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

Author Note: The beginning of Submitting To The Devil prefaces the end of the previous book, His Pretty Little Liar. Niko and Bianca's story begins in Luca's office, where Dimitri reveals that the pair must marry. This means there will be a slight overlap in storylines at the beginning of the book. Niko The drive home has been somewhat quiet. We've just left Rossi's home, where Emma made her claim on her father's men. I wasn't too pleased to know she did that with the intent of leading, but even Luca knelt on bended knee to show his respect for her. Luca's behaviour of late has been erratic. He's not the man I once thought he was, but then again, I see a new him paving his way outside of his mind, and I'm unsure whether to worship the changes he's making for my sister or hate him for being less of the person I learned to fight alongside. Exiting the cars in silence, Emma climbs the steps towards the house. But Dimitri calls for her, demanding she take him to Luca's office. "Emma, let's talk in Luca's office," his tone is ice-cold. I watch my sister falter, her body tensing with the obvious demand she doesn't want to follow, but she recovers quickly, nodding while telling Dimitri okay. Luca remains quiet yet follows her immediately, and I, well, I follow because I can. Besides, what does Dimitri want with her? I trail behind Dimitri and Bianca, watching her arse over his because I can. She's skinny and tall, but there is a giggle I appreciate. Any man would. As I enter Luca's office behind them, I notice Luca sitting at his desk, with Emma standing just behind him. I'm not too fond of the differing vibes the pair of them give off. One minute, they have a terrible relationship, and the next, it seems Luca lays everything at her feet in private. I can't get a hold on them, and honestly, now that I know Emma's my sister, I know Luca isn't worthy of her. Slumping down in the corner of the room, I lounge on the chair I often sit in. Emma looks to Bianca, and Bianca looks to Emma. Their anger is palpable. Honestly, I wished Luca had chosen to kill her; at least then, Emma could start anew, yet now she has to live with Bianca being a thorn, even if at a distance. "You must be wondering why I've called you all in here," Dimitri says with a dry tone, his gaze penetrating each of us as he looks clockwise around the room. Moving his hand before him, he smirks when his gaze lands lastly on me, yet I pretend I'm not taking any notice of him. You see, we don't particularly see eye to eye, but I know my place is below him; after all, I begged for my father's life, and since then, I've been working to earn that bargain off of my name. He hasn't let it go, though; I still owe him. "It seems I now have secrets that need to remain hidden, a promise that I have recently realised I have no intention of keeping. Emma," he directs to her in a powerful tone. "Yes?" She asks shyly. "You'll need to keep your men in line and ensure they keep the blood pact your father and I had a secret. It's imperative to your relationship that you do this." "Blood pact? Okay—" she frowns. This piques my interest also. What pact did Dimitri have with Rossi? "Bianca," he turns to her, ignoring Emma and calling her name with malice. "You, dear child, must also keep those secrets silent. You'll be answering to me from now on. So you see, I need to keep you in my organisation. I cannot trust you won't go against us; the incentive is there." Ah, his words mirror those he spoke to me a few years ago. I, too, answer to him. Shaking my head, I reach inside my pocket to find a cigarette. "I won't tell anyone the truth. Emma can have the men..." Bianca mutters slowly as if she knows she needs to beg for her life. I call it intuition; when in a man's presence, such as a Moretta, your life is always in danger, and your body knows it. "You'll marry in fourteen days. A small wedding with only the leaders I chose to attend. It'll be a statement wedding proving you are officially off the market," Dimitri spits shallowly. "To Franko?" Bianca says Densel's name with longing. Her words lance through me like a blade. I hate that she wants that motherfucker. "No. The deal with the Densels is off. You'll marry Niko here. The pair of you match well and Luca can keep an eye on you. But—" A sound somewhere between life and death leaves my throat, and he cuts off my attempt to decline him. "You will not have a second chance," he addresses Bianca. "I am giving you the chance to live. f*****g take it without complaints. Do as you are told; keep my and your sister's secrets silent. Work alongside my son to enable the pair of them to take over as planned, and I'll have no reason to kill you. But step out of line and know I give no mercy." His tone is menacing, and he's stepped five steps closer to emphasise his control. Even for me, it's nerve-wracking, but I never agreed to this. "I'm not marrying her," I finally interrupt him as he stands close to Bianca. Standing, I fist my hands to prevent myself from grabbing my blade and swinging it at Bianca's back. Looking to Luca and then Emma, I try to assess whether they knew this was the root cause of such a meeting. "The decision is made," Luca tells me with a slight shake of his head, while Emma's eyes widen as she looks between her sister and me. Fuck, that must be conflicting for her. We're both of her siblings, so how would that look to her? "No...No," she stammers quietly as realisation must dawn inside her. Her words are almost inaudible, but we all hear them; Luca turns to her, taking her hands in his. So he knew, and she didn't. I'll be sure to f*****g pull him up on this later. A bit of notice to get used to the idea would have been a decent thing for him to do. "Two weeks, plan the wedding or attend the courthouse; I don't f*****g care. But I will be there to ensure you follow through on my demand," Dimitri sighs loudly. "Emma, I know it will be hard, but Bianca must stay here. She's Niko's responsibility now." I scoff; why must I be in charge of the black-hearted princess? "Please," Emma sobs, making me grit my teeth. She shouldn't be paying for my mistakes, nor Bianca's. "Keep your wife in check. If she speaks out, it won't be just her who falls on my knife's edge," Dimitri turns to me. "This is wrong; I've done nothing to be punished with the likes of her," I argue. "Don't think of it as a punishment. She's a job, and the reward is p***y, son," Dimitri throws behind him dismissively, leaving the office, prompting