the Taglioni casinos would be in direct competition to those recently approved for Capodanno Enterprises.
An ingenious way of moving in on our turf.
The word my brother had spoken the most that left me the most concerned was ‘value.’
Fortunately, other Council members had asked minimal questions about what had occurred surrounding the death of Father McGivney given the money he’d stolen. However, even though several members of law enforcement were privy to our power and influence, questions had still arisen, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of politicians who would continue to try to destroy us.
However, the main secret remained intact, the one Father McGivney had spouted on his death bed.
Or so I hoped.
More secrets and lies.
My decision to come to the illustrious party had been after significant soul searching, coming to a difficult conclusion. Whatever transpired was in the best interest of our community as a whole. However, Christian would be forced to come to terms with the fact I would have a say in the next members selected to hold a revered seat on the Council. Whether he liked it or not.
The sounds of a Frank Sinatra crooner brought me back to the ridiculous festivities. I could barely stand the pompous arrogance that surrounded the entire group of guests, all pontificating on their latest adventures or acquisitions. I wanted no part of the ugliness.
Yet I was smack in the middle.
While I’d yet to be introduced to the O’Brien family, I’d seen various dignitaries including Senator Bellows. A who’s who list of the famous and important was here.
All to see the lovely bride to be open her Box.
Or so they hoped.
I was surprised that outsiders had been allowed to attend, although a change had been made for the engagement between Christian and Stephanie. This was more of a statement than a festive event, a warning to all those who would fuck with us. Don’t or pay the price. I noticed a tight group of men surrounding the senator, the pompous man holding court. He still believed he and his cronies held a certain amount of power in the state. He was wrong.
The senator would leave the party with a new sense of understanding. While there were no signs of reporters, I fully anticipated the upcoming nuptials would make the society pages if nothing else.
Fucking fantastic.
This was the first celebration since Christian and Stephanie had been placed together and the eagerness in the sect members’ eyes was disgusting. They were nothing more than chained cougars prepared to lunge. Once the celebration was concluded, the arrangement accepted, there would be no one who could challenge our power.
I lifted my glass in a toast to my ingenious brother.
Even though I was sick inside.
I heard the jingle of some kind of bell. The festivities were set to begin, the senator reluctantly moving away from his posse.
Hissing, I swirled the ice cubes then made my way closer to the front, coming in eye contact with the senator. He now stood stoically with his wife of forty years, the vivacious woman the daughter of a very prominent family from Connecticut. I gave him a nod, chuckling under my breath. His second family was much younger and less connected, or so I’d been told by someone who seemed to have as much anger toward the senator as I did. I would venture a guess that Christian had made certain the man had been on the guest’s list.
I closed my eyes, wishing the family would get on with this when I heard a few of the women in the crowd exclaim then almost everyone begin to clap. I rubbed my eyes before opening them, my blood running cold the minute I did.
Standing between her two loving parents was the beautiful yet defiant woman I’d met in the greenhouse. Winter. Oh, my God. My mouth was suddenly dry and while I heard her father as he toasted his daughter, all I could concentrate on was the stunning beauty as my cock twitched once again, the same savage thoughts racing through my mind. I should have known she was the one.
Now she would be mine and nothing was going to stop it from happening.
Winter. You belong to me.
I will take you.
Use you.
Ravage you.
I was shocked at the level of electricity rocketing throughout every inch of my body. I was more alive than I’d been in years, my thoughts and desires sadistic. A round of filthy thoughts became the only thing I could concentrate on, dragging the other side of