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1
MIA GENOVESE
“It’s crazy in here,” Isabel shouted, raising the red solo cup she had grabbed within two minutes of walking through the door. I looked around the expansive room. Curtained-off alcoves separated private areas, but I knew I’d see the people behind the curtains eventually. They always came out to play. The other three clubs were wastelands of drunken middle-agers, and we hadn’t stayed more than a half-hour at any of them. The only good thing we’d found was a cheap bag of tightly packed weed that Isabel had finished right before we’d arrived here. I took a hit for courage, but it didn’t seem to do much. Alcohol would have to do.
I turned to the bartender. “Give me something strong and fruity,” I demanded, passing a twenty to him. I glanced back at Isabel. “This is my first chance at freedom.”
“There are plenty of hot guys here. This is the most popular club on New York’s entire west side, babes. Pick someone and fuck him. Easy as that.”
I sighed as I scouted the potential candidates. A tall man in neon paint danced seductively nearby, but the rat’s nest atop his head had my eyes veering away from him. “It’s been too long since I’ve been on the scene,” I admitted, shaking my head and crinkling my nose. How had I once enjoyed coming to places like this and finding a distraction among the sweating bodies? I hadn’t even been legal drinking age the last time I’d come four years ago, but as the daughter of Pete Genovese, the west side’s mafia boss and head of the National Commission, I could do whatever the hell I wanted. It had been four years since my freedom had been stripped away, and I was finally back.
“Your dad took care ofthe situationfor you,” Isabel slurred with a shrug, leaning into the bar for balance. “You don’t have to worry about that Colombo ever again.”
Colombo. A spark of rage filled me at that name. “They got what they deserved,” I told Isabel through gritted teeth. Dad had told me more than enough stories about their brutality. They killed without reason. They came into our territory and frightened our people. And in the past month, the alliance among the five biggest crime bosses, otherwise known as the Commission, had finally had enough of their shit. The Columbos regularly recruited non-Italian people into their regime, and one of the half-bloods opened fire on a dozen of our soldiers, killing a handful of them. The Commission finally decided in a late-night session to dispatch the Colombo boss.
His daughter was collateral damage, but it didn’t matter to me. I had no doubt she was as cruel as the rest. And now, I didn’t have to marry his son. I was free to come back here and enjoy my twenties. A wide smile took over my face as I gathered my drink and took a sip. The alcohol burned the back of my throat, but that was just what I needed. “Let’s do this,” I told Isabel, marching into the crowd of bodies and losing myself to the ecstasy of it all.
I felt the music in my core, and I began swaying my hips to it, arms raised above my head. Isabel did the same, but her rhythm was a bit off as she continued feeling the effects of the pot from earlier. “Bitch, I’m so happy I have my bestie here with me again!” she shouted, her smile wide and contagious across her face.
I’m happy that the burden of that damned marriage is off my shoulders,I mused. It wasn’t even the marriage that had worn on me for years. It was the daily training with a martial arts and weapon specialist. It was the mental load of knowing that I’d soon be taking my husband’s life. I wasn’t my father, and that reminder sat bitterly on my tongue, but I swept it away with a long, deep breath and threw my hips side to side. That’s what the marriage was, after all. A way to get me inside and get the job done. But now, I didn’t have to worry about that.
A set of hands rested snuggly on my hips and I swayed into them, biting my lip seductively as I shot a glance over my shoulder. At first look, the man looked attractive. Medium height with bulky arms and a pleasant face. His grip was relaxed, and I wondered if I’d hit the jackpot on my first shot. He leaned into my ear and, in a hushed tone, whispered something in a language I didn’t understand. My brows pulled together as I turned. “Do you speak English?” I asked. Having sweet nothings whispered into my ear by someone who spoke a different language would be cool, but if I couldn’t understand him—if he couldn’t understand me…
He only gave me a blank stare.Fuck. This one had had potential. I shook my head and turned back to Isabel, continuing my dance alongside her. “What’s wrong with that one?” she asked.
“No English,” I pouted, holding my drink above my head as I swayed to the music. “I didn’t used to be so picky.”
