Savage Heir {Dark Mafia Romance + Thriller}

Chapter 30

The world was temporarily on fire as the sun devoured its own reflection in the oceanic horizon outside my penthouse suite. Grace's supple hourglass figure cut the most intoxicating shape I'd ever witnessed, backlit on the balcony like a phoenix emerging from the ashes.

Her womanly curves and taught waist paired with that glossy brunette waterfall tumbling over her shoulders had my entire body howling for her.

I gave Grace and her uncle the intel I'd been collecting on Gannon's murder, but true to form, Rob McShane gave me fuck-all. He was about as expressive as a rock, other than to let on that he knew Mario Vitale worked for Luigi Bianchi.

It was frustrating as fuck and wearing on the last shred of patience I had left.

If I didn't need him on my side, I would have hung up on him and tracked him down for a good old-fashioned face-to-face, or face-to-fist, meeting.

When I was finished, Grace requested a few minutes to speak to her uncle alone. As usual, I couldn't deny her. She took her leave on the balcony and immediately switched off the video to talk quietly.

Twenty minutes later, I was fixing myself a Manhattan at the fully stocked wet bar to take the edge off.

I had to consider the fact that Rob McShane was using every tool at his disposal to convince his adopted niece that I was no good. And he wouldn't be wrong. As my earthbound angel would say, it 'takes one to know one.'

Then again, I wasn't sure Grace knew the full extent of her uncle's past (or even half of it).

Women in our world are typically kept in the dark about the details of our business, but they are almost always aware of their role in Cosa Nostra. Any association with la famiglia, technically meant that Grace and I were part of the same thing. 

Yet we couldn't be more different.

For fuck's sake, she was the adopted child of an international freelance mercenary. Mercs were a different breed from us altogether. They didn't operate under the same code of conduct, nor did they honor the blood oath we swore to La Societá, either.

Not to mention she was royally pissed that Mia's family was somehow involved in Gannon's murder. They weren't ever going to get along, but now Grace wanted Luigi and Mia's severed heads on spikes to bookend Mario's mutilated corpse. I could see the taint of revenge in her beautiful eyes.

I'd done that.

The ice chilling my drink rolled and clinked inside my tumbler as I turned to admire her remarkable silhouette once more. Her natural beauty ripped the breath straight from my lungs, burning like a bullet under the flesh.  

The last of the light caught her gold locket as it set her skin aflame, caressing her the way I wanted to. I was convinced that necklace held the secrets to her heart, and suddenly, I couldn't wait a minute longer to find them out.

Besides, it was nearing seven in the evening, and I was pretty sure Grace hadn't eaten.

Her toffee eyes studied me, melting into buttery pools as I opened the sliding glass wall to join her. A warm ocean breeze tousled my hair, carrying notes of her hypnotic perfume with it.

Fuck, she was more chronic than cocaine! Raw need pulsed in my veins and tore at my resolve with a bestial lust that threatened to overpower like none other.

And like any addict, I was so goddamn needy for my next fix, I was practically shaking. My cock strained against my zipper, throbbing impatiently to end her conversation and lay claim to my singular craving.

"Love you too," she said, still gazing at me. The words she'd meant for someone else, struck me right between the eyes. "Yes, he's right here."

Grace handed her phone to me, which I took as I rested the dregs of my drink on a stainless-steel patio table so I could cradle her jaw.

Peering into the ripples of jade woven through her molten gold irises, I sought the truth I'd known since the moment we'd met.

I coveted her, body and soul, and selfishly, there was no other outcome I was prepared to accept but her enduring love.

"Listen here, Romeo," Rob McShane's growl buzzed in my ear. "You know what I'll do to you if you hurt my Gracie, yeah?"

I nodded to acknowledge that he had eyes on us at that very moment. He could have been in any of the surroundings condos, ready to pick me off, if necessary.

Thank Christ the glass walls of the penthouse were tinted, and bulletproof. 

"And you'll have her home no later than eleven tomorrow for the piano lessons she's meant to be teaching?" Rob waited for me to nod again.

Grace's angelic features scrunched in confusion to wrinkle her lightly freckled nose. Her skin glowed in the emerging twilight, highlighting her natural splendor.

"I'll escort her home myself," I choked through the onslaught of emotion she stirred within my soul. "On my honor."

Grace's dollish face fell into acute sorrow, assuming I meant right away.

"I don't know why," Rob McShane sighed reluctantly, "But I'm inclined to believe you. Just know, you have my trust until it's broken."

He hung up before I could think of something good to say and I gave zero fucks.

Stuffing her cellphone into my pocket, I seized her lips to taste the thrill of her broken gasp. She melted into my heat, arching into my chest as I cupped her bottom under her skirt.

"You're staying with me tonight," I hadn't given her a choice, so I was relieved to feel the hum of her agreement on my lips. "First, I'm going to take care of you. Then, I'm going to make you scream my name over, and over, and over baby."

Sucking her soft lower lip, I rolled it between my teeth to elicit a throaty moan as I ground my erection from her pelvis to her belly. "I've got big plans for that pretty, little, pussy."

Her shattered cry of ecstasy urged me to push my fingers past the flimsy lace of her panties where I found her dripping wet for me. So warm, and so wet, and so fucking tight.

Another desperate wave of lust crashed through me like a tsunami. The only thing that could pull me back from the brink was her phone humming urgently against my thigh.

Dragging myself away was as tortuous as seeing her uncle's picture on the caller ID.

"One more thing," he spoke first when I answered.

"Yes?" I ground out.

"Get my niece the fuck off that balcony," Rob McShane growled, confirming what I already knew. "And stop giving your neighbors a show."

I was the one to hang up first that time, but only so I could lift Grace up and carry her over the threshold of the penthouse. She giggled against my mouth, and I groaned through another aching stab of desire.

I wanted more than one night.

A lifetime with Grace still wouldn't be enough. 

More than anything, however, I knew I had a duty to safeguard her from the inevitable dangers of my world. From men like me.

A/N ~ Hold on tight BB's! More steamy chapters to come!! 👄👅💦