Chapter One
Marcus
“Don’t kill me, please,” Enzo cries, his chocolate eyes wide with fear. “I didn’t steal from you, please.”
He’s trembling, biting his lip so hard, it’s bleeding, the scarlet liquid dripping to the floor and making a mess on the white marble.
Fuck. I hate it when they tremble like that when all I’m doing is inhaling my cigar and asking questions. It shouldn’t be hard answering simple questions like how thousands of dollars wound up missing from the casino.
I lean back in my seat, smoke curling lazily from my half-finished cigar as I skim through the ledger on the polished mahogany desk in front of me.
It’s exactly nine p.m. on a Friday night and while I would prefer shoving my cock in a whore’s mouth in one of the family’s clubs I manage in midtown Manhattan, I’m in a dimly lit office in Hell’s Kitchen, flipping through a fat ledger and seething. Courtesy of my older brother, Dominic, head of the Cosa Nostra, and this fucker in front of me who somehow thought it was wise to steal hundred thousand dollars from him.
“Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?” I shut the ledger, it’s hard to understand anything I’m seeing when his whimpering keeps filtering through the fetid air. “You have two days to replace the money or you’re a dead man.”
“Please, Boss,” Enzo cries, throwing himself on his knees in front of me, his brown eyes gloomy and pathetic as they meet mine. “I don’t have the money anymore. I—I—”
“I don’t give a fuck. It’s the money or your life.” I inhale the last of my cigar then throw it on the ground. “Remember that,” I add as I rise to my feet and grind out the embers.
Unlike Dominic, I consider myself very logical and patient. I’m not thirsty for bloodshed unless it’s necessary and that is the only reason I’m giving Enzo a second chance to fix the mess he made.
He won’t admit it, but he’d stolen from my brother to invest in a real estate business. He’d hoped his theft would go unnoticed since he thought a hundred thousand dollars wouldn’t matter to Dominic—not that it does anyway.
Unfortunately for him, I’m thorough when doing my rounds and keeping the family’s money safe is the reason Dominic entrusted me with the task to begin with. Not throwing money away is the only way my family has been able to accumulate such wealth.
Plus, a man who can steal from you, can betray you for more money. It’s simple logic that money rules the world. Both men and women alike are slaves to it.
Enzo tries to crawl to me, but Antonio, my best man, holds him back. “How about I roughen him up a little, Boss?”
I nod. “Do whatever you want.”
I know I said I’m pretty logical and patient. I am. But Antonio isn’t. That one’s a nutcase with a fist addicted to cracking bones.
Enzo’s cries follow me out of the room, along with the four other bodyguards. I weave through the sea of people in the club, nodding my head to the music and checking out the fine assess in sparkling miniskirts and revealing gowns. A groan rumbles from deep in my throat when one of the girls shoves her ass right in front of my cock, grinding against me and bringing me to a halt just as I’m about to settle on a couch.
She’s beautiful. She’s wearing heels which are nothing less than eight inches, a red, see-through dress which looks just like the ones Celia—my ex, dead whore—used to wear andflipping her long, dark hair as she twerks to the afro-pop searing through the hidden speakers.
Licking my lips, I dig my fingers in her waist and slam my hips against her ass. The collision is too hard and she’s about to double over when I fist her hair and pull haul her to my body. “Fanculo, ragazza,I like what you’re doing with that ass.”
She twists her head around and flashes a sultry smile at me. “Take me with you,papito.I can please you tonight.” She licks glistening red lips and presses her body against mine. “Let me show you all the things I can do.”
I groan and gently shover her off me. While my cock is aching for a climax, I’m here for business and can’t risk distraction. It doesn’t matter that the distraction is a pretty brunette with a nice ass.
“Not tonight,ragazza,” I say with a reluctant grunt, then I stride to one of the scarlet, velvet couches, and slouch on it.
The brunette remains on the spot I left her for an extra minute, visibly annoyed and struggling to pretend she isn’t. She flashes a fake smile when she meets my glare, then she bites her lip before she moves on to the next horny asshole in the club.
I remove a pack of cigars from the jacket of my Armani suit and slide it between my lips before I tuck the pack back in and find my lighter. A cloud of smoke erupts as the end catches the flame.
Antonio enters the club and sits on the couch across from me. He’s wiping blood from his knuckles with a white towel. “I’ve taken care of him, Boss,” he says in a gruff voice that makes me raise my brows.
“Taken care of him?” I drag a smoke and huff it into the atmosphere. “Don’t tell me you killed him.”
He stops wiping, gives me his usual murderous dark glare and nods. “Was I not supposed to?”
“The fuck? No, you weren’t supposed to, you idiot.” I’m tempted to throw my cigar at him. “How the hell are we supposed to get our money back?”
Although I’m asking, the possibility of me recovering that money is slimmer than my chances of getting laid tonight. I can imagine Dominic’s irritation when he finds out and I shudder. My brother has a nasty and dangerous temper, the only person who can tame him, is my sister-in-law, Elena.