Page 57 of Velvet Cruelty

Doc raps the table. “I want to say something.”

I glare at him.

“I want to say something to Bobby,” he clarifies, turning to him. “I love you.”

Bobby’s eyes nearly fall out of his head. “What?”

“I love you,” Doc says lightly. “I always have, but you can’t be stupid about January. If she wanted to marry you, she’d have said yes. She’s that kind of girl.”

Bobby’s expression doesn’t change but his shoulders slump. “She’s scared. She just needs time.”

“You’re wrong. More time and Adri’ll kill her.”

Bobby looks at Adriano, who shrugs.

“I might.”

Bobby gives a humourless laugh. “So, we send January to a foreign country to be forced into marriage?”

Doc shakes his head. “You want to marry for love, Bash. You’re never gonna be happy with a wife you backed into it. So let this girl go. She’s not the one.”

Bobby looks to me, his oldest friend. I raise my scotch. “He’s right for once. She’s not the girl you marry.”

He makes a helpless sound somewhere between a laugh and a groan. “All our plans, years of surveillance, and nothing good has come of it. We’re just going to let her go.”

I swirl the liquor around my glass. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”

“What do you mean?” Doc says.

I choose my words carefully. Just because this situation has a silver lining, I can’t have anyone thinking they’re going to get their way. “I said we send the girl to Italy. I didn’t say what condition her pussy has to be in when she gets there.”

Adriano lifts his nose like a predator scenting blood.

“Hang on,” Bobby says. “Your cousin, if we tell him January’s a virgin and she doesn’t bleed…”

“Most girls don’t bleed,” Doc snaps. “Not if you can get them wet. Someone was gonna have to tell January to shove a needle in her finger on her wedding night. I’m happy for that to be me.”

“But the risk—”

“Are we Velvet House?” I ask Bobby. “Or some weak collection of assholes? I want to fuck Parker’s fiancée. And I don’t give a shit if we send some mafioso a wife who’s been screwed a couple of times. They should be grateful they’re getting Miss Whitehall for longer than I do.”

Doc’s eyes widen in mock surprise. “Elliot, that might be the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”

I scowl. He knows I hate being called Elliot. I look to Bobby, expecting revulsion, but the corner of his mouth has kicked up. I can almost see the wheels in his mind turning. If I can’t marry her, at least it’ll be something.

Across from him, Adriano flicks his glass, making the crystal chime. “Who gets to go first?”

A new tension crackles through the room.

Bobby looks me dead in the eyes. “You pulling rank again?”

I could. It’s tempting. I turn to the monitors. Miss Whitehall is still singing in her white dress. She looks like an angel. I could tie her to my bed, lick her little cunt and take her as a man should. Keep her a few hours, then hand her over, soaking and fuck-drunk and thoroughly broken in. Then let the others do what they will, knowing I was her first.

But it won’t work. Resentment is already brewing in my brothers and resentment breeds incompetence. If I claim Miss Whitehall’s virginity, getting rid of her won’t help. I’d still be the captain of a ship falling apart under pressure.

I shrug in as bored a manner as possible. “No. I don’t need to go first.”

Bobby sits up straighter. “Then how?”

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