Ruthless Heir: A Dark Mafia Romance (Ruthless Dynasty Book 1)

The shame kicks in again when I step out of the bathroom.

Ahead, on the nightstand, is the tray Gabriel brought in earlier. It’s completely empty. Not even a crumb remains. Not after I got through with it.

Fuck.

The empty bowls and plates stand out like a sore thumb in the empty room. I have little doubt that it’s the first thing he’ll see when he returns. All that will matter to him is that I did as he ordered.

Even if he’s clearly just playing a cruel game with me, it still hurts to lose.

Why can’t that asshole just be a regular… well, asshole? Instead of teasing me like this, I almost wish Gabriel would just open his palm and slap me across the face.

It would cement him as my villain, and let the hate that I hold for him fester until I finally understood that there’s only one way out of this, whatever this is.

I need to kill my captor.

Stepping onto the soft gray carpet, I stroke the ends of my damp hair and mindlessly float back towards the bed. The hot shower I just took hardly helped anything. I’m still a mess.

There wasn’t a single second I stood under that steaming water where I wasn’t thinking about Gabriel. My thoughts raced back and forth between the satisfaction of killing him and the ecstasy of giving into him.

No matter where my mind ran off to, though, that kiss followed. His thick red lips chase me even now, as I slip back into my soft silk nightgown and sit down on the edge of the bed.

Sighing, I remember who I am. A sheltered princess.

I’m not killing anyone, let alone Gabriel.

Gabriel. Fucking hell.

How long has he been gone now?

A few hours? A day? Longer?

It’s impossible to tell in here. There are no clocks, no windows, no indication that anything exists beyond these pale empty walls. There could be no purer form of torture.

Whoever Gabriel really is, he’s quickly become an expert at pushing me to my limits.

I am the man who’s committed his entire adult life to capturing you. And now, you’re mine. But that’s not enough.

That’s what he said after we kissed. After he’d tied his belt tightly around my throat and marked me.

After I’d finally had enough of his mysterious bad boy shtick.

I asked him who he was, and he was brutally honest, if characteristically vague.

The dark wolf said his life revolves around me.

So why the hell does he seem so hell bent on tearing me apart?

Lying down on my back, I sink into the mattress and stare up at the monochrome ceiling. Almost immediately, I’m overcome with an intense sense of nostalgia.

I’ve been here before.

Not physically, obviously. But mentally. Lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling, obsessing over the boy who’s made my life a living hell.

Gabriel Corso.

It doesn’t matter that it’s not his real name. That’s who he is to me. The devil disguised as a hotshot prince. He almost looks more like young mafia royalty than any of my cousins do. Even Rian is more polished.

But Gabriel is darker. More terrifyingly put together. Every inch of him screams depraved killer. Yet, there’s something so savagely graceful about his every move.

It’s why I can’t stop thinking about him.

It’s why I can’t stop craving him.

My fingers are already sliding between my thighs when I hear an all too familiar sound.

Ripping my hand away from its dirty daydream, I snap my attention over to the doorway.

The lock clicks open, and Gabriel steps inside, bathed in all of his ruthless glory.

“You showered?” he immediately asks, head tilting more like a puppy than the dark wolf he is.

The contrast makes me pause for a moment. But only for a moment.

“I felt dirty,” I snap back.

The dullness of my captivity is immediately set on fire by Gabriel’s presence.

“And you ate, too,” he smiles, his intense hazel-green gaze falling on the empty tray. “Good girl.”

“I felt empty,” I mutter, trying to ignore how my body reacts to the condescending compliment.

Good girl.

Fuck. That shouldn’t be so hot. I’m supposed to loathe this man.

“And how do you feel now?”

Sitting up straight, I shoot my meanest glare directly at the dark wolf. He looks like he’s just stepped out of some twisted fairy-tale, one where he murdered all of the heroes, just because he could.

“Angry.”

That only serves to widen Gabriel’s grin. In fact, his thick red lips stretch so far that I suddenly notice something about his face that I never have before—or maybe I just forced myself to forget.

Just behind the short black facial hair that he uses to frame his gorgeous face are two deep fucking dimples.

My heart skips a beat.

“Good. I like it when you’re angry. That’s when you’re the prettiest,” Gabriel teases.

The backhanded compliment—combined with the revelation of those fucking dimples—hits me like a slap to the face.

But it’s not the kind of slap I was secretly wishing for.

“How fucking dare you…” I hear myself hiss.

“How dare I what?”

“Compliment me.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” There’s that head tilt again. It sends a lock of wavy black hair falling over Gabriel’s right eye.

“Because you hate me, and I hate you.”

“I don’t hate you,” Gabriel says, shaking his head. Another strand of his thick black hair falls over his forehead before he pushes them all back with his big tattooed hand.

“Bullshit,” I snort. “Why else would you lock me up in here?”

“Because I like you,” he taunts.

Before I can snap back at him again, Gabriel shuts me up by reaching down to his waist and unlatching the first buckle on his belt.

“What… What are you doing?” I gulp.

