Page 20 of Corrupted Heir (Mafia Kings: Corrupted 1)

Maybe it was unfair of me, but too fucking bad. He was just another jerk who slept with every cute little thing he spoiled with his money and fancy restaurants.

“Sit down, Fallon,” he said in that same voice that made the butterflies in my stomach go wild.

I hadn’t even realized I’d stood up, but I had no intention of sitting back down. “Don’t tell me what to do.” I slammed my open palms down on the table. “I don’t know who the hell you are—clearly, you don’t want to tell me—and I don’t know what you want with me, but this date is just a farce, and it’s time for it to be over.” I grabbed my wallet from my purse, withdrew a few bills, and threw them on the table. I had no idea if it was too little or too much, but I couldn’t stand to be in a room with him any longer.

“I’m your ride, Miss Moore.” He sniffed loudly. “Sit down.”

There was that tone again, and though a teeny tiny part of me sparked to it, it damn sure wasn’t enough to keep me in this man’s vicinity any longer. “I would rather walk home on hot coals than spend another minute here with you, Mister… Oh hell, I don’t even know your last name. Goodnight, Dominic.”

I turned away and strode out of the restaurant, keeping my eyes down and pretending there weren’t dozens of Chanel-laiden people staring at me.

Chapter Seven

Dominic

“Fuck!” I roared, chucking the glass of whiskey in my hand across the room. I watched it smash against a wall opposite me, but somehow, it did nothing to alleviate the frustration coursing through my veins.

This wasn’t how tonight was supposed to go at all. The woman had my blood boiling within just a split second of opening her mouth. I’d wined and dined her, just like a guy’s supposed to do—and at the best restaurant in the city, no less. I groaned, my jaw clenching tight.

Maybe it was time to call it and do things the easy way. Send our guys to grab her one night when she was closing up the clinic? Have them bring her to the family home and keep her there? My family wasn’t really down with kidnapping, but sometimes things just needed to be done—whether they fucking liked them or not. I sure as fuck didn’t want to get married. Why the hell wasn’t someone trying to wine and dine, and sweet-talk me into the fucked-up state of matrimony? The reason: because it was just something that needed to be done—whether I liked it or not. Maybe it was time Miss Fallon Moore learned about doing what needed to be done.

I dropped down into the chair behind my desk and scrubbed my fingers through my hair. Maybe I could rub out the memories of the monumental failure of a date and forget I’d ever agreed to Douglas Moore’s ridiculous plan. Perhaps I could erase the memory of Fallon in that sexy-as-fuck dress. And the way she toyed with her bottom lip when we walked into that restaurant, clearly out of her element. And the way her eyes flared with blue fire when she got pissed off. Scrub it all away, and do this the way it should have been done.

It was the smart plan. But as I tried to plan it in my head, Fallon’s eyes popped up there and wouldn’t leave. Innocent eyes, like Sofia’s, in a way. Neither of them had been polluted by the cold, dark world I lived in. Sofia never would be; she’d died sweet and innocent. But if I did this, it would all be gone for Fallon. No more innocence. No more believing in fairy tales or fucked up fantasies, or whatever the hell it was that made her look pure and untainted even in that crazy sexy dress. There would just be the real world. My world.

“Fuck,” I groaned, not for the first time in the past hour. The woman was maddening, but I couldn’t do it. And that left me backed into a corner with only one way out: I was going to have to romance the hell out of the infuriating-as-hell Fallon Moore. And that meant finding a way to repair whatever had sent her storming out last night.

Fucking hell, this was going to suck because I knew just where to start.

With worms squirming beneath my skin, I yanked out my cell phone and hit the speed dial for Leo. Leo. The last guy I wanted to turn to for help at the moment. Unfortunately, Leo was also the only guy I could think of who had a way with women beyond getting them into bed.

He picked up on the second ring. “Hey, Dom. What’s up?”

“I need some damage control.” I could feel a headache growing in the back of my skull.

“Damage control?” he said, the tone of his voice changing in an instant from laid-back to high alert. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” I snapped, still chewing on the words I was going to have to spit out eventually.

“Okay… So, what’s up?”

“I fucked up last night. I just need some help patching it up.”

“Last night? What are you talking about? You were with that Moore girl… Whoa, hold on.”

I could hear Leo laughing despite his attempt to cover up the mouthpiece. Goddamn son of a bitch.

“For fuck’s sake, Leo. Could you please try to take this seriously for a minute?”

“Okay,” he said, trying for serious but falling about a mile short. “So, the great Dominic Luca is having lady trouble, is he?”

“I’m not having ‘lady’ trouble. If you’ve got a woman looking for a good fuck, I’m your man. But flowers, walks on the beach, and that shit…”

“All right, I get it. And because I’m such a good brother, I’m going to help you, but it’ll cost you.” He really was enjoying this, wasn’t he?

“Cost me what?” I spat.

“Oh, I don’t know. I’ll stick this favor in my pocket for a while and get back to you. For now, why don’t you tell me what happened?”

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