And, let me clarify, yes, it was possible. It was always possible for Maddox to get even more furious. The word mad was in his name, for fuck’s sake.
If I had to guess, Viper was somewhere catching up on his sleep after watching her all night. Big Mike was currently with her, wherever she was. Carter and Roman had left early this morning after the deal was struck with her, and our father was tucked away somewhere, probably reminiscing about his youngest son, wishing he would’ve tried harder to keep him at the mansion, where he could’ve watched him better.
When Tony saw me, he grinned, but that grin was then focused on Maddox, who only deepened his scowling. “How was she? I assume you fucked her, after kicking me out of there.”
“What?” I questioned, glancing between them. My mouth thinned into a frown, and though my expression could never get as severe as Maddox’s, it didn’t stop me from glaring at him. “What the fuck did you do, Maddox?”
He bared his teeth, refusing to look either Tony or me in the eye, as if he was too ashamed, too upset with himself for what he’d done.
“Tell me you didn’t,” I said, moving to the island and leaning both hands on it. He was my brother, granted, but that didn’t mean he was off-limits. Fighting with family was something of a tradition as a Luciano; as long as you didn’t kill each other, it was all good. And this… this was just wrong.
Maddox bit the words out, “She fucking deserved it. I found her crawling on top of Tony—”
I turned my glare to Tony, who shrugged, trying to get the attention off him, “What? I didn’t do anything! She just threw herself on me. What was I supposed to do?”
“Push her off?” I suggested. “Tell her no?”
Tony chuckled, “You don’t tell a girl like that no.”
I rolled my eyes, wanting to shout at the both of them. You didn’t tell a girl like that no. That’s exactly what got us all into this situation to begin with. Mario didn’t tell her no, and now he was dead. Obviously she relied on her looks to get the better of her victims; that much was clear… and both Maddox and Tony had fallen for it.
“She’s not here to be your personal fuck toy,” I told Maddox. “She’s not here to be anyone’s fuck toy.” That I said just to make sure we were all on the same page. She wasn’t Maddox’s, she wasn’t Tony’s, and she wasn’t mine.
Maddox shook his head. “I don’t fucking think so, Sylvester. She’s whatever we want her to be, and if I want to wet my cock in that pussy, I’m going to, whether you approve of it or not.” He pushed off the counter, cocking his head as he approached me, towering over me with his six-foot tall frame. “Don’t act like you’re better than us. You’re not. You get just as dirty as the rest of us.” He paused, smirking. “She will get whatever she gets from any of us, and whether or not you approve doesn’t matter. She’s not yours. She belongs to every Luciano.”
I never said she was mine, never said no one could lay a hand on her; I knew her time would come, her clock was eternally ticking, ever since she’d killed Mario. I guess I’d been a fool for thinking she would simply be our Night Slayer, our crazy angel, and not the whore that was passed around from dick to dick.
“You’re aware you’re falling into the same trap Mario did, aren’t you?” I asked, hoping my question struck a nerve in him.
And it did.
Maddox growled out, “Don’t you ever compare me to Mario, brother. I’m not the one who’s nothing more than ashes on father’s desk. And, no matter what you fucking say, I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want to that bitch. She deserves every ounce of hate I give her for what she did, and when it comes time, no matter how many times I’ve had that cunt or that mouth wrapped around my cock, I’ll throw a goddamned party when I kill her.”
I said nothing, knowing whatever I said next would only further aggravate him. Maddox was not a man you could argue with and ever come out on top; in his mind, he was always right. Maddox was a his-way-or-the-highway kind of guy, and he was unapologetic about it.
Eventually, Maddox grew tired of the staring contest, swearing under his breath before storming away, out of the kitchen, leaving me alone with Tony. I turned my stare to the one leaning on the fridge, holding back any comments I had about what just happened, instead saying, “There are bags in the car. Will you get them for me?”
Tony sighed once, but he nodded and went off without a word.
