Bratva Beast: A Dark Romance

And there it was. The girl was so easy to rile up.

I couldn’t help the devilish smile that spread across my lips. “And who, exactly, is Connor?” I asked.

“Just leave me alone,” she said, groaning. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

This was going in circles. I could keep fucking with her but eventually she’d scream and I’d have to back off or risk some bystander calling the cops. I didn’t want to prolong this, so I did the only thing that came to mind.

I kissed her.

Just like that night, except our roles were reversed. I wanted to knock her off balance in the same way she had wanted to distract me.

And just like that night, the kiss went from a confused jumble to a delicious, pulse-threading moment of bliss.

She kissed me back with a little moan in the back of her throat.

I didn’t push things. I broke it off after a few seconds, only enough to remind her of what we had, that strange, impossible electricity that arced between us like a storm.

“Let me help you,” I said, my lips still inches from hers.

“I don’t think you can.” Her eyes were squeezed shut and she didn’t try to get away. “You don’t know what’s at stake.”

“Tell me then.”

A long pause. I ran a hand through her hair, which only made her moan softly.

“Connor’s my brother.” She opened her eyes and stared at me.

I nodded slowly. I knew she had a younger brother, but I didn’t know what his name was. “What’s going on with him?”

“If I tell you, they’ll kill him. Renzo was clear—”

I pulled back slightly. “Renzo? You mean that Lionetti Capo?”

She chewed on her lip then nodded once. “They have Connor. Took him a few weeks back. My whole family thinks he’s dead, but I know he’s alive.”

I released her hair and stepped back, staring at her.

The girl was trouble.

So fucking much trouble.

“The Lionettis have your brother and you won’t leave the city. They’re blackmailing you, aren’t they?”

She nodded and looked away. “They want information on my family. They think I can get it, but I’m nothing, I’m not even involved with the business. It’s so fucked up, but if I don’t deliver, they’re going to kill him, my little brother.”

I ran my hands down my cheeks and started pacing. Typical Lionetti move, those assholes were all about blackmail and trickery. There was a reason they ascended to the throne of the city and a reason they fell just as quickly.

If they had her brother, then he was fucked.

I couldn’t tell her that, obviously. She was clearly willing to risk her own life to save the poor bastard, even though there was no chance of bringing him home. The Lionettis would never let him go, not after using him against someone in the Doyle family. They weren’t that stupid.

But apparently Fiona was.

“I can help.” Three words tumble from my lips before I had a chance to think about them, and instantly I regretted it.

What the hell was I going to do? I was a hitman with certain skills, that was true, but I didn’t have many contacts in the Lionetti family, and my Pakhan wanted Fiona dead.

Which meant he probably knew something about her situation.

Interesting, very interesting.

“Why?” she asked, shaking her head. “Why the hell would you help me? Aren’t you supposed to kill me?”

It was a good question.

“I don’t know why,” I admitted, spreading my hands out helplessly. “My whole life I’ve been killing, and this is the first time I bothered to stop and question things, and now I’m finding that it’s much more complicated than I realized. Maybe I think you don’t deserve to die. Maybe you’re just a good kisser, I don’t know.”

She cracked a little smile. “I can’t be that good.”

“You’re good, trust me.”

Her smile disappeared. “I don’t think I can trust you.”

“What other options do you have?”

“I’ll give the Lionettis what they want.” She pushed off the wall and started walking again. I fell in beside her, keeping pace as she stared at the ground and hugged herself. “That’ll be enough. I’ll get better at this spying thing and give them everything. They’ll let him go.”

“You really think that?” I asked softly.

She grimaced and I knew the truth. The girl wasn’t stupid after all.

“I have to hope.”

I put my hand on her arm, but I didn’t stop her. “How about we cut a deal.”

She glanced at me. “Why would I do that?”

“Hear me out. My bosses want you dead, but I don’t plan on actually following through with that job, I think it’s pretty obvious at that point.”

“Thanks, I appreciate you not killing me.”

I nodded. “No problem. But I need them to think you’re dead.”

“I’m not sure how you’re supposed to do that.”

“Come live with me.”

She snorted but stopped walking again, staring up at me under a skinny tree that hung slightly out into the street.