Marrying the Mob Prince
3-18

CAINAN

I should have known better.

The mad cunt was never going to make my succession easy. I'd hoped the cancer would mellow him out, but if anything, he was more unbalanced. More set in his ways. Bitter disappointment pitted my stomach. For one shining moment, I'd thought the nightmare was over. Turns out, it was only beginning.

Never mind.

If it took an army, I'd kill him and my brown-nosing brother. I'd level the whole goddamned island if I had the means, but unfortunately, I didn't have godlike powers. My father's estate would have to suffice.

I lay on the grass with Claire a short distance away from the pool. I clutched a bottle I'd swiped from the party moments after walking out on my father. I swigged it and drank, fire burning down my throat, planning my next move, and then warmth blazed across my wrist.

"Cainan."

Her needy tone gave me a flashback to Boston, when she used to whisper my name with reverence. I rolled onto my side, my upper body propped on my elbow to get a better look at her. Alarm widened her eyes. I tensed. "What is it?"

She pointed at a crowd a short distance away. They'd gathered around a motionless girl on the ground. Blue light danced on Claire's stunned face as she watched them attempt CPR.

"Oh. That's just a drug overdose."

I settled back down. I'd seen so many people die that it no longer held any terror for me, but Claire's face was alive with grief.

"Is she going to die?" Tears budded in her eyes. "Isn't there something you can do?"

"Even if I could, I wouldn't. I can't do anything he perceives as weakness."

"We can't just sit here while she dies!"

"Yes, we can. I've done it many times."

"Right," she grated out, her lip curling. "Well, I'm going to see if I can help."

In an instant, she stood, making a beeline for the unconscious girl. I shot upright and grabbed her arm, yanking her backward. "What the hell are you doing?"

"She's lying there, not moving!"

"And what are you going to do? Hold her hand while she strokes out?" I said it as gently as I could, but two small tears slipped down her cheeks. My stomach clenched as she wiped them away. "How can you be so heartless?"

"You can't survive this place with any semblance of a heart." I gave her a grim smile and folded her hand in mine. "We've got plenty of naloxone. She'll be okay."

"God," she whispered. "None of this is okay."

One of the guards administered the nasal spray to the woman. Her legs stirred, and she was hauled to a seated position. Saved. Good for her. It'd probably happen again, but some things were better off left unsaid. I clasped Claire's hand and headed away from the debauchery, walking down the path to the garden.

I ventured west, toward a maze of rosebushes. A series of turns brought me to a circular area enclosed by hedges. If I closed my eyes, I could still see my mother with her enormous straw hat and shears. The ghost of her seemed to cling to the garden.

My throat thickened.

"Cainan? Why are we here?"

"Taking a trip down memory lane." I pulled at my collar, unsnapping the first two buttons. "I haven't stepped in this garden in over a decade. It hasn't changed much."

"Sounds like...you're avoiding something."

"My mom." I ran a palm along the hedges, marveling that gardeners had actually maintained them. "I don't like thinking about her too much, but on nights like these I get dangerously...sentimental."

I'd spent many afternoons here with my mother. She needed to get away from it all. This was the only refuge. Our one safe place.

Claire hugged herself, her gaze tracking me. I gestured with the bottle, motioning toward the stump that lay beyond a stone bench. "That used to be a pomegranate tree. My father had a tree planted the year he 'started dating' my mother. I thought..." I shook my head, confounded by my feelings. "It doesn't matter."

Claire soft footsteps padded close. Her hand rolled over my arm. "Obviously, it matters to you."

"Used to. Now it's just another dead thing in my past."

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"What happened?"

I smiled at the caution in Claire's voice. Sweet little bird. I ought to reward her for being so good. My mood slipped as I approached the remains of the tree. I was too drunk. Scenes of my mother opening the thick flesh of a pomegranate and shaking the seeds onto my open palm flashed in my mind.

"Cainan, what happened?" prompted Claire in a whisper. What happens to everything I love?

"She died."

Claire stepped forward. "While she was escaping with you?"

