Ravage God (Godless Reign #2)

Prologue

ELIO

I looked around, feeling my mood darken.

I was too fucking old for this shit.

And this shit being a high school party.

I moved through the house, ignoring the strong stench of weed and BO teasing my nostrils, along with all the fucking people around. At least they knew better than to fucking get in my way.

I didn’t know where the little brat was, but once I found her, I was going to…

I closed my eyes briefly. I didn’t fucking know what I was going to do.

She was going to be Valentino’s problem, but right now, I just needed to find her.

I checked the upstairs, looking through all the bedrooms and seeing teenagers in various stages of undress that I didn’t fucking need to see in the first place, along with a group of dumbasses getting high on crack on the bathroom counter of all places, but no signs of Isa.

The first floor of the house didn’t offer any luck. It wasn’t like this place was all that big. It wasn’t in the worst neighborhood, but it wasn’t in a good one either. Which meant anything could have happened to her.

I clenched and unclenched my fists.

If anything happened to her, I was going to kill any and all motherfuckers involved, whether or not they were still in high school.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see a text from Valentino, asking if I had found her yet.

If he had to ask, it meant he was having the same luck as me.

Fucking hell.

I moved to the backyard and nearly let out a small sigh of relief when I found her standing by the railing of a raised deck.

And she wasn’t alone.

My eyes narrowed on the fucker as he moved in closer to her. She turned and looked at him, a small smile on her face.

The look in her eyes told me she had no fucking clue what the fucker was thinking or planning on doing.

The lust in his eyes made me want to kill him.

Isa was innocent through and through, which made it even more maddening that she would sneak out to a party.

Especially when she knew just who her family was, and just how many enemies were made simply because of their association with the De Luca clan, and especially during her father’s time of ruling as Nevada’s underboss.

Her father had worked directly under my father when he was still alive, and the fucker wasn’t known for his gentle nature. Joseph Gambino made way more enemies than friends.

She had a target on her back simply by carrying the Gambino last name.

I narrowed my eyes when the fucker wrapped his arms around Isa and pulled her in close. She tensed, shaking her head at him, and pulling away.

But the fucker didn’t know how to take no for an answer.

Anger flashed in his eyes, and he made a move to grab her.

I got in between them before he could so much as touch her, staring down at the small fucker.

When he looked up, his eyes told me he was at least halfway to being drunk.

Even then, he knew danger when he was staring right into its face.

He raised his hand and took a step back from me. “Hey, man. We were just having fun.”

I scoffed. “Didn’t look like fun from where I was standing.”

I turned briefly back to Isa, who was taking everything in with wide eyes.

The fucker let out a nervous chuckle when I looked back at him.

“Go home. If you stay here, I’ll come for you. And trust me, you won’t like it when that happens.”

He opened his mouth, as if to say something to me. All I got were incoherent words that had me debating whether it would be worth the trouble to bury a body tonight.

Lucky for him, he turned around and hightailed out of there.

I closed my eyes, trying to calm down the anger I could feel rising.

A hard tap on my back disrupted that.

The little brat.

I turned and took her in.

She was glaring at me, arms crossed over her chest. She was about as frightening as a kitten when she looked like this.

I resisted the urge to smile.

Fucking hell.

I had been angry at her. Still was. This wasn’t the time to find her amusing.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

I shook my head. “I think the better question is, what are you doing here?”

“What does it look like? I’m here at a house party with people my age. I think you might be a little old to be here.”

I took a step closer to her. She moved one step back. We kept going until her back was pressed up against the railing, and she had nowhere else to go.

“Do you really think I came here to hang out with a bunch of high schoolers?”

She shrugged. “Well, I don’t know. You can be into some pretty creepy things.”

“What a brat,” I mumbled under my breath. Since when did she start talking back?

Maybe when she became a teenager? I didn’t fucking know, but I never thought I’d miss the days when she would follow Valentino and me around, like our own little shadow. That had been annoying, but at least it was better than whatever the hell this was.

Her outfit registered in my mind for the first time.

“I am not a brat,” she said at the same time I said, “What the fuck are you wearing?”

“What?” She looked down at herself. She was in a tiny black dress, held together by nothing but strings that weren't wider than her pinkie finger.

