Black Hearted (The Margarelli Brothers 1)

So, my people watched and waited, playing to his demands until we got a chance to take him out without endangering my baby.

It was the most difficult thing I could have imagined, knowing she was in danger and being helpless to save her. Not yet.

The waiting was agonizing. Every moment, every single second, was spent trying to find a solution. Or worse, imagining what that heartless bastard might do next. What he might do to her.

My only love. My heart. And he held it in his hands.

It didn’t matter. I would win. I had to. I had no choice.

I’d fought to take control of my family when my father died. And now I fought for my child. I only wished the price weren’t so high.

Because more than anyone, I knew that the Margarelli brothers didn’t deserve to die.

Chapter Three

VIncent

“You’ve got some admirers.”

I gave my cousin a look as he jerked his head toward a group of women standing around a table near the bar. They were giggling and preening and casting looks at our permanently reserved booth. It was strictly for my use.

Apparently, the young women were available for my use as well. I was used to it. It was simply a side effect of power. Something I was immune to on a good day and irritated by on a bad one.

“Not interested,” I muttered as I took another slug of bourbon. I needed the drink, not a one-night stand. Things had been heating up lately. Tiny and the guys had urged me to stay home. Instead, I was here, drinking in one of our many establishments. “Are you sure they aren’t looking at you?”

“Nah, not tonight,” Michael said with a shrug. He was more of a ladies’ man than I was. But neither of us held a candle to my little brother back in the day, before he met Evie, of course.

My little brother had been quite the man whore in his time. Player didn’t even begin to cut it. But he was smart about it. He never fished in any of our clubs or bars. He gave me lots of shit about the number of women I turned down.

The truth was, I was too damned busy to deal with women. They wanted to talk. They wanted commitment. I was willing to give them neither.

So I drank and I waited.

Waited to see what fucking disaster would strike next.

“Maybe, but I’m just the side dish. They are after you, my friend.”

“Like I said . . .”

“You’re not interested. I know. You are never interested. When was the last time you got laid?”

I glared at him and took another gulp of my drink. It was doing nothing to relax me. The big meeting was tomorrow, and I was furious. Things had been going sideways lately. Missing shipments, my guys getting jumped, a few of them even killed. Murdered in cold blood. It was a part of our business, but I hadn’t seen anything like this in years. I was being targeted. Coldly and clinically targeted.

I knew who it was. I just couldn’t prove it yet.

And tomorrow, I would face them.

Tiny tapped his ear from where he stood by the front door. Someone was calling me. But I didn’t care.

I just wanted to drink.

“Tony and I both think you need a side piece.”

“A side piece?” I asked. “Don’t you need to be married to have a girl on the side?”

“Yeah, well, a girlfriend.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“A fuck buddy, then.”

“That requires trust. I trust no one except you and Tony.”

Mikey gave me a big, goofy smile. The guy might be a brilliant attorney and businessman, but he had a big heart. He was totally unsuited for mob life. But he was family, and other than his mushy soft side, he was one hell of a consigliere.

“We could screen the girls. Pay them off. Get a sugar baby.”

I gave him a look of supreme distaste. I had never paid a woman for sex. I wasn’t going to start now.

“No.”

“Think about it, Vince. It could do wonders for you. You are as tightly wound as a fucking spring.”

I just shook my head and poured myself another drink. It was my bar and my booth. The bartender had brought the whole bottle when we walked in.

Tiny tapped his ear again. I sighed and waved him over.

“What?”

“They have it. The info on the regime change.”

I nodded curtly. It was time to go. I had been waiting for information on the new head of the Feluciano family. They were known for extreme secrecy. We had only just found out recently that Gregorio Feluciano had died.

That’s when the trouble had started. Whoever was running the show over there was a liability. Unfortunately, they were also untouchable, at least on the surface. Any action we took would have to be covert to the extreme, but I needed to know what I was dealing with before I walked into the meeting.