Chapter 2

The steam presses against my skin as I close the door behind me. Elena Bianco, my future wife, sits on the bench, leans back on her hands, and quirks her eyebrows.

Sweat begins to bead on her tanned skin.

This is beyond fucked.

She shouldn’t be here right now. When I cut the deal with her brother, Simon was extremely clear. We aren’t supposed to fraternize until after the wedding is official. Something about making sure nobody gets cold feet.

“Your brother made it clear that we’re not to have contact,” I say and force myself to sit right next to her. I crowd her personal space because I’m big and this room is pretty small, but also because I want to be near her. She’s fucking gorgeous, way more beautiful than I knew. Long, thick dark hair, big brown eyes, and an absolutely stunning figure. The workout gear looks borderline lascivious on her like a layer of fucking spandex isn’t enough to hold her gorgeous curves in check.

I shouldn’t be fucking hard right now.

Except I am very fucking hard.

“I know that,” she says, and I can smell her breath. It’s minty and clean, and I wonder what her tongue would feel like against mine.

I have to get these fucking thoughts out of my head.

This marriage isn’t about her. It’s about what my family needs. It’s about power and the Waterfront project and getting everything I’ve wanted.

It’s about living up to my father’s legacy.

When he passed last year, I thought everything was over. Dad left behind a mountain of debt and the fucking albatross of a development project. I figured without Dad, the Waterfront was finished, which meant all our investments would amount to nothing and we were doomed.

Until Simon Bianco approached me one afternoon and offered me a deal.

It’s a lifeline and a way forward. The girl isn’t important, and it doesn’t matter if I find her extremely attractive.

I need her family. I don’t need her.

“Then why are you here?” I press, trying not to let my anger show. I’m good at keeping my emotions in check. I swallow them up and shove them down and stomp on them until they’re little trash-compacted squares.

“I just wanted to see my future husband in person, okay? And look, there you are.” She squeezes my arm. She actually fucking squeezes my bicep like I’m a prize cow. Her mouth opens slightly and maybe I’ve lost my mind, but I think she likes it. “Yep, you’re real, totally real. So maybe I should go now.”

I lean into her, making sure she can’t get up without shoving me away. I stare into her face and make sure she understands that I am not fucking around right now, even though she seems to think this is a joke.

“I don’t want you to ruin this for me,” I say in a low whisper.

She reacts right away. Her chest puffs up and she pulls back. I give her space, still staring, still showing her no emotions, but inwardly I’m seething. I’m being a dick to her right now and I know it, but this deal is everything to me, and if she ruins it because she got fucking curious⁠—

I don’t know how I’d explain that to my five siblings, my fucking grieving mother, and the dozens of lieutenants and captains that rely on my family’s power to keep them paid.

“I’m not really worried about you, Brody.”

My jaw ticks. “It took weeks to negotiate this deal with your brother, and I don’t want you to ruin it before it starts. Go home, Elena. We’ll meet when we’re supposed to meet.”

Yeah, now she’s pissed. Sweat’s sheening her beautiful skin and her cheeks turn bright red. Her nostrils flare, and her arms cross over her chest, pressing down on her breasts. I try not to glance at her chest and fail. I’m a fucking weak man, after all.

“You’re right, this was a mistake. I shouldn’t have come here.” She gets to her feet, inches away from me. I stand too and we’re jammed together in front of the door, both of us doing our best not to touch, which only makes the need to put my hands on her that much worse.

She’s fucking incredible. Those long, muscular legs, and her built body, her flat stomach, her ass like a globe. I want to bury my face in that ass. I want to watch the muscles on her back flex as she comes on my dick. I want that pretty, smart mouth wrapped around my dick while she moans and sucks me off into sweet goddamn oblivion.

Instead, I put a hand on the door and hold it shut.

“Understand something. We’re just a deal. I don’t care who you are, and you don’t care who I am. We’re doing this because it’s good for our families, right? So let’s not pretend like it’s anything else.”

She shuts down. Whatever glimmer was left in her eyes floods away, replaced by a cold stare. “Understood. Can you move, please?”

I pause, holding there for another second, then tear my hand away.

She shoves the door open and steps back into the main room.

