Savage Ruler: A Dark Italian - Irish Mafia Arranged Marriage Romance (Sinfully Savage)

by Kristen Luciani

  “How long has this arrangement been a thing?” she asks with a sharp edge to her voice.

  “Weeks,” I say, meeting her angry gaze.

  She nods. “So the other night when you took me into that room and tied me up, you already knew what was going to happen.”

  “I did.” No sense in lying to her now.

  “And was that supposed to be some kind of test run, to make sure you were asking enough from my father? That maybe you’d hike up the price if you didn’t like the sample?”

  I rake a hand through my hair. Why did she have to bring up the other night? Now I can’t see anything but her head thrown back against the wall, her eyes squeezed shut, and her lips parted as her moans shatter the air?

  My cock twitches at the memory, and I grit my teeth.

  Bad fucking timing!

  “Okay, let’s get something straight right now,” I say, my voice tight. “First, if anyone is to blame for this shit show, it’s your idiot brother. Second, if you were my daughter, you’d have never been able to leave my sight if I so much as suspected what the cartel would do if they found you.”

  “That’s not fair,” she says. “I took my brother Patrick with me—”

  “Yes, that’s right,” I interrupt her with a roll of my eyes. “Your big, bad brother Patrick who got his ass handed to him next to his own goddamn car this morning because he missed the fucking attack by a mile!”

  “You baited me!” she screams, balling her fists and holding them up at me.

  “Are you going to hit me?” I sneer. “Before you do, just remember one thing. This is my job, Heaven. I get paid to deliver protection to those who need it. Don’t take your rage out on me because of your family’s fuck-up!”

  Her chin quivers as she stares me down, but those fists remain in front of her face, ready to launch. “Do you know what it’s like to have your life signed over to a fucking stranger?” she screams.

  “Your father did the right thing by calling me. He knows what he stands to lose if you and the rest of your family are vulnerable and exposed. This morning was just a warning to let you know that they’re coming in hot. And they will destroy everything, Heaven. Unless someone can ward them off. I’m that someone, like it or not.”

  “And just like that, my father trusted you? He basically handed me over on a silver platter with no guarantee that you’d be able to deliver on your ‘job requirements’?”

  “He’s a smart man. He knows the risks to his empire if he tries to battle the cartel on his own. They have large armies, not just here in Manhattan but all over New York City and up and down the eastern seaboard. They will incinerate your livelihood.”

  “Are you trying to scare me?” she snips, pushing off of the desk and stepping toward me. “Because I’m not afraid. I am capable of defending myself!”

  I trace a fingertip over the side of her bruised face. “Yeah, I can see that,” I murmur.

  She smacks away my hand. “Take your hand the fuck off of me!”

  “Is that any way to talk to your fiancé?”

  “There’s no goddamn ring on my finger!” she yells. “And even if there was, it wouldn’t mean shit. I didn’t agree to do this out of the goodness of my heart. I’m doing this to keep the people I love safe.”

  “And also to maintain control over the empire you hope to take over one day?” I say with a raised eyebrow.

  Heaven gasps. “You think you have all the answers, don’t you, Guido?”

  I let out a dry chuckle, closing the space between us. “Trust me, I’ve been called way worse than anything you can come up with, sweetheart.”

  “Oh, trust me, there’s plenty you still haven’t heard!”

  “Gives me something to look forward to,” I hiss, grabbing her by the shoulders, my lips now hovering over hers. Heaven’s eyes pop open wide and her mouth drops open. It’s only then that I realize my fingers are digging into her arms, and that her tits are pressed against me.

  Again.

  Fuck me, we’ve been here before.

  I can’t go back. Not yet. Not until she understands the rules.

  I loosen my grasp on her. “This arrangement only works if I keep you safe. Today would never have happened if we were together.”

  “Why? Because they’re afraid of you?” she scoffs.

  I lift an eyebrow. “That’s exactly why. Same reason why your father came to me.”

  “My father isn’t afraid of you!”

