Shadowed Heart: A Dark Reverse Harem Romance (A Death So Sweet Book 1)

by Candace Wondrak

  But my family had been doing this for a while, now. We had eyes and ears everywhere. We owned half the police force. No one was going to take us down, not even those fucking DeLucas.

  I supposed, I relented to myself as I walked through the halls of our home, it was quite possible father wanted to talk to her himself, maybe be the one to do the torturing. After all, Mario had been his youngest son. Even the DeLucas hadn’t struck a blow that deep before, and they’d been going after us for years.

  No, leave it to some nameless girl to kill Mario. What were the fucking odds?

  That was exactly why he never should’ve moved out to begin with. The house was more than big enough for all of us. If Mario would’ve just accepted his place in the family, if he would’ve sucked it up, he’d still be alive. He never would’ve gone out on his own, took some whore home, and succumbed to her.

  I knew one thing for sure: I was going to rip that bitch’s throat out and bathe in her fucking blood. No one killed my brother and got away with it.

  Emerging from the hall, I found my other brother, Sylvester, standing near a window, looking out at the courtyard in front of the house. He wasn’t my biological brother, not like Mario was, but he was my brother all the same. Short blonde hair, blue eyes that could either be as warm as the Caribbean or like ice, he didn’t look like us at all. Father had found him on the streets many years ago and took him in, thereby adopting him into the family as a Luciano.

  Sylvester stood with his arms folded over his chest, not as muscular as me but intimidating all the same when he put his killer instincts to good use. Nine times out of ten, he was a nice guy, but when that switch flipped… he was just as ferocious as the rest of us.

  Carter stood off to the side, near Viper and Big Mike. Viper and Big Mike weren’t related to us by blood, but their family had always been close to ours. The Milanos would do anything for us; some big debt my great-grandfather refused to collect from theirs. Now, they were one of us, a part of the family, even if they were silent bystanders half the time.

  Viper and Big Mike were twins. Thirty years old, they could tear into anyone with so much as a look. Big Mike was even taller than I was, with the muscles to match. He didn’t talk much, but he had the worst scowl you’d ever see in your life. Viper, on the other hand, was more talkative. His real name was Vinny, but Viper fit a lot better, since his body was coated in serpent tattoos. He liked snakes, kept some as pets, too. They both had the same brown hair and hazel eyes, but Big Mike’s hair was longer and often pulled back in a low pony. Viper kept his slicked back, off to the side.

  They were… fuck, what’s the word for twins that weren’t identical? Fraternal? Whatever. School was never my best subject. Forgive me. I always had something more on the brain, like making my father proud.

  He was not an easy man to please, let’s just say.

  There was more to the crew, like Tony, but he wasn’t here. This was a family matter, so just the closest were present for this. This fucking night.

  “Where’s father?” I asked, scowling as I looked between everyone here. “Roman said—”

  “I was the one who sent him in there to get you out,” Sylvester spoke, glancing at me with those calculating blue eyes. He looked sad and not nearly angry enough. Where was the fire? Where was the burning need to destroy the girl who’d killed our brother? Sylvester was about a year younger than me, so he’d spent most of his life with Mario, too.

  I ground my teeth, not bothering to hide my irritation.

  Sylvester turned away from the window, dropping his hands and shoving them into his pockets. “He probably knew you wouldn’t leave her if it was just me wanting to talk to you.” His brows furrowed, and he stepped closer to me, lowering his voice, “Father will be here soon. He’s cleaning up. You know how he is.”

  Ah, yes. If ever there was a man who needed to be clean before getting covered in blood all over again, it was our father. It made no sense to me. I preferred to be dirty all the time. Why bother taking the time to get dressed in a fancy new suit when that suit would get splattered in blood within mere seconds of being in that room with her?

  “I wanted to talk to you, first,” Sylvester went on.

  Viper and Big Mike shifted on their feet, and I wondered if they knew what was on my brother’s mind. Carter looked like he didn’t give a shit, but that was his normal appearance. Roman had taken him under his wing years ago; he was another who was not related to the family in a strict sense, but he owed us everything all the same.

