in thought, fixed on some unseen point over the balcony’s edge.

He let out a short, mirthless laugh, more a release of pent-up frustration than anything resembling humor. “I absolutely fucking do.”

His answer was expected; we both needed an anchor, and tonight, the burn of whiskey would have to suffice. Leaving him alone with his thoughts, I slipped back inside, the cool air of the apartment wrapping around me like a welcome reprieve from the night’s turmoil.

The familiar clink of the bottle against the glass sounded louder than usual as I poured us both a generous helping. My hands trembled slightly, betraying the calm demeanor I tried to project. Evelyn’s words echoed in my mind, each one a live wire sparking against dry tinder. How could I possibly drop another bombshell on Nathan now, after what he’d just shared?

With two full glasses in hand, I returned to the balcony, where the sea stretched out before us, a vast expanse of darkness that mirrored the uncertainty of our future. Nathan hadn’t moved an inch, his silhouette rigid against the backdrop of the night sky.

“Got a plan?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

Nathan took the glass, his fingers brushing mine. He stared into it, the amber liquid reflecting the scarce light from the distant city skyline. With a heavy sigh, he shook his head slowly. “No idea,” he admitted, the words seeming to weigh him down. “I need…I just need a moment, Abby.”

“Take all the time you need,” I said softly.

“Not from you. From all this. Everything is just happening and happening and I haven’t gotten a second to breathe.”