Page 6

Chapter 6

Eden

Damn you, big brother.

I had successfully run away nine years ago, leaving our shitty parents in the dust. They had as good as killed our baby sister. They had…

Nope. Not going there right now.

I pull my attention away from my pained past to focus on the threat before me.

I stand in a room of ruthless, violent men who order numerous bad deeds and have done numerous bad deeds themselves. Correction: not all the people in the room are men. Minus the lawyer, there is one other woman in the bar; she's tiny and beautiful, sort of like a pixie. She wears a leather cut with the Havoc Guardians logo and the Enforcer patch.

That little thing is the enforcer for the MC? Must be a bloodthirsty, violent pixie. Interesting.

I study the room and all the weapons aimed at me. I know that I'm standing in front of the Chamber—the Italian mafia, a one-percenter motorcycle club, two of the strongest gangs in San Francisco, and the Triads.

My brother, always the planner and lover of cryptic methods, had an email ready to go. When he hadn't logged in to remove the failsafe, it automatically sent it to me. He outlined what he was leaving to me, plus all the details he thought I'd need. These criminal rulers are here tonight for the successor announcement.

I'm not averse to criminals. Hell, I'm no angel myself; running away at fifteen, living on the streets, and falling in with a rough crowd until Ohith had taken me from this city.

Ohith himself can't claim any hold on angelhood, but he's a father to me—more than my actual father has ever been. Plus, he saved my ass all those years ago and taught me how to survive.

Now, I just need to survive having multiple guns pointed at me and figuring out who murdered my big brother.

After that, I'll consider how I'll survive getting out of being Gilly's owner-operator. This job doesn't come with a trial period where I can decide after three months that it isn't for me. The only way out of the role is death.

Of course, I could've ignored Aiken's gift of what he bequeathed to me; I was on the other side of the world. But I owe my big brother. Figuring out who killed him is the least I can do.

As I stand here, I know I look calm, cool, and collected, with my unreadable resting bitch face firmly in place. The lawyer, on the other hand, is trembling like a leaf and not-so-subtly moving away from me, likely not wanting to get caught in the crossfire if one of these ruthless criminals starts shooting.

On the inside, though, I'm much like the lawyer, but no one can tell since my outward impassive demeanor is my armor. But I'm grateful my hands don't shake. I may have mastered the art of an unreadable resting bitch face with a touch of frigidness; however, my hands can still give me away.

I keep my hands raised as the room of criminals have their guns leveled at my head.

The first one to order his men to lower their weapons is a tall man with broad shoulders, salt and pepper on the sides of his dark hair, light blue eyes, and who looks a bit pale. Tommaso Santoro; Don of the Santoro mafia family.

The bastard from the graveyard stands in front of Tommaso, as if to shield him. The same bastard, who had said " Lost, little girl ?" which made my cooch erupt with tingles.

When he had spoken, a vague familiarity had tugged at me. Like I was a fish being reeled in, and the hook was in my traitor cooch, pulling me straight toward his dick. Then, when he had said, " This section of the graveyard is closed for the funeral; how did you get in? " in that dangerous, deep voice, I nearly combusted with anger and lust.

My reaction to him was extreme and intense. I wanted to shove him to the ground and ride him like a wild, unbroken stallion. But anger exploded in me, too, as I recognized his voice as the one that had woken me up in the middle of the night and shattered my finally stable world. And I wanted to punch the fucking cunt in the face.

Instead, I had kept my emotions and thoughts out of my expression, much like I'm doing now.

I will myself to ignore my lust—the tall god-slash-devil isn't just attractive, he's hot as fuck . I also try to set aside my anger. Even though this man had been the one to call and flatly tell me that my brother was dead, it isn't his fault that Aiken named me his successor. Nor is it his fault that I accepted.

I meet his hooded blue-green eyes and it's a struggle to look away from the dangerous man.

And make no mistake, this man is dangerous.

Not only because he's one of the violent, ruthless people present here and for the predator vibes that radiate from him, but because of the most intense, lustful response I've ever felt.

Giving into that lust and having sex with this man could kill me. Literally.

As Aiken's successor and Gilly's new owner-operator, this guy and any other criminal are strictly off-limits.

Aiken had repeatedly warned in his email that even if someone were suspicious of inappropriate conduct—and the visions I'm having of this guy's face buried between my legs would definitely be categorized as inappropriate conduct—between Gilly's owner-operator and one of the criminals in this city, I could be marked for death.

Now that Tommaso's crew is lowering their weapons, the others do so as well, and it pulls my attention away from the dangerous man. Thankfully, our heated stare hasn't been that long, and no one seems to have noticed.

Keeping my face schooled in an unreadable, cold expression, I scan the Chamber leaders. They and their inner circle relax, realizing that I'm not a significant threat.

Two younger men flank Tommaso. One is the blue-green-eyed, dangerous-hot-as-hell guy. The other one has broad shoulders and serious dark brown eyes. Based on their protectiveness of him, I'm guessing they are his sons. When Tommaso walks toward me, they don't like it based on the tightening of their jaws and clenching of their fists, but neither stop him.

All eyes in the room are trained on us, and I surmise that Tommaso is the Chamber's de facto spokesperson.

I eye him with caution, not sure what to expect. When I decided to come in the way I had, I honestly thought it was a fifty-fifty chance of whether I'd still be breathing right now.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Tommaso extends his hand to me. "Aiken was a good man." His tone is sincere, as are his piercing light blue eyes.

I shake his hand, making sure I have a firm grip. I need to downplay my femininity as much as possible in this male-dominated environment. Although that won't be hard since Aiken always accused me of being a tomboy.

Regret and a pang of longing for my brother seizes my chest, but I remain outwardly unaffected. "Thank you."

"I'm Tommaso Santoro. It's a pleasure to meet you…"

He isn't sure what to call me. Since I need all the help I can get in the 'let's forget she's a chick department,' I go with Ed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ed. This is my brother, Marco." He motions to the older gentlemen and then to the two younger ones. "And my two sons, Massimo and Vito."

The blue-green-eyed one dips his chin at me when Tommaso says his name—Vito.

I now have a name, which actually makes my lust burn a bit hotter and my cooch pulse.

I incline my head at them rather than shaking their hands. Having skin-to-skin contact with the one called Vito is asking for trouble.

Lixin Xhang steps forward. He's lean, tall, and handsome, with his black hair styled back. He's smiling, but his dark eyes are cunning. "It's nice to meet you, Eden—"

"Ed," I cut him off firmly.

His smile grows. "Ed. Aiken has chosen wisely. Welcome to Gilly's."

He steps back to let his fellow Chamber leaders introduce themselves. Amazu Musa of the Fire Clan, followed by Dominic Jude of the Saints, and Ash Dexter with the Havoc Guardians.

I study Ash. I once dated a wannabe biker named Jax. He was part of the crowd I had fallen in with after I ran away from home. Back then, his goal was to prospect with the Havoc Guardians, and I hadn't seen or heard from him since Ohith whisked me out of the city.

I really hope Jax moved on, or maybe is dead, because that history definitely won't be neutral-territory. Jax had almost killed me once because he didn't like how one of his buddies looked at me, and I wouldn't roll over if he came at me again.