  “He’s afraid of what will happen if he isn’t aligned with me. He also knows who my allies are and what they can do for him if he goes head to head with the cartel. Your father hasn’t done a great job of networking over the years, so he’s trying to make up for lost time. If he had, you’d be sleeping in your own bed tonight instead of in mine.”

  “Your bed?” she says, a look of disbelief on her face.

  “My bed,” I repeat.

  “Tonight?”

  “I’m starting to feel like a parrot.”

  “Don’t you mean after we’re married?”

  I expel a deep sigh. For someone supposedly so smart, she’s not quick on the uptake. “No, tonight. You’re coming home with me.”

  She lets out a snort. “You know I’m Irish Catholic, right? I mean, what would Father O’Malley say if he knew I was living in sin with you?”

  “I think if Father O’Malley saw you tied up in my townhouse the other night with your legs open and your mouth begging for me to fuck you, he’d realize the same thing I did.”

  “Which is?”

  I grin. “I have no delusions about your virginity, Heaven. No innocent would have let me feast on her pussy the way you did. And no virgin would have had her legs wrapped around my head like a vise as I tongue-fucked her into oblivion.”

  “You’re a disgusting pig,” she hisses. “You and your freaky, twisted sex shit!”

  “You loved my freaky, twisted sex shit,” I growl, moving in once again and blocking her path around me. “Don’t try to deny it. You may have come looking for dirt on me, but you found out you liked it even more smeared all over yourself.”

  She tries to punch me but I capture her wrist in my hand. “Don’t,” I whisper. “Not unless you want it back.”

  “Oh, you’d hit me?” she seethes, shoving her shoulder against my chest. “You’d beat on your fiancée, Matteo? Is that how your kind deals with their women?”

  “I’d punish you,” I murmur, pulling off her baseball cap and flinging it onto the desk. When she tries to look away, I gently cup her chin in my hands and force her eyes forward. They glitter with some mixture of arousal and fury. “Good Catholic girl, my ass. I saw how turned on you were when those girls were getting fucked six ways from Sunday.”

  A bright red flush creeps into her cheeks. “It was just new to me. I’d never seen anything like it before.”

  “You fucking loved it,” I say, shoving my hips against her, running my hand down the side of her slim torso. “You wanted so much more, didn’t you, Heaven? So much more than what I gave you.”

  A tiny mewl escapes her bruised lips, her head falling back as I press a hand into the small of her back. She arches forward, clearly forgetting her rage and allowing the promise of all things erotic to infuse her body and mind.

  “If you behave, I’ll make sure you get everything you want,” I murmur against her ear, brushing my lips against the battered side of her face. “I’ll take such good care of you, you won’t ever want to leave.”

  And then I pull away because my self-control is wavering, and if I don’t back off now, I’ll bend her over the arm of the goddamn couch.

  Because control is slipping, slipping, slipping.

  I need to yank it back.

  Her eyes open, a stunned expression on her face when she sees me staring at her with a hardness I reserve for those who deserve punishment.

  Real punishment, not the shit that I’m going to do with her if she mouths off again or worse, raises a hand to me.

 
“What do you get out of this whole arrangement?” Her eyes flash as she straightens up and shoves the cap back onto her head. “How much am I worth to you?”

  “In good faith, I didn’t take any money up front for my services. But once we’re married, I’ll own half of your father’s estate since you’re one of his beneficiaries.”

  “Then what? You can’t do anything without my consent. How will you get your money?” she snaps.

  “I’m not in this for a quick buck, Heaven,” I say, struggling to make my voice sound calm when my body is anything but. “I have plenty of money. I have plenty of everything.”

  “So why did you want me?” Her voice startles me, the sudden, meek sound giving me pause.

  “Because solid family ties are more lucrative than a wad of cash in your bank account. And leverage gives me power. Having you by my side gives me both.”

  “I won’t give up on my plans for the future,” she says, sticking her hands on her hips. “Don’t think I’m going to be a good little wifey to you. I have goals and being married to you won’t stop me from reaching them.”

