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I reached my hand down and offered it to him. “Don't be a sore loser. And you know there is no such thing as cheap shots in our line of business.”
We were all murderers, liars, crooks and thieves. But even in the Syndicate, we had rules that we were governed by. Rules that all four families had to abide by, or they would face the repercussions of breaking the sacred laws. The Russians had learned that lesson the hard way. They had been too hard-headed and filled with greed to not move within the proper channels, and that was what had cost them Alexander. And now his son, Vladimir, had been on some resurgence campaign, causing a ruckus in the underworld of New York.
Valerio took my hand and got to his feet. “Next time I won’t hold back.”
I rolled my eyes and patted his back patronizingly. He always said this when he lost. My little brother and I had been at it from the moment he could stand firmly on his own two feet. Being a year and a half apart meant that we were forever at each other's throats. We competed for almost everything we did.
Kills. Business. Women… I was far ahead of him, but he would tell you otherwise. The man knew next to nothing about women. Not because he didn’t like them; rather because he found them uninteresting. His words, not mine. In truth, we both did. Women in our world were simply trophy pieces that were there to carry on our bloodline and look presentable in the eyes of our people and enemies. Nowadays, with all these plastic surgeries, they all looked the same. Same body shape, same faces, same attitudes. It was repetitive and utterly predictable. And being predictable was boring.
The door to the large warehouse gym we had at the back of the estate opened, and in walked Carlos, my father’s second. I had known the man all my life, and never once had I seen him crack a smile or soften that permanent scowl he had on his features.
“Your father wants you. Both of you,” he said in the same monotone voice he always used.
Valerio and I nodded our heads and followed him toward my father’s study. I had a feeling that whatever was coming my way was not good.
“What do you think he wants?” my brother grumbled under his breath as limbed the steps of the back porch that led into the house.
“Whatever involves Felipe Valdez is never good.”
And oh, how right had I been.
“What?” Surely, I had not heard him correctly.
“You will be marrying Savina Baratelli. It has been arranged, and we will make the formal introductions in the coming two days.” He repeated what he had just said, but I still didn’t believe him.
“No.” That was my answer.
“You don’t have a choice in the matter, Andres.” He narrowed his blue-gray eyes that both my brother and I had inherited from him. “There was an attempt on her life by the Russians. The Baratelli family is spread far too thin and has requested our help.”
I scoffed. Savina Baratelli would far rather chew off her left arm than ask for help from anyone. Who was he trying to fool?
“You want me to marry the wicked witch of the fucking West?”
Not only was she not a part of our Syndicate, but she was everything my father told me not to look for when choosing my bride. She was jagged, rough, and poisonous. I was to find a submissive pup who was soft and did as I said.
Savina Baratelli was not her father’s carbon copy; she was far worse. She reigned over her territories with an iron fist and teetered the delicate line of the code. She was darkness personified.
After the murder of her father and brother, she took over the Italian Syndicate. She made a public proclamation that she would be hunting down the people responsible for their deaths. She was out for the blood of the people responsible, and all those who helped them. As per the code, she was entitled to her revenge, but even I knew that she had taken it too far.
She made a mockery of the men who opposed her and made them eat her out while she filmed them on their knees. Her executions had been made public for all to see, and the closer she got to the person who ultimately delivered the fatal shot, the more intense her beatings became.
And don’t even think that she got her second, Dimitri, to do them for her. She unleashed the punishments on her own.
“Don’t be childish, boy.” Felipe leered toward me from across his desk. “This is an opportunity for our family. The Baratelli’s have a strong hold on New York. We need to dig our roots deeper into the concrete if we want to expand what we already have.”
“And you want to do that by making her my bride? What of our customs, papa? Traditions?”
“We will uphold them. By connecting her to us in a bond that cannot be severed once she has your heir.”
When I woke up today, I did not think that my father would do this. What kind of betrayal was this?
“The Russians aren’t even a proper organization anymore. They have no real financial backing, and this is simply a tactic by Vladimir to further his revenge crusade.”
I was even lying to myself and I knew it. The attacks had become more frequent, and Vladimir looked like he was gaining real ground. But I would rather lie myself into delusion than face the reality that I was set to marry the ice princess.
“I mean…” Valerio cleared his throat, trying to fight back the laugh that he was struggling to contain. “At least she’s fuckable.”
The glare I sent him was hot enough to melt plastic. “You marry her then.”
