The Monster's Protégé

F I F T E E N

MARCO

Sammy's divine Plan B was to tell on Viktor—yes, telling on. The thing I did when I was...No, I never 'told on' anyone. It wasn't my style because I considered it to be beneath me. Yes, I broke their noses, fractured their limbs, kicked them in the balls—but I never 'tell on' anyone.

I highly believe that even a monster should have standards.

But Sammy didn't share my philosophy. Growing up around three brothers, she liked to play dirty all the time. And as long as she won, she didn't mind playing the game.

Coming back to her Plan B, she thought it would be worth introducing Aurora to Mrs. Romano. The undercurrent threat was to blackmail Viktor with what he did at La Preda.

Viktor's mother, Mrs. Romano, was the bonafide ruler of their house. She made it clear to her husband since her early days of marriage that Alessandro Romano he might rule over Chicago, but when it came the Romano Mansion—her word was law. Apart from that, there was another mandate she has established: innocents, especially children, should not be a victim of collateral damage.

As I said, every monster should have standards—Romano men drew a line for themselves too. Be it Alessandro, Viktor or Dominic: no one had ever dragged a girl into our business. If we wanted someone, we got them by the balls, (and many other body parts, too). But we never went after their women.

Sammy figured out that if Mrs. Romano got wind of what Viktor did with Aurora, she would be furious. And Shakespeare had already established that: Hell has no fury like a woman scorned. No one would ever, in their right senses, dare irk the temper of Mrs. Irina Romano. Not even her husband.

"I will tell Mama you let her get molested and beaten in a roomful of men—inside a fucking cage!" Sammy threatened. "Then me crashing your precious Ferrari would be the least of your worries!"

I might as well poke my eyes out rather than sit through this. When my eyes flickered over to Aurora, she looked absorbed. Her eyes were on Sammy, but she was thinking of something else altogether.

And before I could read her expressions, Sammy's pitched voice broke her train of thought.

I had always enjoyed Sammy's presence, just not particularly today. Today was all about Aurora—I wanted to know her better, see through her defenses she had erected and then break every one of them. I wanted to see her laugh again the way she did when we were alone upstairs—it was wild and uninhibited. It wasn't anything like I have seen before—it mystified me. So my irritation was justified when I saw Sammy at my door.

Today, of all the fucking days, I wanted nothing to do with any of the Romanos. But fate liked to screw with me, and here I was: sitting in the middle of my living room with two angry Romanos having a glaring competition at each other.

"Can you guys take this bitch-whining back to your place?" I snapped finally, after about an hour or so listening in to this never-ending trifle.

"Why, do you have somewhere else to be?" Viktor snapped back.

"No, but we would like some privacy." It was Aurora. Her voice caused all of us to turn our head in her direction.

Aurora's eyes scanned the room when three pairs of eyes gaped at her. With a small shrug of her shoulder, she met with the questioning gaze of Viktor's.

"We? You speak for Marco now?" Viktor quirked a brow at her.

"No, I live with Marco now, so technically it's my place too," she put out defiantly, stressing on the word.

And why on fucking Earth the thought sounded so enticing, so tempting, and so...forbidden and delicious?

I immediately wedged myself between them before Viktor put his feet forward. "Let's not do anything irrational again." My eyes held a silent warning as I glanced at Viktor.