  “I sure as hell hope not. I’m counting on you fighting to achieve everything you deserve. In fact,” I say with a smile tugging at my lips. “I’m going to do everything in my power to help you.”

  She flounces past me in a huff, but before she has a chance to reach for the doorknob, I pull her back to me. She stumbles backward, not expecting the swift move, and lands cleanly in my arms. “Do you have something else to say?” she asks through clenched teeth. “Because I feel like we’ve covered more than enough for tonight. And after all, we do have the rest of our damn lives, right?” she snarls.

  “We do. But there is one more thing we should cover before you leave this room,” I say, pulling out the ring box and flipping open the top.

  I hear the gasp and I see the eyes glimmer like the large rock staring back at her. She reaches out to graze it, quickly retracting her finger as if she’s touched a hot coal instead of a diamond.

  “I’m supposed to wear this?” she breathes, still staring at it.

  “It is customary for an engagement.”

  She looks at me and rolls her eyes. “How do you know it’ll fit?”

  I pull it out of the box and hold it up to her. “Why don’t we test it out?”

  Her eyes widen as I slide it onto her ring finger. It fits perfectly.

  “It’s gorgeous,” she breathes, holding her hand out in front of her.

  “I didn’t think you’d be the type to get sidetracked by jewelry,” I say, not bothering to hide my smile. “You know, all that goal talk.”

  Her head snaps up and she narrows her eyes at me. “Don’t think this is going to make me forget my job and my future, Matteo.” Her hand drops to her side and she shrugs. “I mean, it’s pretty and all, but I’m not some shallow, superficial nitwit who is going to drop her panties just because you put a rock on my finger.” She leans toward me. “And don’t get any ‘delusions’ about what’s going to happen when we get back to your place. You’re not tying me up and you’re definitely not getting laid.”

  “Well, it’s like you said, right? We have the rest of our damn lives.” I wink at her. “I’m a pretty patient guy. And we’re going to have to consummate the marriage at some point.”

  “In the meantime, I hope your hands don’t cramp up,” she says, reaching past me to pull open the door. “Because they’re gonna be working hard over the next couple of weeks.”

  “Great, something else to look forward to,” I mutter as she sways her hips with each step she takes into the hallway. I walked into this pub tonight worried that some very inconvenient and unexpected emotions might bubble up to derail my plans. But after spending some time with my bride-to-be tonight, it’s pretty clear that Heaven Mulligan is about to become my own personal hell on Earth.

  Chapter Ten

  Heaven

  My head is woozy from too much champagne. I can knock back whiskey like a sailor, but give me a flute of bubbly and you’ll be scraping me off the floor.

  Except, I refuse to leave my impromptu engagement party without a few parting words to my father, who has avoided getting too close to me ever since I stormed out here and grabbed a toasting glass. I guess the whole bullshit cork popping ceremony at the bar was to make an unofficial announcement to the neighborhood about our family’s impending union.

  I narrow my eyes and scour the entire pub, just noticing that Conor must have made a disappearing act.

  My brothers, Quinn, Niall, and Liam, stand on my left while my fiancé flanks my right. I catch Aunt Maura’s eye and I can see the glimmer of encouragement in the depths. It doesn’t comfort me, though. It only makes the waves of nausea crashing over me that much more tumultuous.

  I sway into Matteo and he snakes an arm around my waist because that’s what a fiancé would do, right? Let you know he’s there to hold you steady and make sure you don’t wipeout on the sticky floor?

  I eye the champagne bottle on the bar and reach out to grab it, draining the last drops.

  “You’re not supposed to look like you’re drowning your sorrows,” Matteo hisses through a tight smile.

  “If I hadn’t just had my life yanked away from me, I might not be drinking so heavily,” I retort with my own saccharin-y sweet grin.

