Ruthless Prince : A Dark Mafia Arranged Marriage Romance (Dark Syndicate Book 1)

by Faith Summers

  Marzetti is not laughing now. He’s shit scared, the same as that devil Riccardo.

  Pa and I are here before him, and we are so far from powerless, useless, or helpless. Unlike that day at the cemetery, there’s not a damn thing anybody would be able to do if we killed every motherfucker in this house.

  “May I go now?” Marzetti asks when he’s finished. I almost laugh. He looks like he’s ready to shit himself.

  Riccardo looks even worse for the fact that his beloved lawyer had to ask us permission to leave.

  “You may,” Pa answers. We don’t need a lawyer for what happens next.

  It’s Syndicate business and as such will be handled between us. It will be interesting to watch. I continue to stare at Marzetti, who hurries out of here, scurrying away like the rat he is.

  “Leave us,” Riccardo tells his men, and they follow.

  It’s just the three of us now. Riccardo takes his chair. I walk back to mine.

  “Back to business,” Pa says with a well-earned smug smile.

  We’re not finished with Riccardo yet. Taking Emelia was just the first act. This plan of ours was well thought out. It’s what you call the true art of war—knowing when to get your enemy exactly where you want him to be and striking not at the point where he’s injured, but when you know he walks the line between life and death and only a miracle will save him. That is where Riccardo is right now, and the fucker knows it.

  “You can’t just take my voting rights,” Riccardo says, trying to keep his tone under control. “They are what tie me to the syndicate. What kind of member would I be without my rights to vote and make decisions?”

  “That is not my concern. I want your voting rights, or the deal is off,” Pa answers.

  My father is here with me to secure the very last thing this asshole owns: His voting rights in the syndicate, the Brotherhood. Like Riccardo, my father is one of the Syndicate leaders. Voting rights equal power and control. They give control and take away control. This is my father’s final act as boss. His final gift to me before he hands over the D’Agostino empire.

  Our demand for Riccardo’s voting right was the shocker we dealt just before Emelia walked in. It was why he behaved the way he did with her. Shock and desperation consumed him. Shock that we had so much power and discovered his secrets. Desperation from being wedged in a corner.

  We came here to kill him for the money he owes. Or offer him a way out that would equally destroy his ass. The offer was this: his beloved daughter and the new set of luxury apartments he bought at the start of the year for the debt, plus his voting rights in exchange for our silence on his crimes to the Syndicate from breaking the creed.

  “You will give it to me, or I won’t hesitate to inform the the Brotherhood of your gross errors. I doubt you want that on your hands.”

  Terror makes beads of sweat form on Riccardo’s upper lip. Bastardo. He’s an idiot for thinking we, of all people, will let him reason with us. He’s lucky. That’s what he is. Lucky that we only want to destroy him instead of just killing his ass. The motherfucker did the one thing you shouldn’t do in our world: underestimate. He never thought anybody would discover his secret that he’s on the edge of being broke. And that he’s a thief.

  “You are loving this, aren’t you?” Riccardo sneers.

  “Yes, I am,” Pa answers, short, sweet, and succinct, knowing that Riccardo doesn’t want the Syndicate on his ass. I bite back a grin as I watch a smile of victory dance across my father’s lips.

  He thought he was untouchable, but everybody loses sometimes. That’s what happened to him. He took a big gamble when he started working with Cartel members and playing with syndicate money. He lost it all and had to turn to us for help. Us, his enemies. He came to us because he knew he couldn’t go to anybody else. Maybe he thought he could prey on the lost friendship he and my father once shared. Then the worst thing happened to him when he couldn’t pay us back. I knew that would happen though. He played right into the trap.

  “Giacomo, you took my daughter,” Riccardo reminds Pa.

  “We’re not going over this again, Riccardo,” Pa answers, mimicking his tone.

  “It’s a serious matter.”

  “This is not up for discussion,” Pa adds, cutting through the tense silence that’s become so thick in the air it feels tangible. Like I could take out my pocketknife and cut through it.

