Submitting To The Devil - The Devil's Snare - Book 2

Chapter Five

Niko

Just to annoy Luca for interrupting whatever was happening between Bianca and me back in my room, I ride in the car with them down to the docks like a fucking gooseberry.

The silence is a killer at first; it makes me regret ever climbing up front and not taking my car where I could swear aloud to expel this energy suddenly building inside me.

We pulled up inside the docks forty minutes later, and I assessed Emma from the rearview.

She says she wants to take over, but I doubt her decision is based on an educated one.

But then again, it's not like I know her as I know Luca.

I head in promptly, needing to take a few minutes to gather myself whilst I collect the paperwork from one of the men. And then I walk through to the back room in their wake.

The first thing I see is the women, each fitting the same profile.

Young. Blonde. Curvy. The ideal perfection for certain men.

It's obvious the man has a type, and as I look down at the paperwork stuffed on a clipboard before me, I note precisely who's ordered them. It could be worse; it could be a man I cannot trust, but this man is a decent man. Well, as far as a mafia man can be, I suppose.

Each girl awaits on their knees, and I hold back just a little to assess how Luca and Emma work alongside one another. Emma stops dead, holding onto Luca as if her life depended on it. They hush words between themselves, and Luca remains stoic, as he often does during these transactions.

"I hate this as much as you; we have no choice," Luca whispers, barely above audible. I want to laugh, because, ironically, he hates this but has a choice on the flip side. He could refuse; he could put his foot down. But he doesn't, because deep down, he knows without a doubt that this is just part of the job, and without his father on board, he'll lose everything he's worked so fucking hard for.

"Do you really think I'll continue to allow this when I take over?" She states. Her words make me smile because, yeah. She's got balls. Bigger ones than Luca has, for sure. But does she really think she'll be able to sway Dimitri and change the laws in which we follow? She can't seriously believe the takeover means she'll have sole choice over these matters? Elders stick around; that's their job after passing down the title—to govern the new in the ways of the old. To ensure that what they stand for doesn't perish under the youngen's rule.

"I'm betting on you changing everything, Bambina, but until then, we have to do as my father asks," Luca whispers. I really have to concentrate to hear him. It's obvious he's acting like a puppeteer, and it seems he has Emma exactly where he wants her.

Is that his ammo here?

"I hate this," she whispers as she walks away from him.

I go to move, introduce my presence and take Luca his paperwork as expected of me, but I'm stopped yet again by Emma's choice. Kneeling, she begins to greet the girls before her. She gives her name and shakes their hand. It's obvious she's trying to put them at ease, asking about themselves, extending an olive branch, so to speak. It makes me uncomfortable, yet it also makes me wonder what a future with her as my leader will potentially be like.

Turning to Luca, I notice him hanging off on her very existence. This motherfucker...just how fucking hooked on her particular heroine is he?

I march forward in a huff due to my yo-yo-ing opinion on the pair before me, pushing the clipboard toward him, which he takes gingerly. Yet he still reads through the paperwork, searching for something in particular. He must find it because he nods as if happy with his findings—the same findings I had.