We watched, we learned, we destroyed to rise to the top. When someone wants to take it all away, we fight back with a vengeance. We’re not our fathers’ sons—we’re the new Mafia Lords. We have no boundaries, no conscience.
Reaper, Ghost, Venom
Our family never forgets or forgives, and the Conti family will pay the ultimate price. They stole from us and left a wake of destruction and death in their path. No one takes from our family without paying a price. Now we’ll take from theirs.
Their little sister, Mia is a delicate flower amongst the thorns, with incomparable beauty. She’s set to marry, joining two powerful families.
We can’t let that happen.
But we didn’t realize even a beautiful flower has thorns. It didn’t take us long to figure it out. That’s okay, we’ll break her.
***
Mia Conti
I was born into a world of cruelty and abuse. I learned to fight back with a vengeance.
The Barone’s are as brutal as they are gorgeous, and they want retribution for what my father and brothers did. Fine, I don’t care. Maybe I want my own revenge. My family arranged for me to marry a man just as disgusting as they are.
But now these three men think they can control me, break me—I won’t let them. ***Passion intertwines with danger as forbidden connections form within the dark heart of a mafia empire.
Chapter One
Venom
I was going to fucking kill them!
If I lived that long. Right now, I doubted I’d see another sunrise. Dirk’s fist slammed into the side of my face. My head whipped to the side as my pulse sped up and pain spread across my jawline. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. I strained against the ropes binding my wrists but they only cut deeper.
“We’re taking over San Antonio,” Enzo growled as he leaned down.
I spit in his face. Blood and sputum slapping him right in the eyes.
“Mother fucker!” His fist slammed into my face.
Probably shouldn’t have done that, but I was going to die anyway, so why the hell not?
The office door creaked open. “The warehouse is emptied out, boss.”
That was Romeo speaking. A real son of a bitch and as ugly as sin. He was the one who knocked me out. I should’ve been ready for something. We’d been hearing rumblings that the Conti’s were getting cocky. My brothers and I didn’t pay much attention to the rumors. No one would dare challenge us.
We should have heeded the warning signs.
My brothers were going to be pissed when my body turned up. And it would turn up somewhere. The Conti’s would want to send a message they were taking over.
Yeah, Ghost and Reaper would be out for blood. They would have their revenge. At least I would have that thought before I died. That’s when the bloodbath would begin. My brothers could be sick bastards. We were a lot alike.
“What are we going to do with him?” Dirk asked. “Kill him? Put his head on a pole out front?”
Enzo shook his head, an evil glint in his eyes. “No, too quick. I want them to know he suffered. Leave him here and burn the warehouse down. The chair is metal so it won’t burn. All they’ll find sitting in it is their brother fried to a crisp.
They both roared with laughter.
Yeah, they were fucking hilarious.
“Let’s get out of here,” Dirk said. “I hate the stench of burnt meat.”
As soon as the door closed behind them, I began to pull against the ropes in earnest, the chair rocking back and forth. I didn’t much care for the smell of burnt meat either, especially when it would be me on the grill. The chair tipped over. I landed on my right side with a hard jolt.
Something hissed and popped and there was a crash not far from the office. Smoke crept under the door. I began to cough. Fuck, I didn’t want to die like this. Twenty-six years on earth wasn’t nearly long enough. Growing up in a badass Mafia family meant you grew up fast and hard, but it still hadn’t been long enough.
That’s why I didn’t plan on dying now. One wrist scraped past the strands of scratchy rope, burning with each fraction of an inch. I was gaining a little bit of my freedom back. But would it be too little too late?
Something wet dripped down my hand and I knew it was more of my blood. They’d been working me over for hours. Angelo, their father, liked to cut. He thought carving someone up was fun as hell. He’d been called back out front, though. That’s when Enzo and Dirk took over. They liked to punch.
Smoke crept under the door. I struggled to take in a clean breath, but that wasn’t happening.
I pulled harder against the ropes.
