Scandalous Prince

by Rachel Van Dyken

  The mask fell for one brief moment as the wind picked up around us like the universe was trying to give them a warning while welcoming me back into the darkness.

  Andrei started making his way toward us.

  “Better?” I said in a hollow voice. “Or do you want a kidney too?”

  His blue eyes flickered. “You’ve protected my daughter since you could walk—don’t make me regret it by putting you in a wheelchair.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. I’m not into spoiled princesses, and even if I was, I highly doubt she’d satisfy how dirty I would want to get.”

  “Breaker,” Andrei said my name like a warning.

  Chase was fuming.

  I patted him twice on the shoulder. “Chill out, old man, we don’t want our favorite senator having a stroke at forty-four.”

  He lunged, but I jerked back just in time.

  And then he forgot all about me because the sound of the gates opening again announced Junior and Serena.

  Without looking back, I made my way into the kitchen, my eyes searching for Violet.

  She shot me a pleading look.

  I didn’t know what to do.

  I couldn’t pull her into my arms.

  And I couldn’t push her away for her own good.

  So I just stood there, like a powerless idiot, while chaos raged around me. Fists were thrown the minute Junior and Serena made it inside.

  Nixon was yelling for Serena to choose.

  And a cold feeling settled over me as I watched her pick Junior, as she chose the man she loved, and as Ash gave me a look of horror while we numbly walked them both down to the basement where they would die.

  Where their love would die with them as they took their very last breaths.

  With each step, I lost a little more of Breaker Campisi. Bitterness pounded inside my skull because how dare they? How fucking dare they tell us who to love? When every other choice had already been taken?

  They would take the one thing that might save us from damnation?

  My blood roared with the need to spill more, again and again, and then again until my face was wet with it until my nose was numb with the metallic smell.

  Hands shaking, I kept walking behind Ash as the rest of the cousins followed, all except the ones too young to see the horrors that Ash would release upon someone who had always been closer than a brother.

  Junior Nicolasi.

  A king among mortals.

  And now he would die.

  “This is wrong,” Maksim said as Ash started tying both Junior and Serena to chairs, back to back, first rope, and then chains. “You know it! So stop it! Stop it!”

  I had never seen Maksim lose his cool.

  There was a first for everything as his chest heaved like he was minutes away from holding a gun to Ash’s head, but what he didn’t see was that Ash had no choice. If he defied the families, he died, and it was a kindness that he was the one doing this so that the blood wouldn’t be on Maksim’s hands, or King’s, even though I somehow felt like it would still be on mine for not preventing it, for not giving them something else to argue about.

  Someone else to kill.

  My head shot up.

  That was it.

  They needed someone else to kill.

  Violet grabbed my arm like she could read my mind. I shoved her behind me and shook my head slowly.

  “Don’t worry,” Junior gave me a sad smile. “If it were anyone else, they’d probably just get a warning shot in the leg, nothing fatal.”

  My eyes narrowed.

  He shrugged. “Chase knew anyway—”

  “What?” Ash stopped grabbing the chain.

  We all lunged forward.

  And then Junior slowly locked eyes with me as if to say, does it really matter, man? I’m in fucking chains.

  “Let’s go.” My voice was hollow as I ushered the cousins out of the dark room full of death and took my own walk toward hell back up the stairs.

  I released Violet’s hand and approached the bosses. Nixon didn’t get up; he had his hands on his head. Trace was sobbing next to him, begging him to do something.

  My dad, the great Tex Campisi, was pacing a hole through the floor while Phoenix just stared me down across the table like he knew what I was about to do.

  “I have something to say.” God, they were going to kill me.

  Phoenix stood like he was going to jump across the table while Andrei started stalking toward me and then stomping like he was going to knock me out to keep me from talking.

  “I’m—”

  “You were so easily annoyed by everything, and then I was annoyed you didn’t give me any attention even after that time I climbed the tree and threatened to shove you out of it,” came Serena’s voice over Maksim’s phone that he held out in front of him, on speaker.

