Page 9 of Corrupted Heir (Mafia Kings: Corrupted 1)

“Bullet’s going to be fine,” I said without preamble.

My father’s head shot up. He looked at me with his dark eyes narrowed.

“I took him to the Moore girl downtown and stayed until she was certain he was going to make a full recovery. He’ll be back in two days.”

His suspicious gaze lingered for a moment longer, like he was trying to determine whether I was feeding him a line. I might have been a cocky son of a bitch, but I wasn’t stupid.

Eventually, he nodded, and his features smoothed into a mask of indifference. “Then the next order of business is Belemonte,” he said, settling back in his wingback chair.

I nodded. “I have a plan that will send a message—both to Belemonte and any other cartel stupid enough to try to pull that shit.”

“I don’t want to send a message, son. I want to wipe them all off the face of the earth.”

I stared at my father and tried not to laugh at the 180-degree shift. One minute, he’d been going batshit crazy over a puppy, and the next, he was planning to rain down hell on an entire cartel.

“We can’t wipe them all out,” I said plainly.

“And why not?”

“Because the Free Birds take everyone they can get. They’ve got sixteen-year-old kids running for them.”

He sighed heavily. “I suppose you’re right.”

Damn right I was. It was what kept the line clearly drawn between us and them—between us and the other pathetic hell-bound cartels out there. The Lucas had morals, if that’s what they could be called. At the very least, we had standards by which we lived our lives. And one of those standards: We never murdered children—innocent or not.

“Fine, I’ll trust you to take care of it,” my father said. Not that long ago, Vincent Luca would never have left something so important in another man’s hands, but times had changed. He’d groomed me for this for as long as I could remember, and I’d proven myself over and over again.

“You mentioned the Moore girl,” he said just as I was about to turn around and leave.

“Yes, the veterinarian,” I said, then under my breath, I muttered to myself, “Insufferable witch.”

He laughed. “It’s funny you should say that.”

“Funny, how?” A prickle at the back of my neck started poking in overdrive.

“The Novas are encroaching on our territory. After everything that’s happened in the past twenty-four hours, we need a little extra security. Tighter bonds with people that can help us when we need them. If things go south, Dominic, we’re going to have a big fight on our hands, and we need the police force neatly tucked inside our pockets.”

“We already have Douglas Moore on our payroll. He keeps his mouth shut when we tell him to, and he hides evidence when we need it.” I held my father’s gaze, willing him to agree as I balled my hands into fists.

“Like I said, we need tighter bonds,” he said as he poured himself two fingers of bourbon and swirled it around in his glass. He took a hearty swallow then looked at me. “It’s time you marry Fallon Moore, Dominic. We’ve put this off long enough.”

Fuck me. I kept my face arranged in an unreadable mask, but inside, I was ready to take my own ride into batshit crazy town. That woman was mouthy, and defiant, and uppity, and everything else I sure as hell didn’t want in a wife—not that I wanted a wife at all. So what if she was hot as hell and the image of those pouty lips wrapped around my cock might just star in every fantasy I had for the next six months? Those kinds of qualifications made her an excellent candidate for a night of dirty, sweaty sex. Not the kind of qualifications that made me want to be stuck with her for life.

“There has got to be another way,” I argued, though I knew it was futile.

“This is no surprise, Dominic. You’ve known it was a possibility for years. The only way to secure absolute loyalty from Douglas Moore is to marry his only daughter and ensure her protection. If we do this, the chief of police will be stuck in our pockets for life.”

He was right—not that it made the prospect any more palatable.

“Besides, if not this woman, then what woman, Dominic? You’re thirty-four years old, and your longest relationship has been, what—four hours long?” He raised his eyebrow at me, clicking his tongue.

“There was that girl I took to Fiji last year,” I rejoined, not that it was much of a rejoinder.

“And what was her name?”

I wasn’t sure if her name had ever come up, to be honest. Words weren’t really what had been on the agenda that weekend.

“I’m not talking about a girl you can fuck. There are plenty of them out there, Dominic, and I’m sure you’ve sampled plenty of them. But I’m talking about a woman to lead by your side when the time comes for you to rule my kingdom.”

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