That left me to wander the house until I found her. She was in one of the lounges of the house, Big Mike watching over her stoically. Wearing the red dress that left nothing to the imagination, she was a thing of beauty laying there on the couch, her blonde hair a mess. It looked like she hadn’t combed it, but the unkemptness of her hair only lent to her beauty.
She was a stunner. A looker in every way. Thin and short, yet that tiny body had curves and a nice set of tits. Tits that I’d seen earlier, not that I should be remembering that.
I wasn’t like Maddox. I wanted the family to use her, but I didn’t want to use her like that. I didn’t need a fucked-up power dynamic to bed a woman, and even so—why would I ever want to sleep with the person who’d killed my younger brother? Maddox might have his wires crossed, but mine were not.
Lola may be gorgeous in a way most girls weren’t nowadays, but that didn’t mean I would forget and forgive what she did. Killing Mario… that wasn’t something that I, or anyone in this family, could ever look past.
When she spotted me, she sat up, giving me her best smile. It was a perfect smile with equally perfect white teeth, and yet there was something off about it. “Sylvester,” she purred out my name. “Good. I was wondering when the other brother would try taking a crack at it. I have to say, Maddox set the bar pretty high—”
The more she spoke, the quicker it led me to realize what it was I found off about her was her smile. It didn’t reach her eyes. The smile was there, and it seemed genuine, but when I imagined all of the small intricacies that were put into a sincere smile, I found she lacked something. A hollowness sat in her gaze, a charade, a presentation of a deep-seated craziness she put out for the world to see.
“I’m not here for that,” I spoke while wondering what it was in her past that made her like this. You didn’t get a look like that in your eyes unless you experienced something that put it there. Or, rather, something that took the life out.
“Then pray tell,” she droned on, “why are you here?”
“I hope you fit everything,” I said. “I’m having Tony bring in the bags. They should be in your room. Tonight we’re discussing your first assignment as the Luciano’s…” Trailing off, I realized we hadn’t discussed what to call her, yet. I knew what Maddox would say: pet and dog among the top two.
Lola didn’t shy away from saying, “Bitch?” And then she started to laugh, as if being our bitch was the most hilarious thing she’d ever heard.
And maybe it was. Something was clearly wrong with her; she might pretend to be normal, to be all there in her head, but she wasn’t. No one else might care, but I did—only in that it might affect her performance. We would have no use for her if she went off the rails, crazy. We needed her at her best.
We needed the Night Slayer.
“Am I going to be in this meeting?” Lola asked, cocking her head. The look I gave her told her the answer, and she let out a sigh. “Of course not. Silly me.” In the next moment, she was on her feet, swaying those hips a bit too much as she walked toward me. She reached out, running a hand down my chest as if I was not a stranger to her, as if… as if I belonged to her, and not the other way around.
She was forward, I’d give her that. I supposed she had to be, to be the hunter she was. Ah, well. Eventually she’d learn she was not the apex predator while she was in this house; we were.
“I guess I’ll go wait for my things in my room,” she said, dropping her hand from my chest. “Unless you want to join me?”
My jaw remained firmly shut.
Lola shrugged and walked off, and I said no
thing, standing there, listening to the television and pretending to not see the look Big Mike gave me before he went after her. She was everything I hated, everything I knew I should loathe entirely based on what she’d done to Mario.
But… if I was honest, I felt something else when she touched me, when those big blue eyes were on me. Hollow as they were, they ignited something deep within me, something I didn’t want to pay any attention to.
I liked her. I liked her despite everything she did to this family, destroying us from our weakest link. I liked her attitude, how she looked… I liked it all, even though I knew I shouldn’t.
And I hated myself for it.
Our father sat behind his desk, a glass of whiskey before him and nothing else. A black suit hugged his frame, a dark blue undershirt with a matching black tie around his neck. His black hair was slicked back, his face neat and free of all stubble. He traced a finger around the rim of the glass, staring at it with his black eyes.