me to walk with him as I argue against marrying Bianca. "I won't f**k her," I lie firmly. "What a dull marriage you'll have," Dimitri replies with a smile. He knows I'm bluffing, and I wish I wasn't, but Bianca is the type I've run away from for my whole life. The marriage type. The wife type. The mother of my children type. I never planned on settling down, never planned to marry, and I sure as f**k don't want to bring another child into this dark world we call the Mafia. "Tell me to kill her and hide the body; I'd rather do that than do life with her," I hiss towards Dimitri as he opens the front door as if he owned the place. We step outside, and he allows the door to close behind me before pushing me up against the wood. My back hits the door with a thud, and his hand flexes around my throat. The intent to kill me is evident in his eyes, much as it was that night I begged for my father's life. "You owe me, kid. A life for a life? Or have you forgotten?" "I forget nothing, give me the f*****g bullet, and I'll land one between my father's eyes. Ask me to take her out, and I'll do that too; just don't expect me to marry when I'm not a f*****g heir." "You'll marry, Niko. Even if I need to keep a gun trained between your eyes on the day. Emma and Luca need this protection. Besides, I'm not sure Emma could cope with losing another member of her family. Would you really want to put her through that?" He asks me. Ignoring him, I looked everywhere but at his face. He has me by my short and f*****g curly's, and he damn well knows it. I feel protective of Emma. She's the only family I've ever had that accepts me for me. She's just as protective, and that bonds us. She's my sister. "Fine," I spit, batting his arm off me and pushing him away. "Remember who you answer to, kid. Get that girl under control. She'll be more to handle than those bimbos you choose to keep." "I keep no one." "f*****g six girls on repeat is keeping, Niko. Even if it's more than one." "Seven now," I throw at him smartly. "Good luck with that," he chuckles darkly. I watch him enter his car, his driver instantly starting it up and turning in the drive. Watching him disappear with my sanity, I light the joint in my left pocket, dumping the ordinary cigarette back in my right. The drug's high is short-lived, though, because I find Bianca hurtling into my body at speed. Luca throws her quite literally at me, and I decide not to help her stop, her head bouncing off my sternum as I hold my arms wide in a stance that screams get off me. "I need to care for my wife..." Luca tells me viciously. It's obvious he's making a point to show his dislike for this situation, yet he was the only one with a forewarning, so surely he's had time to get used to her coming back after only leaving a few days ago. It's also a power play, Luca's way of staking a claim that she is not his problem, that she falls down to me. "Keep her under control and stay away from my wing. If you don't, there will be consequences," he tells us, but I know that's strictly a warning for Bianca. After all, she sneaked down there multiple times the last time she stayed at our home. "Of course," I grimace. Pushing Bianca an arm's length away, I take my hand back to drag on the drugs I might well become addicted to over the course of our marriage. "Niko...we have to—." "Shut up, Bianca. You've done enough damage already today." "Don't talk to me like that. I won't marry a pig," she argues. "Newsflash, darling. We have no choice. You'll marry me because your life depends on it, and I'll marry you because I won't hurt Emma anymore than you've already done. So deal with it, darling. Don't make our lives any less bearable than they'll already be." "Stop being a pig, we can work together to figure a way out of this." I walk away, yet she runs after me like a puppy dog in heat and needing a good f**k. Gritting my teeth, I head down to the kitchen. I'm starving and could do with a good feast, yet we missed dinner, so that's not going to happen. However, I know Anna keeps leftovers for us, and I intend to devour them before heading to work out and rid myself of this parasite. "Niko!" Bianca yells at me as I ignore her. I find the leftovers and take the plate to the counter, where I sit on the breakfast stall. "There's no way out of this except in a body bag. And I don't particularly want to be buried in a shallow grave for ignoring the current Don." "We only need to win Luca and Emma over, and we can ask for a pardon. It's a year or two at most before they take over." Stuffing chicken and stuffing in my mouth, I look at Bianca with open eyes. She's not different, it seems. Still a scheming b***h ready to exploit any avenue for her own gain. "Good luck with that, darling. Send me a letter from your grave, won't you?" "Arg! You're so pigheaded," she tells me with a stamped foot like a petulant child. I chuckle, full-on belly rolls of laughter as I envision our married life together. f**k, my life's going to be one hell of a ride standing beside her. "And you're airheaded and spoilt. Get over it; you're my wife now, Bianca and I'm not a pushover." "Yeah?" She asks in disbelief. "That's right, darling. Now go to bed and be a good little girl!" Her slap stings, and my face whips to the side. My hand, despite my mind begging it not to, strokes the skin heated with the slap of her palm. Anger courses through me as I grab the girl. Pulling her up and onto the counter before me. The plate of food is pushed out of the way. Her legs fight me as I spread them. Nothing but pink lace covers her glistening p***y below the skirt of her dress, making me falter momentarily. "If you ever lay a hand on me again, I'll show you what it means to be my f*****g w***e, Bianca." "I'm not your w***e, Niko." "Shh! You only speak if I say you can." "Go f**k yourself, Niko," she grits out, fighting against me as we both battle for different things. I want to keep her there in front of me where I can smell her arousal, but it's clear as day she wants to run away before I realise just how turned on she is. It's like figuratively tasting the underworld. The push and pull we seemed to have created in a matter of moments is the most enticing fight I've ever had the pleasure of participating in. But she wins this time. She manipulates her leg and gets a swift kick to my gut. I fall backwards, stall and all, watching her from the ground as she closes her legs, jumps down from the kitchen side and then runs. "See you in bed, darling," I call after her with a dry chuckle.