Page 29 of Born into Sin

“Thank you,” she whispers again.

I give a small wave in return. “Goodnight, principessa.”

I wait until she’s put the screen back in place and then turn to leave. The walk back to the car isn’t nearly as much fun without her small body in my arms, and by the time I’m in my car and racing back to the city, I’m dangerously pissed off and more than ready for this night to be done.

The club is still packed when I pull into my reserved spot. Feeling a twinge of déjà vu, I bypass the long line of people who are waiting to get in and nod to the same bouncers on duty. I make my way into the club and towards the hallway that’s off limits to everyone except me and my top men. The door at the end of the hall is guarded and locked, and as soon as Marco sees me, he hurries to unlock it, opening it wide for me to step through.

The basement is my favorite thing about this club. It used to be a large wine cellar, but after I bought the place, I outfitted it for something that would be way more useful to me. The first part of the room is still a wine cellar, so if anyone does manage to sneak their way down here, they won’t see anything incriminating, just several rows of very expensive bottles of wine, but a second door is hidden behind one of the shelves, and when I move it aside and unlock the door, I find Angelo tied to a chair with a gag in his mouth. Dario and Alessandro sit in two other chairs on the opposite side of the room, long legs outstretched and bored looks on their faces.

Angelo immediately starts letting out muffled screams and incoherent words that I don’t give a shit about hearing. The gag is only on him to save my cousins the annoyance of having to listen to him. The entire room is soundproof, and even if it wasn’t, no one would hear his screams above the pounding music in the club.

“That took a while,” Dario says in the same bored, monotone voice he always uses.

I effortlessly slip back into my native language to answer him. “It was a long drive, but they’re back safe.” A hint of irritation claws at the back of my mind because Natalya never did text me like I’d asked her to.

Looking back over at Angelo, I ask them, “Did he say anything?”

“Only that he had no idea what was going on, and he swore on his mother’s life that he didn’t do anything wrong.” Alessandro lets out a soft laugh and points a finger at Angelo, who understands every word we’re saying. “Lucky for you, we’re not going to take that promise seriously, or we’d be paying a visit to your poor mother.”

Angelo’s face pales at that. His eyes dart to mine, desperately trying to convey something to me. I walk over and tug his gag down so he can speak.

“I swear I didn’t do anything, Mr. Alessi.” His words come out in a desperate, fast rush.

“But you did,” I tell him, squatting down so he can see me better. “You took a bribe and let two women into my club earlier. You remember that?”

I can tell by the shocked expression on his face that he does.

“But it was just a couple of girls. I swear I didn’t touch them.”

“If you had, I would be giving you a slow death right now.” His face pales even more at that. “Those two girls are the daughters of Vitaly and Lev Melnikov.”

“Fuck,” he breathes out in a shaky whisper. “I swear I didn’t know. I never would’ve let them in if I’d known.”

I stand up and grab the gun from the shoulder holster I’m wearing and flip the safety off.

“Seriously? I’m getting shot for that?” Angelo’s gone from scared shitless to pissed in record time.

I point the gun at him and think about all the things that could’ve happened to Natalya tonight because he let her into the club. It’s bad enough she was pawed at on the dance floor, and if she hadn’t punched him and I hadn’t been there, who the fuck knows what could’ve happened.

“I’m shooting you because you disobeyed an order. You’re not allowed to sneak underage girls into the fucking club.” I take a step closer. “But I’m killing you because you put her life in danger.”

Not giving him a chance to respond, I aim the gun between his terrified eyes and pull the trigger. It’s a fast death, over in seconds with nothing but blood and brain matter to speak of the violence that just took place. Well, that and the body at my feet with a giant hole in his head.

“Get someone down here to clean this shit up.”

Dario and Alessandro watch me put my gun away, neither one even slightly upset by what just happened. The three of us have been around this since birth. We were born into it, covered in sin from the moment we took our first breaths.

Before I walk out, I add, “Not a word of this to anyone. Natalya and Svetlana were never here. Angelo fucked up, and I dealt with it. End of story.”

I don’t wait for the compliance that I already know I have. I trust them, and I trust very few people. Irritated for reasons that I don’t want to think about, I storm back to my car, ready to be done with this fucking night. As soon as I’m behind the wheel again, the faint floral scent of her perfume fills my lungs, still lingering in my car and reminding me, despite everything, of how badly I want her.

Frustrated and more than a little pissed off, I grab my phone. No new texts, just the quick smiley face she’d sent me so I’d have her number. I’m a patient man, I’ve had to learn to be in this business, but all that willpower dissolves with her.

Unable to resist, I send her a message.

Chapter 6

Natalya

---