The office door window began to slowly crack, one long line from corner to corner. I knew what was about to happen. I quickly turned my head away just as the window shattered and an explosion of glass flew into the room. I sucked in a breath of smoke-filled air when shards of imbedded in my arm and back. I closed my eyes tight against the sharp pain, and tried to slow my panicked heartbeat.
Smoke and heat billowed into the room. My eyes watered, burning, and every breath I took scorched my lungs. I began to cough. Fuck, this wasn’t good. I figured I had three or four minutes to get free, five tops before the warehouse was engulfed in flames. I struggled harder against the ropes.
My mother used to say everyone had a guardian angel. When I was young, I believed her. I’d definitely survived a hell of a lot not to have one. My brothers and I didn’t believe in backing off. We always jumped in with both feet, showing no fear.
Fuck, I hated leaving them.
I really needed that guardian angel about now.
My hand slipped out of the rope. I hadn’t expected to get loose, so at first, I didn’t move, but I got over my surprise quick enough as more smoke barreled into the room as thick as a heavy fog.
The one thing the Conti’s didn’t know was that we always had an escape route built into our places of business. This one happened to be in this office. I stayed low on the floor and crawled my way to the hatch, trying not to breathe any more than I had to, but it was taking what little strength I had left.
I kept seeing my brothers' faces in front of me, urging me not to give up.
Reaper was pissed. “You’d better not quit!”
He was the oldest and could be a real pain in the ass. But I never questioned him.
I made it to the rug and pushed it off, but damn, I didn’t realize it would be so hard to open the metal door.
“Pussy!” My middle brother would yell in my ear. Ghost wasn’t about to let me die in the warehouse. “Open the damned hatch!”
“Shut the fuck up,” I told the voice in my head. “I’m doing the best I can.”
“No, you’re not. You’re a Barone and we never fucking give up!”
“Okay!”
I dragged the hatch open. There was a ladder that led down. I figured that wasn’t happening. I tumbled through the opening, crashing onto the dirt floor as the hatch slammed closed behind me. For a moment, I lay there, the cold earth pressing against my face.
Then I began to crawl. There wasn’t as much smoke in the tunnel. The closer I got to the end, the easier it was to breathe. The hidden door loomed in front of me, but I decided to take a break and close my eyes. I would just catch my breath for a minute, then go the rest of the way.
“Venom! Are you still with us?” Reaper yelled as he shook my shoulder.
“It’s not time to get up,” I mumbled.
“He’s still alive,” Ghost said. “Let’s get him to the hospital.”
It was obvious they weren’t going to let me sleep as they dragged me to my feet. They looped one arm over their shoulders and pulled me forward. I tried to walk, but my feet didn’t want to cooperate, so they ended up dragging me.
Then I was in the back seat. Reaper drove like a maniac. Nothing new there. He would be pissed when he saw the blood I was getting all over his car. The car was his baby. No one, absolutely no one, drove it except him.
Tires screeched.
The car stopped moving.
There were so many fucking lights and people talking. Someone dragged one of my eyelids open, then shined another light at me. I fought against him. I wasn’t going to die! I would escape! Something sharp pricked my skin, then there was blessed darkness again.
I laid on a cloud. It was soft, gently swaying in the breeze that lightly washed over me. I’d died then. But no, I doubted I would’ve gone up. Heaven wouldn’t let me get close to their clouds. So where was…
I moved a fraction and moaned as pain wracked my body. No, definitely not Heaven. I opened my eyes but only one opened. My vision blurred. I blinked until it cleared. Reaper was stretched out in a recliner asleep. He had more than a days’ growth of beard. Ghost was in the other chair looking just as rough.
Everything that happened hurtled back through my brain like a runaway train. The fucking Conti’s tying me up, torturing, then burning down the warehouse.
Reaper opened his eyes and our gazes met.
“I want to destroy all of them,” I managed to croak.
Ghost came to his feet, looking relieved I was awake.
“We will,” Reaper said. “We’ll make them regret they ever crossed our paths.”
“One at a time until we get to the last one,” Ghost said.“Yeah, one at a time.” I wanted them to be in a perpetual state of fear.
I wanted them to taste fear. I wanted them to know we were coming for them.