Getting a degree, and a decent, respectable job, was my way of escaping the hellhole I was raised in. All that time, money, and effort was pointless in the end, because when Rory does finally catch up with me, it won’t just be my feet that’ll be cut.
His last promise rings through my head like a warning.
‘Aoife?’ he snapped, rattling the door handle to the suite I’d locked myself in until moments before I was due to marry him. ‘You can't hide that pussy from me forever, wifey. Before this day is over, I'll have fucked it thoroughly, along with every other hole you own.’
And I guarantee he won’t show me an ounce of the tenderness Dominic just did. No, it’ll be brutal. Painful. Degrading. I’d rather die than go back to him.
Dominic pulls up a stool beside me and sits. His sheer proximity does nothing to stop me shaking, and stupidly, I’m not convinced that’s entirely due to fear. I take another sip of whiskey, purely because I don’t know what else to do.
‘How’s that going down?’ He points at my drink.
‘Not bad.’
Approval lights his eyes. ‘I’ll pass on your compliment to the Becketts.’
‘You know them?’ The Becketts are the extreme opposite to Dominic, Rory, and every other gangster in this city. They’re billionaires with beautiful wives, regularly featured in the society pages and on the front page of glossy magazines—not that I have time to read them.
‘Sean Beckett is one of my best friends. We have similar… interests.’ He taps his nose, then leans closer. I get another whiff of his intoxicating scent—citrus and spices combined with his own raw masculinity. ‘Shh, though, it’s a secret.’
I draw a cross over my heart. His pupils blow wide, then snap to mine again. He inches closer until our mouths are millimetres apart.
I know what he is.
What he does.
Yet I can’t deny there’s something utterly compelling about the bastard.
Like a vampire, everything about him begs me to lean in and drink him in.
‘The solution to your “colossal” problem is simple.’ He steals the air from my lungs with two tiny, outrageous words. ‘Marry me.’
3
DOMINIC
She jolts back like she’s been electrocuted. ‘Marry you?’ she spits incredulously. ‘I don’t even know you.’
‘Did you knowhim?’ I arch an eyebrow.
‘No, but that was different. That was an arrangement.’ She takes another small sip of whiskey. For a woman who doesn’t drink spirits, she’s doing pretty well with that one.
‘And this would be an arrangement too.’ This is the exact catalyst I need to provoke Rory into attacking The Syndicate. And once he does, once he breaks the conditions of our truce, then I have the full authority to bring him down for good.
Taking his bride will incense him. His astronomical ego won’t be able to take it. Especially now she’s stood him up in front of the entire city.
Oh, this is too good.
‘What kind of arrangement?’ Suspicion taints her tone.
I don’t blame her. The woman has been treated like a piece of meat. Played like a pawn. I wouldn’t mind playing with her alright, but that’s not what this is about.
This is about ending Rory Kavanagh once and for all.
Wiping him off the face of this earth.
It would be a public service.
I stare at her for a long beat, allowing my proposal to sink in. She swallows and I watch her long, elegant neck work, imagining wrapping her blonde curls around my fist, guiding her into whatever position I chose.
