Page 4 of Kings & Corruption

“I think you’re going to find you’re wrong about that,” Neo said, a satisfied smile settling on his full lips.

It was a smile that said he knew something I didn’t, something I wasn’t going to like.

He ran a callused finger down my arm and goosebumps rose on my skin. My nipples hardened under my dress, and I was glad the fabric was thick enough that they wouldn’t be visible.

He stared into my eyes as his finger traveled down one of my legs and under the skirt of my dress. A shiver snaked up my back when his fingertips brushed my thigh — and not the bad kind of shiver either.

I didn’t bother to hope Rock or Drago would say anything. Where one went, so did the other two. Figuratively anyway. Although there had been rumors they shared everything.

And I do mean everything.

It should have scared me. Instead, a swell of need expanded from my center at the thought of them all naked and —

Nope. Not going there.

I jumped as the door flew open. Mara stuck her head in and looked from me to the boys and back at me again, a ton of questions in her eyes.

Neo didn’t even bother to pull his hand back from its position on my thigh, perilously close to the cleft between my legs, which was now embarrassingly wet.

“Uh… your mom’s looking for you,” Mara said, clearly aware she’d interrupted something. “They’re getting ready to cut the cake.”

“Exactly what I came to tell you,” Neo said, close enough that I felt his breath on my cheek. He dropped his hand and moved toward the door. Rock and Drago peeled off the counter after him.

“See you out there, tiger,” Drago said.

“Nah,” Rock murmured, dragging his thumb over his full lower lip as he walked past me. "I bet I could make her purr like a kitten."

Goddamn.

Mara lifted her eyebrows but I just shook my head and washed my hands. By the time we returned to the reception, my mom and Roberto were already at the front of the room behind the table that held the towering wedding cake.

“Ah, there she is,” Robert’s voice echoed through the microphone as he caught sight of me. Everyone turned to follow his gaze. “My new daughter. Come on up here, Willa. You too, Neo.”

I followed Neo to the front of the room, watching as the crowd parted for him like he was Moses standing in front of the Red Sea. Must be nice to be a favored son of the most revered kingpin in the family instead of the daughter of a traitor.

I stood next to my mom, and I was relieved when Neo took up position next to his dad. I could feel his eyes on my face, but if I focused on the crowd, I could almost pretend he wasn’t there.

Fuck. Who was I kidding? He was an asshole of the highest order, but there was never any pretending Neo Alinari wasn’t there.

“I want to thank you all for joining us on this special day,” Roberto began. “As you all know, family is everything. We sacrifice for it. We steal for it. We bleed for it.”

My stomach turned, but I kept my expression impassive. I didn’t want to bleed for these people. I didn’t want Emma to bleed for them either, but I couldn’t help wondering if she already had.

Aventine U was a private college, one that accepted applicants almost exclusively from crime families like mine and the Alinaris’. Not that it was an official policy or anything.

Technically, the admission process was wide open.

Except everyone knew it was where families like Roberto sent their kids. Aventine’s MBA program was quietly second to none (running a criminal organization in the modern era required knowledge of the law and economics, of global supply chains and international markets), and their chess room had once been a breeding ground for alliances and rivalries.

Their frats were even named after chess pieces: Kings for the Italian faction, Knights for the Russians, Castle house for the Irish, and Bishops for the cartel families, although I’d heard everyone called them the Saints. There were so few women that there was only one sorority, and of course, they lived in the Queens’ house.

But while chess had always been the official game of Aventine, it was the after-hours lessons that made you or broke you within your family.

Or so I’d heard.

The games played at Aventine, games designed to prepare us for the world in which we’d been born, made secret societies like Yale’s Skull and Bones look like PTA meetings.

Participation wasn’t optional.

---