Page 49 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“No, it’s fine, Mulligan,” Matteo says as he moves to the door. “Heaven has all the answers.” His gaze locks with mine. “Just invest in quality soap to wash the future blood from your hands. Dominguez will spill a lot of it. Not just Conor’s and your father’s, but your family’s. All of them. Brothers, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces.”

Ice creeps through me as he reaches for the doorknob.

I’m underboss, one of them. I’m backed into a corner. And as my heart beats hard and fast, I know I’m not made of the same stuff as Conor. I come from stronger ancestral stock. To protect all of mine, I’m going to have to do it.

Marry the devil himself.

“Wait.”

Matteo stops, expression bland as he takes me in, and I yank my arm free from my dad’s hold. “For my family, I’ll do this. But you—you don’t get to touch me. Ever. And Conor?”

My brother raises his gaze.

“You owe me your life. I own you.”

“Heaven, love?—”

“No, Dad.” I hold up a hand. “No one in this room gets to say another word to me. Not right now.”

I stalk over to the door and push Matteo out of the way. Or rather, he moves. And my stomach knots as a wave of nausea rocks me. I wrap my hand around the doorknob when Matteo speaks.

Low enough, soft enough it won’t reach any other ears but mine. “You’re wrong, Heaven. I’ll be touching you. And you’ll be begging for it.”

“I’ll do this for my family. Because I’m an underboss and I understand responsibility,” I say back, keeping my voice pitched just for him. “You will never touch me again.”

And I rip open the door, rage blurring my vision.

I stalk down the hall and duck into the kitchen, my heart thumping hard.

“Heaven,a mhuirnín. What’s the matter?”

I jump at my Aunt Maura’s thick brogue.

“Everything is shite.”

She brings a hand to the side of my face, her own pinched with concern. “Is it your head?”

“No,” I whisper, leaning against the sink, trying to control my anger, my disgust. My fear. “It’s worse. Way worse.”

“And you just came from my brother’s office,” she says. “I’d imagine anything that happened behind that door would certainly cause you more grief than a bump on the head.”

“You have no idea.”

Aunt Maura reaches beneath the stainless steel prep station where we stand in the back of the kitchen and pulls out a bottle of liquor and a couple of glasses. She pours two shots of whiskey and holds one out for me. “Take this,a leanbh. And then we’ll talk.”

I let the booze sear a path down my throat. It feels good, but nothing can numb the pain clenching my heart. “Mom would never let this happen if she were alive,” I whisper.

Aunt Maura places her glass on the stainless steel counter. “Wouldn’t let what happen?”

I sigh, scrubbing a hand down the front of my face. “The meeting? It was…something happened that put the entire family in danger, and the only way out is for me to marry that man. She wouldn’t want that for me. I wasn’t exactly given a choice. I’m underboss, I had to agree. But Mom would have—” I stop. “I hate them.”

Aunt Maura nods. “Your mother certainly would have an opinion on marriage, Heaven. But it’s not the one you think.”

I shoot her a quizzical look. “Meaning?”

Aunt Maura leads me through another doorway into a more private space and motions for me to sit down. At this point, my knees are about to give out, and I gratefully sink into the chair. “Your mother was very young when she married your father.”

“They were childhood sweethearts.”

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