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

by Kristen Luciani

  Roman holds up his hand. “Wait, what are you talking about? What does Heaven have to do with any of this?”

  I take a deep breath, pushing back my hair. “There’s something I didn't tell you yesterday. Dominguez approached me outside of the church after you had all gone inside. He knows I’ve been avoiding him and telling him to stand down when I was supposed to be handing over the Mulligan empire on a silver fucking platter. He doesn't like the way that the plans have shifted. And he's decided to take it upon himself to execute them.”

  “No pun intended,” Sergio grumbles. “What else?”

  I rub the back of my neck. “This whole thing started because Conor Mulligan killed a lieutenant in Dominguez’s crew, as well as Dominguez’s daughter. The Mulligans don’t know that, though. Declan Mulligan hired me to protect his family and to keep Conor alive because he's the one who is intended to take over the family. But yesterday outside of the church, Dominguez told me Heaven is one of his targets. He was always planning to kill her, too, leaving me with the entire Mulligan empire.”

  “You know, I asked you weeks ago if you had this shit under control and you told me you did, that you we in complete control of it all,” Roman grunts. “Dominguez is gonna come back, fucking locked and loaded. What the hell are we gonna do to stop him now that you’ve had a change of heart, Matty?”

  “It doesn’t matter now,” I growl. “We have to battle Dominguez.”

  “Fuck that!” Sergio says. “Give him what he wants, Matty! Why the hell should you sacrifice everything for this dumbass plan?”

  “Because I love her!” I seethe. “And I won’t give her up. I can’t!”

  “Then deliver Conor and Declan. Come up with an arrangement for the rest!” Sergio yells.

  “It’s too late,” I say. “Unless we stop him, Dominguez will take them all out. It’s beyond money at this point. He won’t trust me again to deliver what he wants. He’s going to take it!”

  “You’d better hope you can stop him,” Sergio says darkly. “Because Dominguez won’t just stop with the Mulligans. He will take that revenge to the next level and unleash it all over us.”

  “He won’t,” I say. “He knows our allies and understands what kind of hell he’d bring on his own organization if he fucks with the Villani family. That was how I caught Mulligan’s attention in the first place. I convinced him I have the network to keep Dominguez away from his interests as long as Heaven wears my ring.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Sergio mutters. “I mean, I know you're supposed to be the one in charge, Matty. But did you think that maybe this fucking plan could possibly blow up on the rest of us, too? They went after Gio. What if they go after Pop next?”

  I narrow my eyes at Sergio. “I did this to set us up, goddammit!”

  Sergio scoffs. “And how’s that worked out, now that you're on Dominguez's hit list? Dominguez, the guy who was your partner up until he popped one of your guys?”

  I lean forward, my head in my hands. “I have to take care of Heaven. I have to make sure that she's protected. He will come for her, for all of them. That’s the immediate threat.”

  “Or maybe that's what he wants you to believe,” Sergio says with a sharp tone to his voice. “I love how you're so protective of your new wife. But what the fuck about the rest of us and our interests? How do we rate? Because it sure seems that your priorities are a little fucked up, bro.”

  “Relax, Serge,” Roman says. “We’ll figure this out. But I’m with Matty. We need to make sure we hold off Dominguez and the rest of his army.”

  Sergio’s eyes pop open wide. ”Fuck Mulligan! Let Dominguez torch fucking Hell’s Kitchen! I'd rather them be the sacrificial lambs than us!”

  I press my fingertips to my temples, the control seeping from my body with each passing second. “I need to find Declan. If Dominguez is going to go after him and Conor, that's our only shot to stop him once and for all. And he will go after them. The question is — will he go after them or will he go after Heaven first?”

  “Maybe next time you come up with a ‘brilliant’ plan, you run it past use before executing it,” Sergio says.

  “Don’t fucking challenge me, Sergio! Christ only knows you’ve done more than enough in the past to rain hellfire on our name!” I storm over to him, pushing into his personal space and forcing him to recoil. “This was supposed to be a simple job. Infiltrate the Mulligan family and collect the spoils of war. Period.”

  “Yeah, great plan,” he says with a roll of his eyes. “But you kind of shit the bed when you fell in love with your wife.”

