Chapter 3 MICELI
The thump of the bass beat from the club's speakers reverberates through my body, going straight to my cock. Beautiful women writhe sinuously on the dance floor, a buffet for my senses and my neglected libido.
Some are partnered. Some are not.
A few have definite potential for tearing up the sheets with me in my hotel room later.
I'm celebrating, even if I have one more job to do before returning to New York.
The operation in Colombia went smoothly. It was a good call for Sev to send me to Colombia with Cian Doyle's man to oversee the destruction of the Guiterrez cartel.
The cartel leaders that threatened la famiglia are dead. The new leader of the cartel is our man. Beholden and loyal to us . He's made a blood vow to keep his syndicate's activities out of New York and Chicago.
Key members of his new organization are on our payroll too. Because you don't leave shit like that to chance.
After the op, our alliance with the Doyle & Byrne mob in Chicago is as tight as a capo's fake smile.
Working with mercenaries instead of our own soldiers allowed me to let loose the rage that has festered inside since finding out Giovi-fucking-Revello betrayed us. I've sated one primal instinct. Now it's time to sate another.
Before I return to New York and my next assignment: marriage.
Sev wants to secure an alliance with another Irish mob, this one in New York .
After the cartel's attempt to sew discord in New York, Brogan Shaughnessy offered his niece for a blood alliance.
Not just a marriage, but a marriage with guaranteed issue, a child that carries the De Luca name and the Shaughnessy genes. He even had his niece tested for fertility and genetic health concerns.
There'd been one more piece of information on that report. My future wife, if I agree to the bargain, is a virgin.
It's fucking unreal that I know she's never had sex but can't bring her facial features to my mind.
That's my choice. After a single glance at the picture that accompanied the file Domenico put together on her, I didn't look again. It showed a woman with a sea of pink hats in the background, holding a picket sign that read, My voice. My story. My body .
The capo thinks he's funny. The mafia is no place for placard wielding activists. We stay in the background. How did this mob princess miss that memo?
The innocent fervor on her too young face has no place in my tainted life and after the first glance, I didn't look at her again. Nor did I look through the other pictures included in the report.
I didn't read the rest of the file either. The summary sheet told me everything I needed to know.
Name : Róise Shaughnessy
Only daughter of deceased heir to Shaughnessy empire and niece to the current mob boss. Born into the Irish mob.
Height : 5'4"
Nearly a foot shorter than me and too damn small for a man of my size.
Eye color : green
Hair : brown
Age : 20
Not even old enough to drink legally and thirteen fucking years younger than me.
Relationships : none
Of course she hasn't had a serious boyfriend. She's barely out of her teens.
Some men might look forward to marrying an innocent with no sexual history. I'm not one of them. She'll be eaten alive in my world. Probably by me.
But once I officially agree to the marriage, I'm committed to her.
Cazzo .
Her willingness to be the other sacrificial pawn in this game of chess means that despite her feminist activism, she is under Shaughnessy's thumb. Is he planning to use her to gather information on our mafia ?
Will my wife be a spy I have to watch as closely as a new recruit? And less loyal than one?
I'm not looking for a marriage like Sev's.
My brother is so gone on my sister-in-law, her happiness is more important to him than his own. That's not the example our father set for us.
He only ever had eyes for our mother, but that affection and care was always tempered by his responsibilities as don. I don't think anything tempers my brother's love for his wife.
I like my sister-in-law. A lot. Her brain and perspective on life is unique and I can't wait to see what kind of kids she and my brother make.
But I don't ever want to be that wrapped up in a woman. Not my wife. Not even my daughter if I have one. Caring too much is dangerous. Emotions cloud the judgment and make doing the hard things even harder.
I'm not capable of that kind of devotion anyway.
I don't know how Catalina broke through the scarred walls of my brother's heart, but I'm pretty sure that there's nothing left of that organ behind my own.
My sister-in-law is the reason Sev is so determined to cement an alliance with the Irish. He'll keep her and any children they have safe at any cost.
The other reason Sev wants this alliance, one he's never said aloud, even to me, is my brother's plan to be the next godfather.
Don Caruso's health is failing. Our intel is that he has a year, two at most. When he dies, Sev will need alliances both inside and outside the mafia to guarantee his succession to the title.
A blood alliance with the most powerful Irish clan in New York and one of the most powerful mobs in the country is a good start.
Even if it means marrying his brother to the enemy to get it.