Corrupt Prince by Ivy Mason
Six
I wantedto kill that little nightmare.
She drank my 49 Domaine Leroy wine. It had been Lily’s favorite and the one I’d been saving up to share with her after I proposed. Then, after she died, I couldn’t bring myself to drink it. I’d been tempted to smash it against the wall, so I’d shoved it under my bed, not wanting to destroy the symbol of our mutual love.
And when I’d walked in a few nights ago, with my room a crazy mess and her hair just as mussed…
She’d looked like a damn sexy siren, laid out on my bed with that bottle in her hand. Wine-stained, luscious lips pleading to be licked. Freckles on stark cheekbones, needing to be counted and kissed. One of my white shirts on, only half-way buttoned to show just enough of her tits to make my cock sit up and take notice. No friggin pants, and those damn sexy, tan, long legs that stretched for forever.
Then she opened her legs, a smirk on her face…
It took all my control to shut off the dirty thoughts racing through my mind.
The call of my dick, begging for some action.
The invitation.
To rip those silk pink panties off and drive right into her like a driller boring for oil.
Goddamn the fact that she was Rose’s sister.
Otherwise, she’d be a great fuck. Something to distract my mind while I figured out all this shit I’d gotten into.
But right now, any Petrov female blood was off the table.
When Marisol had replaced my bandages, sniggering at my pen wound, I decided I would do whatever it took to get the nightmare under control and out of my hair. I had enough to worry about, and had zero time for troublemakers.
I'd spent the last several nights deep diving into my father’s work, and had seen more violence in the past days than I had my whole life combined. I had to shut off all feelings just to make it through the long days . But at night, I was barely sleeping as those vicious images processed through my mind.
However, my father’s doors began opening around me as I proved myself to him over and over. He either believed he could trust me, or he was too busy to question it further. He now took me with him every night, introducing me to all his current business partners. I’d quickly taken Bourbon’s old place by his side, and I learned everything possible to gain an advantage over him.
On top of that, I was trying to broker an agreement with Nicholi, who was clearly holding a grudge that we'd killed Dimitri.
He was determined to make his cut of the drugs we sold bigger because of it, but I dug in my heels, demanding the same share we'd agreed to in the past.
I also couldn’t get my mind off the blood my father drew from Bourbon. For once, I needed to be a step ahead of my father, and I now had a plan to learn the truth.
I just needed Aster to behave first before I could put it into action.
“Are you listening?" My father's angry voice snapped me back to the present and I nodded.
“Of course." I had an innate ability to hear almost everything around me, even when I wasn't completely focused on it. “Nicholi keeps insisting that we give him a higher price for the ozone, but I'm grinding him down. I'm using Dante's connections in Italy to dig up a weakness on him."
"Good.” He nodded, not looking at me but staring out the window, watching the groups of people walking up and down the strip. It was nine o’clock, the beginning of Las Vegas nights. Crowds of happy people looking for a good time, while my father always seemed to be on the lookout for his next victim. “What about Posh?”
Posh was a new club we were opening. While we’d been gone, my father had bought one of the more popular clubs, completely gutted it, and was planning on a huge opening. It was my responsibility to plan the party.
“Fine,” I waved his concern away, “I need to know about my uncle.”
My father finally turned towards me, his eyes narrowed. "You don't need anything from me about Uncle Daimon. You should be the one giving me information. Have you gotten anything from him?”
My Uncle Daimon was the other man my father was keeping captive in the house, and that deeply disturbed me.
He’d been my father's consigliere for years and was a constant presence in my life. Dinners, vacations around the world, and late nights at the house with the family. He’d been even more present than my own father, and kinder too.
He mostly kept to himself, took his job seriously, and was never a problem. Unlike my other Uncle Crey, who was always blowing up relationships and causing chaos everywhere he went.
I clenched my jaw, not wanting to admit the truth. "It would help me if you told me how he fell out of favor with you."
Neither man was talking, and it was making extracting any information from Uncle Daimon extremely difficult. After greeting me with a hug and asking if Bourbon was still alive, my uncle hadn't said a single word more.
“You don't need to know that to get information from him," my father scoffed, tipping the rest of his glass of gin into his mouth, then slamming the empty glass down as the car came to a stop in front of the main club he owned, also where he conducted his shadier business.
"You coming tonight?” Brett opened his door and my father moved to climb out. “Romero is bringing a sample of his women to taste."
I pressed my lips in a firm line, trying to hold back my revulsion, but I couldn't suppress the shiver of disgust that crawled up my spine at the thought of being in the same room as my father, watching his orgy.
No fucking way in hell.
"No." I turned away, looking bored. "I have to speak to the Vitales tonight."
His eyebrows raised in surprise. "The Vitales?"
I gave him a curt nod. "Those are Dante's contacts."
"How does he know them?"
"Massimo Vitale is his cousin, twice removed."
My father studied me with newfound respect. The Vitales were ruthless mafia based out of Italy, and held a lot of power in our circle.
"Maybe you can arrange a meeting between us. The Kings can pick up their slack."
He was referring to the rumors that the Vitales had tampered down on their sale of sex slaves. In fact, a whole shipment of women had been discovered by the FBI at a port in New York a couple of weeks ago, and the Vitales hadn’t blinked an eye.
And yet, even though they weren't trafficking as many women, the Vitales still were ruthlessly driving out anyone looking to fill in the gap, through any means, including violence.
By the interest in my father’s eyes, he was looking to pick up the opening in the market, with their permission.
I leaned back in my seat and gave my father a cool look. “Maybe."
My father's lips pressed into a firm line and he stared me down. I could sense his rage and anger, unhappy that I wasn't going to line up to his wishes like he'd expected.
I may have done so in the past, but the revelation that he'd been raping Lily put a permanent wall between us.
He could fuck off, for all I cared.
The only reason I hadn't put a bullet in his brain was because of the leverage he was holding over me.
Even though Bourbon and Rose were living outside of our household, he still had Benny and his guards at their home, watching over them to make sure they didn't escape.
He'd made it quite clear that, just as he was holding Aster over Bourbon and Rose's head, their safety was his leverage over me.
As the ire in his gaze landed on me, I expected him to fire off a demand to obey him. Instead, his features calmed, his jaw still grinding but his lips twisted upwards in a cruel smile. "You've done well with Aster. I must admit, I wasn't sure if you'd be able to keep her under control."
"Thank you." I was surprised by the compliment, and strangely pleased. I hated the hum of pleasure that coursed through me at his words, and I straightened my tie, newly bought and the same color as Aster’s dress, to cover my reaction.
"If you can get the Vitales to the wedding, I'll allow you to bring the girl to see her sister, as long as you can guarantee that she'll be on her best behavior."
A terseness settled between us, as my father made his intentions known. The Vitales for the girl.
I knew that Rose was dying to see Aster, and, as much as I hated myself for it, I still wanted to give Rose everything she ever desired.
She was my soft spot, and my father knew it, dangling it over my head as often as possible.
"I'll see what I can do," I responded, not committing to anything. “But I want to start taking Aster out of the room.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “You think you can control that woman?”
“I know I can.” I didn’t back down.
Still chuckling, he sighed. “I’ll consider it. But if she escapes or does anything to harm us, it’s your head on the line.”
I nodded, agreeing to his terms.
"See that you get the Vitales to the wedding," my father pointed a finger at me, then he climbed out of the door and walked off without a goodbye or a backwards glance.
I waited only until after I saw him walk into the club then directed Brett back to the house.
I wasn’t waiting for his approval. Time to put my plan in place.