  “I don’t see how you think it’s right to do this to me.”

  “I don’t care what you think is right or wrong. This is the way it’s going to be. Decide now. We don’t have all fucking night. Shall I make the call now to the Brotherhood? Or will you be handing me what I ask?”

  Riccardo stares back, fury brimming in his eyes along with fear.

  Apart from us, the Brotherhood of the Syndicate is made up of two other powerful Italian crime families and two Bratva families. They will not be pleased to hear how Riccardo has been benefitting from their investments for the last ten years and how much he’s stole.

  He knows they’ll kill him. They’ll deal death exactly the way he threatened at my mother’s funeral. It would start with him, then they’d kill his daughter, his family and friends. Everyone he knows.

  The Syndicate is a secret society of crime families set up to protect wealth and allow its members to flourish in more wealth. Cross them and break the creed, and it means death to all you know. There is no way out.

  This selfish fucker, however, is just worried about himself. I know it. He knows we’ll kill him too, and we’d be able to without retaliation for all he’s done.

  Death, however, is too good for him. He did exactly what we wanted. We wanted to watch the asshole fall and crumble. To see his face as he loses everything. It’s interesting though. I thought his daughter might have been his one good thing, but she isn’t. Riccardo Balesteri values his money and power. The one good thing in his life was his voting rights in the syndicate. The man makes me sick. He’s more aggrieved to lose that than selling his daughter.

  “What’s it going to be, Riccardo?” Pa asks and holds out another contract to him. That one would have the same wording as the one Emelia signed. But it needs to be signed in blood.

  “You bastard. You had to take everything,” Ricardo says and looks from Pa to me.

  I’ve sat back and minded my place, allowing my father to talk. It’s my turn now.

  “Be fucking grateful we left you with the roof over your head and the clothes on your back,” I answer, and he cuts me a sharp glance.

  He won’t say anything to me. I can tell he’s still shaken from the way I grabbed his hand earlier. I was going to break it. Payback for the stunt he pulled on me at Ma’s funeral. I would have made payback the sure bitch she is and break his fucking hand in several places. I’ve been waiting for a long time to find a way to get him, and while I’ve seen this man several times since my mother’s funeral, I’ve held back.

  What stopped me was her. Emelia. My cold, dead heart awoke somewhat, and I took pity on the princess. It was how she looked when she pleaded for her dreams and her art that got me. Watching me break her father’s hand would have been too much for her. It would have added to the bomb we dropped on the evening.

  “We don’t have all night, Riccardo,” Pa states in a menacing voice.

  Grudgingly, Riccardo takes the contract, looks it over, and retrieves a pen knife from his drawer. A smile dances on my lips when he cuts the tip of his thumb and blood drips on to the dotted line.

  “There. You have it all now.” He looks at me. “You have it all.”

  “I do, and you have nothing,” I answer. “It will be most interesting to see what happens next. Definitely interesting to see what happens when I marry your daughter, ruining your damn plans.”

  Boy, did this bastard ever have his fair share of plans. At Easter, he displayed his daughter to the underground at the charity ball. We all saw her for the first time. Unbeknown to her, that event was what we call a Viewing, a signal to start
bidding. He displayed her like a piece of meat for sale, and as she’s been the talk of the underground since then, I can just imagine how many bids he must have gotten. The minute I saw her, I knew the fucker wanted to marry her off and secure some business arrangement with the marriage.

  Then we found out what he was up to with the Syndicate and the trouble he was in as a result of all the money he lost. I knew exactly how to strike then.

  “You will not get away with this,” he warns. I’m amazed he has the balls to say that to me.

  I lean forward and hold his gaze. “I think I already did.” I reach for the contract and hand it to Pa, who takes it gladly. I continue to give this bastard before me a hardened stare. Looking at him the way I’ve wanted to look at him for years.

  I wonder if his daughter knows how truly evil he is. She only just saw the tip of her father’s wrath. I get the feeling she doesn’t know anything.