"I was just a child, too weak to save anyone, but I took it hard. I couldn't replace any solace within these grounds, except for this garden. I would sit under the tree's branches and pretend she was still with me. When Father found out what the garden meant to me, he took an axe and..." My insides clenched with the memory of him hacking at the trunk.

Claire looked like she didn't want to hear anymore. Color leached from her face.

"I hate my father. My hatred for him is a monster that lives in my belly. It awakens whenever I see his face, hear his name, or listen to him speak. Every day I can feel it slithering inside of me, silently raging." I swigged the bottle and drank deeply, but it was like pouring gasoline on a fire. "I didn't come here to take over. I'm here to kill my father."

Claire released my hand and slumped onto the bench, her palms gripping the stone. "Kill him?"

I peeked over the hedges, making sure we were alone. A few scantily clad women lounged by the pool. There was zero privacy in this place, what with the guards and the fact that cameras pointed at us in every direction.

"He's taken everything from me." I smiled bitterly, thinking of our conversation shortly before I kidnapped Claire. "My happiness. My freedom. Even my humanity. I am not a good man, but he disgusts me. He is obsessed with bringing pain and horror to every moment."

Her brows drew together as I joined her on the bench, my head throbbing. Claire hugged her chest. I drank the rest of the bottle and tossed it aside, watching it roll under the hedge.

"I've waited years for this. I've thwarted his attempts to expand this empire. I've helped girls escape. I saved someone from the island, which estranged us for a while until my father realized he needed an heir. I'll torch the whole fucking villa. And once the keys to his kingdom are in my grasp, I'll make him watch as his legacy burns to the ground. That will be the highlight of my life...and then...when I've exhausted myself from torturing him, I'll kill him." "Why are you telling me this?"

Claire's widened eyes danced all over my face. I'd terrified my poor pet. My free hand drifted to the back of her neck and kneaded the tense knot of muscle. "Because...I'm tired and frustrated, and you're the only person I can talk to without putting myself at risk." I let out a low laugh. "How absurd-a master and his-"

"Don't call me a slave."

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"Nothing has changed between us. Your role is the same it has always been. But I had to come clean because we're stuck here for weeks."

"Wait. Why can't we leave?"

"He'll have us killed before we get to the airport. I'd be shocked if he hasn't instructed his guards to report on my behavior."

"So...we're both trapped?"

"Yes." I removed my hand and exchanged a long look with Claire. "I know this isn't your fight and I don't expect you to understand...but I need your compliance. You're going to give it to me."

Her nostrils flared. "Why should I bother helping you?"

I opened my phone and scrolled to the scorching hot video I'd recorded hours earlier. I stopped on a still-frame of her lips wrapped around me, my cock thickening with need as I stared at it. Claire glowered at me, her expression solidifying into hate. A stab of guilt buried in my chest.

"Do as I say and when this is over, I'll delete the video." Her eyes tracked its movements as I shut off the phone, sticking it back into my pants pocket. She spoke with quiet but desperate firmness.

"You can't just ask for help like a normal person?"

My hand twitched. "Would you have given it?"

"Delete it." Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. "Right now, and I'll do whatever you want. I'm begging you, Cainan. Do the right thing. For once."

My eyes raked her curves, still discernible in the darkness. "Making sure you're compliant is the right thing. This keeps us both safe."

"Can't you just be ruthless with your father?" she hissed, her nails digging into my slacks. "Why do you torture me?"

To make you hate me. To kill my feelings for you.

Instead I felt like I'd killed myself. My chest ached as I hauled her to her feet, heading for the guesthouse. Once inside, I ordered her into the cage under the bed.

I spent the night on the couch, not trusting myself to lay beside her. I didn't sleep, tormented by her words, the hitch of breath in her lungs, by every single fucking thing she did. When I couldn't stand it any longer, I climbed the stairs and checked on her. She was on her side, eyes closed, her chest rising and falling. Her blond tresses blanketed the floor. She was an angel, sound asleep in my cage. Fierce little thing. I stroked where the moonlight kissed her cheek.

I needed this woman too much.

And it would be my downfall.