Page 1 of The Mafia Heir's Obsession

ONE

callahan

A sharp crytears through the toxic night air.

I drop my cigarette, grind it into the cracked concrete, and move in the shadows, trying to work out where the sound came from. Across the street, near the nightclub I’m watching, I spot the source.

A man’s getting rough with a hooker in shorts so short I can almost see her pussy. I grit my teeth but stop myself from crossing the street to deal with the asshole.

I’m not here for either of them. But if he crosses the razor-thin line he’s on, all it’ll take is one flick of my wrist to grab my gun and bury a round in his skull.

The night’s clear, but this part of fucking Queens is shady in all meanings of the word. There are a few burned-out streetlamps and no real foot traffic, especially on this side street lined with decrepit buildings and dilapidated warehouses.

The girl cries out again and I tighten my hand on my gun, just as another man rounds a corner. He walks past the Tits and Tails club—not its real name but pretty appropriate from what I’ve seen inside—and chases them off.

A half-assed Good Samaritan? Or something else?

My gaze shifts from my original target spot, the nightclub with blacked-out windows and a Hitchcockian shadow of a bouncer who I bet is packing, then back to the guy who just appeared. He’s just fucking standing there, waiting, watching.

There’s something not right in the air here, something I don’t like, and after a lifetime of working the streets of Dundalk, then Limerick, Belfast, and Dublin to build my reputation, I’ve learned to trust my instincts.

Something is definitely up.

“We can send someone in to take out Mitchum, Cal,” my brother says through the Bluetooth speaker in my ear. “The de Rosa deal doesn’t hang on this favor.”

“He wants to see what we can do. Mitchum’s a problem. And he’ll be one to us, too, if I don’t take care of him,” I murmur.

Crooked politicians who present themselves clean in public are trouble. They get others to do their dirty work, they pit groups against each other, and they do whatever they can for money and influence and power. And this guy Mitchum is hungry. Wants to be mayor and sees Vincent de Rosa and other crime families as something to control.

I want him removed. I want to show de Rosa I go the extra mile. I don’t mind blood and danger. I’ll take Mitchum and his crooked little organization out. I’ll?—

My next thought skids to a stop before my brain can complete it when a girl in a short fuckin’ dress with long, toned legs darts down the street, from shadow to shadow, and captures my attention. She’s wearing some kind of mask that covers the top half of her face.

She doesn’t move like a hooker or stripper. Hell, she doesn’t move like someone who belongs here at all. And I’m fucking mesmerized.

Long curly hair, reddish gold, streams out from a blackfedora, and it’s not a dress she’s wearing but a short-ass coat that shows even more leg as one side flaps up in the night breeze.

My pulse hammers hard against my throat. Not sure why. I can’t even see her face. Then again, maybe that’s why. But pussy’s everywhere. There’s something else about this girl, and I wanna find out what.

“I’m here,” she says, her voice carrying over the street.

The man loitering outside the club grabs her by the throat and slams her against a brick wall, his face way too close to hers for my liking.

“What the fuck,” I mutter, my voice barely above a whisper.

Now it’s my other brother Seamus speaking in my ear. “Whatever it is, Cal, leave it alone. We’re here for Mitchum, the guy who’s causing de Rosa problems.”

The guy who wants de Rosa to do his bidding.

But my mind can’t stop wondering about the girl, who she is and why the fuck she’s here.

I’m here to take out the man in the running for mayor, Mitchum, who’s up to his eyeballs in illegal activities, ones that are causing Vincent de Rosa problems.

I need to forget about everything and everyone else.

Seamus is right, even as adrenaline courses through me, as every fiber focuses on that hand wrapped around her slender throat.

I want an in with de Rosa, who has contacts and business interests that are important to me. Taking out Mitchum is the kind of sweet extra touch that will buy me leeway beyond the wedding contract. It will solidify my standing.

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