CHAPTER THREE:
2196 Words
Never make a deal with the devil, unless you are prepared to lose.
EARL
I watch as she grabs Rose’s arm, glancing frantically from her to me sitting in the swivel chair.
There are tears in her eyes and above her right brow the cut is still bleeding.
I grit my teeth.
I had told the i***t driver to be careful.
Good for him that he died before I had the chance to get my hands on him.
My sister looks guilty as hell.
She should be. She did sell out her friend.
Although to be fair, I hadn’t given her much of a choice.
I had noticed Cameron from the very second she stepped into the club.
It had been due more to force of habit than anything else.
When you have as many enemies and even more enemies pretending to be friends as the Salvatore Family did, you learn many skills of survival.
One was to never sit with your back to the door.
Granted it was one of the many clubs belonging to my family and no one would be stupid enough to attack anyone here.
But you can never be too careful.
So I had seen her the second she walked into the club.
All five foot eight of her standing in heels that would give a 6 foot tall man a run for his money.
She was dressed in a ruffle dress that had barely skimmed her thighs, her white blonde hair in a ponytail away from her face and the urge to let her hair down had been so sudden and whole in its ridiculousness, it almost made me laugh.
So I looked away.
Or at least I tried to.
She sat at the bar and ordered a drink.
She was completely out of place, glancing around, biting nervously on her lower lip, but she hid it well.
And every time I saw a guy step up to her it set my teeth on edge and made my bones itch.
Heaven knows if it was that she felt me staring but she turned around and she looked at me and she didn’t look away.
And I knew immediately that she had no idea who I was.
But it wasn’t until she walked up to the VIP lounge where I was sitting that I realized she was insane too.
And then we were talking.
And talking.
And then the talking stopped. And I had to kiss her or I was going to lose my mind.
My Uncle, the consigliere, would say that I had been stupid.
A strange woman, who I did not know. A woman who could have been anyone, could have been sent by anyone.
But in that moment, when I pinned her hands above her head in my hotel room and made her beg me to touch her, I could not have cared less.
It wasn’t until later, when I had decided that she would be the perfect pawn for my Uncle’s stupid idea, that I discovered her relationship with my sister.
I admit that at first it was a little alarming.
First Rosalind and now me. I didn’t believe in coincidences.
But the background checks had come back absolutely spotless. Almost too spotless.
My men are still on it but for now, Cameron Waters is going to be my wife and when my father finally retires I am going to be the Don of the most powerful mafia family in all of New York.
Cameron stares at my sister, betrayal in her liquid green eyes.
“Rose, what’s he talking about?”
“Earl,” Rose snaps at the same time, shooting me a death glare. “Why is she bleeding?”
I frown, resisting the urge to clench my hand in fists.
“The bastard who I sent to run into them was going too fast. Don’t worry he’s dead. Just as well cause I would have killed him myself.”
Maybe it’s the way I say it, the absolute lack of care or remorse, but I can see the disgust all over Cameron’s face.
I couldn't care less.
I did not need her to like me.
I needed her to let me use her.
And then she could crawl back to whatever hole she came from.
“Rose,” she whimpers, still tugging Rosalind’s arm. “I don’t understand what’s happening but get me out of here. Please.”
I have had enough.
I have a long day and when I close my eyes, I can still see the man whose brains I had blown for disobeying my father,
I needed to sleep.
I turn to Rose.
“I was just telling our darling Cameron here how I’m going to kill the only family she has left.”
Rose gasps, glaring at me and I can tell she’s furious.
“You agreed to leave her parents out of this Earl.”
“Only because you assured me she would say yes”
“Oh she will say yes.” Rose says before turning back to Cameron. “You will say yes won’t you?”
Cameron scoffs.
I can see the tight fist she’s making by her sides and the urge to take her hand is so strong I almost throw up.
What the hell is wrong with me?
I look away.
“I can’t believe this.” She finally says to Rose and my sister scoffs exasperatedly, throwing her hands in the air.
“You said he was the most attractive man you had ever met.”
“Did she now?” I drawl leaning back in my chair.
Cameron blushes all the way to her toes and f**k me if it doesn’t make all the blood in my head rush downwards.
I didn’t need my sister to tell me Cameron was attracted to me.
That might in the club and what had happened afterwards had been more than enough.
I can still feel the warmth of her breath on my neck.
The way she had writhed and moaned and bit her lip when I touched her under the dim lights of the club even as the music thumped lazily in the background.
The way even right now all I can think about is sending everyone out of this room so I can bend her over this table and take her in that ridiculously short dress.
The dress she wore for me.
Shit.
Cameron Waters is a dangerous woman.
And she has no idea.
I should stay as far away from her as possible.
But I need her.
Fuck my life I need her to secure my seat as Don and I need her in my bed at night so I can f**k whatever this nonsense is out of my system.
