Page 1 of Contracted

Chapter One

Serafino

I stood back in the shadows as I watched yet another party unfold on the ground floor of what had been my childhood home. The celebration was all thanks to my mafia family gaining the upper hand against one of our rivals, the O’Malley Irish mafia, after their don, Sean, had been executed.

The victory wasn’t half as sweet knowing I hadn’t contributed to Sean’s death. Maybe then I would have been in a more festive mood. Instead, while our enforcer had exacted revenge by killing Sean in the name of love, I’d been busy drinking whiskey and snorting coke, and sharing whores with my brothers, Evander and Alessandro.

That there would be repercussions from the O’Malleys didn’t concern me. I looked forward to their vengeance. I was running on dregs and not even sex and drugs could diminish the void gaining a foothold deep inside me. I needed adrenaline, something to refuel my existence and make me feel alive again.

My other brother, Ethan, the Agostino don and the man I now served, stalked past in his gray Armani suit. His wife, Sabrina, clung onto his arm, her long, silver-blonde hair swept up into an artfully messy bun. She was gorgeous in her dark blue gown that was modest at the front but dipped low at the back. Little wonder Ethan’s dark eyes shone with devotion while she smiled up at him as though he was her whole world.

He probably was.

Something between envy and distaste curled deep in my belly. I’d never experienced love with a woman, nor did I expect to. Why would I hand my heart over to the hands of a female only for her to crush the life out of it? Better that I used and abused women who expected nothing less from me.

I loosened my ruby tie before glancing at my gold Patek Phillipe watch. It was almost 10 p.m. The latest high class whores should be here soon to entertain the single males and probably some of the married ones. Not that Ethan would partake, he was beyond happy with his wife, and their recently born son.

My nephew. I might kill without flinching, but the little cherub already had me wrapped around his little finger. Though my brothers had always been my family, along with the men who made up our mafia family, little Pietro had managed to soften the edges of my hardened heart like nobody else ever had.

I sniffed. Whatever. The kid might have gotten under my skin, but nothing could change my most fundamental side. Perhaps a sex show would bring me out of my moroseness and get my blood pumping hot through my veins.

I glanced around at the guests who were already drunk and high, with trays of champagne and coke floating around for whoever wished to partake. My nose twitched. As much as I’d love to lose myself in chemicals, I wanted to keep alert. Who knew when the Irish mafia would next attack to avenge their don?

We’d already lost two soldiers, we weren’t about to lose any more.

Despite the men Ethan had stationed around the house—and the bedroom upstairs where he and Sabrina’s tiny son was asleep in his cot—I was aware of the increased danger.

I wasn’t sure whether to congratulate or bare my teeth like a rabid dog at Valentino when he stepped through the crowd like a conqueror, his girlfriend at his side. I had to hand it to him though, she was a looker. With her inky black hair piled up on top of her head with long strands flowing around her face, and her sleeveless white dress hugging her slender curves, she looked like a princess, not the abused, former lover of the Irish mafia don.

That Valentino was now fully recovered shouldn’t surprise me, not with his fortitude and strength. Except, I’d seen him lifeless like a vegetable, had seen his vitality slowly draining away—not from bullets, but from the deep, profound love he’d found with Chantilly and then imagined he’d lost.

Love really was a fucked up emotion.

I managed a tight smile as they looked my way. Chantilly’s gold-brown eyes widened, as though recognizing my menace. But then, she’d be familiar with that vibe after being with Sean and now Valentino. Then he bent and murmured something in her ear and her gaze softened before she smiled back at me, unaffected now thanks to her lover’s support.

Valentino nodded my way, his dark stare that locked with mine vastly different to the empty one I’d once known. My breath hissed. He really had changed.

If a woman could do that to someone like Val then maybe I wasn’t a total lost cause. I deflated a little. I’d already acknowledged I’d never give a woman that kind of power over me. I was self-destructing fast enough without handing someone the ability to piss on my inner fire.

Valentino might be happy now, but he’d be destroyed when Chantilly turned on him.

When, not if?

I ignored the cynical voice inside my head and nodded at a waiter. He hurried to the bar to retrieve the aged whiskey he knew I enjoyed on the rocks. Champagne wasn’t my drink of choice. Not ever.

A minute later I held a crystal tumbler in my hand, absently swishing the amber liquid inside before I took a deep swallow.

It wasn’t until a lone woman stepped through the crowd that my entire body tensed and my breathing quickened, my attention centering exclusively on her. Holy fuck. She was drop-dead gorgeous, her long claret-red hair pulled back at the sides in a diamond clip while the rest cascaded down her bared back.

I knew a hooker when I saw one, but her profession was made even more obvious by her black, lace eye mask that enhanced her startling green eyes, her matching stockings and tiny silver-sequined dress that clung to her svelte body, and her little silver clutch that would hold all the tools of her trade.

Less was more worked like a charm on her.

I only hoped she’d left her condoms behind. Our physician would have stringently checked her for any diseases even before she’d stepped through the door. It was why we nearly always called in escorts from the high class agencies we owned, it was safer that way. It also guaranteed those women used birth control.

My cock hardened as she sashayed across the floor like a superstar, captivating everyone. Any other woman might have tottered awkwardly in such high, spiked heels.

I registered Alessandro and Evander’s interest, their relaxed postures suddenly as taut as mine, their curiosity ignited. No one burned hotter and brighter than me, I was doused by her radiance, a proverbial moth drawn to her flame.

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