Page 5 of Forced Vows

The cartel leaders that threatened la famiglia are dead. The new leader of the cartel is our man. Beholden and loyal to us. He's made a blood vow to keep his syndicate's activities out of New York and Chicago.

Key members of his new organization are on our payroll too. Because you don't leave shit like that to chance.

After the op, our alliance with the Doyle & Byrne mob in Chicago is as tight as a capo's fake smile.

Working with mercenaries instead of our own soldiers allowed me to let loose the rage that has festered inside since finding out Giovi-fucking-Revello betrayed us. I've sated one primal instinct. Now it's time to sate another.

Before I return to New York and my next assignment: marriage.

Sev wants to secure an alliance with another Irish mob, this one in New York.

After the cartel's attempt to sew discord in New York, Brogan Shaughnessy offered his niece for a blood alliance.

Not just a marriage, but a marriage with guaranteed issue, a child that carries the De Luca name and the Shaughnessy genes. He even had his niece tested for fertility and genetic health concerns.

There'd been one more piece of information on that report. My future wife, if I agree to the bargain, is a virgin.

It's fucking unreal that I know she's never had sex but can't bring her facial features to my mind.

That's my choice. After a single glance at the picture that accompanied the file Domenico put together on her, I didn't look again. It showed a woman with a sea of pink hats in the background, holding a picket sign that read, My voice. My story. My body.

The capo thinks he's funny. The mafia is no place for placard wielding activists. We stay in the background. How did this mob princess miss that memo?

The innocent fervor on her too young face has no place in my tainted life and after the first glance, I didn't look at her again. Nor did I look through the other pictures included in the report.

I didn't read the rest of the file either. The summary sheet told me everything I needed to know.

Name: Róise Shaughnessy

Only daughter of deceased heir to Shaughnessy empire and niece to the current mob boss. Born into the Irish mob.

Height: 5'4"

Nearly a foot shorter than me and too damn small for a man of my size.

Eye color: green

Hair: brown

Age: 20

Not even old enough to drink legally and thirteen fucking years younger than me.

Relationships: none

Of course she hasn't had a serious boyfriend. She's barely out of her teens.

Some men might look forward to marrying an innocent with no sexual history. I'm not one of them. She'll be eaten alive in my world. Probably by me.

But once I officially agree to the marriage, I'm committed to her.

Cazzo.

Her willingness to be the other sacrificial pawn in this game of chess means that despite her feminist activism, she is under Shaughnessy's thumb. Is he planning to use her to gather information on our mafia?

Will my wife be a spy I have to watch as closely as a new recruit? And less loyal than one?

I'm not looking for a marriage like Sev's.

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