Marrying the Mob Prince

Evie

I'm grateful for the wind wiping my tears.

Dad asked no questions.

He rolled up on his Harley and whisked me away. Climbing onto my father's bike was exactly what Tony warned me against, but he didn't get a vote anymore.

Our marriage was a sham.

Tony would never accept me.

We shared nothing but the desire to fuck each other. I'd deluded myself the entire time, thinking there was more. Hoping he'd come around. Pure desperation led me to believe Tony's acts of kindness were glimmers of affection.

No.

He was simply a giving person who had no feelings for me. Tony did what he could to keep me safe, happy, and fulfilled. He gave me everything I wanted but not what I needed. I wished the things in my gratitude journal filled the void in my chest.

Hunger pangs stabbed my stomach as Dad parked in a shabby strip mall next to a motel. I slid my arms from his middle. My throat tightened when I took in the shipping truck and the Legion bikers surrounding it.

Dad lugged a bag over his brawny shoulder and motioned that I should follow along. He'd muttered about a favor as he pulled me onto his bike. He showed up with my old scale and scope but I was so depressed that I followed him without question.

An incessant chime echoed from my purse.

Incoming Call: T

I silenced the call. Answering him wouldn't do any good. I'd already texted him with the excuse that I needed space, but that probably wasn't enough for my overbearing husband.

As Legion bikers climbed the outdoor staircases to the second level, Dad waved me forward.

I hung back. "We really need to talk."

His bushy eyes narrowed. "About?" "Tony."

"Now's really not the time."

"Legion kidnapped Tony years ago. Tony said he was kept in a basement for weeks, beaten, starved, and God knows what else. Why would they do that to him? Did you know about this?"

Dad scanned the parking lot. He only seemed to be half-listening.

"Yes."

"Why torture a man who wasn't in the mafia?"

"His dad was a don. He was in jail. The Costas were weak, and Crash wanted to kill them all. So he made a move." His expression grew pitying as he patted my head. "Oh, Evie. You're like your mother. Not cut out for this life." "So he deserved it. That's what you're saying?"

"I don't give a rat fuck. It's in the past."

"It's not in his rearview mirror. I can promise you that." I grabbed his arm when he twisted away. "Why did you set me up with Tony? Did you think this marriage would go anywhere?"

He stared at me blankly. "I wanted you to keep Costa busy, and you have. If he's chasing you that's less time he's messing with my business."

So it was about his needs.

Fury whipped up my chest. I strolled across the parking lot to the bus stop. Dad's heavy boots crunched concrete as he kept pace. "Evie, I need this favor."

Suck it. "Those tend to come with a high price tag. No thanks."

"You ungrateful brat," he snarled, shoving into my path. "You have a good life. You're out of the club, just like you wanted. You're married to a rich man who gives you everything. All I'm asking for is a diamond appraisal." "I'm not breaking the law for you."

"You won't have to launder them," he grated. "I'll tell you everything I know about Costa."

Temptation battled with common sense.

This was a chance to hear the whole story, rather than what I'd gleaned from the video and whatever Tony was willing to divulge. My phone buzzed incessantly, reminding me there would be hell to pay no matter what. "I shouldn't." My hands stiffened from cold. Too bad I ran out and left my coat at the house. "Tony doesn't want me involved with club business."

"It won't take long."

As though that mattered.

"Ten minutes, tops." Dad took my elbow, gently leading me to the motel. "We'll talk. Promise."

My guts squirmed, and I nodded. I'd barely stuffed the phone into my purse before Dad's cell blew up. He fished it from his pocket.

"Yes, she's right here." Dad palmed the speaker. "Evie, it's Costa."

"Tell him I'm busy."

"I don't have time for this shit." Dad handed me the cell, climbing the staircase. "Don't let him know where we are."

Alarm rippled down my spine.

Dad reached the top of the stairs and headed to a room with closed curtains, the battered red door etched with a black eleven. He looked both ways and knocked as Gunner and Clyde stood sentry. I lifted the phone. "Hey."

"Finally. I've been looking everywhere." Tony's impatient gravel struck me deep, spreading dread through my body. "Why didn't you pick up?"

The concern sent a draft under my dying butterflies.

I swallowed the ball of hurt and adjusted my tone. "You're lucky I'm talking to you at all."

"Evie, let's do this in private."

"No thanks. I've hit my quota of being insulted by my husband." He interrupted me with questions, but I plunged on. "Dad needs a favor. I'll call you later."

"Hold on-what kind of favor?"

