Page 18 of His Vicious Desire

“What?”

She shrugs.“It’s sad that you have two brothers, and you don’t want anything to do with them.With it just me and Sandro…well, it felt like just the two of us since my mom.Anyway, I always wished I had more brothers, and a sister would have been awesome.Are they not good people or something?”

Shit.As much as Dario annoys me, she’s not wrong.I would be even more miserable without my brothers.“It’s not that exactly.Dario can be a pain in the ass, he always wants to fucking talk.About our mom, our dad, life, and shit.I prefer to be left alone.”

“So what do you do all alone?Play video games or watch television?”She roams around the living room.Her cry of excitement sends my head up.“You have an e-reader.You’re a reader?”

Nodding, I take the plate into the living room and put it on the table beside my recliner.“Yeah, my mom was.She had books all around the house.After she died, I started reading them.”

Taking the plate from me, she sits down in the recliner.Her nose scrunches adorably.“It looks good.I’m really not hungry.”

“Eat it, or I call Sandro and let him put up with you.”

Hurt flashes in her eyes, and she sighs.“God, you’re such an asshole.”

“That’s me,” I mutter as I go into the guest room and grab the recliner Dario bought me for Christmas a few years ago.Since he bought it for himself, I made him take it into the guest room.

I carry the recliner into the living room and find her going through the e-reader as she munches on the burrito.

Eyes wide, she watches me.“I can’t believe you carry that like it’s nothing.Like, how much do you bench press?”

“Three hundred pounds.If you behave, I’ll let you use it to read.As long as you don’t download any of that romance crap.”

“Whatever.I don’t read that stuff.”She rolls her eyes at me.“I read what you do.That Irish author is one of my favorite authors.I’ve read everything he’s written, including his books about the kid who saved the world from the satanic cult.”

I lift an eyebrow up at her.Despite being relieved she wasn’t going to download any of those stories, there’s something wrong with hernotwanting to read romance.She is too young to have lost the optimism to believe in a romance.“You don’t read romance?”

“Ew, no.The women are either doormats, constantly falling over their own feet, or bitches.And the men are wimps who don’t know what the hell they want.There are so many other more interesting things to read than romance.”

The urge to argue won’t leave me, except I like arguing with her, so it’s the last damn thing I’m going to do.Snagging the remote from the table, I turn on the television and look for something to capture her attention.

“So, like, what do you do for the Outfit?Are you the one who cuts the coke here in Vegas?”

This girl, I can’t believe she’s asking me this shit.

“What?There are so few men beyond basic soldiers, and I know you aren’t a soldier—well, yes, but no.You aren’t one of the guys who goes around breaking legs and killing people.You’re too high up with Sandro, so I’m curious.I mean, isn’t that why you’re called the pharmacist?”

“That’s why you called me.You thought I would have drugs because of my stupid nickname.”I loathe the bullshit of nicknames in the mafia, but everyone has one—whether we want one or not.

She shrugs.“Well, duh.”

“While I might not be an enforcer called on to kill daily, I do it as needed and have no problem with it.”I’m not going to hide what I’ve done.The better for her to be aware of who she’s dealing with.

The brat rolls her eyes.“Yeah, yeah, you’re a big, mean, scary mafia guy.I get it.”

Brat.I bite my cheek not to laugh.“When I was younger, my dad wanted to get into cooking meth.He wanted to present it to Luca already done, so he could give timeframes and costs.I was fascinated by it, so I learned how to make it for him.As you know, Luca said no to meth.My dad did come up with cutting our coke with aspirin over the crap we used to use.His idea increased purchases.I suggested using caffeine pills to increase the buzz almost a decade ago, so now the stuff that goes to our less important clients gets aspirin, and our best clients get caffeine pills.While I oversee our cocaine shipments at times, it’s not my main business.I clean our money.”

“How do you do that?”Chocolate eyes go wide.

The last thing I want to do is talk, to look into her eyes and get lost in them, but as I speak, she’s eating without thought.So, I give in.“Mainly, real estate and art.My father-in-law was into property buying and selling, and he had a few multi-family properties.When he died, I took over his business and found that it was a better way of cleaning money than restaurants, clubs, and the usual cash business.I have a real estate management company.It comes out of the real estate company clean.”

Stiffening, those eyes go to my left hand.“Father-in-law?You’re married?”

ChapterSix

Bianca

I’m not sure why my stomach is twisting violently at the idea of Gaetano married.

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