Page 8 of Ruthless Sinner

Of all the shit I thought I’d be dealing with this morning after staying up all night to take care of a shipment, Dante informing me from Toby, who’d heard it from Vincent, who had gotten the orders from Dad, that I needed to bring a plus one to Vincent’s wedding wasnoton the list.

“Look, I don’t have time to argue about this with you.” I could hear my attorney brother, Dante, shuffling papers around in the background. “I’m just the messenger. Dad wants you and I to both bring plus ones to Vincent’s wedding so we look like we’re well-adjusted and settling down, or something idiotic like that,” he muttered, the annoyance in his voice clear.

Dad had been married by the time he was twenty-five. Vincent was thirty-five, I was thirty-three, and Dante had just managed to score his dream of being made junior partner at his firm by the time he was thirty, basically getting the promotion as a birthday present. So, to say that dear old Dad was a little impatient with all three of us and our lack of commitment with women, would be an understatement.

He would often say how he didn’t know where he’d gone wrong with us, but personally I thought he’d done a great job. He’d raised Vincent to be an excellent successor to the throne, and whether he and Dante would ever admit it or not, he’d raised Dante to be an excellent lawyer. All those years arguing with Dad had to be good for something.

Our old man just hadn’t raised us to be the type to settle down and get married young.

“And if you’re going to find a stripper to bring to the wedding,” Dante added over the cell phone line, “make sure she’s a smart one. If you hire an escort Dad will definitely know.”

“Because he’ll make you go through my financials and find out?” I said with a snicker. “Who areyoutaking?”

“I have to go.” Dante didn’t even try to be subtle in his dodge of the question. “Talk to you later.”

Yeah, right. Between his hatred for the family business and his crazy work hours, I’d be lucky if I heard from Dante again before the wedding.

“Watch your back,” I warned him.

I was only half-joking. At least most mafia had the decency to shoot you in the face. Lawyers stabbed you in the back with loopholes.

After I hung up, I went to take care of the rest of my day, which meant checking in with Vincent and giving him an update on the shipment I’d overseen last night.

I hated that I’d been interrupted with Jewel at the club. I’d made a few discreet enquiries and found out that this was, in fact, her first stripping job, taken on as a way to pay the hospital and then funeral bills for her mom who’d passed recently. Tragic, and a story I’d heard far too many times before. Nobody went into stripping just for the fun of it. Mostly, it was a job that attracted women who had large debt and no other way to pay it.

That would explain her strange mix of shyness and confidence. She was a beautiful woman who had to know that. But if she wasn’t used to this profession, it was probably daunting. I was more than happy to… show her the ropes.

Using each other.That phrase hadn’t sat well with me then and it didn’t sit well with me now. I didn’t want her to feel used. My desire for her was real, and despite how bored I usually got with a woman after a few flings, I wasn’t even close to being done with Jewel—and after being her first in The Swan Room, I felt uncharacteristically protective, and possessive, of her. I wantedmore, and if nothing else my pursuit of her would serve as a damn good distraction from my family problems.

My days tended to be boring. Vincent and Dante were always busy at their jobs. There was a lot of work to be done when you were a lawyer or acapo. As a soldier it was a lot of… hurry up and wait.

I hadn’t understood when Dad had informed me that I was going to be a soldier for the family. I’d seen it as an insult. But as angry as Dad could get at me, he wasn’t a stupid man. Everything had multiple purposes. Vincent had been the one to sit me down and explain it to me.

“We need someone to be friends with the lower-level men in our family,” he’d said. “We need them to feel like they can come to you with problems, like you’re there for the little guy. You’re on their side, we’re not just the powerful bosses, we’re also friends. We’re all in this together.”

Now that, I understood and respected. And I did like the guys I worked with. I was good with people, always had been. But it was… I didn’t know what it was, honestly. I wasn’t sure why I felt so… discontent with the idea of hanging out with the guys. Guys I liked, guys I considered friends.

Lately, it felt like something was missing. But I had no idea what and I wasn’t about to start complaining about it.Oh no, I was paid too well and had a nice job that didn’t demand too much of me and I had so many friends that I didn’t want to hang out with, my life was horrible!

Yeah. I rolled my eyes at myself. Nobody had a perfect life. I’d just check in with everyone, make sure that we were all okay on the business front, and generally find a way to fill the time before it was late enough for me to go to Cozy Bunny and see Jewel again.

I didn’t usually get this… tunnel vision when it came to women. I loved wooing women. I loved the chase. I loved winning them over and giving them pleasure. But I didn’t usually think about them likethis, to this extent.

I told myself it was just because I’d been interrupted on my very first night with her before I could do enough to satisfying my itch. I felt like there was so much more to unwrap about this woman, something that drew me in, layers that I could feel right there under my fingertips just waiting to be revealed and discovered.

For the first time in years I found… that maybe there was a woman who could hold my attention, after all.

CHAPTER4

Kennedy

To say I was nervous to go to work would be a bit of an understatement. I had trained for this, and yet, my stomach still churned with nerves.

Had I done the right thing last night? Being so carefree about Marco having to leave? Had I been enough, done enough, to make him want to see me again? Or would he move on and I’d have to find another way to get his attention again? That would be painfully obvious. Of course, I had no doubt that many, many other women in Marco’s life had tried to keep his attention after he had moved on. I didn’t want to be just another pathetic hanger-on.

I guess I would find out when I was at work. I’d find out if Marco was there, and if he still wanted me.

I had a call with my supervisor. Johnson. The most boring name, and he often made jokes about it.Yeah, an FBI agent named Johnson, get all the laughing out of your system rookie, I’ve heard it all before. I’d always liked him well enough, even though I was painfully aware that he would use me in whatever manner necessary to get the bad guys. He’d useanyoneto catch the bad guys. To him, you were an asset, a tool, first and a person second.

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