  I bit out the words, “About what?” I seriously had no fucking idea what it could be, why Sylvester had me pulled out of the room. That girl… that fucking bitch. Oh, I could strangle the breath out of her lungs, stare deep into her eyes as she breathed her final breath. To see those big blue eyes widen and dilate before her face slacked…

  I should stop thinking about it, at least while I was here. My body would start to get the wrong ideas. Killing, inflicting pain—it was all so fun. Got my dick hard sometimes, but it wasn’t like I could help it… probably another reason they called me Mad Maddox.

  “Have you watched the news lately?”

  My blank look should’ve been enough to tell my brother I had not wasted any of my recent time watching the news. Who the fuck watched the news these days? Who cared enough to? The world was going to shit anyway; we were already in hell. There was no point in watching the news and being repeatedly told the same thing every night.

  Sylvester let out a sigh. “Mario wasn’t the first one to die like that,” he said, choosing his words carefully, as he always did. “I don’t remember what the exact body count is, but it’s been going on for a while. Every so often, another young man is be found in his house or his apartment, dead, usually from a knife. Sometimes their throats are cut, sometimes they’re stabbed—”

  I had no idea where the hell he was going with this, so I cut in, “Get to the point.”

  “The Night Slayer,” he said. “That’s the name they gave the killer, after the Night Stalker back in the eighties. I think she’s the one.”

  It took only a few moments for his words to sink in, for it to piece together in my mind, and I glanced over my shoulder at the hall that led to the room she was in with Roman, as if he’d brought her out. As if she was there, standing and listening to my brother talk. She wasn’t, of course. “You’re saying we might have caught ourselves a serial killer?”

  Frankly, I didn’t know which was worse: the fact that such a pretty, unassuming woman could be a serial killer, or that our brother fell victim to one. Mario, you stupid idiot. Why weren’t you on your guard? Why would you let such a tiny girl get the best of you? Both questions I would never be able to ask him, now that his body was nothing more than ashes sitting on our father’s desk in his office.

  Weren’t serial killers usually men? I didn’t have a vast knowledge of them, but I knew enough, enough to stand there, slightly in shock at what Sylvester had said.

  He nodded. “I think so.”

  I had no idea where he was going with this. “So, what? You’re saying we should hand her over to the FBI or something?” Seemed stupid, considering the FBI were not like the police; they weren’t local. We couldn’t own them in the same way we could own the police force. Dirty cops were a dime a dozen here, and they helped us do business.

  Sylvester gave me a look that told me I was stupid, which further irritated me. I was not the brains of the family; I never claimed to be, but I did not like people acting as if I was the stupidest person they’d ever met.

  My strengths lied in brute force and the sheer lengths I was willing to go to get the job done. I wasn’t afraid of blood or guts. In fact, any job that was finished without either of those things was a job that was not well done in my eyes.

  “No,” he said. “But perhaps we could use her instead of just killing her.”

  When he said that, I snapped, stepping toward him as I practically shouted, “The fuck we will! She killed Mari
o, our fucking brother, if you already forgot! There’s no coming back from that. She handed us the shovel after digging her own fucking grave. That bitch is going to die, whether she’s the Night Stalker or what—”

  “Slayer,” Sylvester corrected me, hardly blinking at my outburst. “Night Slayer. The Night Stalker is the one from the—”

  “I don’t fucking care,” I growled out, my chest rumbling as I flexed my hands at my sides. Sometimes I wanted to strangle Sylvester, not going to lie. Sometimes I wanted to strangle everyone. My body held so much rage all the time, it was a miracle I didn’t explode. “I’m going to kill her. Or father is.”

  “But we could use her against the DeLucas, or anyone who would cross us—”

  “We already have a hitman,” I said. “His name is Roman, in case you forgot.” My words dripped venom, pure hatred. No matter what Sylvester said, no matter what points he brought up, I would never see his side of the suggestion. Using her against anyone, just because she’s a fucking insane serial killer, would not happen. She killed Mario. You didn’t kill a Luciano and get away with it. There were rules.

