Page 17 of Merciless Wager
“Very well. I’m sure you’ve never searched for your birth parents. Your mother you would never find, but your father...”
A few seconds passed after my pause, and I watched the small lump in her throat as she swallowed. Finally, she spoke in the same soft voice. “Do you know who my birth father is? And did he put you up to this?”
“Yes, and absolutely not. You, Bellezza, are the daughter of what used to be one of the most powerful men in Sicily. While pregnant, your mother fled your father’s home and came to America, where she gave birth to you, then handed you off to an affluent couple in a secret adoption. She was then located, brought back to Palermo, and brutally murdered for her betrayal. All your father had of you was a hospital bracelet from a New Jersey hospital showing your gender, height, and weight.”
She took another few sips of her water, and each time I tried to snag her gaze, she’d immediately look away. The energyradiating off her was confusing. Somehow, I think that I’d just filled in blanks she had always known, and as if to confirm my suspicions, she cleared her throat and finally looked into my eyes.
“I already knew I was adopted.”
“I surmised as much,” I responded.
“And my so-called father, what does he do?”
“He heads up a branch of the Cosa Nostra in Palermo.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Sicilian Mafia. I’ve always heard that most girls grow up wanting to become princesses. Congratulations, Aurora. Today is the day you become a Mafia princess. And soon, you’ll be upgraded to a queen, but in the Russian Bratva instead.”
My hands shook nearly uncontrollably, and the water bottle slipped from them. Its contents spilled out around my feet. I paid it no mind as Zarren’s words repeated in my head. I was the daughter of a Sicilian mobster, and I would soon be forced to marry a Russian mobster, too.
“A-and you work for my father or?—”
“I, too, am in the mafia, only I’m a Brannington.”
“I don’t know what that means,” I said softly, having never heard the name.
“It’s Irish, and I run these Boston streets for my family.”
I was in some sort of alternate universe. I had to be. This had to be just a dream, or some sort of nightmare. My eyes were already wide open, even more so due to his words, so I reached over and started to pinch myself hard, eventually eliciting a chuckle from Zarren.
“You’re not sleeping, Aurora. Everything I’ve told you is not only true, but unfortunately, your destiny, too. As I said last night, your life as you knew it is now over.”
“Noooo,” I cried out as I bolted upright to my feet. “I don’t know what kind of agreement you have with either the Sicilians or the Russians, but it ends now because I won’t be passed around like a fucking card in one of your demented games.”
He moved in close to me, but I was able to thwart his attempt to touch me. I quickly scurried across the room. The front door was just in reach, but as I made my way to it, I realized there was no handle on it for me to grab. Beside the door itself was a panel with a scanner and keypad, but no other way to open the damn thing.
Zarren closed the distance between us, and as I turned around suddenly, he was now pressed chest to chest against me. Mine was rising and falling rapidly as his intoxicating scent engulfed me, making me lightheaded. Well, that and his overwhelming male presence. His warm breath tickled the baby hairs on my forehead, and it made a total body shiver wrack my small frame.
Zarren was built like an impenetrable wall. I was 5’10, but he had to have at least a half dozen additional inches on me. He was all hard muscle, and as I stared straight ahead at his chest, I could make out the tattoo of two wolves facing one another with aggressive snarls. Beneath it, he also had a large serpent dripping venom from its fangs. There were a few more, but I couldn’t quite make them out because his large hand slid under my chin as he forced my face up so I’d have no choice but to look at him.
“No matter how unwilling one might be to play the game, a pawn is still a pawn.”
“I’m no one’s pawn,” I seethed before adding, “Especially not yours.”
He smirked, and again I was as drawn to those full lips now as I’d been last night. Cursing myself inwardly as I trembled once more, I could see how pleased he was with my response. Ihad assumed, upon first meeting Zarren, that he was dangerous. I had no idea that it was because he was a gangster.
No, not a gangster. A mobster. Is there a difference?
I had no time to even think about that because he leaned in even closer. His mouth was now inches from mine, and my lips trembled this time. Seconds later, his teeth snagged onto my bottom one, and he tugged roughly before pulling away from me.
I used that to push against his chest, but unlike before, he was not as movable. I kept trying, however, until he took both of my hands in his, then slammed them above my head. He gathered them together in one, then held them firmly above me as he brushed the other against my bottom lip. In that moment, a warm drop or two fell from my eyes, and he used his thumb to trail it down my cheek.
“You and I are more alike than you’ll ever know,” he said to me, and his words caused my body to stiffen.
Other than obvious biology, I had no idea what he was getting at with his admission. I stayed completely still, though, even as his touch both awakened something inside of me, while killing everything else in the process. He continued to stroke my cheek, long after he’d wiped those errant tears dry.
“Our mothers made the ultimate sacrifices, but in the end, our destiny is our destiny, and no amount of time can change it. Your father knows you’re in Boston, but I was able to get to you before he could. You’ve already been promised to a family in Moscow, only we, Branningtons, will be the ones to reap the reward. This will weaken your father further, allowing us to gain the needed territory in Sicily to wipe him out.”