Maddox and I were the only ones in his office; everyone else was either out on the town or keeping watch of Lola. Big Mike had traded off with Viper; they’d worked out a system where they both had some time away from her, along with time to sleep.
I stared at father, wondering if he would be okay with what Maddox had done to her earlier. I had the feeling he would be; why would he give a single shit about Lola when she’d killed his youngest son? I knew father would love to take a knife to her flawless skin, or a gun to her skull. I knew he would be just like Maddox in that respect; my older brother had gotten his anger from somewhere.
“Well, old man?” Maddox spoke, his arms folded over his chest. His sleeves were down, tugged tightly over his muscles. He was bigger than I was, but not by much. He also had a shit ton more tattoos than I did, from his skull to his fingertips; the only parts of him that were free of tats was his face, the front of his neck, and his legs.
I cringed at my brother’s words. One surefire way to piss off our father was to call him an old man. In reality, he was anything but old—a mere forty-six, but when you dealt in shady business and often had friends betray you left and right, you tended to not live as long.
Our father scowled at us, and he said nothing for a while. I shifted my weight, glancing between them. Father and Maddox could go at it for hours, days, even. When one riled the other up, you had to be cautious. They were both incredibly bull-headed, though father did have years of experience on us both.
“I’ve heard the DeLucas have been sniffing around the house for sale a few blocks over,” our father finally spoke, breaking his silence. His words always carried a weight, and these were no different. When he talked, you shut up and listened.
“That’s our territory,” Maddox said, his expression turning to steel.
I kept quiet, for just because it was our territory didn’t mean the DeLucas wouldn’t try to push in. They’d been quiet in the past, but when they came at you, they came at you hard. They were the only other big family around here that posed us any real threat; the only other family who might have those loyal enough to die for them.
Our father nodded once, grim as he said, “I know, which is precisely why we need to make sure they don’t purchase it. I’ve already placed a bid on the house to try to keep them out, but apparently the current owners are already in talks with the DeLuca realtor. Needless to say, we will use any means necessary to make sure that realtor knows to drop his clients.”
“Do we have an address?” I asked. It wasn’t often we made house calls, but when the situation called for it, we did whatever was asked. Showing off a bit of brute strength was actually an easy job, but where Lola was concerned, I didn’t know how she’d handle it. It truly would be a test for her. If she failed… if she failed, she would die.
I didn’t know why I wasn’t too thrilled at the thought.
“We do,” our father said, nodding once. “Tomorrow, once night falls, you’ll go, and you’ll take that girl and see what she’s made of. If she performs less than competently, kill her right there and leave her body with his. I would prefer the realtor to be left alive, but barely, so he can take the message to the DeLucas to know we are aware of their sniffing around, but if it must be done, it must be done.”
Talking of life and death in such a manner, with such indifference, it was truly a skill of our family. Oftentimes, we dealt in life and death more often than we dealt with anything else; it’s why we made such use of Roman and Carter. When we needed someone dead and it didn’t matter whether or not the city knew we had a hand in it, we sent them to take care of it. Assassins, hitmen, enforcers; they were whatever we needed them to be.
Tomorrow night, however, Lola would be our newest enforcer, our newest acquisition. Our Night Slayer. Our, to use her own words, bitch.
Maddox ground his teeth, and it was but a moment later when he said, “I still don’t understand why we’re keeping her alive. We have enough enforcers as it is. Send Roman and Carter—they’re more than capable of handling something like this—”
“Your brother thought we could use her, and so we will attempt,” our father cut in, frowning. Those black eyes flicked to me as he added, “Should she fail, I won’t ever forget that you stuck your neck out for your brother’s murderer.” His words were thrown like daggers, but I didn’t flinch.
“She is a wild card, but she’s more expendable,” I said. I knew she’d killed Mario, and I knew Lola would never be able to repay her blood debt—not until we ended her—but the more I found myself thinking about her, the more I was curious about her potential and the more I wanted to see her in action.
