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The door to the room opened, and another man walked inside. This one looked rougher than the rest as he walked cockily toward the table and rested a hand on it beside Emily. He glanced at Alessio. “Sorry, I’m late. What did I miss?” He sounded anything but apologetic.
“We’re done here, actually. There’s nothing for you today. But Vincent would like to see the income reports from this month.” Even Alessio’s tone changed, growing more distant and less accommodating. The entire dynamic of the room shifted to discomfort with this man’s presence, and I wondered why everyone seemed to fear him. I could tell he wasn’t a business owner or a traditional employee of Vincent’s, but who was he?
Caterina whispered to me once again. “He’s Vincent’s biggest drug dealer. He handles the big trades, and he’s always bringing more trouble than he’s worth. But he’s damn good at not getting caught.”
He whipped his head toward us and narrowed his eyes. “A new bitch,” he said, looking directly at me. “What do you do?”
I didn’t know what to say to his crude tone, but Caterina didn’t hesitate to stand, slamming the blade of her knife into the table. “You’re talking to the boss’s girl.”
He didn’t take his eyes off me. “Boss’s girl? I’ve seen the other chicks he’s fucked. He still chose this one?” he sneered. “That’s what you do, then? You fuck Vinny?”
Caterina leaned into the table, resting her hand on the base of her knife. “Insult his girl again and I’ll kill you before he even gets to you.”
The man rolled his eyes and tapped the table before turning away and leaving the room as quickly as he’d entered it. Of all the things I could’ve been thinking about, I couldn’t get Caterina’s words out of my mind.The boss’s girl.I didn’t know at what point those words started feeling real, but they now did. They felt like a badge of honor, and I couldn’t shake it.
I was his prisoner—I was supposed to be his future executioner—but that didn’t feel true anymore. Even if I had to, I didn’t think I could bring myself to kill Vincent. Though I’d been relentlessly thinking about what to do for weeks, I knew what had to be done. I knew the side I had to choose.
16
VINCENT COLOMBO
The fucking reports were a mess. I’d been waiting on them for two weeks, and I told Alessio to address the situation at the meeting with Ty that morning. Not only had Ty been late, but Alessio said he’d insulted Mia.MyMia. He thought he was invaluable to us, but nobody was valuable enough to get away with that. He’d given sloppy reports in the past, and I’d confronted him and beat him into place. But he knew his place, and I’d remind him what he could and couldn’t get away with. I was on the fence about killing him or maiming him, but as I worked my way through the report, finding the second half worse than the first, my decision was made. I talked with Luca about it, demanding that he make a message of the execution so that nobody else would make the same mistake, and I knew it would be done by morning.
What I hadn’t expected was a visit from Mia. She stormed into the room as if on a mission, and I immediately set the pen on the desk and gave her my attention. “I made a decision,” she told me.
“Continue,” I told her. She looked wild—entirely frenzied by whatever she’d been thinking about.
“I know you still don’t know what to do with me, and I know you’re pissed about what my father did. I am too. I also know why you sent me to that meeting this morning. You wanted me to hear the report about the orphanage. You wanted me to understand why your family runs things the way they do, and I understand it now. I get why you recruit orphans with nowhere else to go and can understand why you do it. The Italian bloodline isn’t as important as that, and I think it’s a bold and courageous thing to do.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I know you’re pissed at me—”
“I’m not pissed at you,” I told her.
She froze. “You’re not?”
“No. I’m pissed that your father indoctrinated these rigid beliefs onto you, and I’m pissed that it took so much effort to get you to see that his teachings were bullshit. But I’m not pissed at you.” She didn’t seem to know what to say to that, so I waited, leaning back in my chair. I was also pissed that my people believed she was a villain, even though she’d proved herself to be the opposite. I was pissed that I still had no plans to get back at her father for what he had taken from me. I was pissed at more things than I knew how to count, but Mia wasn’t one of them.
“Okay…well, then, I guess that makes this a bit easier,” she concluded, leaning into my desk. “I’m with you.”
My brows shot up. “With me?”
“I like the way you run things here, and I like you. I didn’t want to when you brought me here, and maybe this is some twisted, fucked-up form of Stockholm Syndrome, but I’m with you. I’m stayingwith you.”
I didn’t know what to think about that proposition. I pulled myself to my feet and slowly made my way around the desk, not dropping her gaze as I went. When only a sliver of air sat between our bodies, I moved my hand to the back of her neck and pulled her face closer to mine. The catch of her breath sent an ache through me, but I kept my composure. I had to. “Define what you mean by ‘with me,’ Mia. Because if you mean what I think you do, there’ll be no turning back.”
Her eyes flashed something hot, and I knew exactly where her mind had gone. “I mean that I’m here to stay,” she whispered, her breath fanning my lips. “In whichever ways you’ll have me.”
I pulled her face closer and thrust my lips against hers, wrapping the other arm around her waist. I pulled her entire body flush with mine, and she moaned lightly against my lips, bringing both of her hands to my chest. The warmth and honey taste of her consumed my every thought as I delved deeper into her, worshipping every sound and move she made. She writhed against my firm hold, but I didn’t allow it to break.
I needed her closer. I needed to be inside of her. I needed her beneath me, crying out as I fucked her into next week. When my lips brought these soft moans from her, I could hardly wait to hear the louder, less controllable sounds I would bring later.
I bent my knees and lifted her with little effort, sitting her on my desk. I remembered the way this had started before—the way the desk had held her while I’d undressed her, sliding my fingers across her warm, smooth skin. I’d hated her then. I’d still yearned to kill her and destroy her dad in the process, but now my thoughts were entirely different. They were filthier in an entirely different way.
I forced myself to pull away. I balled my fists as she tried to lean back in, but I held her back, grinding my teeth as I spoke the words that needed to be said first. “If you’re with me, you have to be with my family. You have to help me stand againstyours,and I know that’s a lot to ask, but I can’t have someone in my inner circle who has alliances with the enemy.”
“I told you that I’m with you, Vincent,” she said, shaking her head vigorously. “I’m with you in all the ways I need to be.”
“Then I need you to take a blood oath to me.”
It wasn’t an unusual request. Blood oaths were the way all the made men were initiated, and it was the way previous enemies made alliances. We both knew the significance of it. If a blood oath were broken, it would be a death warrant for the person who took it. That person would essentially be turning over their life. So when Mia nodded, relief coursed through me. “I’ll take a blood oath for you. I’ve been in this game since I was a child, and I’ve been told things about you that aren’t true. I was lied to and deceived, and more than anything, I was used. Here, I’m a part of something bigger and more significant. Something that will change lives. I’m not a pawn.”
