Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
If he is watching me, then he’ll have seen that. And Vincent will know I’m here between these silk sheets with nothing keeping him from coming in here and touching me how he just did in my dream. Am I playing with fire—yes, definitely. Do I feel ashamed by the way I’m feeling? Yes, at least a bit. But when I close my eyes again, I feel something else too. I feel a sort of sweet satisfaction in knowing that maybe, just maybe, I’ve caused the powerful, feared mafia leader who can control men with a single sweep of his hand to lose a little bit of control over himself thanks to me. Clearly, he has an iron will. From the looks of the hardening at the front of his pants earlier today, he might have an iron cock too. I can’t help but shake the feeling that there is a pressure point inside that man somewhere. I could open a crack in him, releasing his tightly held control. Maybe that’s how I go from being captive here to becoming queen.
Madame Durant once told me that beauty is a currency to be spent wisely. I’m beginning to understand what that means.
CHAPTER 8
VINCENT
Twice now, I’ve let myself want Isla. It took every last bit of self-restraint I had not to get in that bathtub with her. If I had been in the penthouse instead of watching her through the cameras as she took off her panties in bed, who knows what I might have done, and if I could have controlled myself. I dislike this feeling of being out of control. And yet here I sit, only half-listening to Luc as he tells me about Angelo Baron’s activity in the city. I need to focus, but I can’t.
“Vincent?” he says for at least the second time. “Did you hear what I said?”
“Yes, continue,” I lie. He doesn’t need to know that I’m distracted, although I’m guessing he can already tell.
I listen to him now, especially since it concerns the man I hate most in the world and my biggest rival mafia boss in Vegas. I wish I could have killed Angelo during the night of the bloody coup that killed my parents instead of the man he sent to do his dirty work. One day, I will.
“He’s increased his activity over the last several days,” Luc continues. “We’ve been tracking him and his men, and even his wife.”
“Good,” I nod. “I want to be advised of every move Angelo makes. I won’t let him get a foothold in my city.”
“He already has a foothold. Just because you have wiped out most of his underground channels and taken out half his men, doesn’t mean the Barones are gone. It took years to take them down a few notches. I get that, but trust me when I say he is very much still a powerful threat to you and the entire Moretti family.”
“You’re an excellent advisor, Luc, and I appreciate you,” I nod. “But I can handle Angelo. I’ve had him on his back heels for years now.”
My cousin doesn’t seem as confident in my handling of Angelo as I am. Luc is a good consigliere, but he’s opposite me. My ruthlessness and impulsive violence contrast with his polished, meticulous, and disciplined approach to negotiation. When we were kids, he used to beat me at chess all the time. Then I’d get mad and flip the board over. Once, I even threw one of the chess pieces at his face. The tip of it stuck in the flesh of his cheek and left him with a scar after he pulled it out. Subsequently, I grew up to become the boss of this family and he used his strategic chess skills to negotiate with our partners. I do value his insight, but sometimes I feel Luciano is secretly envious of me. I got all the power and glamour, and he got a position being told what to do.
I’m eager for a rematch against Barone. The sooner I can get my hands on that bastard, the better. He might still be a mafia boss, but he’s nothing more than a flashy, decadent, merciless sociopath. And there’s still one thing left I need to take from him—his life.
All of my hits on Angelo thus far have come up short. Despite his arrogant facade, he is a player with deep insecurities who has been hiding behind his men for years. He knows that I’m coming for him, and he blames me personally for all the losses he’s suffered and all the hits that the Barones have taken.
Good—I want him to know that it’s me at the root of all his past humiliations. I want him to know that killing him isn’t just a matter of “if” I can get to the man, but when.