Vicious Hearts: A Dark Enemies To Lovers Mafia Romance

“Your art collection is incredible, Gail.”

I stare in awe at what is clearly a Warhol original hanging on her living room wall above the mantel.

Gail rolls her eyes. “I know, I know. It’s a bit showy. But, I always loved his work growing up. Something about the madness and the focus behind it. And now?” She shrugs eloquently. “Sometimes, you gotta treat yourself, right?”

“Right,” I grin, taking another sip of the fantastic Bourgogne she opened earlier.

“So…” she frowns. “Finn.”

I take a deep breath. “Yeah. He…had a lot of demons.”

“How was the service?”

I wince, looking away. “There wasn’t one. Or at least, there was a small one at the halfway house he was living at when he died. I…” I swallow back the tears. “I wasn’t there. I was still looking for him when it happened. I actually just found out a few weeks ago that he had even died, I had no idea.”

Gail’s face falls. “Oh my God, honey.” She puts her wine down, moving from her seat in the chair across from me to hug me tightly. “I am so very sorry.”

I pull away, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. “Thanks. I might have one, actually. A service, I mean.”

It’s something I literally just thought of. But suddenly, I know it’s something I want to do.

“I think that would be lovely. I’ll be sure to come. He was such a sweet boy.”

I exhale slowly. “Yeah, he really was.”

Gail sighs, draining the last of her wine before she glances at my mostly-empty glass. “Can I top you off?”

“I…” I grin. “Sure. Thank you.”

“Excellent,” she beams, watching me kill the glass before taking it. “I need to go check on dinner anyway. I hope Shepherd’s Pie is okay?”

I chuckle. “I mean I’m Irish, so, absolutely. Our housekeeper growing up was like off-the-boat Irish, too. She made it all the time.”

Gail smiles. “Same. I mean, not the Irish housekeeper, but the Irish blood and appetite for Shepherd’s Pie, one hundred per cent.”

“I had no idea you were Irish!”

She laughs. “Full on. My maiden name is McCurdy and everything.”

“Wow, I also didn’t know you were married.”

“Divorced. Long before you and I met in Colorado.” She sighs. “All right, give me five. I’ll go refill our wine and check on dinner.”

I grin. “I’ll go find Bones and make sure he’s not pooping on one of your priceless rugs somewhere.”

She chuckles heartily. “Oh, I’m sure that good boy is doing just fine.”

When she waltzes out of the room toward the kitchen, I get up and head out the other doorway into the main hallway of Gail’s gorgeous apartment.

“Bones?” I frown, peering into the guest bathroom and finding it empty. “Bones, where are you, you little dick? You’ve got her fooled into thinking you’re a good boy, but we both know that’s bullshit. Where are ya? I swear, if you’ve pooped on Dr. Thompson’s floor, we’re going to have some serious words.”

There’s still no answer. I check the formal dining room, the entryway, the guest room, and the bathroom again just to make sure. Nothing. I even gingerly approach what’s clearly the door to the master bedroom. Thankfully, the door is firmly shut. And while Bones does have a way of using his head to butt doors open, this one clearly stood up to the assault by his fuzzy little dome.

“Dude, c’mon. Where are ya?”

I’m heading back down the hall to the living room when I pause, my nose wrinkling horribly.

God, that smell is really foul—way worse than when I walked in. Like, I’m almost concerned for her upstairs neighbor, it’s so bad. I’m about to head back into the library when I glance to the side and frown.

“Dammit, Bones.”

The door to Gail’s study, which was closed when she invited me in earlier, is now ajar. Unlike the bedroom door, this one seems to have yielded to Bones’ patented head butt move.

Gingerly, realizing this is someone’s private space, I push the door wider and step inside.

“Bones?”

I almost retch. The smell is almost overwhelming in here. Like rotting food, or spoiled milk. I gag, covering my nose with the crook of my arm as I peer into the dimness of the room.

There’s a desk to one side in front of the windows, their shades closed. A table, a bunch of gorgeous hardwood and brass shelving. And, oddly, an ornate curtain drawn across the far wall, covered in Celtic-inspired designs.

“Bones!” I hiss. “Come on! We can’t be in here! This is someone’s private space, not your fucking litter box. And besides, there’s no way either one of us should be breathing this air. Jesus.”

On my knees, I crawl-walk over to Gail’s desk and peer underneath it. “Bones?” Still nothing. Fuck. I start to stand. “Goddammit, you fuzzy fucking—”

Something glitches. Something chokes the air from my lungs as my mind tries to process what the insane fuck I’m looking at on Gail’s desk.

Photos.

Of me.

Of Cillian. Of the two of us together—holding hands. Kissing. Each candid shot obviously taken through a telephoto lens from far away.

It’s not just us.

There are other shots too, of Neve and Ares, both together and separately. Of Eilish, and Castle. Of Hades, Kratos, Callie, and Dimitra.

“What the fuck…”

A meowing sound behind me almost gives me a heart attack.

“Bones!” I hiss, whirling as my eyes stab through the dim light in the room, trying to find him. With the blinds all down, the room is bathed in shadows. “Bones, we have to get the fuck out of here, now. Where—”

I freeze when my gaze lands on a table next to the desk.

A table with a handgun lying on it.

A remote control of some kind.

A package of red cake frosting dye.