"I'm not at liberty to say."

"I don't like the sound of that. Where are you?"

"Next to a shipping truck. God only knows what's in there, but I'll survive."

Static crackled on the other end. "Evie, listen to me very carefully. You're not taking part in this. Give the phone back to Jett and run out of there."

"No. I'm hanging up."

"Don't you dare. I'm picking you up right now. Give me the address." After a long moment of silence, he gave a rough sigh. "Evie. Honey. You need to do what I'm telling you. You have no idea what you're involved in." My mind blanked.

Drugs or guns. Based on the truck, probably the latter.

"I'll be fine. I've done this before."

"I don't want to fight. I just want you safe. Tell me where you are." He sounded scared, and it dampened the urge to hang up on him. "Evie, the address! Now!"

A lump lodged in my throat. "I'm not even sure where we are."

"Describe what's around you."

"A sleazy motel beside a Five Guys."

"Okay. Stay on the line. I'm coming to get you."

"Why bother?" I wiped my eyes, struggling to compose myself. "You hate us. I understand why. I do, but this marriage isn't fair for either of us."

"You think I hate you?"

"My world doesn't revolve around you," I shot, throwing his cruelty back at him. "Your words. Remember?"

"Evie, we'd just fucking met. I had no idea what to make of you. I'm sorry."

"What about what you said before I left? You know me now, but I'm still not good enough for you. I'm just a biker bitch to you. You don't want your DNA contaminated with mine, so you'd rather I get knocked up with a stranger's baby. You have done nothing but hurt my feelings."

"Evie...Evie, you've got it all wrong."

"I don't fucking care. I've put in so much effort trying to understand you! Have you done the same for me? Of course not. You think a credit card is all I want in life. You think I'm a gold-digging whore."

"Jesus. I never thought that!"

Not good enough. "I'll call in a couple hours."

"Don't hang up!" he shouted, blasting my ear. "Evie, I'm sorry. I am. I want you to come back. Let's talk about this. Please, Evie. You have to leave. I'm begging you to walk away."

I was torn by the life I'd left and the dream Tony had demolished. The white picket fence with a doting husband and two-point-five children seemed forever out of reach. He didn't want that with me, and who could blame him? Keeping him tethered to me was selfish.

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Hurt squeezed, deep inside me.

"You're the one that needs to walk away. We're done."

"No, Evie-"

I hung up, and a hot tear rolled down my cheek. Better to end it now before I got even more involved with a man who couldn't love me.

Who didn't want me.

Who kept secrets from me.

I breathed deeply, waiting for the wave of catharsis. Instead I battled a fierce urge to cry. Wasn't ending it supposed to make me feel better? Tears blurred my vision. My chest ached. I'd fooled myself into thinking Tony and I would work. It was only a matter of time before he tossed me aside like my mother.

Dad clung to the metal railing as I climbed to the second story. I wiped my eyes before I reached the last step, hanging behind Dad.

My father chatted with man in his fifties, who wore a suit just like Tony's. My heart squeezed painfully. His unremarkable features would've made him blend in a crowd. His smile was pleasant, almost self-effacing, but it failed to touch his gaze. I handed Dad's phone back, and winced as mine rang. The vibration buzzed into my purse like an angry insect.

"Let's go, Evie."

He and Creep strode inside the room.

It took an age to move. My limbs refused to budge, and the knot in my throat swelled. I fiddled with my jeweler's loupe, sliding the lens in and out of the case.

Gunner nudged me into the seedy hotel room with an en suite kitchenette. Legion guys packed the right side. An assortment of hard-eyed men and bikers seemed to be with Creep.

Dad gestured to the coffee table piled with aluminum bricks. Legion members counted cash as Dad motioned me toward the gems on a silk cloth.

"Go ahead, Evie. Take your time."

I lined up my scale, scope, tweezers, and loupe, taking them out of the bag my father brought. I'd never felt a silence so thick with tension, broken only by the incessant buzzing in my purse. You're not safe.

A biker wearing a strange patch sat in front of me, his legs spread. Jeans wrapped his thighs. Silver teeth winked from a wide mouth, his hawklike nose dominating his tanned face. Shaggy black hair covered his head, as wild as a wig. His hollowed gaze drank me in like I was a treat he wanted to suck on.

"What's your name, sweetbutt?"

Dad looked up, glowering. "That's my daughter, and you'll keep your fucking eyes off her."

He lifted both hands in surrender, his grotesque smile stabbing my gut. "Just making conversation."