But she refuses to look at me.
Instead she glares at Rose. “Yeah, I may have stupidly said I wanted to run away with him. But that was before I discovered he was a raging lunatic. You know what I’m out of here.”
I make no move to stop her but Rose calls out in a panic.
“No, Cam, you can’t leave”
Cam. So that’s what my sister calls her. Cam.
No, it didn’t capture the first essence of her at all. Cam.
It wasn’t enough.
“Watch me.” She says but before she can move Rose grabs her arm.
“Cam, if you leave, he will kill them. I won’t be able to stop him.
Rosalind is right.
I would hate it.
But I would kill them.
A Don never makes a threat he cannot fulfill.
I stare at Cameron as she stares at my sister, tears rolling down her cheeks.
“How could you Rose,” her voice cracks then breaks. “How could you?”
At least Rose has the decency to look away.
I however, don’t.
I clear my throat noisily, sliding my elbows and forearms on the table. “If you are all done with your theatrics.”
Cameron sits back down, turning away from Rose because clearly looking at her hurts too much and I dislike that I can notice that.
instead she glares fully at me.
I’m easier to hate.
I hope she’s ready to wait in line.
She bites her already bleeding lip and winces. “So I have to marry you. For a year.”
Without thinking I reach out and pull her lip out from between her teeth with the top of my thumb.
Her eyes widen and her breath hitches in her throat.
Bloody hell.
Get it together Earl.
I glance away from her nodding . “Just until I am made Don. After which you will be free to go.”
She immediately sits up in her chair like I knew she would.
“Don…you mean like Mafia Don. You’re in the Mafia? Oh my god. I’m finished. My life is over.”
“Rose.” I say, exasperatedly rolling my eyes and turning away from her
Rose reaches for her.
“It’s okay Cameron.”
“No. No it’s not okay.” She yells, yanking her arm from my sister’s grip and whirling around to stare at me again. “That night you told me you were the CEO of an insurance company.”
I shrug. “I am. Havana Co. is one of the many companies my family owns.”
She’s staring at me like I’m the devil himself.
I hope she remembers that, let her hold on to her hatred.
If she’s going to be my wife, she’s going to need it.
She watches me quietly and there’s a shrewdness in her gaze that sets my skin prickling with suspicion
“So you’ll let me go afterwards,” She asks again. “Just like that.”
I nod. “But of course you would be made to sign an NDA. one that will prevent you from talking about our arrangement or whatever you see in the course of this one year.”
She tilts her chin up at me. “And if I do?”
“Well Cameron,” I lean forward until I can feel the heat of her rapid breathing on my face. “If you so much as breathe a word about this to anyone not in this room right now, I will bury you in so many legal fees that your great grandchildren will still owe me money.” I smile, pressing my lips together before resting my back once one. “Oh and also I’ll kill you.”
She presses her lips so hard together it almost becomes one line.
Beside her my sister touches her arm. “Take it Cam. You’ve always said you wished we were sisters.”
But Cameron turns away from her. “I’m not speaking to you right now Rose.”
My sister slumps a little in her seat, on the verge of tears.
Cameron flicks her tongue across her lips and it’s too distracting to look at so I keep my eyes fixed on hers which somehow is even worse.
They are the lightest shade of green I have ever seen.
She breathes in. “I accept your offer.” She breathes out.
I don’t smile. “Good girl.”
“But only on one condition.”
Someone gasps and she whirls around.
“Oh for Pete’s sake I’m sure you’ve seen enough to not be shocked anymore”
The guard responsible, a new cugine named Leo looks sheepishly away from her glare.
Santa Maria, madre di Dio.
By god she has a mouth on her.
I sit back in my chair, thoroughly turned on and utterly annoyed by it.
“I do not think you are in any position to be making conditions Miss Waters.” I finally say, staring her down and to her credit, she barely even blinks.
“Well I’m making one. And you better take it or I will walk out of here and take my chances with protecting my parents myself.”
She’s bluffing.
Her jaw is clenched so tight it’s a miracle she doesn’t grind her teeth to powder.
Any other person and I would have killed one of the parents anyway, just for daring to question me.
But for some godforsaken reason I find myself nodding. “And what, pray tell, is this condition of yours?”
This time it is her who leans forward and the image of pulling her the rest of the way through and into my lap flashes in my mind with startling clarity.
She narrows her eyes. “I will marry you Earl Salvatore but except in public, under no circumstances will you ever, ever kiss me or touch me or…”
“f**k you?”
She swallows hard and nods.
I lean forward too, our noses almost touching, lips inches apart.
She has freckles scattered across her left cheek.
I can hear the way her breathing changes when I’m near her, and I can see the way her pulse bounces in the hollow of her throat.
I narrow my eyes and stare down my future wife.
“Deal.”
- Writer
