Page 4 of Dance with the Devil

Calvin held out his hand to Maria and she shook it. She looked pale.

“Take her to my room. Get her ready,” Draven said.

He needed to go to his office. Without another word, he left his wife and his man at the foot of the stairs. Draven went straight to his office and grabbed his phone, calling The Boss’s number. He waited. It took six rings for The Boss to pick up.

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” Draven asked.

“I don’t answer to you.”

“Do I need to remind you of why you’re in the place you’re at?” Draven tapped his fingers on the desk.

There was silence.

They both knew who was supposed to be sitting at the head of the table. The only reason The Boss was where he was, was because Draven had put him there. If the whole truth came out, then The Boss would be removed. He knew it, as did The Boss.

“You took your chance with Maria,” The Boss said.

“Why the ritual?” he asked.

“People want to see her suffer. They want to know she is loyal.”

“She came to you.”

“But her family are completely blacklisted, even though they’re dead,” The Boss said. “She should be dead and the only reason I showed her any mercy was because of you.”

Draven didn’t say a word.

“This is your chance to get rid of her if you don’t want to keep her. Have a taste, enjoy her, and if she lied about being a virgin, it’ll be another nail in her coffin. You get one chance with her, or you can stay married to her.”

“I’ll meet you tomorrow,” Draven said.

Without another word, he hung up. No one knew of his or The Boss’s agreement. They didn’t even know who he and The Boss were to each other.

Draven smiled. There was a lot of shit people didn’t know, and he was more than happy to keep it that way. While he got to be the capo and do what needed to be done, his … brother got to take over. There was a lot of history there, and anyone who knew the truth about them was long dead, and he wouldn’t speak a word of it.

The Boss, Antwone Bianchi, was his brother, or at least half-brother. They shared the same father but different mothers. Where Antwone had been born within wedlock, he himself had been born to one of his father’s mistresses.

Their father had been The Boss. The family was the Bianchi family. Draven was the older of the two.

Their father, for a long time, had been very proud, until everything fucked up.

Twenty years ago, their old man had gotten nervous. He’d gotten jealous of their youth, and rumor was he’d gone on a killing spree. That wasn’t a rumor. Their father had killed his wife, his mistress, and according to gossip, the two sons who had threatened to take over the Bianchi family.

Now, their father had killed both of their mothers, their sisters as well, and he’d also killed several men. When he came at Antwone, the attack had nearly killed his brother. Draven got them both out of there.

He no longer wore the scars from that night. The moment he could, he covered them in ink, not allowing those scars to be a reminder.

Draven, although knocking on death’s door, carried his brother to safety. He didn’t know how he found the strength, but he had saved himself and Antwone.

From that day forward, he vowed to take everything from their father. They would have the Bianchi family as their own. It had taken him ten years to do that.

Draven had already been a cold, hard killer before his father’s attack. The streets made him wise up faster. He became a deadly machine, earning his reputation, and by the time he was ready to take back what was theirs, no one stood a chance.

Only, Draven didn’t become The Boss. It was a title he never wanted. That was always going to be Antwone’s place. Only they knew who they were. The Bianchi name was dead.

Antwone refused to take a name. He was The Boss and he ruled The Family.

Draven knew the attack had killed a part of Antwone. Antwone had been the kinder of the two. In the past few years, Draven knew he’d become cold, dangerous. But, as with Maria, there was still a part of the boy there. If Antwone was cold-hearted, he wouldn’t have given Maria the choice. He’d have killed her on the spot. There was hope for his brother yet.

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