Cold air floods around my skin. I follow her out and notice goosebumps covering her skin. Fuck, I want to run my fingers along those tiny ridges, just to feel her shiver. She hurries away toward the juice bar again, but stops and whirls on me, looking like fire and fucking brimstone.

“And just so you know, there is absolutely no reason to be such a prick right now, okay? It was great to meet you, Brody.”

She turns to storm off, but something dumb slips out of my mouth.

“It was nice to meet you too, wifey.”

She pauses, and I want to punch myself in the face.

What the fuck was that?

Am I trying to tease her right now?

I don’t care about this girl. Let her be pissed off. Yes, she’s attractive, and yes, I want to do unspeakable things to her body, but none of that matters.

I need what she represents.

I don’t need her.

Before she can respond, I turn and walk away.

After a shower and a change of clothes, I head into the office. My secretary has about fifty messages waiting plus there are ten thousand emails in my inbox. The sudden deluge of bullshit threatens to overwhelm me, mostly because I’ve been thinking about Elena Bianco and her goosebumps and the way her cheeks turned bright red with anger.

My brother’s sitting behind my desk and he salutes me when I walk into the room. “Good morning, boss,” he says with a grin.

“Seamus.” I walk over, pick up his coffee, and chug it down.

“Did you just burn your throat?” he asks casually.

“Yes,” I grunt, because I did and it was very dumb, but he annoys me sometimes. Seamus is only thirteen months younger than me and I don’t remember life without him attached to my hip. “Why are you in here?”

“Mom called again,” he says and stands up. I consider sitting, but I’m too amped up to start work. Instead, I nod for him to follow, and we take a walk through the offices of Quinn Legal.

It’s strange for a crime family to be based around a law firm, but it’s how my father structured the organization. Quinn Legal is the heart of our businesses and all the many different schemes, ideas, clubs, restaurants, and whatever else snake out from this place. We’re the head of the octopus, and the rest are the tentacles. The Waterfront project is the biggest of them all, and the one most likely to drag us under.

“How’d she sound?” I ask him, speaking quietly. There are twenty-three different lawyers working in the office right now. We try to keep it relatively small. Our voices are swallowed by thick rugs and heavy wall hangings. The whole office has a Victorian-era supervillain sort of feel.

“Struggling. You know how it is. Ever since Dad passed—” He shrugs a little. Dad’s been gone for a few months now, and Mom’s been a mess without him. “Molly’s taking her out for breakfast, and Declan’s having lunch with her. I was thinking we could do dinner?”

“Set it up,” I grunt. The siblings have been juggling her around and taking shifts just to make sure she’s never alone. “And do me another favor.” I stop in the hall outside of the copy room. There’s nobody around. “Reach out to Simon Bianco.”

Seamus’s eyebrows raise. He’s around my height, same dark hair, same light eyes. “What for?”

“Tell him I ran into Elena earlier today. I don’t want him to hear from someone else. Just tell him it was nothing and we’re still good.”

Seamus stares at me. I know what he’s thinking and now I have to hear it from him. My brother can’t keep his mouth shut, even when he should.

“You know that might fuck this up for us, right?”

“Just make the call, asshole.” I turn away and start heading back to my office. Seamus keeps pace. “She stalked me down at the gym.”

“Really?” Now he sounds curious. “What’s she like?”

Gorgeous. Sexy. Funny. A good smile. Beautiful when she’s pissed. A fucking handful.

“She’s how we’re going to make sure the Waterfront project moves forward, that’s what she’s like.” I stop outside of my office. “Tell Bianco it was nothing.”

“I got it.” Seamus gives me a look. He’s thinking I fucked up, but this’ll be fine. Simon’s a reasonable guy and he probably knows that his sister is a pain in the ass.

My brother heads off and I linger in the hall for a few seconds, wondering if I should have handled Elena differently earlier, but it doesn’t matter now.

My life is the business now and everything else comes second.

What I want and what I have to do are very different things. Maybe a soft touch would’ve been smart earlier, since I’m going to spend the rest of my life married to the girl, but the organization comes first.

She’s a means to an end. Nothing more.

I’ll stop thinking about that bead of sweat dripping down her throat eventually.