Owned by the mafia boss

TWO YEARS AGO

It took being trapped in a burning building to realize I was in love with Vinn Costa, my brother’s best friend.

It was Christmas.

Vinn sat at the bar as my brother Michael danced with his seven-year-old daughter to a George Michael song. Tinsel and green decorated the walls of The Black Cat, a mob-owned lounge and restaurant where the boss of the Family liked to hold his annual holiday celebrations. A mountain of catered food was piled on tables, but the tantalizing scent failed to draw Vinn from his lonely corner. Twinkling lights cast a colorful pattern over him.

He had a broad hero’s face, with a chiseled jaw. A shadow of stubble peppered his dimpled chin under a shapely mouth which beckoned a kiss. A strong nose led to eyes so dark and terrifying, staring into them gave me a thrill. A full-blooded Italian, Vinn sported the olive complexion I’d always envied.

He was gorgeous-I’d seen him shirtless-and he could’ve given Henry Cavill a run for his money.

A flood of heat engulfed my cheeks. The breath sucked from my lungs. I was a five on a good day, but Vinn was a perfect ten.

Since I was four, I’d crushed on Vinn Costa. He’d held my hand on trips to the beach. He’d saved me from running off and hurting myself. From the moment I met him, he’d protected me. But as we grew older, we drifted apart.

It’d been a while. School had kept me busy. The last text message we’d exchanged was back in April.

I stepped forward.

Rough fingers wrapped my arm, stopping me. I frowned at their owner, my oldest brother, Daniel. We looked nothing alike, because we weren’t related by blood. His mom had adopted me. My birth parents were a mystery, present only in faded photographs and even more distant memories.

Daniel’s skin was darker, his hair blacker, and his eyes two amber flames next to my blues. He was more than twice my age at forty-three, and my only father-figure. His hooded gaze narrowed as he followed my beeline to Vinn, his attitude drenched in disapproval.

“Liana. Don’t.”

My stomach fell. “What?”

Michael detached from his daughter to stand beside Daniel, wearing an identical frown. They stood within an inch of each other’s heights, but Michael was more fine-boned and lean. Though, as similar as they may have looked, they never agreed on anything.

Growing up with two older brothers hadn’t been easy. Family dinners became an excuse for Michael and Daniel to try to assert dominance over the other. They’d left me out of their fights, but it was still a grim way to grow up.

“You know what I’m talking about.” Daniel’s frigidity gave no doubt on the subject. “Leave him alone.”

“It’s Christmas,” I whispered. “I was just going to say hi.”

“And you hoped he’d ask you out? Because you brought him a gift?” Daniel’s smirk was a little too knowing. “Oh, Li. You need to give this up.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Come on, Li. You’re not that dumb.”

“Easy.” Michael shot him a glare. “She’s a kid.”

“Not anymore,” Daniel snapped, oblivious to the agony building in my chest. “I should’ve said something a long time ago, but I held off because you’re so young. Watching you pine after him embarrasses me.”

His caustic tone bit my cheeks. They’d both seen through me, and it stripped me emotionally naked.

“Who says I am?”

“It’s obvious, hon. I thought you’d grow out of it.” Michael’s mouth twitched with a bleak smile. “I know you’re crazy about him, but it’ll never happen.”

It was like he’d fisted my heart. “You don’t think Vinny likes me?”

“Not the way you want him to, sweetheart.”

My eyes burned before he finished the sentence. “Maybe-”

“It won’t happen. Ever.”

A violent flush claimed my face as my insides rebelled.

Michael took my shoulder. “You’re such a nice girl. There is a guy out there for you, but he won’t be Vinn.”

“Why not?”

Daniel groaned, kneading his forehead. “Fuck’s sake, Liana.”

“He’s too damaged,” Mike cut in. “He’ll hurt you. And, more importantly, he is not interested.”

Michael’s determination to stamp out my attraction to Vinn was nothing new. He always had a not-so-subtle jab ready whenever he caught me hanging around his cousin-turned-best-friend, but I’d never heard it so bluntly. Every word sawed into me.

“Did he say that?”

“He doesn’t have to.” Michael released a long sigh, his tone pitying. “Don’t take it personally. Vinn’s twenty-eight years old. You’re nineteen. That’s a big gap.”

“You’re both assholes.”

Daniel patted my head. He left, abandoning me with this hateful bastard.

Michael and I had never gotten along.

He’d mellowed out once he had a baby, but I’d never forget the angry teenager who hated me for existing.

“Why couldn’t you leave me be?”

“Trust me. This conversation is just as painful for me.” Michael massaged his temples. “I’d rather jump into a wood chipper than discuss my sister’s crush on my best friend.”

“I wish you would. I can’t stand you.”

“Nice. That’s real nice, Li.”

“I don’t care. I’m not one of your kids,” I hissed. “You don’t get to swoop in and be overprotective after a lifetime of being an ass.”

“I’m trying to give you a fast track to happiness.” Michael gestured at his wife, Serena. “Life’s too short to waste it on someone who doesn’t notice you.”

Ganging up on me about Vinn was a bridge too far. All I’d wanted to do was talk. What gave Michael the right to police my business? Compared to him, I was halfway to sainthood.

I looked at Michael. “What does your loveless marriage have to do with me?”

Michael bristled. His grip whitened on his glass before he slammed it onto the bar.

