Page 16 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“If I hand myself over instead of him?” Declan asks.

“Ifthey accept a substitute.” I let the words hang, complete with their dark meaning.

“Both Conor and his sister, Heaven, are my underbosses,” Declan says. “They’re both equal beneficiaries. Everything becomes theirs.”

This I already know but having him say it is a step closer to what I want.

Conor turns to his father. “Why don’t you just give him the fucking password on your goddamn bank account?”

“You understand the retribution coming our way? All the money and firepower won’t be enough. My fortune won’t be enough. Dominguez is old school in the biblical sense, you idiot, and there’s only one man who can save us. The one right here. So yes, if he wants the fucking password, I’ll give it to him!”

Conor laughs, but there’s desperation stinging the sound. “He might sound American, but he’s not. He just got here. He’s dazzling everyone with a display of firepower, sex clubs, and money, and you all bow and scrape, and?—”

“That’s settled. He doesn’t need my help,” I say, smooth and calm and unruffled. “Meeting over.”

Declan turns ash white.

“You’ve been here a year, what can you do?” Conor spits at me as his father tries to talk over him.

I raise a hand and they both go silent. “Keep you alive.”

A year he says, like it’s nothing, like I didn’t change the power structure and landscape of the entire fucking city. Like the crime families don’t all look for me to save their asses when someone fucks up.

A year.

Just wait until I’m here for one more.

I’m going to take over the fucking world.

And rule.

“Or I could let you die, Conor…you and the rest of your family if past events are anything to go by. You’ll be the last, and you’ll wish you’d died first.” I shrug. “I can keep you alive or watch the Mulligans all die. That’s what I can do. Either way is good with me.”

“You…” Conor stops, taking me in, my air of calm and complete control. And he knows I’m right.

I check my watch, then look at him, and his father waves him into the chair.

Conor drops back into the seat.

A bully. This fucking guy can never be a boss. He’d run his father’s empire so far into the ground, he’d hit the Earth’s core.

But it’s much easier for me if the Mulligan clan isn’t burned. Yet.

“I’ll take the job,” I say.

Declan lets out a sigh of relief and his shoulders sag.

I haven’t named my price yet. And when I do, I’m going to steal the keys to their kingdom. My queen is ready to knock the Mulligan piece off the board and right into my pocket.

“Thank you so much, Matteo,” Declan says. “I know you can help us work through this, that you have the backing and the network to?—”

I give my head a slight shake. “I have a different plan. This is too big for a simple fix.”

“What plan is that?” He starts to tense all over again.

“One that will prove to everyone with any stake in Manhattan or the surrounding boroughs we are aligned. Unified.” I lean forward. “Partners.”

“Partners?” Declan frowns. “How?—”

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