  Well, I guess they might be more like guidelines, but still. They were as good as rules, and I’d be damned if we let that bitch walk out of here as if nothing happened.

  Sylvester wouldn’t drop it. His blue gaze held mine, unaffected by the rage seeping from me as he said, “Roman is a killer. He does what he does best, and no one ever sees him do it. Her… she’s not one of us. She doesn’t have to stick to the shadows. We could parade her around as much as we want, send her off to do whatever—and if something happens to her, we wouldn’t lose anything.”

  Another voice entered the conversation, “You want the woman who killed your brother to be the Lucianos’ public dog?”

  My back straightened, and Sylvester knew better than to say anything. We both turned to look at our father, who’d just entered the room, fixing his cufflinks as he moved his dark eyes between us. Our father, Richard Luciano, was not the kind of man you argued with. His dark hair was cut short, pieces of it beginning to grey. He was only in his forties, so he wasn’t an old man. He’d had me and Mario when he was young…

  But that was a story for another time, one no one around here liked to think about, for obvious reasons.

  Our father moved to our sides, his face stern. A small cleft sat in his chin, his cheekbones gaunt and shaven just recently, if their smoothness said anything. A man of cleanliness, he always took good care of his appearance; probably why he didn’t look as old as he was, why he was still so fit beneath that suit.

  When you did what we did, when you were involved in shady shit more often than not, you never knew when quick reflexes and muscles would come in handy.

  Father stared at Sylvester, holding back a frown. The intensity of his stare caused my brother to cough and start, “I… yes. I mean, it’s the least she could do for us, after killing Mario. Pay back his life in the form of servitude to our family.”

  “And when we no longer have use for her?” Father spoke, hardly moving his lips as he did so. “When a debt is involved, typically the debtor lets the debtee walk away after it’s paid.” His gaze narrowed at Sylvester.

  “Then we kill her,” he said, glancing at me, knowing her eventual death would make me happy. Of course, torturing her right now and making her scream for forgiveness would make me the happiest, but I could tell just by looking at father that he was considering it.

  I could not believe it, so I stepped in, “Surely you’re not thinking it’s a good idea?”

  I watched him heave a sigh. Father drew his dark gaze to me, saying, “I want to end her pathetic life as much as you do, Maddox—” That I highly doubted, because I didn’t think anyone else reveled in the bloodlust as much as I did. “—and while killing her now would bring me great pleasure, it might behoove us to put her to use before making her regret laying a hand on your brother.” To Sylvester, he said, “You mentioned the Night Slayer. You truly think that woman is the one?”

  Sylvester nodded. “I do. It all fits with the Night Slayer’s other victims.”

  Talking about our brother as if he was just another victim of a deranged serial killer. How mad could you get? This was insane. To not kill her tonight, to not pull out her teeth one by one until she was a blubbering mess begging for us to stop was pure madness. Why couldn’t anyone else here see that?

  “This is stupid,” I said, unable to bite my tongue any longer. “She deserves to die for what she’s done!” If something would’ve been near me, I would’ve broken it. Or thrown it. Done something besides stand there and pout like a petulant child not getting his way.

  “She will,” Father spoke, glancing at me. “She will not live until old age takes her.” He looked to Sylvester, pondering for a while. I could tell, just by watching him, he was debating on it, on letting that bitch walk free. “If she becomes the pet of our family, she will do as we say when we say it, or she’ll die right there.”

  I couldn’t help but smirk at his words. Father didn’t say things needlessly; he meant every word of it. And with how defiant that bitch had been, even though she knew she could never escape this, I didn’t doubt she’d try to fight us sooner or later… and when she did, I would take great pleasure in ending her.

  Sylvester could not argue with that. “Of course.”