Immediately, the heat of my rage is transferred somewhere else. Directly to the hidden pressure in my core. I’ve been trying to ignore the constant presence of that pressure all fucking day, but all this man has to do is unbuckle a single notch on his belt, and it returns with a fury.

I really am in deep shit.

“I’m going to show you how much I like you,” Gabriel says. Ripping his belt from around his waist, he straps it over his shoulder and steps forward.

My first instinct is to retreat. But my body won’t let me. My chest tugs me forward, towards the beast. Under my nightgown, my traitorous nipples are already hard.

“I don’t need you to show me anything.”

“Are you sure? Does that mean you believe me when I say that I like you?”

“… No.”

“Well, then I’ll just have to prove it to you.”

Stopping at the edge of the bed, Gabriel tosses his belt onto the mattress, then, with one swift motion, he rips his shirt off over his head.

A gust of warm air seems to rush from his body, nearly knocking me over. But the pressure in my core won’t let me fall away. Not until I lay my eyes on the sculpted masterpiece that stands before me.

“Stop,” I mutter, still unable to pull myself away. But the pressure in my core is slowly being invaded by a pit of dread.

He’s fucking with me again. Toying with me.

“Stop? Why?” Gabriel asks. Still, to my surprise, he doesn’t move another inch.

“Because I… I don’t know what the fuck is going on.”

“Would you like to know?”

“Yes!” I exclaim, frustrating cracking my voice.

“Alright,” Gabriel nods. “Then let’s play another game of truth or dare.”

My stomach drops, but the pressure in my core starts to swirl at light speed. I remember what happened the last time we played this twisted game.

“I don’t want to play that game again,” I whisper, unsure if I’m lying or not.

“You can go first,” Gabriel says. “Start as big or as small as you want.”

My heart twitches with uncertainty as I stare up at the dark wolf. From this angle, he looks even more princely. Even more powerful. Black hair parted down the middle, hazel-green eyes blazing over golden olive-skin. Even the neck tattoos somehow add to the gothic royalty that emanates off of him.

“Who are you?” I hear myself ask, before clarifying. “No vague bullshit… please…”

Leaning down, Gabriel shoves my feet aside and sits at the edge of the bed. The whole mattress sinks under his weight, and I’m drawn ever closer to the handsome devil.

“My name is Gabriel,” he says, before quickly raising his hand to stop me from pointing out the obvious. I already knew that. “My real last name is… well, I don’t know.”

“How don’t you know your real last name?”

“Because I never knew my parents. They were both murdered before I was old enough to form any memories.”

Despite the unrestrained power pouring out of the beastly man sitting before more, I feel a shot of sympathy pierce through my racing heart.

“I… I didn’t know. I’m… I’m sorry.”

My chest aches for him.

For a moment, we both sink into the tender vulnerability of what was just revealed.

Then, slowly, Gabriel leans forward. I can’t bring myself to pull away as he gently pinches my chin.

For the first time ever, I don’t return his gaze with hate or desperation. Instead, I try to find the boy behind the fractured hazel eyes. The man hiding within those emerald green flecks.

“How could you have known?” he whispers, his thumb brushing across the edge of my bottom lip. “I never told you. I’ve never told anyone who didn’t already know.”

Instantly, the mood has changed. There’s still a simmering fury bubbling just beneath my skin, but it’s taken a back seat to a strange sadness. And a burning arousal.

Gabriel is close enough that I can smell him again. That earthy musk seeps into my very fucking soul as I remember how good those dark red lips taste.

“Your turn,” I whisper, my cheeks flushing with warmth.

“I want a truth,” Gabriel says, his voice so deep that it rattles my bones. “Why didn’t you like me in high school?”

My brows furrow against the shock of his unexpected question.

Where the hell did that come from?

“Because you were an asshole,” I remind him.

“Not at first, I wasn’t,” he quickly replies.

“It’s not like it was any big secret,” I grumble. “Or maybe I just picked up on the fact that you were trying to use me.”

“What could you have possibly thought I was trying to use you for?”

“I don’t know… maybe as a punchline to a joke…” I say, before trailing off. Embarrassing memories lurk just beneath my surface. Painful ones too. I don’t want to remember them. Not now.

“Maybe as a punchline to a joke? So you hated me because of something you thought I’d do?”

“Guys like you never got along with girls like me. And let’s not forget about what happened that night in the parking lot…”

“What kind of guy did you think I was?” Gabriel asks, ignoring that second part, for obvious reasons.

His blood red lips lift into an amused smile. The dimples are back. My heart quivers. It somehow feels so light and so heavy all at the exact same time.

“I thought you were a fake tough rich boy like every other dark haired, tattooed dickwad at that stupid prep school.”

“That’s funny,” Gabriel chuckles, his grip tightening around my chin. “Because I always thought you were a fake tough rich girl.”

Lifting his free hand, Gabriel softly traces the scar above my eye with the back of his fingers. The tender act sends a warm shiver dancing over my skin.

“I was,” I sheepishly admit.

“But you didn’t want to be, right?”

“No.”

“Well, you may have underestimated yourself, myszko. No one gets a scar like that from being fake tough. And no one marks a man like me without having some fucking balls.”

