Page 89 of Forced Vows

"I can't make my brain squint enough to forget you're a Cosa Nostra underboss."

"Good." Because that is what I am.

"But, it's easier if…" Her soft voice trails off.

I can guess what she was going to say though. It's easier to give herself to the stranger she met in a club than the man who is very much a part of her world. A part she has resented since her mom's death.

"I am not Bonanno."

"I know."

"If you want me to kill the man who shot your mother, I will." Supposing he's still alive.

"You can't do that."

"I can." I'll have to disappear the body because no way is the godfather going to sanction the hit.

"It's against your code."

"De Lucas protect our own."

"But…" She looks bewildered. "My grandfather forbade my father from going after her killer."

"Do you think he listened?" Will I be hunting a ghost?

Róise's eyes take on a faraway look and then she shakes her head. "No."

"Then he's already dead."

"Probably."

"I will find out."

"And kill him if he's alive?" she asks.

"Yes."

Instead of replying she laughs.

"What is funny?"

"This." She waves her hand indicating our naked bodies.

Almost naked. She's still wearing the pink lace bra that matches her now destroyed panties. It will be joining them soon enough.

After she asks me to let her come.

"I can't believe we're having this conversation like this," she adds. "It's absurd."

"No other way we can have it." I'm not putting my mouth back on her pussy until she acknowledges who I am.

"What does the tattoo on your arm mean?"

"You're so sure it means something?"

"Yes."

She's right. "The wolf is my father, but he is Sev too. And me. It is the savage nature inside us that protects our family."

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