Unforgivable Secrets | One Mistake Away Series Bk 1 [Mob Romance]

Chapter 18 - A Fire Ready To Spark and Ignite (Pt 2)

Mason's POV:

Her demeanor changed in front of me. My Harper disappeared as her alter ego fell into place. Siobhan O'Sullivan was back in the flesh. I almost didn't recognize her. One fast motion and she'd tugged me away from the weapon and slid in front of me. The gun hadn't moved and she stared it down fearlessly.

"Tell your man to stand down, Alec." Her words were sharp, demanding to be obeyed.

"Let's take this inside, Siobhan." Ricci pressed his suit down, waiting for another one of his henchmen to lead the way and open up her room door.

"You are making a grave mistake right now." Her lip had curled up as she remained protectively in front of me. I wanted her to know I could protect myself, but something about her demeanor made me remain quiet. She needed this power right now. She couldn't look weak. I understood that.

None of that mattered however. Ricci gave one brash nod. A simple motion quickly obeyed. I felt hands grip my upper arm, tugging me away from Harper. She would have protested too if someone hadn't grabbed her too. Her slew of curse words surprised me.

My motions were still slow and clumsy from the alcohol. I stumbled over my feet as the man nearly twice my size tugged me along. I wasn't a small man by any means, but he was far from being average.

"I swear I will make your life a living hell, Ricci." Harper growled out, fighting the soldier shoving her into the room.

As soon as the door was closed, Ricci faced us. His eyes were dark and volatile. His brows furrowed together and anger spewed from his mouth. "I have thirty-five men dead and fifty-two whores missing. Do you really think I would be doing this right now if I was afraid of your version of hell, Siobhan?"

Her eyes narrowed as she weighed out his words. "You underestimate me."

"And you underestimate me." He growled back, pulling a cigarette out and lighting it. Wisps of smoke swirled up from the burning paper. "You could have left well enough alone. But you decided to poke the bear instead." He snapped his fingers, staring the woman down.

I questioned the motion, realization dawning on me as I was shoved mercilessly to my knees. The man that led me into the room grabbed my suit coat and tugged it off. I hesitated, giving in when I realized he'd just rip it off if I didn't comply. I was about to be the bait to bring Siobhan O'Sullivan to her knees.

"What are you doing?" Harper watched helplessly from the sidelines, her voice remaining hard and controlled. I halfway wondered if she'd let them put a bullet in me if the opportunity presented itself.

"This is what's going to happen, Siobhan. You are going to return my women."

"I won't." She stubbornly stood straighter.

Ricci stared Harper down, his eyes hard and unforgiving. "Hold his arm out."

Another man held me back as the other rolled my sleeve up.

"Hey!" I yelped, trying to pull away from the two men. I wasn't sure what else to do. My pulse raced frantically, the uncertainty of the moment trying to overtake my mind. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew it wasn't going to be pleasant.

Taking another puff, Ricci calmly walked up to me. His cologne teased my nostrils as I tried to calm my racing heart. "Are you going to give me my girls back?"

"No." Harper stubbornly replied, trying to peel her captor's fingers from her arm. Her nails looked sharp and unforgiving, I was at a loss on how the man was still holding onto her.

Ricci eyed me up. I didn't dare breathe a word. I didn't know what would set him off. My best bet was to remain quiet.

"You should have chosen a different girl to bring to bed." I barely had a second to respond to his comment. His cigarette came down on my arm, burning the flesh and bringing a pained hiss from my lips. My body tensed as I tried to fight the hands holding me still. There was no escape for me; I just had to deal with the morbidly painful heat.

"I said stop." Harper growled, reaching out to grab Ricci's arm. He stopped, staring at her hand daring to touch his arm.

"I can handle it." I gave her a reassuring nod, praying things weren't about to get worse. It may have been my prayer, but I knew it wasn't likely to stay mellow. This was a warning or a threat; either way things were not going to go well for me.

"Shut up, Mason." She didn't bother looking at me, her gaze fixed on Ricci. "You dare defy the rules of this gathering. You are breaking a treaty here and you know it."

"You openly attacked me, Siobhan. Don't play innocent."

"I don't intend to play innocent, Alec. If you want to play dirty then I will play dirty, but don't you dare threaten people that are innocent in the matter at a fucking white flag event." I could feel the heat in her words and see the fire blazing in her eyes. Harper was a force to reckon with, but at that very moment I didn't want to have anything to do with her. She was opening a can of worms that many innocent lives would pay the price for.

"If you think that me burning your little fling here is me being mean, then you have another thing coming." He was enjoying her defiance, maybe even welcoming it.

Swallowing hard, I had a bad feeling about all of this. Ricci was right, a few cigarette burns were nothing compared to whatever he surely had planned. I eyed up the room as inconspicuously as possible, looking for a weakness to get us out of this mess.

"It's not me that you should be worried about, Siobhan. We're still waiting for another to join this little party." As if on cue the door flung open, bringing our attention to another intimidating figure.

Ricardo Ciciliano.