  “Heaven, a leanbh,” Aunt Maura interjects, taking the bottle from me. “Why don’t you go and splash some water on your face? Come on, I’ll take you—”

  I pull my arm away from her. “No,” I mumble. “I can do it myself. I want to do it by myself.” I turn facing the restrooms and slink toward them, my fractured heart shattering faster with each step I take.

  Pressing my fingertips to my temples, I lean against the back of the bathroom door and let the tears flow down my cheeks. It stings like a bitch, too, and not only because of the wounds on my face.

  But because I feel completely and utterly betrayed by the one person who is supposed to love and care for me above all else.

  My shoulders quake and I cover my face, letting the grief consume me.

  He’s edging me out, whether or not he realizes it — taking me out of my role and forcing me into one I never wanted. I’ve worked so hard, making the right moves, establishing the right relationships. I’ve made him so much more powerful because of it!

  How dare he sign my life away with no regard for how I feel about it?

  My gut clenches, and I run over to one of the stalls, dropping to my knees. After a few agonizing minutes, when there is literally nothing left inside of me, when I’m merely the empty shell my father thinks I am, I struggle to my feet and collapse against the stall door. A deep sigh shudders my body and I stagger over to the sink to wash my hands and face.

  I finally look at my reflection. Was it only an hour ago that I stared at the same face in the mirror and told her to take what she wanted, what she deserved?

  I grip the sides of the sink so tight, my knuckles turn white.

  Oh, I took something all right.

  Right up the fucking ass!

  A swift knock at the door makes me jump, and a sharp pain shoots down the back of my skull. I squeeze my eyes shut, gritting my teeth. “Who is it?”

  “It’s your father. Can you please come out here?”

  I ball my fists, pump them into the air, and silent scream how much I hate him at this very minute.

  Then I let out a deep breath and unclench my fists.

  I don’t feel a damn bit better.

  I pull open the door and step into the hallway, facing off with my father.

  My idol.

  My boss.

  God, I’d always aspired to be just like him, to rule this family with him by my side as a mentor.

  Now as I look at him, all I see is a pathetic coward who chose his only daughter to be a fucking pawn in his quest for more power and control.

  I fold my arms across my chest, leaning back against the wall because I’m still pretty dizzy. “You came
to check on me? How sweet. Was that your fatherly instinct talking, or were you just nervous I’d made a run for it and left you with nothing to offer the Italians?”

  His eyebrows furrow. “That was unnecessary, Heaven Margaret. Do not speak to me in that tone. I’m your boss.”

  “You know what? I’d rather you just be a father right now,” I say, holding my throbbing head. “The kind who realizes that he just stole the life and dreams right out of his only daughter’s grasp, and now he wants to fix what he’s broken!”

  “I explained why this is happening,” he says in a low voice, looking behind him. We’re in a quiet hallway, accessible only by a door, but you just never know who might be lurking. Interesting that he’s cautious now. I mean, he just signed my life away to a virtual stranger.

  And a fucking deviant one at that!

  “Well, I didn’t like your explanation,” I shoot back. “It feels like I’m getting screwed because I’m a woman.”

  “You want to be boss, don’t you?” he seethes. Don’t you understand you won’t have anything to run if our organization is destroyed by the cartel?”

  “I have relationships! Solid, working relationships! I have a network and people who trust me! If you’d have talked to me about this, we could have come up with something! Anything other than arranging my marriage to that goombah prick!”

  My chin quivers but I refuse to let any more tears fall.

  I will not let him smell that weakness on me!

  “The Villani family can offer us protection as well as the opportunity to expand. You are making a sacrifice, yes, but just think about the empire we can build with their resources and connections!”

  “You know what, Dad?” I say, swaying a slight bit as I push away from the wall. “I like to think I have enough business savvy to make my own opportunities. I wish you had the same amount of faith in me.”

  I tear my eyes away from his tired ones and stomp toward the door, pulling it open. After kissing my brothers and aunt good night, I walk straight over to Matteo and lace my fingers with his. “I’m ready to go,” I say in a raspy whisper because it’s the only way I can hide the crack in my voice.