Page 1 of Ruthless Reign

1

JULIA

Istared at the paperwork on the table in front of me, the words blurring as I scrambled to catch up to what my lawyer, Angelo, said.

“If the marriage were to be dissolved, my client would walk with all of the assets she had coming into the arrangement.” He scribbled something into the margins of the contract before glancing up at the other people across the room.

“That won’t be necessary,” my brother, Leo, said. He tapped his forefinger to his lips and looked at me before shifting his focus to my betrothed. “Caputis do not believe in divorce.”

“Nevertheless,” Angelo continued, “this is to protect your investment…and Julia.”

I squirmed as he added my name at the last second, like I was an afterthought in this charade, like I didn’t matter more than what my name would do for us in this situation.

Leo pursed his lips and nodded. Angelo went on, reading the rest of the legal jargon that would dictate the entirety of my life from here. My attention drifted to the heavily tattooed man next to the other lawyer.

Roman “Bear” Montgomery. My affianced.

At first glance, he was beautiful. He had dark hair, deep, soulful brown eyes, and a jaw cut from marble. But I knew the truth. He was a monster, a villain from a children’s fairy tale. He’d been named the acting president of the Steel Roses Motorcycle Club and, as such, my family’s sworn enemy.

That was until my brother allied with him two months ago. Leo had been captured by the bastards last year, and now that he’d sobered up and gotten to know them better, he thought he could end the bloodshed between our families with a blessed union.

This was how we found ourselves in this drab conference room, decked out with lawyers, going through the technicalities of a relationship that had been forged in hatred and decades of shared animosity.

Roman caught me staring, and I quickly averted my gaze, but not before I saw him scowling and narrowing his eyes.

What did he see when he looked at me? Was I only the Caputi princess to him? Or did he know how I seethed with my own vengeance? Did he know how badly I wanted to take down my aunt for what she’d done to me? That the only reason I’d agreed to this farce was because I hated her more than I could ever hate anyone else, except for maybe my father. Did he know about the secret plans I’d made since Gabriella attacked the Roses two months ago?

Of course, those schemes were superseded by my want for peace. No one else needed to die for this useless blood feud. It was time for it to be over, and I’d do whatever I could to help that along. If I happened to get revenge in the process, well, what a happy coincidence that would be.

“Section four, subsection three, paragraph six,” Angelo said. “Cohabitation.”

I took a deep breath as I prepared myself for this battle. Roman and Leo both wanted me to reside in Madison County.They believed it was safer for me, especially after Gabriella found out I’d been spying for the Roses and she set her men to beat me. The bruises on my face had only just gone away, but I didn’t see how I could continue to be of any use from such a distance.

The information I’d given to the Roses had gotten them this far. How would they stage a coup without someone on the inside? Of course, how effective could I be now that my cover had been blown?

I still had family members that were against Gabriella. I had cousins and uncles willing to push her out in favor of someone else. But my brother had insisted we would figure it out, and if I needed to contact them, I should do so with a burner phone from the comfort of Roses territory. It would be harder for her to get to me there.

“We will live at my house,” Roman said. “In Madison.”

Leo scoffed and picked at imaginary lint on his suit. “I’ve seen your house. How do you propose to make a Caputi princess happy in such a hovel?”

Roman shifted and set a penetrating gaze on my sibling. “As opposed to some drug den easily infiltrated by anyone with half a brain? Or perhaps you mean the Rose house currently given to you as charity?”

The Roses had snatched my brother out of his mansion on the Eastern Shore one night when he’d been having a drug party. He’d been so high, he didn’t know what had happened to him until two weeks later when most of that nasty stuff was out of his system. Since then, he’d been living in one of the Rose houses, trying to set up his takeover from there to avoid our aunt. Eventually, he’d have to go home. He’d have to make an appearance on Caputi territory to show the bosses he was a strong leader, that he could undermine Gabriella and steal backhis throne. He’d have to get the rest of the family on board first, and I wasn’t sure he had the votes.

No, they wanted someone else, someone made of sterner stuff, someone with a guaranteed sober mind.

“Do you have the money to purchase something more suitable?” Roman asked, raising an eyebrow. But the question was rhetorical. Since Gabriella had found out about my betrayal, she’d seized control of my family’s estate. I only had what I’d managed to siphon off in the years leading up to it. It wasn’t a small sum, but it also wasn’t enough to fund the life Leo and I had grown accustomed to.

“A house is a house, Leo,” I said to him in Italian.

“Not for my only sister,” he replied. “You deserve the best.”

“If that were the case, you wouldn’t be selling me off to this godless mongrel.”

“Hey, I believe in God,” Roman cut in with perfect pronunciation of my native tongue.

“I’ve already agreed to go along with this.” I rolled my eyes, muttering obscenities to myself. “I’ll live in whatever shack my newhusbanddeems appropriate for his bride.”

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