  Junior let out a dark laugh. “Because boys aren’t supposed to go, ‘By the way you’re pretty, whoops don’t fall, don’t fall!’”

  Her laugh was part happy, part devastating, and my chest ached.

  “Oh, shit, you were so pissed at me you ran to your dad crying that boys were mean. I’m sure that didn’t help my stellar reputation with him.”

  “It’s because I liked you, stupid. And you threatened to kill me!”

  “Oh, hell, Serena, it was like maybe five feet.”

  A few snickers erupted around the group.

  “I was short still!”

  “And you aren’t now?”

  “Take it back, you bastard!”

  Nixon stood, a ghost of a smile on his face.

  “Stop moving!” Junior scolded with a smile in his voice. “And I would take it back like I stole all those kisses.”

  “Hah, you think you’re sly enough to steal them, I gave those freely, willingly the day I told you I loved you.”

  A few of the moms gasped, while Nixon looked ready to murder Junior all over again.

  “Fifteen is too young,” Junior confessed softy.

  “I argued with you until you finally gave in.” She sighed. “You looked over your shoulder for a good year every time we had family dinner. But it didn’t matter; you made me yours.”

  “Yeah.” His voice cracked, “Maybe we leave all that part out, so your dad doesn’t come back and kill me a second time.”

  “Let them know,” she whispered. “You were so… gentle.”

  Violet covered her mouth with her hands like she was afraid she was going to scream, and I knew it didn’t matter if they saw. But I saw her, I saw the ghosts, I knew the demons.

  Hell, I was her demon.

  And now I was wiping her tears and holding her close.

  I was no saint.

  I was the darkness that chased her. I was what haunted her dreams, I was her nightmare, and yet she held me like I was the knight that had ridden in on my white horse—she was right about one thing—the horse was white, but the knight was no servant to the king—he was fallen, and she’d singlehandedly resurrected him, not realizing something was very wrong.

  Violet put her face against my chest as hot tears slid down her cheeks and across my button-down shirt.

  “You took your time, you kissed my mouth like you worshipped me—you still kiss me that way,” Serena confessed.

  “Because I do,” Junior said in a tender voice I’d never heard him use before. “Because I fucking worship the ground you walk on. Would sacrifice my body just to honor yours.”

  She sniffled. “And then the great disappointment.”

  “You mean when Chase found us having sex…”

  “Awkward.”

  All eyes turned to Chase, who just smirked and held his hands up like he was innocent in this entire thing.

  “It’s not like he watched. I mean, it could be worse. Remember Claire and Ash? He was literally inside her, ass naked while his dad came charging in like a bomb going off.”

  “What?” Luc, Chase’s wife, smacked him in the stomach and somehow lived to tell
about it as he pulled her into his arms for a hug.

  Serena laughed. “Okay yeah, that’s worse.”

  “So much worse. I mean, have you seen Ash’s ass?”

  “Um… something you wanna share with the class?” Serena asked.

  “I think you know one hundred percent that I’m all man, and I’ve only ever been yours.”

  “Despite your attempts to make everyone believe you’re a manwhore.”

  Nixon’s eyebrows shot up as he looked at the rest of the cousins. “Is that true?”

  “Breaker’s the slut, not Junior,” King said in a proud voice.

  Immediately Violet tensed beneath me.

  Great, thrown under the bus by someone I actually liked.

  “What?” He frowned. “It’s true.”

  I was tempted to pull away from Violet when Chase sent a glare in my direction that promised all sorts of bloody torture. But she needed me, and God knew I needed her. And I would take as long as she would offer. That’s what sinners did when given such a perfect gift. After all, it would be arrogant to turn away something so pure when my dark soul needed it so desperately.

  Junior kept talking without realizing what was going on upstairs. “You know I’ve only ever given myself to you, only you, forever you.”