  Father tore his gaze away from us, staring off to the side. No one knew what was in his head, what he was thinking; he masked his emotions well, most of the time, but when he snapped, it was spectacular. I got my proclivity for violence from him, I’d say. “Very well. She will stay here, under guard.” He looked to Viper and Big Mike. “One of you will be with her at all times, regardless of what she’s doing. Understand?”

  Viper and Big Mike nodded, silent.

  “I don’t want to see her,” Father went on. “If I do… I’ll kill her. When I have a job for her, I’ll come to you.” That was directed at Sylvester. “Since you’re the one who suggested this, you’ll be her handler. I don’t doubt that if she tries something, Viper and Big Mike will handle her, but should they somehow fail, should she cause this family any more havoc, you will be responsible.”

  A smug satisfaction crept over me as I looked at Sylvester to see his reaction. Good. That’s what he deserved for suggesting such a stupid, idiotic thing. We should just kill her now, but knowing he’d be on the hook if she fucked up again made it a little better.

  Sylvester was as close to me as Mario had been, as close as a biological brother would be even though he wasn’t, and that meant I treated him as such. Meaning, I wanted to see him fail. I couldn’t help it. That’s what brothers did, especially when it was something stupid like this.

  Now, when the chips were down? Then I would always be on his side, but this wasn’t one of those times.

  “Understood,” Sylvester spoke.

  Father looked between us, glancing to Viper and Big Mike and Carter for only a split-second before muttering, “I need a fucking drink.” And then he walked away, leaving us to our own devices.

  So the bitch would be staying here, and Viper and Big Mike would take turns watching her. I didn’t want her here, of fucking course I didn’t want the girl who murdered my brother to live under the same roof as me, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much this could be a blessing in disguise.

  I could make her life hell. I could make her life, as short or as long as it was while she was caught in our grip, miserable as fuck. I would make her regret laying a finger on Mario. Father said we would kill her should she not do as we asked, and that gave us a lot of wiggle room for other things that didn’t necessarily cross the line.

  “Well,” I spoke after a little while, knowing my brother was lost in his head, probably wondering if he made the right call, pushing to use the girl currently tied up down the hall, “shall we tell her the news? I bet she’ll be thrilled to be our pet.” Hell, maybe she’d fight us right then and there, and we’d have
no choice but to either end her or beat it into her skull. Either way, it would be fun.

  Sylvester said nothing, pushing past me as he headed down the hall. The others followed us, though they hung back. It would be up to us to relay the news of her fate to her. When he tried going into the room first, I stopped him, pushed my way in front of him, and barged in, finding that Roman was silent, leaning against the wall, staring at her all the while.

  “Leave us,” I hissed. “Carter will tell you everything.”

  Roman said nothing, pushing off the wall and heading out. He glanced at the girl tied to the chair only once on his way out, and once the door was closed, Sylvester and I took our time in standing before her.

  She was a beautiful girl, truthfully, even as tied up as she was. With that horrid wig off, her blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders and down her back, a natural hue on her. Her eyes were big and blue, and their depths held a wildness that I couldn’t deny. Her full lips parted as she saw us, and I bet they felt amazing wrapped around a cock. Her thin form wore a short red dress with a low cut between her tits, the fabric bunched up to her thighs. I could see her lacy black panties underneath, and I could definitely see why Mario had wanted to bring her home.

  She was gorgeous, and I bet she looked even better without that dress on.

  Her feet were bare; flat on the wooden floor. Along with the wig she’d been wearing, we’d taken off her heels as well. The girl looked completely out of sorts with her arms tied behind her back around the chair and her ankles on the legs of it.

  “Oh, good,” she spoke, eyeing me up. “It’s you. I was wondering when you’d come back.” She then made a big show about studying Sylvester, a wide, toothy grin plastered on her face. She looked like she’d escaped from the insane asylum or something, completely crazy and out of her mind. “And you brought a friend. Honestly, I’ve always wanted a three-way—this just isn’t how I imagined it happening—”

  I started to lunge for her, but Sylvester grabbed me by the shoulder and yanked me back. The girl watched the interaction between us with interest, her gaze narrowing somewhat.