Page 101 of Isle of Seduction

“I’m your judge and executioner, and I’m sentencing you to die.”

The duct-tape goes on his mouth and fear stains his brown eyes. It morphs into horror as I put on Sleep Token and worship at the altar of death for the next hour.

EPILOGUE

On May 7th, the results for the West Hill Council elections fall. After my arrest, I pulled out of the race amidst the PR shit storm that hit me. Addams has been reported “missing” for weeks, though I know very well where his dismembered body rests.

Unsurprisingly, mayor Lewis put one of his little followers on the map though there wasn’t much of a campaign to do. Susie Allen is elected to the council without fanfare. I might not know the woman personally, but I searched for every piece of dirt on her and despite an addiction to prescription meds and invaluable artefacts that should be in a museum, she’s rather clean.

Accepting that I work better in the shadows, dealing in black market items and now supplying the Y drug in small quantities to a very few selected VIPs, has been a journey. I still feel like I’m spitting on my father’s legacy by not going legal, but then I remind myself that eighty percent of my revenue is legal, and the rest helps me protect the ones I love.

Maybe Nico and Giulia’s ordeals made me even more of a control freak than I was before, but monitoring the dark underbelly of West Hill and knowing the business of each of the prominent crime families in Europe keeps me calm. I need to make sure that Dobrev-Ventura reconciliation doesn’t threaten the precarious peace we’ve all established. The shadow of Misha Petrov still lingers and we all want him out, not only of the country, but of our lives. And that permanent type of conclusion takes time. War is coming, and we need to be ready.

Speaking of which, I text Pierce.

Me

Any news on Petrov?

Pierce

Which one?

Me

Both.

Pierce

Misha’s been meeting with the Bratva leaders across Europe. Except Dobrev, they all seem to follow his lead. He won’t take kindly to one of his own pushing back. Igor is still MIA.

Me

We’re landing at 7 pm. Let’s have dinner and see what Lana and Giulia think.

Pierce and Lana’s wedding is planned for Saturday but we arrive early. I know my little wife is eager to get some time with her cousin before the chaos of that day starts.

A wedding of this magnitude hasn’t happened in decades in the mafia and everyone in the Mediterranean Sea knows that the Moretti-Bartoli union will strengthen their hold on the drug market. Everyone wants to be in their good graces, so all invites have been answered positively. It’s going to be the fucking event of the year, families securing deals and potentially marry off family members to each other in hopes of new alliances.

Given that we want to go after Moscow’s Bratva Pakhan, we’re all going to be on our best behaviour.

“Ready to go, guerrieritta?” I ask Giulia, who’s closing a gigantic pink suitcase. One more waits on her bed. Our bed.

“Can you sit on this, amore. I can’t manage to close it?”

I laugh. “We’re only staying a week. Are you bringing your whole closet?”

“O baullo, you know this is the event of the year! With all the mafias represented there, I need to look my best. I need to charm and get us the alliances. We need to go after Misha and get Igor back. I do my best charming when I look like the snack I am.”

I get down to my haunches and growl into her ear, the sound possessive and goosebumps erupt across her bare arms. “They can look, but only I get to taste.”

She smiles viciously. The little smirk will cost her a good spanking later tonight, but I let her kiss me and sass me all she wants. I’m too happy to see her joy to put any sort of damper on her mood.

When we get to the jet, Nico follows and settles on the sofa in front of us, his face more relaxed than usual despite the few subtle grimaces he makes when his wounds hurt. He tries to hide his reactions, always one to keep his cards close to his heart but I notice and my heart clenches. I focus on the crinkling at the edges of his eyes.

“It’s good to see you happy, fratellino. Any particular reason you’re smiling at the prospect of going to Kalliste again?”

If he thinks I didn’t see how he looked at one of the Moretti twins last time, he’s sorely mistaken. Nothing escapes me when it comes to my brother. Getting infatuated with a Moretti isn’t something I think would be good for him, but I can’t blame him.

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