And it was short. Too fucking short, stopping at mid-thigh. If she bent over even a little, people would see more than they should.

I shook my head. She was going to give Valentino an aneurysm if he caught her in this. I pulled off my jacket and wrapped it around her. She tried to fight me.

I shot her a stern look and zipped the jacket all the way up to her neck.

“It’s just a dress,” she said.

“A dress? I’ve seen a one-piece bathing suit that covers more than this fucking dress.”

“You’re exaggerating,” she muttered. I shot her a dark look and took her in. My jacket was big on her. Too big. It covered her dress completely, making it appear as though she had nothing on underneath.

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose.

She kicked my shin.

Not hard, but enough to get my attention.

I stared at her with incredulous eyes. “Did you just kick me?”

Even under the dim light of the backyard and her makeup, I could tell she was blushing. “Well, stop looking like I gave you a headache.”

My eyes twitched. “Let’s go. Valentino will be relieved to know you’re safe.”

She grabbed my arm, stopping me when I turned. I looked at her.

She bit her bottom lip. “Is he really mad?”

I didn’t say anything for a beat. Then I let out a small sigh. “Yes, but you know it’s only because he worries about you.”

“My brother needs to get his own life instead of worrying about mine all the time.”

“You think that worry will just go away?” I asked.

I knew how Valentino was feeling because I had a little sister the same age as Isa.

Except Giulia had five brothers to look after her, so at least I had someone to help shoulder the worry.

Especially Romeo, who was probably more uncompromising than any of us when it came to her safety. Isa just had Valentino.

And me.

She had me. I watched her grow up. She was as much a sister to me as Giulia.

I shook my head and wrapped my arm around her shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”

She tensed in my arms. I had noticed her reactions changing toward me in recent years, and I had attributed it to her growing up.

I fucking knew better.

She had a crush.

I closed my eyes. The last thing I needed was to be anybody’s crush, but especially not from my best friend’s baby sister.

I tightened my arms around her, wondering how the hell I was supposed to squash her feelings for me without hurting her.

“Elio?”

“What?” I said, stopping when we got to the back door leading into the house.

She didn’t say anything for a beat. I looked down at her, and she shook her head. “Nothing.”

I waited a moment, wondering if I should say anything. There was nothing I could say. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

I moved us through the house, glaring at any motherfucker who looked even a little too long at her. Fuck, but were all high school kids shitheads like this?

I kept us at a distance, moving through the bodies that were pushing up against us, until finally, fucking finally, we were able to escape the house. I pulled away from her, taking the lead away from the property. She quietly followed me to where my car was parked.

I opened the passenger door for her.

She was looking down at her feet, and because of the dimness of the streetlight a small distance away, I didn’t fucking know what she was thinking.

I let out a small sigh. “I’m sure Valentino will be too relieved to lecture you very much. So I wouldn’t worry about it.”

She looked up at me. “There is no such thing as him not lecturing me too much. Once he starts, even an earthquake can’t stop him, and you know it.”

I smiled a little at that when she stopped right in front of me, close enough that the tips of our shoes nearly touched.

“But that’s not what I’m worried about,” she said softly.

“Then what are you worried about, sweetheart?” I asked.

She moved another inch closer to me. Alarm bells started ringing inside my head. I took a deep breath and tried to put more distance between us, but the car was in the way. Why the hell did I suddenly feel trapped, and by nothing more than a tiny girl who barely reached my shoulder?

“Elio?”

I didn’t answer her, suddenly fearful of where she was going with this. Fucking hell. I’d faced off men twice my size before and had never broken a sweat, but this was making me sweat?

“We need to get back,” I said.

She shook her head and peered up at me. “But I have to say this.”

I narrowed my eyes when I got a whiff of the alcohol on her breath. “Have you been drinking?”

She shrugged. I took that as a yes.

“What the fuck, Isa?”

She let out a small smile. How the fuck had I missed this? Drinking at her age? At a fucking party full of strangers who could have taken advantage of her?

“Don’t use that tone,” she said, sounding a hell of a lot like she was admonishing me. “It makes me feel like a little kid.”