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My brother doesn’t say a word as he drives me back to the house. When he pulls up on the large circular driveway, he peers out the windscreen at the impressive mansion. There are ostentatious columns near the huge double front doors. The landscaped frontage, complete with shaped shrubs and hedges, doesn’t say mob boss but someone with money, which is the impression my father wants to give. He hides behind his legitimate businesses, though I suspect it’s his illegal dealings that mostly pay for the houses, the holidays, and the expensive clothes in my closet.
“Stay out of trouble, eh?” Dex smirks at me. He knows I can’t promise that.
“I’ll see you soon, Dex.”
I climb out of the car and make my way up the handful of steps that lead to the front doors. There’s a guard standing there, who doesn’t acknowledge me as I go into the house. Inside, the floors are marble, the walls too, with gold inlay. Ahead is a sweeping staircase. I make my way up it and down the wide hallway to my bedroom.
As soon as I’m behind the closed door, I let myself sag against the wood. My room is decorated in my father’s style, not mine, but it’s my safe space in the house. I move over to the four-poster bed, my fingers trailing over the gossamer curtains hanging around it. I wish my sister had come home with us, but she was right when she said our father would make her go back. I wonder if Michael has been hitting her for the entirety of their two-year marriage. He’s got balls to lay a hand on her. Clearly, he thought his daddy’s name would protect him. He couldn’t be more wrong.
My phone buzzes.
I pull it out of my jeans pocket and peer down at it.
Dad.
Come to my office.
Fuck.
What does he want?
I’m not in the mood to deal with Hamish’s shit, but I know my father. He will make my life hell if I don’t jump to his demands.
I quickly go into my adjoining bathroom and clean myself up. I have a few spots of blood on my hands from cutting Michael’s face, but the rest of me is spotless. I change into a loose, flowing summer dress, knowing my father will give me shit about wearing jeans and looking like a boy with my hoodie and leather jacket.
Running my fingers through my hair to tame it as I make my way down the corridor towards his office, unease prickles through me for some reason. Does Hamish know what I did to Michael?
It would be just like that prick to snitch.
Reaching his office, I rap my knuckles on the wood and wait for my father’s disembodied voice to order me to enter. As soon as he does, I push the handle down and step inside.
Hamish Adams is an imposing man. He even scares me at times. Not because I think he would hurt me, but because I know what he’s capable of. I know he’s killed men, just as Dex has. I know he’s tortured, maimed, destroyed families, and worse.
I know he is the devil in a suit.
He is the demon other monsters fear.
I stand in the doorway, taking my father in for a moment. Of all my siblings, Dex is the most like Hamish in appearance, though my brother has light blond hair where my father was dark before he started to go grey.
“Take a seat, Elena,” he orders, as if I’m one of his business dealings and not his daughter.
I want to defend myself, but I’m not sure what I’m defending against yet, so I hold my tongue.
“I’ve been in talks with Charlotte and Anthony Fraser.”
The Frasers are another London crime family, one with a reputation that is as dark as my father’s.
My father doesn’t usually talk to me about his business dealings though. So, I instantly go on edge. He has never allowed me access into the syndicate, even though I’ve asked more times than I can count. It’s some stupid sexist notion that women can’t rule. I would be a spectacular asset to my family.
“About what?”
“You.”
My brows come together. “What about me?”
“Charlotte wants to join our two families. I think it’s a good idea.”
My heart starts to beat faster before pounding a rapid staccato rhythm. I know where this is going.
