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Our small talk is interrupted by Aurora’s voice echoing down the hall. “You don’t have to hold me so tightly, Mr. Carson. I don’t know why you insist on being so rough.”
“Probably because his name isn’t Mr. Carson,” Kai supplies as they enter my office. Oisín bids me a nod before turning to leave.
“Who the hell are you?” Aurora snaps, rubbing her bicep where Oisín had her in his grip.
“I see your lesson from earlier hasn’t stuck,” I say.
“Quite the mouth on that one.” Kai chuckles. “What have you signed yourself up for, brother?”
“Ah, still working on her house training. She’s not housebroken yet.”
“I’m not a dog, you ass. And why am I not surprised this funny jerk is your brother?”
I close the distance between us within seconds. Grabbing her by the neck, I lift her and walk her until her back hits the wall. Seems to be our thing. “You need to mind your fucking tongue. Don’t let my leniency with you be taken as a sign of weakness. I’ve tried to consider that you’re an entitled, sheltered eejit who is simply clueless.” My brother walks up, and I brace for him to defend her.
“You have no idea who you’re baiting, and it shows. I think you need an attitude adjustment,” Kai suggests.
I ease my grip and let her slide down the wall. “I couldn’t agree more.” I level her with a stare. “Strip.”
“What? No … please.”
“If I have to give the order again, you won’t like where I take this punishment.”
She curses under her breath, but she obliges. She throws each article of clothing in a pile until she’s completely naked before us. My brother walks around the leather sofa and takes a seat before lighting his cigar. “I think she should dance for us, brother,” he offers.
The man before me is foreign. So it seems my little brother has a dark side, empathy for Aurora is nowhere in sight. I grin as I join him in the chair across from him. She cowers, struggling to cover her breasts and crotch as droplets of blood coat her inner thighs like before. I snap my fingers and gesture for her to come stand before us.
“We need some music,” I point out. I scroll through my phone to activate the Bluetooth for this room. “Hero” by Chad Kroeger begins to filter through the surround sound. There are no fucking heroes in this room. “Dance.”
Tears run down her face as she avoids eye contact with either of us. The irony of the title of the song isn’t lost on me. It’s the first song on my shuffle. I set it to repeat. Her first attempts at movement are clumsy and awkward at best. Her imitation of seduction is quite sad. We’ll have to work on that. She closes her eyes, and more tears stream down her beautiful face. Suddenly she goes on her tiptoes and kicks one leg out as she twirls. She stretches, jumps, and glides with more grace than I would have imagined coming from her. I don’t even care that she’s getting blood on my expensive stone floors. I can’t stop the smile that creases my lips. She’s so angelic when she isn’t opening her sarcastic mouth. My little bird isn’t in this room with us right now. She’s found a way to freedom—in her mind—through dance.
“Is she really doing ballet right now,” Kai jokes, breaking my trance. “Why are you smiling?”
I stop the music, but she twirls a few more times before she ends in some sort of stance I don’t know the name of. I pick up her tank off the floor and slide it over her head. Our eyes meet, but we don’t exchange any words. I pick up her remaining things and hand them to her. “Don’t be late for dinner,” I say, letting her leave on her own accord. I know Oisín is standing right outside the door. He never goes far when I’m in this office. He will see that she gets back to her room without a detour.
“Why were you smiling?” Kai tries again. “Did you enjoy that performance?”
“I did, actually,” I admit. “But not for the reasons that you may think. She’s not as fragile as I originally thought. Sure, she’s mouthy and a pain in my ass. That’s a defense mechanism to hide her fear.” I walk over to my wet bar and pour us both a glass of whiskey. “She has the ability to compartmentalize— the ability to get lost in her mind for an escape. This allows her to do whatever is needed. She is a survivor.”
I hand him the glass and lean against the back of the sofa. I swirl the amber liquid in my tumbler before letting the burn coat my throat.
“You’re going to have to watch that.”
“I know. I must ensure she is housebroken and not just pretending.”
“What are your plans for her anyway?” Kai asks, now back to being serious.
I take a seat for this conversation. Surely, my brother will have a lot to digest with what I’m about to reveal.
“I’m going to marry her,” I say, opting to get straight to the point.
“Wait … what? Why? You know this sounds like a fool’s mission, right?”
“I’ve had time to analyze what Father said. This is about power. He could have meant the Russians or the other Irish Clan, but we have to look at this from all angles. We can’t exclude the Italians just because they already have power. The Lombardi family is the second most powerful in New York. Unlike the Valentini, their family hierarchy is younger now since their father passed a few months ago. Much like ours. They could be hungry to be on top and not just second most powerful.”
“But how would they gain more power? The Valentinis have a stronger foothold on the communities and a larger army.”
“You’d start by ensuring that the most powerful is aligned to you and only you—not the other Mafia families. To those less powerful families, they’d be just as powerful. If they can’t gain favor with the Valentinis, they’d absolutely jump at the chance to gain favor with the Lombardis.”
