Page 2 of The Kingpin’s Bride

The war continued. Ruthless. Hungry. Every bid another man claiming he deserved to own her. I finally moved.

I stood. The entire room went still as I stepped forward into the light. “Thirty-five fucking million. Let’s be done already.”

My voice cut through the club like a blade. No one dared speak after that. The auctioneer’s mouth opened, closed, then opened again.

“Sold,” he stammered. “To Matteo Ventura.”

Morena’s head snapped up. Her wide, tear-filled eyes met mine across the stage. For the first time in weeks, she looked at me directly. And I saw the exact moment she realized her fate had just been sealed. There was no delay.

The Five Families had made their expectations clear long before tonight. The marriage would be sealed immediately. No paperwork in a back room. No private ceremony. They wanted the deed done in public, a spectacle to bind the alliance and remind everyone exactly who held power now. Santino’s club provided the perfect background to their leering.

The auctioneer barely had time to announce the sale before a judge, one of our own, on permanent payroll, stepped onto the stage with a black folder in his hands. The crowd shifted, murmuring with dark excitement. This was what they had come for. To watch these poor women become a spectacle.

Morena was dragged forward by two of Santino’s men. She stumbled in her tall heels. Her eyes were wide with panic as they forced her to stand beside me.

I didn’t look at her face. Not yet. The judge cleared his throat and began speaking in a flat, bored tone, as if this were any other contract. “Matteo Ventura, do you take this woman as your wife, to bind your bloodline to the Five Families and secure your seat?”

I answered without hesitation. “I do.”

My voice was cold. Exactly how it should be. The judge turned to Morena. “And you, Morena Caruso… do you take this man as your husband?”

Silence. The entire club seemed to hold its breath. Her lips trembled. Tears slipped down her cheeks, making her pretty makeup run. For a moment I thought she might refuse, that she might scream, fight, or beg. Instead, she whispered, barely audible. “…I do.”

The words sounded like a death sentence. I wondered how horrible her life must have been, if she was truly choosing me willingly.The judge nodded once. “By the power vested in me by the Five Families, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

I took her left hand. Her fingers were icy. I slipped my mother’s ring onto her finger, heavy, ancient gold with a glittering clear stone. It looked obscene against her skin. A brand more than a promise. Morena stared down at it like it was a shackle. Then I cupped her chin and forced her face up to my own. Her eyes were glassy with tears and humiliation. I kissed her anyway. Hard. Possessive. My mouth claimed hers in front of the entire room, in front of the Five Families, in front of every man who had just bid on her body. I tasted her fear, her shame, the salt of her tears. She stiffened at first, then made a small, broken sound against my lips as I deepened the kiss, one hand gripping her chin while the other rested on her bare waist.

Sweet little wife. The thought flashed through my mind before I could stop it. I pulled back slowly. Her lips were swollen, her breathing ragged. She looked dazed. Destroyed. The judge closed the folder with a sharp snap.

“Congratulations,” he said flatly. “The alliance is sealed.”

The crowd erupted in dark applause. I kept my hand on Morena’s bare waist, steadying her as she trembled beside me. Her skin was frozen under my palm. She was completely naked, chained, my wife in name only, a tool I had just purchased in front of the entire underworld. And I couldn’t even look her in the eye.

Then one of the senior Five Families members stood. Don Salvatore Esposito, old, powerful, and cruel in the way only men who had survived decades of blood could be. He raised a hand, and the applause died instantly.

“One final condition,” he announced, his voice carrying through the club like gravel.

The room went dead silent. “To secure the legitimacy of this union and bind the new seat firmly within the Five Families… the marriage must be consummated. Here. Now. In front of us all.”

My blood turned to fucking ice. Morena made a small, broken sound beside me, half gasp, half sob. Her body jerked like she’d been struck. She tried to pull away, but my grip on her waist tightened instinctively.

The crowd didn’t cheer. They didn’t laugh. They simply watched. Hungry. Waiting. This was the true price of power. I felt my cold mask crack for the first time all night.

Rage. Dark, violent hunger. Possession so fierce it nearly blinded me. They wanted to watch me claim her? Fucking fine. I turned to Morena. Her eyes were wide with horror, tears spilling freely down her cheeks. She shook her head slightly, silently begging.

I leaned down, my lips brushing her ear as I lifted her into my arms. Her naked body pressed against my suit, soft.

“You’re mine now, Rena. Every fucking inch of you. And they’re going to watch me prove it,” I whispered, voice low and dark, control slipping with every word. “But don’t worry. I’ll make sure you enjoy it.”

The crowd was full of hungry silence. No one cheered. No one looked away. Hundreds of eyes pinned us in place under the lights while the bass from the speakers kept pumping. She tried to curl in on herself, but I shifted my grip and forced her legs around my waist.

“Look at them,” I ordered, low enough that only she could hear. With tears falling down her face, I caught her chin and turned her face toward the sea of men in expensive suits and masks. “They ordered it. I accepted the seat. You accepted the vows. Now they’re going to watch me take what’s mine.”I set her on a low black platform that was used for private dances. The moment my cock was free she tried to pull away. I fisted the chains that bound her wrists and pinned them above her head.

“Look at me while I take you,” I ordered, voice low and rough. “You’re going to take every drop. The Families want heirs. Say it.”

Her voice cracked. “I… I’ll take it.”

“Not good enough.”