Page 16 of Vito

But reality is sinking in.

The woman from the graveyard is Eden, and my cock responded instantly and intensely to her.

Eden is Ed.

Ed is Gilly's new owner-operator.

Which means Eden is now neutral-territory. Untouchable.Forbidden.

Unfortunately, my cock never got the memo.

Just like with the apple in the Garden of Eden, I'm dying to take a bite… dying to sin.

And I know I'm righteously fucked.

Chapter 6

Eden

Damnyou,bigbrother.

I had successfully run away nine years ago, leaving our shitty parents in the dust. They had as good as killed our baby sister. They had…

Nope. Not going there right now.

I pull my attention away from my pained past to focus on the threat before me.

I stand in a room of ruthless, violent men who order numerous bad deeds and have done numerous bad deeds themselves. Correction: not all the people in the room are men. Minus the lawyer, there is one other woman in the bar; she's tiny and beautiful, sort of like a pixie. She wears a leather cut with the Havoc Guardians logo and the Enforcer patch.

That little thing is the enforcer for the MC? Must be a bloodthirsty, violent pixie. Interesting.

I study the room and all the weapons aimed at me. I know that I'm standing in front of the Chamber—the Italian mafia, aone-percenter motorcycle club, two of the strongest gangs in San Francisco, and the Triads.

My brother, always the planner and lover of cryptic methods, had an email ready to go. When he hadn't logged in to remove the failsafe, it automatically sent it to me. He outlined what he was leaving to me, plus all the details he thought I'd need. These criminal rulers are here tonight for the successor announcement.

I'm not averse to criminals. Hell, I'm no angel myself; running away at fifteen, living on the streets, and falling in with a rough crowd until Ohith had taken me from this city.

Ohith himself can't claim any hold on angelhood, but he's a father to me—more than my actual father has ever been. Plus, he saved my ass all those years ago and taught me how to survive.

Now, I just need to survive having multiple guns pointed at me and figuring out who murdered my big brother.

After that, I'll consider how I'll survive getting out of being Gilly's owner-operator. This job doesn't come with a trial period where I can decide after three months that it isn't for me. The only way out of the role is death.

Of course, I could've ignored Aiken'sgiftof what he bequeathed to me; I was on the other side of the world. But I owe my big brother. Figuring out who killed him is the least I can do.

As I stand here, I know I look calm, cool, and collected, with my unreadable resting bitch face firmly in place. The lawyer, on the other hand, is trembling like a leaf and not-so-subtly moving away from me, likely not wanting to get caught in the crossfire if one of these ruthless criminals starts shooting.

On the inside, though, I'm much like the lawyer, but no one can tell since my outward impassive demeanor is my armor. But I'm grateful my hands don't shake. I may have mastered the art of an unreadable resting bitch face with a touch of frigidness; however, my hands can still give me away.

I keep my hands raised as the room of criminals have their guns leveled at my head.

The first one to order his men to lower their weapons is a tall man with broad shoulders, salt and pepper on the sides of his dark hair, light blue eyes, and who looks a bit pale. Tommaso Santoro; Don of the Santoro mafia family.

The bastard from the graveyard stands in front of Tommaso, as if to shield him. The same bastard, who had said "Lost, little girl?" which made my coocheruptwith tingles.

When he had spoken, a vague familiarity had tugged at me. Like I was a fish being reeled in, and the hook was in my traitor cooch, pulling me straight toward his dick. Then, when he had said, "This section of the graveyard is closed for the funeral; how did you get in?" in that dangerous, deep voice, I nearly combusted with angerandlust.

My reaction to him was extreme and intense. I wanted to shove him to the ground and ride him like a wild, unbroken stallion. But anger exploded in me, too, as I recognized his voice as the one that had woken me up in the middle of the night and shattered my finally stable world. And I wanted to punch the fucking cunt in the face.

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