Taken_ A Dark Mafia Romance - Piper Stone Page 0,9

announcement, he’d never brought it up again. It was our secret, a blood oath between family.

I felt the noose tightening.

He clenched his jaw, his gaze falling from my face to my chest. I’d never seen him frazzled but he was damn close. “Then so be it, but I refuse to allow outsiders to undermine our hard work. The only way is to keep the chains firmly locked around the proverbial doors of our community.”

The man wanted something else, not just my approval of his actions. I took a deep breath, calming my anger. There was more going on here than simple threats. “Why are you here?”

He took a sip of his drink, inching closer to my desk. “I need your support. The first ritual may be... difficult.”

“Difficult. That means the woman selected is clueless. Who is the poor girl required to face her destiny?”

“Winter O’Brien.”

The name didn’t register at first, but I already felt sorry for her. If the collection of Boxes had been left untouched from before, her entire life was about to change, everything she’d cherished up to this point gone. Then I realized who her father was in relation to the community and the very reason the O’Briens had been allowed to join the sect.

The O’Briens not only had strong family ties to the New York police and fire departments, senators and judges, they were also connected to the Irish mafia, at least according to certain speculation. How fucking astute. If the Taglionis had threatened people who were under the care and protection of the sect, what better way to defuse the issue?

Or have it explode?

Either way, this would be just another calculated layer of protection for the sect and the community as a whole. I wasn’t in the mood to take this big of a gamble.

“What do you need from me, a jolly good fellow pat on the back? While a brilliant tactic, that’s not going to happen.”

He walked closer, the coldness of his eyes almost startling. “I need you at the party tomorrow night, Matteo. We must show a force of solidarity. Everyone in the sect looks up to the Capodanno family.”

I laughed. My God. The man was more power hungry than I’d realized. “Not a chance in hell. I’m not going to sit by and pretend this ridiculous cult-like sacrament is anything but what it is, a fucking lie. I don’t give a shit if you coerce another arranged marriage, but I want no part of it.”

“You once believed in that fucking lie, Matteo. You even encouraged me to follow through with our father’s wishes in marrying Stephanie. You called it our legacy.”

“That was before the discovery of Father McGivney’s hidden regime, his cover-up and betrayal only equal to the blood that’s been shed over the years given he was responsible for several deaths. The secrets and lies that had involved several members of our prominent group left a permanent bitter taste in my mouth. I accepted your job offer, Christian, and I am restoring the finances of the sect, but I will never participate in the bullshit again.” I’d always been known as the level-headed brother, kind and forgiving. That part of me was gone, finished.

“Whether or not Joseph McGivney almost fucked up our regime can no longer matter. He’s dead and buried. We have new difficulties to face, enemies who will stop at nothing to crush us.”

I remained concerned that Christian had taken the patriarch position within the Council, but without his leadership, the entire Sacred Sect would have imploded. While I’d pushed the ugliness aside, the truth always surfaced, claws ready to drag us into purgatory. All the wealth and power couldn’t have protected a single member of the community if the Council hadn’t resumed its power. They’d been lucky to do so given the death of one member, the resignation of two others, including our... father. Hissing, I knew he was right. There were far too many on both sides of the law who would stop at nothing to cut off our source of power.

“This is such bullshit,” I managed.

“You are required to come, Matteo,” he countered. “You will follow the rules as mandated by the Council.”

I put the drink on my desk, studying him intently. “I have no problem backing you on various decisions, but I’m not playing this game, Christian.”

“You will because it’s your duty!” he snapped, immediately sucking in his breath, the tension between us palpable. “Family honor. That is still important no matter what happened in