Chapter 108: Revenge
Carmen
It was infuriating—watching him leave and knowing there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it.
As much as we argued that we were partners, the truth remained unchanged. Nico had an edge over me, one I fully intended to get rid of, even if I still had no clear idea how to actually achieve it. That imbalance sat in my chest like a stone I couldn’t swallow or spit out.
I shifted more comfortably on the bed and let my eyes flutter shut, trying to breathe through the dull, worsening throb in my head. It didn’t matter how still I stayed; the pain felt like it was tightening its grip the longer I lay there.
"I messed up! I messed up bad!" I muttered to myself, fully aware that it had been pure chance that I got out of that situation without ending up permanently injured—or worse.
My eyes were still closed when I heard the door open. I scowled instantly, my first instinct sharp and defensive. For a brief second, I thought it was Nico coming back, like he had decided to return and continue whatever unfinished argument we had left hanging in the air.
But when I opened my eyes, it was Vanessa.
She walked in holding a bunch of flowers, their colors soft against the sterile room. There was a concerned expression on her face that immediately made something in me tighten uncomfortably—until I reminded myself that I really had no family left.
She was my half sister. The closest thing I had to family. Even closer, in some ways, than Nico, despite everything between us.
Carefully, she stepped further inside and placed the vase on the table near the bed. She lingered for a second, then moved back to my side and pulled a chair closer before sitting down. Her eyes stayed on me as if she was trying to figure out what version of me she was looking at.
When she spoke, her voice was soft—careful, almost like speaking any louder might crack something in me.
"How do you feel?" she asked.
It took everything in me not to grin at the question.
Clearly, just seeing me like this made her deeply uncomfortable.
"I can’t look that bad, do I?" I teased lightly, trying to push away the heaviness in the room. I let out a small sigh and stared up at the ceiling instead of at her.
"The doctors say I’ll live, so it’s not so bad," I added, as if that made it all sound manageable.
When I glanced back at her, her expression had only grown more anxious. She was watching me like the answer to something terrible might appear on my face if she looked long enough.
A silence stretched between us before she spoke again, more careful this time.
"You were almost killed. It was gang related, right?" she asked.
I shook my head immediately.
It wasn’t.
Even if it had been, I would still have denied it.
"It wasn’t. It was just a bad business deal and someone trying to cause trouble. You don’t need to worry about it. It’s business related," I said firmly.
But she didn’t relax. If anything, her gaze sharpened, like she didn’t believe a single word.
"...you don’t have to hold on to it, you know," she said after a moment. "You could sell everything off. Build something clean. Move somewhere else—somewhere peaceful—and start a good life."
Her words weren’t casual. She meant every single one.
"You could have a family. You wouldn’t always have to look over your shoulder every day. You could actually be happy," she added quietly.
I stared at her for a moment, something complicated tightening in my chest, then let out a faint smile.
What did I have to prove?
That I could do better than what my father thought of me. Walking away would only prove I couldn’t manage his territory—that he had been right all along. And that was something I would never admit, not even if it destroyed me.
"You’ll still be rich," she pressed on, frustration creeping into her voice now. "Why do you have to risk your life like this?"
Her expression had shifted completely into something baffled, like she genuinely couldn’t understand what was driving me.
I sighed again, longer this time, and closed my eyes briefly before opening them.
"Running away?" I said quietly. "Why should I? When I can simply remove the obstacle?"
Her brows tightened.
"What’s the guarantee they won’t come after me even if I leave? Sell everything under my name and disappear? You don’t understand—this is bigger than me."
And it was.
The moment I even considered selling it all, Nico wouldn’t allow it. And it didn’t help that I still owed him a billion dollars for helping me in the first place. Nothing about this was simple enough to walk away from cleanly.
"For someone who keeps promising I’ll be safe, you look like you barely escaped death," Vanessa said, her voice low.
A short chuckle escaped me before I could stop it.
But when I looked at her again, I realized she wasn’t amused at all. She was staring at me with something close to desperation.
"I’m not safe, am I?" she asked.
For a moment, I wanted to lie. To smooth it over. To tell her that she was fine, that Nico and I could protect her completely, that nothing would ever reach her.
But that wasn’t entirely true.
There was a chance—small, but real—that she wasn’t safe. That staying close to us meant being close to everything we were tied to.
And I hated that truth more than anything in that moment.
So I didn’t answer.
Vanessa exhaled sharply and leaned back into her chair, folding her arms tightly across her chest. The warmth in her expression was gone now, replaced by something bitter.
"I thought you were smart, Carmen," she said flatly. "Now I’m not so sure. Are you doing this for money or pride?"
The answer was simple, even if I didn’t like how it sounded out loud.
Revenge.
Not just for my father anymore. That had been the starting point—finding the person responsible, making them pay. But after everything that had happened, after everything I had seen and felt, I wasn’t going to stop at just finding answers.
I was going to make sure they paid fully. Completely.
"Revenge is a good enough reason," I said.
Vanessa’s response came immediately.
"You’re not that petty."
That made something in me snap slightly. I turned my head fully to look at her now, really look at her.
"You don’t know me," I said directly.
She didn’t look away.
"I guess you’re right," she replied after a pause, her voice softer now. "At the end of the day... we’re still strangers."
