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“I’m working on it,” I grunt and move out of his way.
“That confirms it,” Riordan murmurs to me from behind.
He and I burned the candle on both ends for the past week since the explosion. We’re solid, my family and connections. We’re positioned, but we’re sitting this one out. Let the Russians and the Italians destroy each other. I’m assuming Gabriel will strike back soon.
There’s just one move for me to make.
“Give Gabe one more week. Then we go to him with my offer.” I’m about to turn away and get into my Range Rover, when glossy dark hair catches my eye.
Clutching her father’s arm, Isabella Parisi, Gabriel’s only daughter, falls in line behind him.
Beautiful. Perfect. Obedient.
Mine…
Gabriel and I went to prep school together right here in Astoria and were good friends at one time. When Gabe and I were young, our fathers worked together in harmony. Gabe married a woman his father brought over from Italy, and they had Isabella nearly nine months later. I can only imagine how he pounded that poor virgin on his wedding night without a care to her comfort or pleasure.
Adding to the reasons I’ve lost all respect for Gabe.
His Isabella is young enough to be my daughter. Something that should give me pause, but it only drives my carnal urges for revenge-spawned lust deeper.
And I plan to get deep insideher.
CHAPTER TWO
Isabella
It’sbeenaweeksince Papa buried my mother. I’ve barely had any time to grieve or process. He moved us into a rental house a few blocks from the water instead of his Manhattan penthouse.
I’ve never been there. I assume that’s where he entertains his whores. Mafia bosses are pigs, and I’m grateful Mama kept my father from marrying me off to one.
Now, she’s gone. I haven’t cried yet. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m…numb. I wasn’t home when the explosion occurred. Thanks to a stupid speeding ticket, I had a court date. All I had on me was my purse and phone.
The sound of the gate to our rental house opening draws my attention. At the bedroom window, I push the cheesy lace drapes aside to see a sparkling black Range Rover roll into the courtyard. Probably another creditor or union boss looking for his payout.
I lose my breath, seeing Kieran O’Rourke emerge from the driver’s seat. The head of the O’Rourke family is a savage, according to Papa. Tortured and cruel after losing his fiancée seven years ago.
Even looking down from two stories, I see how tall he is. He’s dressed in a dark gray suit with a white, button-down shirt, but no tie. Papa mentioned they’d gone to prep school together and had been great friends, but that Kieran was a different man now.
His three brothers get out of the car, as well, and they are dressed similarly to Kieran but wearing varying shades of gray down to jet black.
I wonder why the O’Rourkes are here. Maybe they have Stasia and want to make a deal with Papa. With the guards not drawing their guns, my father must not think they’re a threat.
Figuring this has nothing to do with me, I go back to packing.
I’m leaving tomorrow for school. Mama had convinced Papa to let me attend a private Boston college. Personally, I would have preferred NYU, like my best friends, Samantha and Ginna. But Papa picked Taylor University because most students come from a “connected” family, where bodyguards outnumber coeds.
That was the compromise. He just had no idea why Mama really wanted me to attend college.
“It’s so you’ll be worth more,”Mama assured me.“I’m going to find you a powerful businessman who needs your father’s money. You don’t want to be married off to a cruel don like your father and live the life I’ve had to live with him.”She stifled tears, helping me pack freshman year.
That was three years ago. Now, she’s dead.
My phone beeps with a call, and I crack a smile, seeing that it’s Ivan, Alexei Koslov’s nephew.
“Hi,” I say, happy to hear from him.
“Hello, beautiful.” He’s been flirting with me all summer, but I didn’t take him seriously.