  I swing my hand out, swiping at a nearby table lamp with a guttural roar. “Fuck!” The glass shatters on the floor as my heart rate spikes. “Look, all Heaven wanted to do was take over as head of the family when her father retired. That's it. She's smart. She's a savvy businesswoman. She's ruthless as hell. She deserves it. Conor is in his position because he's got a cock. That's it. That's why his father is trying so hard to protect him. He didn’t earn that position. He’s a fucking thief and a liar, and he'll run that family right into the ground the first chance he gets. I’m the only one who can stop that from happening.” I swallow hard. “I have to make things right. All of them. For all of our sakes.”

  “Okay, so now what, boss?” Roman says. “What’s the fucking plan?”

  The office door opens, slamming against the wall with such force that the frames on the wall shudder and crash to the floor. Heaven stalks into the room, her eyes shooting blue flames and her hand outstretched. Her fingers are closed tight around a Beretta.

  My Beretta.

  One of the ones locked in my…our…bedroom safe.

  Shit…

  I unlocked it before she woke up, just in case I needed to grab one.

  “Yeah, Matty,” she hisses through clenched teeth. “What is the fucking plan?”

  I eye the barrel of the gun as it stares me down. “Heaven,” I say, slowly stepping toward her.

  “You lied to me!” she shouts, her face bright red as her screams reverberate between the walls. “You looked me in the eye on our wedding day and lied to me!”

  “I was only trying to protect you—” I start to say but she cuts me off.

  “Protect me? By conspiring with my family’s enemy? By giving us up to that lecherous scumbag?” Her voice shakes with anger, her nostrils flaring. She inches closer. “You betrayed me, Matteo. You betrayed all of us!”

  Her piercing screeches are high-pitched enough to shatter the windows of my office and she is bordering on hysterical, which isn’t good for me or my brothers. My wife is ruthless and lethal without a gun in her hand.

  “Look, you think you know what you heard but—”

  “But what?” she yells. “Were you working with Dominguez?”

  “Yes.”

  “And did you marry me to fulfill your part of the bargain, to get access to my family’s businesses?”

  “Yes.” Fuck, ask me a question I can say no to!

  “And did you tell me yesterday that you were going to take care of Dominguez to keep us all safe?”

  I scrub a hand down the front of my face. “Yes,” I groan. “Heaven, please, listen to me. You and your family aren’t the only ones at risk right now. Dominguez put me on his hit list because I backed off from the plan. It’s true. I worked with him to take down your family. But just remember that Conor is the one who brought this shit on you in the first place! He fucked around and brought hell to your front door!”

  “And what about me?” she says, her voice dropping. “You were really going to let him kill me? After…everything?” Her arm muscles flex and she shakes her head, dropping her icy gaze for a split second before pointing the gun at a mirror hanging to my left and firing. I duck, holding my arms in front of me, my brothers letting out a yelp and jumping away from us. The glass shatters, the frame smashing onto the wood floor. Shards of glass scatter at our feet, and a pang in my heart tells me it’s damn close to suffering the same end.<
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  “You were never part of the plan,” I say. “Not until yesterday. And when he told me that, I knew I needed to take care of him, to protect you. That’s the job I signed up for.”

  “Fuck you and your job!” she shrieks. “I trusted you! “I told you things I’ve never told anyone…things about my family, about Molly…” Her spine stiffens. “I fucking loved you, Matteo! I fell in love with a goddamn liar! Well, let me just tell you this.” She drops her gun-clenched hand and grabs my shirt in her fist with the free one, pulling me close so she can hiss her next words right into my face. I’m too shocked to move or protest. “I don’t need your fucking protection! If Dominguez wants me, he can come for me himself, and I will protect my damn self!” Her whole body tightens, a vein pulsing in her forehead as her face grows redder. “Just stay away from me, Matteo. Consider us annulled, dick.”

  Then she points the gun at the art hanging on the walls of the foyer and opens fire.

  Thank fuck for the silencer.

  Once the floor is covered in slivers of glass and metal, she does an about-face and stalks into the kitchen. Seconds later, I hear the alarm sound as the garage door opens and the engine of my Lamborghini roars to life. She peels out of the driveway, and if she noticed Gio’s lifeless body, she sure as shit doesn’t give any indication of it with so much as a scream.

