Page 1 of Savage Ambition

CHAPTER ONE

SHAW

Killers guarded the Gennaro brothel, a den of sin where my virginity marked me as prey. But I feared my twisted desires more than their ruthless predators. I hated myself for how desperately I wanted to be hunted inside those walls.

“We should call Trent later and make fun of him for flaking out,” Jace crowed as we walked along the dark streets of Manhattan, his voice too loud for comfort in territory where the wrong ears might be listening. “He could’ve seen some actual tits tonight instead of jerking off to porn in your uncle’s apartment. That dude will never get laid at this rate.”

I scanned the shadows between buildings. The Gennaro family didn’t tolerate disrespect, and bodies of those who crossed them routinely washed up in the harbor. “Keep your voice down. We don’t know who’s watching.”

“Relax, Shaw. We’re paying customers.” He clapped my shoulder with unearned confidence. “They’re not going to kill us for giving them money.”

I made one last half-hearted attempt to save us both. “Are you sure about this? People don’t walk into Gennaro territory without consequences.”

“Come on, you can’t back out on me now.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, oblivious to the danger radiating from the building ahead. “I promise, it’ll be awesome. Besides, it would probably do you a lot of good.”

“Good, how?”

“You know, lighten you up some. You’re always so serious. That can’t be healthy.”

I surrendered with a sigh rather than explain. Following Jace into Mafia territory felt like a death sentence, but loneliness had overridden my common sense.

“No good can come from getting involved with the most dangerous crime family in New York,” I warned.

“You worry too much.” His cavalier attitude made my stomach turn.

“How did you even get access to this place?” I asked.

“From one of my dad’s shady friends. It’s genius when you think about it.”

“What’s genius about walking into the den of a family known for dissolving bodies in acid?”

“I meant the name. If you didn’t want someone to know, you could say, ‘Sorry, I can’t see you tonight. I have a late-night meeting at Gennaro Corporation,’ and no one knows you’re balls-deep in some hot piece of ass.”

If the wrong person heard him speak that way about their business, we might never leave the building. “Do you have any idea what the Gennaros do to people who mock them? The last guy who crossed them was probably found with his tongue cut out before they dumped what was left of him in the East River.”

“There’s nothing to worry about. We’re customers, not rivals.” Jace shrugged as if we were discussing a restaurant choice instead of walking into a brothel controlled by the mob. “Hey, do you think there’s any relation to that asshole Dante we go to school with?”

Their mutual hatred ran deep since high school. While Jace saw Dante as his nemesis, I harbored a crush on him.

I kept my voice neutral despite the fear clawing at my throat. “Maybe it belongs to a distant relative?”

“Then again, if that fucker was actually related to someone in the Gennaro Mafia, he would’ve had me killed years ago for shooting my mouth off so much.” Jace laughed hard at his own joke, but I couldn’t join in.

“Regardless, it has nothing to do with Dante.”

“Are you defending that bastard?” His suspicious glare drilled into me.

“No, I’m not. I’m merely saying the odds that it’s the Dante we know are slim.”

Jace persisted. “Yeah, but Gennaro isn’t that common of a last name, right? If he’s related to a mobster who runs a brothel, it’s no wonder he’s such an egotistical bastard.”

“It has nothing to do with him, even if it is owned by a relative.”

“I bet he’s ashamed. I’d love to knock him down a peg or two over it.”

“He wouldn’t be ashamed,” I argued as we waited for the light to change. “He’s too arrogant. Plus, it gives him leverage. You’re the one paying for sex here. He’d destroy you for having to buy what he gets for free.”

“Damn it!” Jace ruffled his blond hair. “I want to one-up him at least once.”