Page 29 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“Visiting my sex club is being prepared? Me tying you up is being prepared? Going down on you is?—”

“Know your enemy,” I say as evenly as I can. “Because that’s what you are.”

“Your father thinks differently?—”

“Fuck you and your games. You could have told me what I wanted to know when you saw me.”

“I’ll let your brother know about what you got up to, shall I?”

“Do that and I’ll shoot your dick off.”

He looks unfazed. “Pity. I think you’d have a lot of fun with it. Your cunt’s so wet for it.”

“Fuck you, Matteo.”

“My thoughts exactly, he says. I could use this, though. I’m not above a little blackmail.”

Jesus Christ, Conor cannot find out about this under any circumstance. Hell, nobody in my family can.

I’m already fighting an uphill battle to grab that top spot. Dad has been playing me and Conor against each other for the past couple of years with this co-underboss bullshit, and I’ve worked damn hard to prove I’m worthy of being the boss of my family.

I earned it. Conor knows how to maim, but I’m the one who’s established a network, the one who’s nurtured all of the relationships with our partners. I’ve made the family a ton of cash by using my head, not my fists.

Conor can barely string together a coherent sentence sober, much less drunk. And let’s face it, he’s half in the bag more often than not.

Dad has to see that I’m the more responsible choice to lead our family. I’m not letting anyone, including this fucker here, ruin anything.

“Just try,” I say. “And see how far it gets you.”

“This is a done deal, Heaven. Me telling them what a bad, filthy little girl you are is icing on the cake. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“They wouldn’t believe you.”

Matteo runs a hand through his dark locks so they fall right back into place, hanging over his left eye. “Wouldn’t they?”

He’s exactly the kind of partner who would run circles around Conor. He’s cunning, calculating, and completely deceitful. And I know I’m right. Whatever this deal is, there’s more at stake than my father or Conor knows. Idiots. All of them.

“I came here to see what you were like, through the kind of business you run. You’re a sleaze whom my family won’t be working with.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “You’re good, Heaven, I’ll give you that. But I’m better. And you have no idea what’s going on. Even now, while you seethe, you want me.”

“No—”

“Yes. I can see it.” He holds his fingers up to his nose, the ones that were in me, and a bolt of need races through my veins. “Smell it. You can fight, but you won’t win. You know why? Because I always win.”

It’s the quiet, casual confidence that makes me uneasy. “You’re not family.”

“You don’t know who you’re trying to play with. Run along. Report to your father and brother. I guarantee not a thing will change. The business deal will be going ahead, Heaven.”

“We’ll see about that.” I’m running on pure lies right now. I know no such thing, but fuck him and the stallion he rode into town on. “You got me at a vulnerable moment, and it won’t be happening again.”

“Won’t it?”

“No.” My hands tighten into fists and I want to punch him.

“Okay, let’s say you have sway, which you don’t, in this deal.” He walks to the door and leans next to it, not barring the exit—that’s if he was telling me the truth and it’s not locked—and crosses his arms, and I try not to look at the strong forearms in his black jacket. Those big, capable hands…

“I hold sway.”

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