  And then she’s gone.

  “Goddamn,” Roman mutters, letting out a low whistle. “Mrs. Villani is a fucking fire-breathing dragon from hell!”

  “Appropriate, considering where she’s from,” Sergio quips.

  I let my eyes skim the aftermath of Heaven’s rage until reality hits me like a cement block to the gut.

  My wife is gone.

  I rub the back of my neck, shifting in my sneakers. My stomach churns with the knowledge that Dominguez is lurking, just waiting for a chance to snuff out the fire that is Heaven Mulligan.

  Heaven Mulligan Villani.

  With a rocketing pulse, I turn around to my brothers. “Let’s go. We’ve got to find her.”

  “Where do you think she went?” Sergio asks.

  Roman and I exchange a quick glance. “Molly’s,” we both say in unison.

  She’s looking for Declan and Conor.

  Unfortunately for her, so is Dominguez.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Heaven

  Blood rushes between my ears as I stomp on the gas pedal, speeding uptown. I swerve around cars as I zoom up the West Side Highway, not giving a flying fuck if there are any cops in my way.

  Let them follow me.

  Let them try to fucking stop me!

  Street lights become flashes of red, orange, and green, blurred by the angry tears stinging my eyes. I’ve never felt so humiliated, so rejected, so pathetic!

  How could I not have seen something like this coming?

  Matteo Villani is a fucking gangster! A slimy bastard who charges boatloads for sordid sexual escapades and conspires with scumbag drug lords to steal what’s not his!

  And I fell in love with him!

  “Argh!” I scream, slamming my fists on the dashboard as I screech to a halt at a red light.

  I’d have normally run through it, but something told me to stop.

  Good thing, because the car waiting to make a left turn didn’t hesitate to gun his engine as soon as the light turned.

  I’d have been pretty badly mangled.

  Although, my fate will much bleaker than that if Dominguez has anything to say about it.

  My skin prickles with the inconvenient memory of Matteo’s hands on me, his voice softly vibrating against my ear, his body sliding against mine in a most deliciously erotic way.

  “No!” I shriek, pressing my foot on the gas, the truck lurching forward. “I am not thinking about that! I hate that sonofabitch! He married me to set me up for fucking death!” With a swift adrenaline rush, I fist my hair with one hand. “I was so fucking stupid to believe he actually cared about me!”

  My fingers twitch as I swing the steering wheel onto 42nd Street in the direction of Molly’s. I want my father to hear firsthand what he did to us by ‘hiring’ that guinea bastard. “Always so high and mighty about making the right moves for the family,” I mutter. “Well, guess what, Dad? You just killed us all!”

  I don’t bother to park in the lot. I leave Matteo’s truck on the street, double-parked.

  I hope someone smashes their car into it. I hope they fucking decimate it, the same thing he did to my heart, that motherfucker!

  I jump out of the truck and yank open the door. It’s still early, so no patrons have ventured inside the restaurant yet.

  “Dad!” I bellow, not even bothering to look for him. “Conor!”

  My voice echoes in the empty space and the kitchen door swings open. Aunt Maura rushes out, a panicked look on her face. She puts her hands on my shoulders. “Heaven, what’s wrong? Where is Matteo?”

  My pulse throbs, razor-sharp breaths slicing at my lungs. “Where…is…my…father?”

  Her blue eyes widen. “He’s in his office. But what is this all about? Why aren’t you with—?”

  The hidden doorway that leads to the corridor at the back of the restaurant opens and my father walks out, an alarmed look on his worn face. Conor struts out after him, leaning against the bar wearing his signature scowl.

  “Heaven?” Dad says, sliding a hand over his head. “What are you doing here?”

  I stomp toward him, my legs and arms tingling with a pins and needles sensation. I catch a glimpse of Conor’s glare, and I don’t stop at my father. I keep going, barreling straight to my brother. I ball my left hand into a tight fist and launch it at his jaw, my huge diamond engagement ring cracking against his face.

  “You fucking bastard!” I scream at him as he doubles over with a loud groan.

  “Heaven, what the fuck?” he groans, clutching his now-bloody lip. It must have caught one of the prongs.