I had the feeling I’d very much like to see her in action.
Maddox scowled. “So what?”
Our father reached for the glass on his desk, taking a sip and grimacing as the liquid fell down his throat. “The matter is settled, Maddox. Tomorrow you will see how she handles herself, and regardless of what happens, you will report the results to me.”
Maddox and I gave him a bow of our heads before walking out of his office, after getting the realtor’s address. I had the feeling that realtor would not appreciate an after-hours visit to his home, but then again, he should’ve known better, whoever he was, to get mixed up with the DeLucas.
Once in the hall, Maddox looked at me, wearing his typical murderous expression. “She better be fucking spectacular, otherwise I look forward to putting a bullet in her head tomorrow night.” Pure abhorrence, plain and simple.
I hated her too, didn’t I? Of course I did. She might be pretty, she might’ve given me a strange look earlier this morning after scratching me, but that would never make up for what she did to Mario.
Never.
Chapter Six – Lola
I was picking an outfit for tonight. My hair was wet, draping down my back. Right now I wore a t-shirt with some band on it, along with shorts. No shoes or socks. Sylvester had gone a little crazy buying me clothes, but for the most part, the man had taste.
There was a bit of everything, too. Athletic clothes, dressy clothes, clothes that I’d only wear if I had to look emo or like a hipster wannabe; some for every occasion, really. Same with the shoes. It all seemed like a lot to spend if they just planned on killing me after tonight.
Oh, give me some credit. I was under no impression that I’d make it out of tonight alive, so I planned to make the most of it. Go full, bat-shit crazy and have fun while doing it. If it was my last hurrah before biting the dust, I had to make it count.
Vinny stood in the corner. He would be the one accompanying Maddox, Sylvester, and me to the realtor’s house. They hadn’t told me everything, but as far as I knew, all I had to do was scare the bejesus out of this random dude and convince him to let go of his current client or something. Didn’t seem too hard, but maybe I wasn’t understanding the weight of it.
But then again, why would they give me, the gal who’d slain their itty, bitty brother, an important job? This was my test run, my try-it-before-you-buy-it night. The
re wasn’t a doubt in my mind they wouldn’t like whatever I did, and they’d get rid of me soon after that. Hell, maybe even right then and there.
All I could say was, I hoped Maddox did it. While Sylvester was a fine cat himself, there was something to be said about how cruel and evil Maddox could look; it didn’t take any stretch of the imagination to picture him going to town on me—in the killing me sense, of course. We already knew how easily he could go to town on me in other ways, thank you very much.
Yeah, as if I’d forget that particular dick anytime soon. I’d probably go to hell remembering that time on the couch, laughing all the while, a small tear in the corner of my eye because I’d know I would never get it again.
Until he died and joined me in hell, that was.
And he would. They all would.
The bags and boxes in which my new clothes had arrived in were scattered amongst the floor of my room. I didn’t care to clean up; they would stay there until someone else moved into this room or someone got tired of my mess and cleaned it.
I grabbed a studded leather jacket—real leather by the look of it—and spun, holding it up against my chest as I asked Vinny, “What about this one, eh? Does it scream take no shit to you, or is it trying too hard?” I wanted to rock everyone’s socks off, blow everyone out of the water. In other words, I wanted to be the most well-dressed one there.
I mean, if I was going to die tonight, might as well do it in style, right?
Vinny still hated me, that I was sure, but he wasn’t as cold or off-putting as he’d been the two days prior. Today he wore a dark black shirt with short sleeves, revealing the multiple snake tattoos trailing up and down his arms. He was a handsome guy too, frankly. His hazel eyes were exceptionally pretty—which I’d told him countless of times already, mostly because I was sure the man didn’t get enough compliments.
Shadowed Heart: A Dark Reverse Harem Romance (A Death So Sweet Book 1) Page 8