  As I look at this devil before me, I think back to the day at the cemetery when I vowed vengeance. This is only the start.

  Pa clears his throat and stands. I do too.

  “Pleasure doing business with you, Riccardo,” Pa says. “I will contact the Brotherhood and make them aware of what’s happening in terms of your rights.”

  Ricardo stares back knowing he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

  We walk out, leaving him to his thoughts. Right where we want him.

  He knows it only goes downhill from here.

  The men follow us, and Pa and I stop on the steps when we get outside.

  I look over the grounds of the mansion. It’s beautiful and worth millions with the design and the land surrounding it.

  “We should have taken the property as well,” I state.

  “No, we have to leave him with a base so we can watch his next moves,” Pa answers. “Home is where the heart is, even for those with dark souls. He’ll be plotting his next moves right here.”

  “Yes, I imagine so,” I agree. I just wanted to truly leave him in the shit, put him on the roadside with a paper bag if I could. It still wouldn’t be enough.

  “He will try things. We’ve crippled him in a big way, but don’t underestimate him.”

  “I won’t.”

  He rests a hand on my shoulder. Pride swells his eyes. To see that in a man like him for me is a massive accomplishment. My father is the kind of man who went through hell and back. He rules with an iron fist that shows the extent of his power. I’ve seen him at his lowest, cut down like grass, and at his highest. That is where he is now, and I’m honored to fill his shoes. The fact that he picked me over Andreas is an honor I will take to my grave, bad as I feel about being picked to lead the famiglia over my older brother.

  “You’re ready to be boss. You acted like one today.”

  I dip my head in reverence at his words. “My thanks to you, Father.”

  “I’ll finish the asset transfer later today in prep for the ceremony. Then there’s the Syndicate meetings. I will initiate you and spend the next few months training you. Then that will be it.”

  That will be it. And I will form a new leadership with my brothers.

  “Thank you.”

  Pa rests his hand on my shoulder and nods. “Let’s leave this place, Massimo. Do not keep your woman waiting.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  His face hardens, and I know he has no compassion when it comes to Emelia.

  “Make sure she knows who is boss now. Make sure she knows who she belongs to.”

  Ruthless. That’s what he wants me to be. I have no problem with that.

  I have no problem with showing her who she belongs to. My fucking cock has been hard for her since I first saw her at the stupid ball.

  I’ll have no problem breaking my new toy in.

  Chapter Three

  Emelia

  Fear hit me the minute I stepped out of the car.

  Then I saw the house. A mansion right on the beach. Dark and foreboding just like Massimo. The property seemed vast, like it stretched on forever, and in the moonlight all I could see was land and the gentle breath of the sea pulling in and out from the shoreline.

  Wealth. That’s what it all said. Money and power. Money and power enough to buy a person.

  Whenever I was scared, I used to run to Jacob, or at least call him. Tonight, I can’t do either. I can’t leave this place, and my phone was the first thing to get taken once we stepped inside the house. An elderly woman had come to the door. Curiosity filling her features. Although she said nothing to me as the men marched me in, I caught the glimpse of curiosity in her eyes and what I recognized to be fear.

  The men marched me up a wide set of stairs and up to the first floor, where we carried on to the room I’m in now. They switched on the lights then left me.

  That was roughly half an hour ago, but it feels like forever. I’m not sure which is worst—being left to my thoughts by myself or being around these people, scared and waiting for what’s supposed to happen next.

  The room I’m in is massive: the floor is hardwood, it has a four-poster bed, grand mahogany furniture, and an entire wall made of glass that has a stunning view of the sea and the rock formations against the beach. With the glow of the silver moonlight it looks like a glimpse of a fairytale.

  But this is not a fairytale. I feel more like I’m trapped in a Tim Burton film, stuck in a nightmare I can’t escape.

  I sunk to the floor with my back against the wall and allowed myself to cry. I’m scared and I feel sick. I feel like throwing up.

