Page 2 of Brutal Legacy

But he wasn’t your average rich guy… there was something very different about him. Maybe it was the tattoos liberally decorating the backs of his hands and neck; clearly the guy hadsome serious bodywork going on beneath the three-piece suit. Or maybe it was how his face was spattered with someone else’s blood.

But on closer inspection, no, it wasn’t just the tats or the flecks of red against his cheek, though they certainly added to the aura of his presence.

It was just him. The way he stood, cocksure, but ready. Lethal and confident. A man who had done terrible things and would again. A man who could take any danger.

A man whowasthe danger.

He wrapped a hand around my arm and tugged me to him. My feet had forgotten how to work, and I fell clumsily into his chest. He didn’t even sway at the impact.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked, searching the little I could see of his face.

He had sunglasses on, fitting for the California sun falling through the long windows of the restaurant. His jaw was square and tanned, shadowed with just a hint of dark stubble. He had strong cheekbones and an aquiline nose. Dark winged eyebrows and shorn black hair. There was something vaguely military-esque about the strictness of that cut.

He was criminally good-looking. Shouldn’t there be a rule that the most dangerous guys couldn’t also be the hottest ones?

“Wherever I want,” he said simply.

“What?! You can’t!” I squeaked out in a panic.

“And who is going to stop me?” He asked simply.

“You can’t just steal a person,” I murmured, knowing I was wrong. This madman could. He was.

“I can do whatever the fuck I want.” He turned from the carnage of the restaurant and pulled me beside him, pushing me out an exit.

A hard object poked into my side.The gun?I couldn’t see it, but clearly he had it pressed into my rib cage. I had to fight. I had to do something. I tried to step on his foot, but he barely flinched.

“Let’s be clear. If I say jump, you say how high. I say kneel… you hit the fucking deck, got it?” he growled at me, perfectly certain that I would comply. His hand was around my neck, his strong fingers biting into my skin.

“Or?” I shot out, anger at his unshakable confidence pushing my fear from my mind for a second, before it came back, tenfold.

He spoke with that same perfect confidence. “Or — you’ll die.”

1

ELIO

La Seta was packed to the seams with Napoli’s most beautiful. Skin carefully revealed in titillating patches, perfumes meant to seduce, hair swinging and enticing, smiles tempting…

But not to me.

I moved through the swaying mass of desperate, clawing people like a dark arrow through a cloud of cotton candy. I wasn’t here for fun. I was here for one purpose.

To do my job.

Ahead, my target was laughing at the bar, downing shot after shot, lowering his guard even more. Some people really made this easy.

I leaned against a nearby pillar and watched him in the mirror across the way. My biggest problem somewhere like this was blending in. I didn’t sway. I didn’t smile. It kind of made me stick out in a place where everyone else was riding a chemical high of some kind, be it drugs, alcohol, or pure endorphins.

“Ciao, bello,”a female voice purred beside me. A hand snaked down my chest. “I haven’t seen you here before.”

I had her wrist in a tight grip before she saw me move. Her hazy, half-closed eyes widened in alarm.

“And you haven’t seen me this time,” I advised her quietly.

Her smile returned; she assumed I was flirting back. She leaned into me, and the manufactured scent of her perfume was harsh on my nose. Femininity in a bottle. I wished I could unsmell it.

“Sure, I haven’t. Why don’t we get out of here and not see each other a little more?” she suggested.

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