Page 20 of Vengeful Union

“Who?” I demand. “Who did he try to sell you to?”

She gives me a twisted smile. “Now, Finley,” she says sarcastically. “Getting jealous your possession belongs to someone else?”

Anger bubbles to the surface. “You’re mine,” I growl, my hand snapping around her neck, collaring her.

Those emerald eyes of hers flash with heat, and my cock becomes rock hard. I want the ice princess, and I will have her. After all, she’s mine. I own her.

She flashes me a taunting smirk as she blatantly stares at my cock pressing against my pants, the material of them doing nothing to hide my erection.

“Yours?” She shakes her head. “The only way that cock is getting anywhere near me is after I’m dead.”

My hand around her throat tightens as I pull her flush against my body. “Don’t test my patience, Destiny. I’ll have you flat on your back and begging for my cock before you can even blink.”

She swallows hard, her throat constricting beneath my touch. “You’re so full of yourself. You want me, but I’ll never freely give myself to you. You bought me, Finn. I’m nothing but a whore to you.”

She needs to shut up. She’s not my fucking whore.

I slam my mouth against hers, showing her just how much I own her. Letting her see that she can deny me all she wants, but her body tells another story.

Her nipples pebble, and her pulse beats a fast rhythm beneath my fingers, begging me to take her. But her mouth is shut tight. I bite down on that plump bottom lip of hers, eliciting a gasp from her and giving me the access I crave.

Pushing my tongue into her mouth, I take her hard and fast, dominating her with just a kiss. As I predicted, Destiny is inexperienced, and my gut clenches at the thought of being her first. To be the only man to have her.

She whimpers from the back of her throat, and I pull away from her. Those gorgeous eyes are drunk with lust, her cheeks flushed, and her lips are plumped, red, and so very fuckable. I want her. Fuck, I want to throw her on the bed and fuck her. But not yet. I want her begging me for it.

“I’ll be back later,” I tell her, and watch as her eyes widen slightly before her lips twist into a scowl. “Eat up. You’re still recovering.”

She just glares at me, and I have to admit, that haughty look of hers has my cock getting even harder.

“Eat up,” I instruct once again, then turn to leave.

Closing the door to her room behind me, I glance at Alex, who’s standing guard. “Make sure she eats.”

He nods once but doesn’t say a word. All the men know Destiny is mine, and I’ll happily gut them where they stand if they even think about touching her. The moment I brought her here with me, I was different with her. I’ve had two weeks to figure out why the hell she affects me as much as she does, but I’ve yet to come up with a theory.

“Jacob,” I call out, knowing he’s somewhere close. He always is these days. Ever since I got shot, the man’s become my shadow. He blames himself for what went down over a year ago. He wasn’t there and he should have been. He didn’t travel to New York with me when the shit went down with Holly. Instead, he stayed here in Philly to try and smooth over some business I had with the Italians. The DeLuca’s are a pain in the arse but it’s always good to have them onside. The last thing we need is to be going to war with them, especially when I’m in the stage of recruitment.

When I took over as the underboss of Philadelphia, I knew it would be a hard task, but it went smoother than I imagined. The previous underboss was old-school. He didn’t help his men grow, never gave them anything to reach for. Instead, he kept the men to a minimum, having only those he considered worthy of being around him to be his soldiers. We had less than thirty men when I arrived. Not enough men to do shit with, especially when the DeLuca’s were all up in our business, taking over our patches. So, when I became the underboss, I made sure we made a statement. It was clear as fuck that I had aspirations for my men, needing them to step up and become better. To become made men.

I was given a lot of respect from the men early on, and not because I’m the grandchild of the founder of the Clann, nor because I’m the brother of the Boss. No, it was because, like these men, I started out as a soldier and worked tirelessly alongside them as we grew and expanded our empire. The men knew that no matter what happened, I would have their backs one hundred percent, and that hasn’t changed just because I was promoted. No, I’m just as much involved in the soldiers’ lives as I always was. So, giving them the added incentive to grow just gave them the encouragement they needed to ensurewegrew.

Word spread about my recruitment and the men starting piling in. I now have close to two hundred men working for me. That covers the drugs, women, and weapons, along with working the streets for intel, protection, and day-to-day shit that needs to be done.

My sister, Makenna, wasn't happy that I somehow gained a stable of women, but I made sure she knew these women wanted to be in the lifestyle, whether it was the only job they could do, or they just wanted to do it. None of them are to be touched by the men. Not even paid. We do not mistreat women and we certainly don’t abuse them. I take a percentage of the money they make, and the men ensure they’re safe in the environment they work in. It’s a win-win for everyone. Once Makenna realized just how lucrative it was, she agreed that we’d test it out here in Philly first before we moved it elsewhere in the country.

We have almost a hundred women in the stable, and when Jade comes out of prison, Makenna wants Jade and her brother Hayden to work closely together and have one out in Chicago—once the word spreads about how good the women have it here. As soon as Gallagher stables start opening elsewhere, the women will flock to them. We take care of their pimps and make it known that if they even think about coming after the women, they’ll not live to see another day. We’ve only had to kill five of the pimps here in Philly, and that was because the men lost their biggest moneymakers in the business.

“Boss,” Jacob says, sidling up next to me.

“What do you know about Bannon?” I ask. I overheard everything that was said in Destiny’s room before I walked in. She believes he’s a cop, and I can’t say I disagree with her. There’s something about the guy that just doesn’t sit right with me.

He glances at me, his brows knitting together. “Not much. Nick recruited him. Why?”

Ah, Nick. The man’s a fucking idiot on his best days.

He was a man left over from the previous underboss, one who seems to disagree with the way things are run. A man who’s extremely close to my brother, Patrick. My brother, who’s acting shifty as fuck lately and has become someone I no longer trust.

“What vibe do you get from him?” I ask, wondering just how many of us think he’s an imposter.

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