Forbidden Temptation My Mafia Fiance's Alpha Father (Brooklyn and Aden)

Chapter 52

Brooklyn

Blood drains from my face.

"The entire pack?" I whisper.

If meeting Louisa and the kids went poorly, how would this go over?

"And in exchange," Aden continues, "he's invited all of our crew as well. It was different, when I had Remington come here there was just a small guest list, not so many people..."

I swallow. Why does all of this suddenly feel so threatening?

"But tonight," Aden says, not noticing the face I'm making, "he wants all of his people and all of my people

in a room together. And not on either of our turf-in an outside location."

I glance at the invitation again and see, indeed, that he's invited us all to meet at a local country club.

Aden continues to shake his head and Hudson joins him.

"I just don't like it," Aden says pensively.

"Catch me up," I say. "What exactly is the problem?"

Aden stares at me then. It's patient, a challenge, I think, to figure it out myself.

What does he want from me?

But Hudson isn't playing games.

"Brooklyn," he says, "when big families get together like this, sometimes other gangs, or other packs, see it as an...opportunity. Two birds with one stone, as it were."

"Or," Aden says, picking up the thread, "because Remington has greater numbers than us, he could see it

as an opportunity. To pressure us into deals we're not happy making. Or something more dangerous..."

I swallow. I don't even want to ask what more dangerous means. "Maybe we should...not go."

Aden shakes his head again. "He's got us cornered there. He's already sent out the invitations to all of his people, all of mine. If I keep you from it, it will look like I'm keeping you from your family."

"Well," I say, hesitating, "I could just go...alone?"

Aden freezes then, looking at me in disbelief.

Then, he bursts out laughing.

"Excuse me, why is that funny?" I want to know.

"Not a chance in hell, Brooklyn," he says, walking by me and giving me a little swat on my jodhpur-clad butt. "Go get ready! We're leaving at 4:30, sharp! I want you two looking good!"

Both Hudson and I stare after him as he goes.

"Did he..." I say, shocked.

"Just..." Hudson continues, his voice low and unbelieving.

I turn to look him, my eyes as wide as saucers. "Did your dad just smack my ass?"

***

A few hours later, Jayde is putting the finishing touches on my hair.

I groan a little as she pins the last piece into place, finishing it off with some hairspray. My entire scalp hurts, each strand of hair having been combed and tugged and curled and pinned and sprayed.

The hairdo is a triumph, of course. It's so elaborately curled and swept up delicately off my shoulders that

I look like I could be getting married.

"You're gorge," she says, leaning down so that I can see both of our faces in the mirror. She laughs, then, giving me a kiss on the cheek and then wiping her lipstick off my skin with her thumb.

I stand up and let Jayde help me into the little black cocktail dress she's chosen for the occasion, the fabric shimmering subtly in the low light of my room.

It skims off my shoulders and cuts high on my thighs-definitely racier than anything she's put me in before.

"Are you sure this isn't a little...risqué?" I ask, considering myself in the mirror. "For like, a meeting the family sort of thing?"

"When it was your dad, it was one thing to look like a pretty princess," Jayde advises, zipping me up. "But trust me, I know she-wolves like those you're meeting tonight. If you come in looking like a little girl, they'll eat you alive."

We both look at me in the mirror, and I'm surprised by what I see.

If last time I was the mafia princess, tonight I am dressed as the femme fatale. The woman who can wreck it all if she wants and walk away laughing.

"You look as if you could breathe fire," Jayde says approvingly, passion in her words.

"Do you really think so?" I turn to look at her.

"Baby Brooklyn," she says, shaking her head at me with a little pity in her eyes. "Our innocent little baby. You really have no idea what you've got going on, do you?"

I balk. "Huh?"

"You could have them all in the palm of your hand," she whispers to me, holding out her own in front of my face to demonstrate. "With just one look. You could bring them all to their knees. You're a Luna if I ever saw one.'

I snap my head back to the mirror, wondering if it's true. Thinking, suddenly-perversely, I know of Aden on his knees before me.

And what I'd make him do if I had him there.