Page 13 of Broken Innocence
“To whom?”
After sinking the eight ball, I hand the cue to Hugo, so he can take on Rafe in a more even match. “Eden Marino. I made a deal with Enzo to bring Blackthorn andThe Familycloser.”
“Why?” Rafe asks. “We’re already working on bringing your dad down. Marrying a stranger isn’t necessary.”
“Maybe not.” I don’t tell them that it’sabsolutelynecessary for me to marry Eden instead of another man, especially my half-brother. “But it can only help our cause. Enzo will trust me more with another tie to him because this one will be legitimate. There’s a mark against me for being his bastard son, but tyingmyself in a legally binding contract to one of the mafia families kind of balances that out.”
I just made that up, but it sounds right.
“And you decided to do this without any input from us?” Hugo asks, his narrowed gaze glancing at me before dropping back to the billiards table. “We’re a team. A brotherhood. We can’t go off half-cocked when it affects all of us. This Eden woman will surely be asked to spy on us. We’ll have to be extra careful with what we discuss around her.”
“Eden can be trusted,” I grit out. Enzo may ask her to report what she sees at Blackchapel Manor, and she may even agree since he’s the don, but I doubt she’ll actually follow through, especially once I make it clear that she’s safe with me. Fallout from not following the don’s orders will never reach her.
“Wait a minute.” Rafe straightens and shoots a curious stare my way. “Is this the woman Jonah mentioned? The one you met at Enzo’s birthday party? The one you’ve been stalking most nights?”
“Are you following me?”
“No, but you just confirmed I’m right.” He smirks. “Damn, first Mathias and now you. And Jonah’s got that journalist. What the fuck is happening to us?”
I don’t get a chance to answer when the front door to Delaney’s bursts open causing everyone to stare in shocked silence as a newcomer saunters inside. He pauses a second to survey the room before locking eyes with me and striding forward. His companion follows behind, and that’s when I notice a hooded woman hanging limply in his arms.
What the fuck?
“A message,” the leader says as his buddy dumps the unconscious woman on the billiards table. Pinned to her torn shirt are words that have me seeing red.
You want the bitch? She’s yours.
Nausea climbs my throat as I rip the black covering off, and my fears are confirmed.
It’s Eden.
Beaten black and blue with trails of blood dried on her chin from a cut lip.
When I look up to interrogate the men who brought her, they’re already gone. Probably realized they’re dead once I get my hands on them.
“Please tell me this isn’t who I think it is.” Rafe is rapidly texting on his phone. Most likely a message to notify Jonah, Mathias, and Dmitri of this newest development.
“It is.” Carefully scooping Eden into my arms, I forge a path through the stunned crowd of bar patrons. “Call the doctor and have him meet us at the manor.”
Fabian’s a dead man.
His name was already on my list, right after Enzo’s, but now the timeline has been accelerated. My brothers and I will take down Enzo’s empire, but Fabian? He’s going down much earlier.
Because no one touches my woman and lives to tell about it.
CHAPTER NINE
EDEN
The first thing I notice is the comforting purr of Beanie.
The second is the throbbing ache concentrated around my face and stomach.
Flashes of memories break through the haze of confusion and soreness blanketing me, and my eyes shoot wide open, darting around my elegant surroundings. A canopy of scarlet velvet drapes over the four-poster bed, complementing the heavy wooden furniture tastefully arranged around the room.
Where am I?
This isn’t my apartment, yet Beanie’s incessant purring isn’t my imagination—her chunky weight sits on my chest, a familiar comfort.
