There were only two things in the world that I was afraid of.

Any threat to the safety of my family and addiction.

This is why I was trying to avoid that little temptation back at home. I knew that if I touched her once, I will be addicted.

I had bigger concerns than Evangeline Bolton and I couldn't think about anything but how she had looked naked as she lay in front of me, looking up at me with those “fuck me” eyes.

I couldn't stop thinking about her flawless skin, there was not a single blemish on her body, she looked fucking unreal. And one thing I just couldn't get the fuck out of my mind was her taste. Now, that I know what she tastes like, I'm not sure how I will get rid of this fucking addiction.

The most fucked up thing about addiction is when you realize that you are fucking addicted to something, whether it's alcohol or women, you say to yourself

“This is my last drink.”

But you know that you just can't fucking stop because addiction is like an obsession. It takes over your mind and every single thought.
It is dangerous.

Too dangerous for a man in power like me.

But Goddamn did she feel good.

If I had fucked her right there on that lounge chair, I'm sure this addiction would have subsided but I can't do that to her, make her first time a brutal memory. I can make her feel good but that was just it.

She was mine to do as I please, I brought her into my home and drilled it into her pretty little head that it was her home now, and there was nowhere else she could go to. I don't know even if I liked my own fucking decision now. I should have let Bianca take her.

She was destructive. 

She just gave me a little taste and was already distracting me from my work. I didn't fucking like how much Evangeline Bolton was taking up space in my mind.

Three of Ignacio's men were on their knees in front of me, their hands tied behind their backs. Barrels of guns pointed at their heads

Scott moved around one of them. "Who do we have here?" he fisted his hair roughly. "Ignacio's nephew, aren't you?"

"We found them lurking around the docks, Don Niko. One of them had a bomb on him." my soldier informed.

I pulled out my gun and shot the other two in the head. Ignacio's nephew visibly paled. He shivered, fear in his eyes. 

"Dispose of the bodies and throw him in a different cell" I ordered. "And make him talk"

I left the room and entered a different cell, from where I was expecting to get some answers today.

Mateo's agonizing pleas fell somewhere far away on my ears as Alessandro whipped his back. We have been at him for days, trying every goddamn torture on that sick little twisted mind of his but nothing has worked this far. Alessandro was quite creative with his ways, it was a surprise that Mateo hasn't broken yet.

"I--- I'll t-tell y-you" he croaked out.

I raised a hand and Alessandro stopped, wrapping the bloody whip around his hand and stepping back.

"What does he have on us?" I asked

"I don't k-know m---much"

Scott put a pocket knife into an open flesh wound in his back and twisted it. "You are his second in command, his brother. Don't fucking give us that fucking bullshit"

He groaned from the intense pain. "A mole, there's a mole in your family" he breathed heavily. "Someone closer to y-you, someone who has access directly to you"

Alessandro wrapped the whip around his neck and started to strangle him, the muscles on his face twitched by the power he was trying to exert on his neck. When Mateo was close to dying, he let go. Mateo coughed up blood and inhaled air into his lungs greedily. The sweat and blood poured down his body.

"I'm not lying" he swallowed. "There's someone in your family who notified Ignacio of your every move."

"Who is it?"

"I d-don't k-know. I d-don't fucking know, I swear. The mole talked about a key... A key he was going to hand over to Ignacio. I have no idea what that key does, or what is it for. Your men brought me here before I could know anything about it..."

I nodded at Alessandro and he unlocked the cuffs around Mateo's wrists. Mateo's body slumped to the ground like a puppet that has been released from its strings.

"Get him cleaned up and patch him up"

I got to my office and pulled up the name of every made man that has been working closely with me. I thought hard about who it could be. I poured myself a whiskey and drank the whole fucking thing. I needed something to take the edge of, it was either drinking or fucking. 

Since I can't go with the latter, drinking it is.

Scott came in, nodding at me and not saying a word. He watched me pour another glass of whiskey and sighed.

"You need to slow down on the alcohol, you are not really pleasant after drinking"

"I'm never pleasant,"

"Couldn't agree more, my brother" he put his hands in his pockets. "You think he's telling the truth?"

"How the fuck would I know?"

Scott settled down on a couch and made himself comfortable. He ran a hand down his tie and chuckled, giving his head a shake.

"Spit it out?" I said

"It's not me, Niko"

"I know"

"The first name your father is going to take is gonna be mine. I wanted to know if you trusted me enough. You have my loyalty for life, Don Niko. I would never betray you."

"This doesn't concern my father"

"It does"

I slammed a hand on my desk. "I'm the fucking head of this family. I make the rules, I give orders, and right now, I want you to fucking help me find out the fucking mole, so, I can squeeze the life out of that fucker for betraying me."

"Someone closer to you... the inner circle, Niko"

I walked into my house, dropped the keys on the coffee table and took off my coat, and threw it n the couch.

The inner-fucking-circle, all the men in the inner circle were important to me, I considered them my brothers, my fucking cousins, and Scott. The thought that betrayal could come from my own family made my skin itch. I wanted to kill someone.

From the mini bar, I picked up a bottle of whiskey and a crystal tumbler. The lights were still off and I didn't care, the darkness never bothered me. The house was quiet, Evangeline must be asleep. I walked to my study and locked the fucking door. The curtains in the study are always drawn, it's always dimly lit by a lamp or daylight.

I moved behind my desk and settled in my chair. Picking up my phone, I called Scott.

"Niko?"

"I want to meet Moretti"

"Do you want me to call a meeting"

"Do whatever you have to do"

Luca Moretti wanted to know how Elijah Bolton and his entire family had died. I don't know what kind of business Elijah had with him but I would like to fucking find out.

I hung up and lit up a cigar before strolling out of my study.

The last I came home drunk a few days ago, I lost control and kissed Evangeline in the library.

And now I found myself outside of her bedroom door. I opened the door and was welcomed by darkness and her sleeping figure on the bed.

My eyes narrowed as they trailed down her body. The earlier memory of her naked body flashed before my eyes.

She was one of the few women who saw me on my fucking knees and she doesn't even fucking know it. I could count on my fingers how many times I have gone down on a woman. I have done it after a fucking decade probably, last it happened I was a sixteen-year-old boy.

She tasted so good, the memory of it made my dick jolt in excitement. Nothing could stop me if I slipped my hand between her thighs right now and woke her up with my mouth. She'd probably like it, that little devil practically offered herself to me.

I wasn't planning on fucking her now, it seemed irrational since I have to get rid of her soon.

She was a goddamn virgin, it was written on her face the very first day I saw her. Virgin girls get clingy. If I fucked her the next thing I'd know she'd be making doe-eyes at me.

I wouldn't have minded the doe-eye if I had plans to keep her around for as long as I had initially planned but things had changed. I was getting married to Grace, infidelity might be common in the Cosa Nostra but it was extremely frowned upon. Keeping her around came at the cost of my respect.

It's the reason I was now so fucking against touching her altogether. I couldn't give it to her and I could not allow another man to touch her.

It was fucked up.

But so was offering herself to me because she wanted to explore her sexuality.

What the fuck does that even mean?

══════════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ══════════