“Fine. Don’t come crying to me when he blows you off again.”

Ouch.

A rush of heat claimed my cheeks, but he’d said worse.

Was I wasting my time? Vinn had a life. I’d spent mine wishing I could change the impossible.

If only I weren’t Michael’s kid sister.

If only Vinn felt a fraction of my longing.

If only he weren’t trapped in the arms of a gorgeous redhead.

A girl of staggering beauty had materialized on Vinn’s lap. She used Vinn’s massive thigh like a bench. Her manicured fingers caressed his glossy black shirt and tie with an intimacy that clenched my guts. She plastered kisses over his jaw as I struggled to breathe, the pain at watching him with another woman so raw.

I wanted to disappear.

Vinn responded to her antics with lukewarm interest, sliding his hand under her thighs, riding up her dress, but his gaze wandered as though he searched for a replacement. His eyes found mine. He stared, probably wondering why I glared at him while a woman dry-humped his groin. Without breaking away, he uttered a dismissal.

“Get out of here.”

She giggled. “Merry Christmas, baby.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“See you.” She seized his lapels and kissed his mouth. “I’ve got a gift waiting for you in my apartment. You should stop by.”

“Maybe,” he said, but rolled his eyes at her back. He beckoned at me. “Li, come here.”

As I approached, violent words begged to purge from my lips. I could barely hold my tears from the vicious gut-punch.

“Who is she?”

Vinn shot me a peculiar look. “Some chick.”

“Your girlfriend?”

“For the week, sure.” Vinn’s low, gravelly tone stirred my stomach, awakening the butterflies. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing much.”

“Were you ever going to say hello?”

I crossed my arms. “‘Course.”

Looking at him pained me. His shirt and slacks were wrinkled where she had rubbed on him, and she’d mussed his beautiful hair. I could practically smell her on him.

Vinn peered at me. “You okay?”

“Why does something have to be wrong?”

“Well, you’re not talking my ear off, which is a red flag.”

I wanted to tell him the truth-he meant the world to me, and it killed me that I’d always be his best friend’s baby sister. I understood why we couldn’t be together. Michael and Vinn worked for the Family. The last thing the boss needed was a rift between his captains, and as Michael pointed out, Vinn wasn’t interested in a nineteen-year-old.

I usually grimaced through the pain, but not tonight. I couldn’t talk to him. I flourished the wrapped present-a stupid throwback to our youth-and shoved it onto the bar counter beside his hand.

“Merry Christmas, Vinn.”

Then I grabbed a half-open bottle of Chianti and disappeared into the Employees Only area. I walked through three sets of doors before shutting myself in a closet-sized office. I lifted the wine to my lips as the party raged. Nobody would miss me, and at least I wouldn’t have to float on a wave of sadness when Vinn summoned another girl to keep him company. I was sinking into a stupor when a loud explosion rocked the wall.

Drunken idiots.

Christmas parties frequently spiraled out of control. Everybody overindulged. They sometimes performed ridiculous stunts. Before Michael had kids, he was wild. He’d done the dumbest shit, like drunken races with his cousins with a lit cigarette in his mouth. For a while, they got into firecrackers. Not the cheap, kiddie ones-the sort that blew a hole through your eardrum from the blast. Michael’s Audi used to blaze through the Pike as he threw fireworks at other people’s cars. Explosions seemed par for the course, so I wasn’t alarmed at the noise nor the scandalized shrieking that was probably my aunts yelling at some moron.

I drank, ignoring the commotion, and then alarms shrieked overhead.

Whoa. I should see what’s going on.

I stood.

The world swam as I opened the door and inhaled acrid air. As I headed out, my skull pounded. Everything became a confusing swirl of blackness. The smoke thickened. Where was the exit? The air bit at my nostrils. My eyes stung. I coughed and doubled over, swooning.

“Liana!”

No, not him.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

A deep burn scorched my cheeks at the idea of Vinn catching me in a vulnerable state.

He stood near the light, his male figure silhouetted against smoke. His head turned left and right.

“Li, where the fuck are you?”

I raced headlong into the black, toward the heat. Go away, I prayed as he tore through rooms. Leave me alone. My head spun as I slumped down, close to tears, way too drunk.

“Liana!” His heavy footsteps shook the ground. “Jesus Christ, kid. Do you not hear the sirens? What are you doing on the floor?”

Kid.

The swell of pain was beyond tears.

I opened my mouth to tell him to go away and inhaled a lungful of smoke. My consciousness zipped out and snapped back into place.

He’d seized my upper arm and yanked me upright. He propelled me forward, dragging me across the floor and outside, where my exhausted lungs filled with oxygen. His powerful grip spun me around. He shoved me toward an EMT.

A mask smothered me as Vinn stood nearby. He had saved me-after heartbreak had almost killed me. His image melted as my vision misted. Then he patted my head the same way Daniel had.

The ache slammed into my chest.

Damn…I really loved him. But I would never be happy if he lingered in my life.

Vinn was an unhealthy addiction. Interacting with him gave me hits of dopamine. The false high always left me unsatisfied and craving more.

Michael was right.

I’d never have Vinn.

I had to find someone who loved me. I’d learn to exist in a world without him because, if this continued, I wouldn’t live at all.

While his back was turned, I abandoned the sidewalk blinking with red lights.

I didn’t crane my neck to check if he’d followed.

I was done with Vinn.