Page 32 of Forced Vows

That must be one of the terms in the contract they didn't let me read. "Because he signed it in blood?"

"Because Severu De Luca doesn't go back on his word. And yes, signing the contract in the old way is unbreakable. For men like us, reputation is everything."

Assuming Severu De Luca is a man like my uncle. One whose word is his bond and who has a code of honor, even if people outside the mob would not understand it.

"The old way is right. You could have warned me you were going to whip out a knife and slice each other's palms." Not to mention that I would have to participate too.

I know my uncle thinks I'm young and naïve, but I'm only one of those things. What is naïve is to believe that your enemy will keep his side of a bargain because of a bloody thumbprint.

All contracts can be broken. And not all forfeitures are paid.

Why do you think warfare breaks out like it does in the criminal underworld?

If I can get Miceli to break this one though…

The Genovese Family and the Shaughnessy mob will become straight up enemies, not tangential ones because of the tension between us and the Bonanno Family. Our mob might even go to war with the Genovese Family over it.

Yeah, no. Trying to get Miceli to back out is not an option.

Disgruntled, I frown out the window. "At least I won't have to play the part of adoring fiancée for a while."

"I'll settle for polite girlfriend at your 21st birthday party."

I'm not making any promises.

Chapter 12: MICELI

Candy Shop blasting, I do the last rep in my pull day and deadlift the 500 pound weighted bar bell. Every muscle in my posterior chain burns as my body shifts up, my hips hinging, my grip solid.

The music cuts off in the middle of my favorite line.

"You got enough weight on that thing?" My cousin Salvatore stands in front of me, eyeing the number of 45 pound plates on each side of the barbell.

Sev stands to the side.

"I could do more." Not a lot more, but damned if I'll tell my cousin that.

Doing everything I did to lift it but in reverse, I bring the heavy barbell back to hip level and then let it drop.

The plates clang loudly even though the mats muffle the impact.

"You in the thousand-pound club yet?" my brother asks.

"Like you aren't. When are you going to have our t-shirts made?"

The thousand-pound club is a competition some gyms sponsor, giving their members recognition for lifting a combination that equals 1,000 pounds in squat, bench press and dead lift.

As soon as I learned about it, I challenged my brother and cousin to make it. We've all hit the number and Sev knows it. He's just giving me shit.

"When I start wearing a friendship bracelet instead of a gun." Sev wraps tape around his hand, protecting the cut he made on his palm this morning.

It's an archaic tradition, but it has its power. No way in hell will I break that contract, or allow my little Aphrodite to either.

I saw the speculative look in her green eyes. Even though she signed the prenup just like I did, the Irish princess was plotting before she and her uncle stepped past the threshold to leave.

A mob princess who goes looking for a hookup without her bodyguards has to be watched. And watched over.

I've got that covered.

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