  “I shouldn’t have—”

  “You wanted to make me jealous. That was understandable after the incident.”

  “Ash turned our love to hate,” Serena admitted. “But the thing about love and hate… the pendulum often swings all the way back.”

  “I couldn’t stop my heart from falling, Serena, even now, know that it beats for you, until the very last faint thump against my chest.”

  Her voice caught on some of the words, and I knew without a doubt she was sobbing quietly, trying to be strong for him, for us, until the bitter end. “I love you so much it hurts.”

  The line went eerily quiet and then.

  “For as long as we both shall live.”

  “For as long—” she hiccupped “—as we both shall live.”

  Nixon shot down the stairs along with several of the bosses and wives.

  The wait was torture, but then footsteps sounded. And within minutes, everyone was back upstairs, including a very shaky looking Ash, a rarely emotional Nixon, and the happy couple.

  It’s like the minute the bosses knew that their love was real, that it wasn’t just sex but something more, something rare in this life, they saved them.

  So why didn’t I feel happy? Why wasn’t I breathing a sigh of relief?

  The clock struck six, an omen perhaps, to say, jokes on you—you’re next.

  I watched Junior’s confession, something that was so dark and hopeless, become redeemed and beautiful.

  Even him, my heart beat. Even one of the worst of us gets his happy ending.

  My heart skyrocketed into a gallop—I should have stopped myself. I should have tamped my feelings down.

  Instead… I hoped.

  And in that moment, I was able to shove memories of Valerian away with an F U look and embrace my adopted family and the life I’d been given.

  Not the legacy I’d left.

  Or the lies that stayed as a result.

  Chapter Five

  Have clapped my hands at him from the door

  When it seemed as if I could bear no more. —Robert Frost

  Violet

  I ran home to change clothes since everyone had decided to crash at Nixon’s again, and lucky me, I’d had my own personal escort who didn’t even have to type in 666.

  Breaker was back to his quiet, reserved self during the car ride. Then again, after this afternoon, how could any of us feel anything except relief and sadness at the same time?

  “Pretty crazy, huh?” I asked. My small talk was the absolute worst, but I wanted to at least hear him do something other than grunt.

  “Life is crazy… it makes you want to get high and shoot birds,” he grumbled.

  “Um, are you high?”

  He snorted out a laugh. “I wish.”

  “Breaker?”

  “That’s my name, isn’t it…?” His jaw flexed like he was clenching his teeth. Even in the darkness, I could make out the strong aristocratic nose, high cheekbones, and thick, shiny hair, which was a bit of a mess from him running his hands through it. “Shit.”

  “Breaker?”

  “God, could you just stop saying my name for one second?” he snapped, his green eyes nearly feral as they pinned me in place.

  For the first time in a year, I felt actual fear, but it wasn’t from the men who had taken me. It was from the one who had saved me, and I couldn’t figure out why I suddenly felt like puking, or why he looked so lethal when he was supposed to be the one keeping me safe.

  I reached across the leather seat and put my hand on his muscled thigh, my palm pressed against his slacks, feeling the heat from his skin pulse through my body. “Something’s wrong… you know you can talk to me, right?”

  He hung his head and put his hand on mine. “I’m sorry, it’s not you, I’m just—”

  “Not good,” I joked. “Gonna turn into a werewolf or something? Hope you brought more pants because you’re about to just morph right out of those tight slacks you’re wearing.”

  He smiled down at our hands. “First off, I told you what would happen if you mentioned it again, so prepare to fight me off, and for the love of God, get that eager grin off your face before I take my knife to your dress here and slice from slit to neck.” He sighed. “Second, you’d know if I was a werewolf.”

  “Ohhhh right, because in the mafia we’re raised to know the difference between a mere mortal and a wolf, totally.” I nodded in mock agreement.