I dug into my purse, brushing my vibrating phone. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I picked through diamonds. Still silence. I stabbed the call button and shoved it deep inside. Then I turned my attention to the gems, but the dim lighting made it impossible to analyze them.

"Dad, I need more light. I can't see."

"There's a lamp in my room," suggested Creep. "It's next door."

I'm not going anywhere with them.

I beseeched him silently, but Dad never spared me a glance. He motioned toward Gunner. "Go with her."

"Sure thing."

I packed my things, fighting the urge to pull the hem of my leopard-print dress down my legs.

The biker stood, six-something towering feet of formidable strength. Gunner wasn't tiny by any means, but next to him, he was a midget.

My heart shrank.

Creep wrapped the diamonds and crammed them into a box. I flinched when his possessive gaze met mine. It swelled a ball in my throat. I couldn't breathe without it aching. I followed Gunner and Creep next door. "Sorry for the mess."

Creep cleared the table littered with drugs and flipped on the lamp. He slid the gems and their silk wrapping underneath it. He sank into the couch, his suit melting in the faded black fabric. Creep patted the cushion beside him. "Have a seat."

No thanks. I kneeled on the floor.

"You've done this before," he commented mildly. "Many times, yeah?"

I couldn't quite place his muddled accent.

"Maybe."

His attention never wavered, as though I were the most valuable object in the room. He rubbed his chin and stared.

I picked up a diamond with tweezers and held it under my loupe. I spun it in all directions, frowning at the feather breaking the surface. My mouth thinned as I spotted a broken culet. I moved it back and forth from the lens. Unpolished girdle. Facets that didn't overlap. Clouded. Worthless.

I set it aside and examined another.

Same thing.

My hands trembled as I worked through the pile, praying to find one that wasn't shit. Sweat beaded on my upper lip as I combed the stack of low-quality diamonds. A weight settled over my chest. Gunner tapped my shoulder. "Evie, are we good?"

Not even close.

I exchanged a look with Gunner. Judging by his whispered "fuck," he got it loud and clear.

"I need to talk to Dad." I bolted upright, jabbing through my purse's contents. Light from my cell flared through the screen. Tony was still on the line.

Angry voices erupted through the wall. Suddenly, Dad burst in, his face flushed.

"You're five grand short," he snarled at Creep, who slowly stood. "Evie, what's the appraisal?"

"The diamonds are crap. They're cloudy, the cut quality is horrible, and many of the stones aren't eye clean." My ears pounded as Creep's stare drilled into me. "So I'm going with ten-ten thousand." "What's this?" Dad bellowed, charging into the biker at Creep's side. "You time-wasting piece of shit. I ought to blow your head off."

"Relax, Jett. The coke I gave you makes up the difference."

"The deal's off!"

Creep's crooked smile stabbed my heart. "If I were you, I'd take the hit and move on."

"You tried to rip me off. Fuck you.

"

Dad yanked me into the other room, which was chaotic. Drugs and money were stuffed into bags.

"Let's go!" Dad roared, shoving his way through. "We're done here."

The door flew open.

My back smacked the wall as Dad flung me aside.

Bikers poured inside, shotguns pointed in our faces. They prodded Dad, Gunner, Clyde, everyone in the room.

Outnumbered.

Outgunned.

"The hell is this?"

"A robbery." The silver-tongued devil stood behind Dad, playing with the cheap diamonds. "Pro tip-bring more backup."

I opened my purse, hands shaking as I grasped my buried phone. It slipped from my fumbling fingers and smacked the carpet.

Shit.

Creep grabbed the phone. He ended the call, cutting off Tony's shouting. Then he pulled a knife and slashed the phone's casing. He fished out the SIM card and threw it aside.

I ran for the door.

A thick arm banded my waist, pinning me to an iron chest.

"Ah-uh," he chimed in a singsong voice. "You're coming with me, pet."

You're not safe.

"Dad!"

My father lunged for me, but four of them tackled him. They stomped on his face and shoved him against the floor, hitting him with heavy thuds that numbed my body.

Creep dragged me next door. I yelled for Gunner, I shouted for my husband. My breath jerked back and forth as though Creep had stabbed me, and then he smothered my mouth with his giant hand. "Shhh. That's a good girl. Relax. I'm not going to hurt you. Your dad...well, let's just say he had it coming."

Hollowness gaped in my stomach. Terror filled the space where there was panic. The sounds of my dad's beating dwindled to static. The ringing in my head drowned it out.

I'll never see Tony again.