My pulse starts to race, my mouth going bone dry as I ignore every voice screaming in my head to run, and approach the table instead. My head swims as my gaze slides over the gun, and the remote control, and more pictures of my new family and me, and a half dozen disposable flip phones charging from a power strip, until it finally lands on the mask.

A numb feeling gnawing in my gut, my hands reach out, shaking, to pick it up. The top half is black, with two opaque mirrored lenses over the eyes. The bottom half is metallic, with what looks like a speaker over the mouth area.

What the fucking shit is this.

And what the FUCK is that smell?!

Something brushes my leg. I jolt, dropping the mask to the floor and slamming a hand over the scream before it bubbles out. I look down, my heart in my throat.

“You absolute asshole!” I hiss at Bones, who’s looking up at me, licking his lips. “You scared the shit out of me!”

Bones nuzzles the mask at my feet.

“Ew, don’t touch that,” I mutter. “It’s creepy.”

Bones meows. Then he sticks his face inside the creepy mask.

“Bones, please—”

I almost scream again when he meows once more.

Through the mask.

Through the speaker over the mouth that turns his sweet little meow into a cold, metallic, rasping sound.

Holy Christ.

Suddenly, I have a revelation, like I’m looking past the blinders for the first time. And it feels like a cold knife being dragged down my spine.

This isn’t Gail’s office.

It’s Apostle’s.

Bones pulls his face out of the mask and meows as I quickly reach for him.

“We need to get the fuck out—BONES!”

He darts across the floor to the curtain and bats at it, meowing.

“Get over here!” I hiss. “We have to leave, NOW!”

But he keeps meowing and playing with the curtain. And my head keeps spinning. And my mouth keeps growing drier.

And that smell…

“Bones!”

I’m getting tired.

Why the fuck am I getting tired?

“Bones! Come here!”

But he keeps batting and meowing at the curtain, over and over, until suddenly, he slips under it.

Fuck.

I lurch, terror clawing at me when I realize my feet aren’t working like they should. But I grab onto the desk and stagger along the side of it, then the shelving, until I’m standing unsteadily in front of the curtain, where the smell is overwhelming.

“Bones…” I mumble. “Bones, we…come here…”

I grab the curtain. And with an effort that it shouldn’t take me, I yank it open.

This time, I really do scream.

I scream a scream of pure, abject horror.

Because I’m face to face with the rotting corpse of my father, pinned to the wall.

“I’d hoped we could have a little family reunion.”

I whirl, staggering as the floor rolls underneath me. I blanch and sob as I start to vomit. I lift my heavy head up, trying to wipe my mouth on the back of my hand as my bleary eyes lock onto Gail’s.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” she says through the glazed smile on her face. “I hope this doesn’t damage our relationship. I am your stepmother, after all.”

I blanch again, heaving as I drop to my knees.

“What the…fuck…”

“Just some drugs to help you relax, honey, don’t worry!” she gushes. “Just to calm you! I know family reunions can sometimes be a lot.”

“Please…”

“You were such a good sport, doing all of those things I asked you to, Una.”

My gaze drifts blearily to the mask on the floor.

“I—I never wanted to be cruel, of course. But justice must be served. The people who slandered, and hounded, and killed your sweet father—my dear, dear Seamus—must be held accountable. And once they are…Una!” she squeals. “We can be one big happy family! You, and me, of course…”

She nods past me at the horror-show of the decaying corpse of my father on the wall.

“And your dear father. We can be a family again, Una.”

“Gail…”

“Oh, come on, Una!” she laughs. “It’s just Mom, now!”

The room starts to swim and fade in and out of focus. My pulse feels so, so fucking slow.

“Take a little nap, sweetheart. Pretty soon, they’ll be here. They’ll all be here. Then, once they’re—”

“Who…”

“Why, his killers, of course. Neve…”

Oh God.

“And that horrible Ares.”

Please no. Please don’t come for me.

“And of course, that monster of a husband of yours, Cillian.”

A single tear drips down my face as my body starts to succumb to the blackness.

“They…won’t…”

She laughs. “Oh, but of course they will! I guarantee it!”

I feel her hand jam into the back pocket of my jeans and yank my phone out. She holds it up to my face, and I flinch and go to shut my eyes, but it’s too late. The phone unlocks.

“Now, give me a sec, sweetheart. This reunion is missing just one last thing.”

She touches something on the phone and brings it to her ear. “Oh, hi!” she chirps. “Is this Neve?”

“No…”

Oh my God, Neve…

“Hi, Neve. I’m a good friend of Una’s, and I think she’s having a few stomach problems. We were having dinner at my place and…yes, exactly.”

“You’re…a monster…”

My voice is barely more than a breath as everything shuts down.

“Look, she can obviously stay here as long as she wants, but I’m afraid I don’t drive, and I wouldn’t want to put her in a taxi in her condition…Oh! Would you? I’m sure she just needs a hot bath and some rest. Of course. Let me give you my address.”

I start to cry as the grin widens on Gail’s face.

“Excellent. Okay, Neve—oh, no, not at all! Of course, I’d love to meet your husband as well. I’ll see you both soon!”

She ends the call. Her gaze swivels to where I’m quietly sobbing on the floor as the darkness threatens to engulf me.

“Don’t you want to know what our little reunion is missing?” Her lips curl into a snarl. “A blood sacrifice.”

My heart wrenches as my vision dims to nothing.

“They’ll all come, Una,” she sighs quietly. “And then they’ll die.”