Isabel only shrugged as she looked around, looking for her own adventure of the night. I knew we were going to split eventually, but for now I’d let the music run through me as I danced and beckoned anyone interested to come closer. Isabel turned her back to me and began grinding against my front, so I laughed and smacked her ass, ready to end the night the way I wanted to. The way Ideservedto.
I chugged most of my drink in one sweep and held it up as I shouted the lyrics to the song, soaking in the attention I’d drawn to us with that move. Another man came over, and the shallow dimple on his cheek was enough to convince me to start dancing. He wasn’t as attractive as the first guy, but he certainly had his favorable attributes. He gripped my ass and danced against me, clearly interested in showing off the raging hard-on he’d gotten from my company. It seemed like a decent size, so I nodded in approval. “Mia,” I introduced.
He gave me his name, but it fell to deaf ears as one of the curtained alcoves across the room shimmied open and revealed a small group of people behind it. Immediately, though, I could see who was in charge of the group. He sat in the center of the sofa, and despite there being room for two more people comfortably, the others either stood or sat in the chairs arranged around the room. They all looked at him as if he held all the power in the conversations.
My eyes zeroed in on this man, and everything else in the room fell to the wayside for just a moment as I watched the way he spoke. His face remained set in stone as he crossed an ankle over a knee and nursed the glass he held on his lap. I could almost imagine the wide metal rings he wore on his finger clinking against the glass as one of those fingers tapped incessantly. Was he angry about what the person was telling him? I couldn’t tell for sure, but he certainly didn’t look happy. A ringlet of black hair fell across his forehead as he focused on what someone was saying to him, and he leaned forward slightly, dropping his crossed leg and spreading the two of them apart. He took up a lot of space, and I sucked in a deep breath as his gaze moved toward the crowd, scanned it, and then paused.
On me.
He sat up a little straighter and said something to one of the men without once breaking eye contact with me. I couldn’t seem to look away. His gaze was commanding in a way I had never experienced with another man.
“Is something wrong?” the man I danced with asked, and I forced my gaze from the man in the alcove. The man before me lost all of his luster as my mind lingered on where my eyes had been.
“Not at all,” I told him, forcing a smile. Maybe I would go and introduce myself to the mystery man later this evening. The thought of sitting on his lap and grinding into him as he sat back on that plush sofa sent a spark of absolute thrill through me. Judging by the tattoos and the authority, I imagined he was a part of the mob—either a made man by my father or one of the higher-ups in the Colombo district. I didn’t particularly care. Nobody here would know my name or where I came from.
“Are you looking to fuck?” the man in front of me asked, and the way he asked it gave me the ick.
“We’ve been dancing for five minutes,” I said, raising my brow. “You’re a little over-eager.”
He narrowed his eyes as he turned our bodies until I could no longer see the man in the alcove. After a moment, he shot his gaze over my shoulder, and those eyes widened. I wondered if this was his way of escaping a woman he didn’t think would put out. I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it as I took a small step backward, intending to tell the man to go and shove it. There were plenty of other suitors here, and Iwouldfind one. But my back collided with a hard, warm surface, and I froze as it didn’t give even an inch.
“I’ll cut in here.” The voice behind me was deeper than most, and velvety smooth. It sent a rush through my entire body as two hands came down on both of my arms, almost as if to hold me in place. As if I’d run. The man before me turned immediately and slithered off down the dance floor, likely looking for a new, more interested partner. I turned to face the man behind me, looking up. And then I looked a little higher. I’d seen his commanding demeanor in the alcove. I’d watched as his cool eyes locked on mine, but I was unaware of the impressive height. He stood a foot taller than me, and his body was broader in all the places that counted—all the places that would make a one-night stand most impressive. I’d slept with small and large men, some young and others older. This man was the perfect storm of all my preferences. Tall, strong and powerful. I had no doubt I’d found the man I would take to bed tonight.
With a small sway of my hips, I pressed my palm into his chest and smirked. “If you wanted a dance, big guy, all you had to do was ask.”
2
VINCENT COLOMBO
The second my eyes locked on my ex-betrothed across the club, everything around me slowed. All the scheming, all the plans to make the Genoveses suffer. Everything. And then, as it picked back up again, I spoke to Alessio at my side. “You’ll never fucking guess who’s here,” I snarled.