  “Ha-ha,” He squeezed my hand then lifted it to his mouth. “You’d know because I would have bitten you already… we both know my self-control is at negative ten when it comes to you.”

  “Wow, negative ten, I had no idea you even knew how to count back that far, Breaker. Just full of surprises.”

  He nipped at my fingertips, then kissed the palm of my hand and brought it to the side of his face as he sighed and whispered, “You have no idea.”

  “Are you okay though?” I frowned as he held my hand there, keeping it prisoner as he squeezed his eyes shut like he couldn’t bear to look at me.

  “I’m tired,” he finally said after a few tense seconds. “Just really tired… of everything.”

  “It’s okay to be tired.”

  “Not when I’m trying to protect you, Vi, never when I’m trying to protect you.” He dropped my hand softly and turned to stare out the window, ending the conversation and making me even more worried.

  The SUV pulled up to my massive brick mansion. My dad had built it originally for his deceased wife, Mil De Lange. She’d singlehandedly destroyed the De Lange Family by doing a deal with the Petrovs without realizing that Andrei was playing both sides and that he was half Italian, meaning his loyalty was always to us and ours to him.

  So when she got greedy and messy.

  She was killed.

  My dad didn’t talk about that night, but the rumors said that her guilt was too great, that she was too wounded, and that at the end, it was Phoenix, her older brother, who had pulled the trigger so my dad wouldn’t have to.

  Because no matter how much you love someone, a rat is a rat, and you exterminate rats regardless of how much you like to keep company.

  I sighed as the driver came around to open my door. Breaker slid out behind me, typing away on his phone like I didn’t just have my legs spread for him a few hours ago like we didn’t have a moment in the car.

  What the hell was wrong with him?

  I took two steps and stopped, and he ran into my back. “Vi? What’s up? Your own personal werewolf needs something to drink.”

  “We have company,” I whispered in horror as both Phoenix and Andrei got out of the black Denali and stared us down.

  “Fuck,” Breaker said, radiating instant tensi
on from behind me. “Whatever happens just know—”

  “What do you mean, whatever happens?” I hissed. “They’re family.”

  He was being crazy, right?

  A side effect of his exhaustion?

  Of being a werewolf? I joked to myself to keep from panicking.

  Because those two together did not mean happy endings or beginnings. We all knew that.

  “Innocent little Violet Abandonato,” Breaker sighed. “With her fuck-me heels, white dresses, and incredible smile—you know nothing.”

  Hurt knifed through me, so sharp it must have shown on my face, but he ignored it, shoving me behind him and approaching both men with confidence in his swagger.

  Breaker had always been strikingly beautiful, too pretty for words.

  But right now, he seemed like someone else, someone meant for pain, someone who was suffering, or someone who maybe just did a good job handing it out.

  I rarely saw that side.

  I thought he was protecting me.

  Now I wondered if he was just hiding.

  “Gentleman.” Breaker shoved his hands into his black slacks. “Something you need?”

  “More like…” Another person got out of the car. “Someone.”

  What the hell was going on?

  “Violet.” Nikolai Blazik, the smartest doctor in the world and the “doctor” for the Russian mafia, gave me a cold smile. “It seems like your number has unfortunately been called up, both of you, in the SUV, now.”

  “No.” Breaker took a step toward him but was held back by Andrei.

  “Yes.” Nikolai’s blue eyes fell a bit as he looked between us. “I’m sorry, but we can’t forget that night happened, and because of that night, she’s officially betrothed.”

  “The fuck she is!” Breaker roared. “It wasn’t even him!”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Nikolai snapped right back. “An agreement in blood is an agreement till death, and unless you want the world to know your secret…”

  “What secret?” I asked in a shaky voice. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Never!” he snapped. “That would be more of a death sentence, and you know it!”

  Nikolai shrugged. “That’s your choice then?”

  “It was my choice then, it’s my choice now,” Breaker ground out. “Protect her at all costs even if that means I protect her from me.”