Deal with the Devil Read Online Free Page A

a prison if the food was better. I spent one night there and bolted right after. A week on the streets had been enough to make me desperate.
    Vito had been walking down the street, holding hands with a little girl who couldn’t have been older than six or seven. They seemed like an easy mark and I was desperate.
    I held up the rusty box cutter that I found in a dumpster and demanded his wallet.
    He looked at me like the worthless maggot that I was and didn’t even do me the courtesy of refusing. He just laughed and kept walking, pulling the wide-eyed little girl behind him.
    I jumped in front of him, brandishing the box cutter. “I’m not kidding, mister. I’ll fucking gut you.”
    His smile widened, amusement shining from his eyes. He pushed back one side of his suit jacket to reveal the gun strapped to his side. “That’s not a weapon, son. This is.”
    “Fuck you,” I said, turning to run.
    “Wait,” he said. Maybe he saw something in my eyes, the dead cold of somebody with nothing to lose. “I won’t give you shit, but I’ll let you earn it. You want a job.”
    And that was when my life truly began. Fourteen years later and I’m still his man. It’s impossible to imagine what I’ll be without him.
    The family already has a new boss. Carmine Lugati is one of the most senior capos and the obvious choice to take over. He’s a good captain and loyal, but it won’t be the same.
    The whole thing just makes me feel tired. I never thought Vito would go out like this, quiet and unassuming like he was just a regular old guy. He had been like a god to me. Facing the truth of his mortality makes me too aware of my own.
    I chase the thoughts away as I get out of the towncar and head up the stairs of the church. The funeral is supposed to begin in about five minutes. Even I wouldn’t be disrespectful enough to show up after it’s already started.
    A slim figure blocks the closed the doors. I slow, waiting for whoever it is to get the fuck out of the way. The solemn cut of her black dress and the dark hair caught at the nape of her neck in a simple knot make it clear that she’s here for the funeral. But she seems frozen in place. Her hand rests on the metal handle of the ornately carved wooden doors, unmoving.
    “Hey,” I snap. “You’re blocking the door.”
    She turns and I meet what might just be the most beautiful face that I’ve ever seen. This girl — and she is a girl, I have to remind myself — is fucking beautiful. Big eyes that are dark and deep like still water in shadows and full lips that pull down into a slight frown. She reeks of the kind of innocence that’s just asking to be defiled.
    “Sorry,” she says, not really sounding it. “Go ahead if you’re in that big a hurry.”
    I hesitate beside her, intrigued and a little shocked at her smart tone. I know how I look — big, imposing and mean as hell. People, especially women, don’t usually talk to me like I’m some jack-off.
    “Having a bad day, sweetheart?”
    “Are you lost?” she snaps. “There’s a funeral going on in there, not a garden party. So yeah, I’d call it a bad day.”
    Sexy and a smart ass. It’s a potent combination. There’s nothing I like more than shutting up a mouthy woman with my cock down their throat. I haven’t been this turned on by a complete stranger in a long time.
    I take a step closer to her. I get close enough that I can see where her modest dress gapes a bit over her chest, revealing just a hint of creamy flesh.
    To her credit, the girl doesn’t flinch. But the firm set of her mouth falters just a bit when she meets my gaze as I tower over her. I reach for the door with one hand which effectively blocks her into the cage of my body.
    She doesn’t say anything, but I can feel the slight tremble of awareness that moves over her body. I wait for her to try to move away or insist that I stop blatantly invading her personal space. But she just stares up at me with eyes so dark and deep that I can