Filthy Rich (The Five Points' Mob Collection, #2)

by Serena Akeroyd

“I will make them pay for beating you.” She stiffened. “I-I…they didn’t.” “Bullshit.” Another flinch. “Don’t lie to me, Inessa,” I warned, and as Doyle droned on, I whispered, “They did a good job, but not good enough. You’ll dance in their blood if you want.”

She was mine to protect, mine to defend, just fucking mine. Unlike every other aspect of my life, I wouldn’t have to share her. Not with my brothers, not with the family, not with the Five Points. She belonged to me, and Eoghan O’Donnelly protected what belonged to him. That was a fucking fact.

“You’re not the biggest monster I’ve come across.” Her words floored me. Fucking floored me. And not because I was jealous either. Our eyes met and held, and out of nowhere, a flame soared between us, arcing into being. The lust came as a surprise, but the depth of it? Annihilation. It razed me to the ground.

“I vow that I will not betray you…so long as you don’t betray me.” The addition had him blowing out a breath, but he grabbed the scissors from me and mirrored my action. Blood spilled once more, more of it staining my dress, and he stated, “If you think I’ve betrayed you, before you think to break this vow, you will talk to me about it first.”

While it was kind of a curse to remember everything, it had to be cool to never forget stuff like that. It was human nature for the good to blur and for the bad to stick out like a sore thumb.

The right woman made a shit load of a difference, and the wrong one? Tipped the scales and shoved an already dangerous man into another territory.

With a smirk, I switched on my playlist and blasted Alkaline Trio out of the speakers as I opened the windows and sped home with one thought on my mind—just let Vasov hurt Inessa again when he didn’t have knees to stand on.

I grinned at Ma as she moved out of the kitchen, but I tugged her into a quick hug, grateful for her backing Inessa up. “And they say Da is the tyrant.” Her eyes twinkled. “Behind every strong man, there’s a stronger woman,” was all she said, but I let out a laugh, because what the fuck that said about her, I didn’t even want to know.