  Good!

  If I had a fucking knife, I’d have sliced the whole damn lip off!

  “You attacked Dominguez,” I hiss through clenched teeth, my whole body shaking. “You opened the door for him to crush us all!”

  “Heaven,” Dad says, grabbing my arm. “What the hell is happening here?”

  “Well,” I say, with a big, fake-ass smile plastered across my face. “Let me enlighten you all. My new husband had a little meeting with his brothers this morning, and I overheard the whole fucking thing!” I grab Conor’s shirt, pulling him up so I can shove him backward against the bar.

  It feels good.

  It’d probably feel better to shoot him, though.

  Too bad I left the Beretta in the truck.

  “What meeting?” Dad demands.

  I swivel around, clenching and unclenching my fists as I walk toward him, digging my heels into the floor with each step. “Did you even do any research on this guy before you agreed to sell me off to him?”

  “What are you talking about? He was hired to protect us!”

  “He didn’t protect anything other than his own interests!” I shriek. “He was working with Dominguez! He set you up, Dad! He set us all up!” I jerk my finger back at Conor. “Because of that fucknut!”

  “Heaven, love,” Aunt Maura says, glancing at my father. “You’re not making any sense right now.”

  I look at my aunt, stepping toward her. “You don’t know what happened,” I say, my voice dropping. “This whole arranged marriage was to save our family because Conor killed the daughter of a drug lord!” I swivel around to look at him, his cheeks flushing a deep red. “But you knew that, didn’t you?”

  He doesn’t answer, just grunts.

  “That’s what I thought.” My lips curl into a sneer. “Did you also know that Dominguez planned to kill me, too? So your plan didn’t really work out too well for you, Dad, since Matteo was ready to deliver us all to him on a fucking silver platter!” I grasp my father’s arm, staring at him so he doesn’t miss a single word. “He only wanted
to marry me to get his olive oily hands on our money! Once Conor was dead, I’d get it all. And after Dominguez killed me…” My throat is so tight, I can barely squeeze out the next words. “He’d have everything. Everything!” I yell, grabbing two pilsner glasses from the bar and hurling them against the large-plated glass mirror behind it. My chest heaves, the sound of shattering glass not nearly enough to bring me any bit of relief. So I grab a bottle of Jameson and fling it across the wall, the amber-colored liquid splashing all over the tables and floors next to it.

  I take a few deep breaths to settle my rapidly spiking heart rate, to no avail.

  I glare at my father, then at Conor. “You did this to us,” I seethe. “Both of you. And you can’t stop it!” I kick over a chair at the nearest table, damn tempted to sink a fork into my brother’s eye. “How does it feel, Dad? To know you were completely duped? To know that you put trust in the wrong people? And that everything you worked so hard for is about to be yanked away?” I slam my fist down onto the tabletop, my voice slicing through the air like a machete. “Because that’s exactly how I fucking feel right now! Except, you know what? I did absolutely nothing to cause this shit show. I didn’t try to go behind anyone’s back for my own purposes, I didn’t try to screw anyone over out of fear that they’d take anything away from me, and I sure as fuck didn’t try to kill my brother, even though he deserves it!” I scream this part right into Conor’s face, shoving him backward so that he tumbles into a chair with a loud grunt.

  I spin around, my vision tinged with red as I stare down my father. Aunt Maura’s jaw is hanging wide open and I don’t think she has any fucking clue how to handle me at this moment.

  Good.

  Let them realize how unpredictable I can be.

  “I gave my life away for all of you,” I seethe at my father. “I wasn’t given a choice. You played me. You lied to me. But worst of all? You discredited me. Humiliated me. I’ve given everything for this family and you just took, took, took.” I let out a dry chuckle. “And I am just plain insane. I just kept coming back for more, anything you’d give to me, thinking that it was the job that would finally convince you that I’m the right person to run this organization. An insane person continues to do the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result, hoping that you’d finally tell me what I wanted to hear. But you never did. And it took me this long to finally learn.” I shrug. “Better late than never, I guess. Although it remains to be seen how long I’ll actually be able to enjoy this hard-earned clarity, since I’m at the top of the hit list of a notorious drug lord!”