  The last time I felt this shaken was when Mom was sick and we knew there was nothing we could do for her. We knew she was going to die. It was Jacob who was there for me because Dad dealt with his grief by shunning everyone. Including me. I think of Jacob and know that he will be worried. He will call me and get no answer, then worry some more. I’ll bet too that he’ll go to the house in the morning to check, just to be sure I’m okay.

  Will Dad tell him what happened to me? I doubt it. Jacob will go crazy, and it would not be good for him if he did that.

  There’s a side to my father that I’ve caught glimpses of but didn’t see in regard to me until earlier tonight. As he squeezed my hand like he would break it if I disobeyed, I felt the desperation. I would never want anyone to get hurt.

  I would never want Jacob to get hurt just for knowing me and trying to be my friend by protecting me.

  Not even a handful of hours ago, my thoughts were consumed with going to Florence tomorrow. Now, my dream is just that: a dream. A thing my heart wants. I have to push that all aside to think about what is happening to me here and now.

  The reality of the situation is this: I’m supposed to marry and live with Massimo D’Agostino for the rest of my life, and I’m just supposed to accept that?

  How?

  I can’t believe Dad would do this to me.

  And realistically, what now? I’m in this bedroom. Is it his? It must be. Why would they take me to a guestroom if I belong to him? This room must be his. No one spoke to me at all. No one said anything, not to me or each other.

  They just deposited me here like the thing I am and left.

  What will happened when he gets back? Will he take my virginity? Would he care that I’m a virgin?

  Men like him don’t care. They take. I’ll be here for sex.

  I won’t be stupid enough to think he’ll be mine too. Like Dad, he’ll have his women. I already know he’ll be just like that. Just from the way he looks. I never wanted my life to turn out like this. When I married, I always hoped it would be for love. That I’d fall in love. This is complete shit.

  The bedroom door handle turns, and I nearly jump out of my skin. The door creaks open, and I see him.

  He’s here.

  Massimo stands in the doorframe looking me over. He seems taller, and the longer he stares at me, the more intense those piercing blue eyes seem against his olive skin. My breath hitches in my throat and my heart races.

  Terrified, I
push to my feet as he walks in and closes the door behind him.

  I find myself wanting to look away, but at the same time his striking appearance commands my attention and rivets my gaze to him, making it difficult for me to focus. I think I’d find this easier if he weren’t so ridiculously gorgeous. He’s the kind of man who you would naturally stare at.

  I’m paralyzed under the weight of his stare, and the anticipation of what he’s going to do makes me want to run. Run far away and never look back.

  He gets closer but stops a few paces away, still towering over me. The scent of his aftershave fills my nose. I grit my teeth.

  “There’s a bed for you to lie on. You don’t have to take to the floor,” he says, breaking the silence.

  Unsure of what to say, I decide not to answer.

  “Unless you like the floor,” he adds. His voice deepens as it drops, and my nerves scatter when he looks me over from head to toe, assessing me.

  He’s about six foot four, while I’m five two. He feels like a giant next to me.

  “This isn’t right,” I rasp. My voice sounds weak and weary, foreign to my ears. I don’t sound like the strong woman my mother raised me to be. I don’t sound like the woman I was earlier this morning when I woke and told myself I was going to conquer the world and be the best version of myself I could be.

  “What?” The corners of his lips turn up into a smooth smile, revealing perfect white teeth.

  Of course, his smile is also beautiful and disarming. Maybe that’s what he uses to intimidate people.

  “You can’t do this. You can’t have me,” I answer, trying to steady my heart so it doesn’t leap out of my chest.

  “The piece of paper we signed earlier says different, Princesca.”

  Princesca…

  If he means that word in relation to me being a spoilt brat, he’s wrong. I’m not that. I never have been. Yes, I may have never wanted for anything in my life, but that doesn’t mean I was given everything just because I wanted it.

  “You don’t know me,” I retort.

  “I don’t need to.”