Dropping his hand from my forehead, Gabriel turns his thick, veiny forearm around in my face. It takes me a second to understand what he’s showing me, but when I realize what’s hiding beneath his mosaic of black tattoos, I can’t help but sigh.

Another scar.

But I’m the one who left this one. It’s the reason I got suspended the day before they found Principal Winchester’s body. I threw hot coffee at the wolf prince himself… or so the rumor went.

“That was just an accident,” I sheepishly admit. “You ran into me.”

“I figured,” Gabriel smiles. “But while you may have accidentally run into me that fateful day all those years ago, you definitely didn’t just accidentally run face first into a fight with the frat boy who gave you that scar, did you? You went after him like a fucking hellhound.”

“He deserved it,” I sneer.

“He deserved a lot worse,” Gabriel says.

Suddenly, a terrifying thought lashes through my mind.

“You… Did you kill him?”

Gabriel’s dimples deepen as he licks his blood red lips.

“Look at you, putting it all together,” he teases.

“He… He was a senator’s son,” I croak.

Kevin Porter. The senator’s son. News of his death is what caused us to flee my home in the first place. It forced us out into the open. Made us vulnerable.

That’s when we were ambushed.

That’s when I was taken.

Holy shit. Did Gabriel set it all up?

No. It was just a coincidence. It had to be. Gabriel was being possessive. He was laying claim to me.

Still…

“Being a senator’s son didn’t do him much good in the end,” Gabriel growls, and I can practically see the blood on his hands.

My racing heart starts to pound in thick, heavy beats behind my chest.

Gabriel really is the devil.

But could he be my devil?

“Why did you kill him?” I gather the courage to ask.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Gabriel responds, his powerful fingers suddenly wrapping around my thigh. Fuck. His hands are so big he practically engulfs my entire leg.

The pressure in my core starts to outgrow everything else—even the dread.

“You killed him because he gave me this scar?”

“I killed him because he touched what was mine.”

“I don’t belong to anyone.”

“Wrong. You belong to me, Bianca. And you have ever since I first laid eyes on you.”

Sliding his right hand up my thigh, Gabriel uses his other to slip the straps of my nightgown down my shoulders.

“I’m sick of belonging to other people,” I whisper.

“Just because you belong to me, doesn’t mean I can’t belong to you, as well,” Gabriel says.

Placing his palm against my shoulder, he gently pushes me down onto the mattress.

“This doesn’t feel like we’re equals,” I rasp, my toes curling as Gabriel forcefully spreads apart my thighs.

“That’s just because you don’t know what to expect. But I’ll teach you. I can show you how to truly be tough—hell, you’re already half way there.”

The second his lips press against my inner thigh, every last bit of my resistance melts away. Biting the inside of my lip, I try with all my might to keep from grabbing Gabriel’s dark hair, from pulling his lips closer to where I already know they’re going.

This is so wrong.

“Why would you help me?” I rasp, my voice cracking as he slowly kisses up the inside of my thigh. “You’ve only ever treated me like every other man in my life. With kid gloves. Like I’m the most fragile fucking thing in the world.”

My voice gets hoarser with every word, but even as my back arches and my toes curl, I know I’m lying.

No one’s ever kissed me like he has before. No one’s ever choked me like that. And no one’s ever put their lips where his lips are right now.

“The gloves are off, baby girl,” Gabriel growls, proving me wrong with every approaching kiss. “Let’s see just how much you can handle.”

Before he can reach my soaking pussy, though, the dark wolf reaches across my body and grabs his belt.

“What are you doing?” I ask, my voice trembling with fear and lustful anticipation.

But Gabriel ignores my question. Instead, he asks one of his own.

“Tell me, myszko,” he starts, those hazel-green eyes staring up at me from between my open legs. “Are you a virgin?”

“That’s none of your business,” I gulp. But I know he can already smell the truth.

“It is now.” Digging his fingers into the bottom of my nightgown, he pulls. Instantly, the soft silk is ripped from my body, and my naked skin is exposed to him.

“Fine. I’m a virgin,” I rasp, as if that will slow Gabriel down. “Happy?”

“Yes.”

The dark wolf doesn’t slow down as his greedy hands wind up my stomach, towards my rock-hard nipples. My entire body quivers when he pinches my pink nubs between his thick fingers.

“Now tell me one of your secrets,” I hear myself croak, my toes curling as I feel Gabriel’s hot breath wash against my soaking pussy lips.

“Here’s a secret for you… I’m older than you think I am.”

“What?” I gasp. But before the weight of his revelation can settle in, I feel his thick tongue slip out from behind his red lips and lash across my pussy lips. “How much older?”

The question comes out in a quiver, even as I finally give in and plunge my fingers into Gabriel’s thick black hair.

“Only two years,” he says, taking one last deep breath before plunging back between my legs. His tongue finds my swollen clit and I feel like I could explode.

Fuck.

The ecstasy that erupts up from my cunt is like nothing I’ve ever felt before. Hell, it’s so intense it almost hurts. It rises up from my soaking pussy, just as Gabriel palms my tits, sending a burning weight plunging down from my chest.

It all clashes in my core, threatening to rip me to shreds.

“You creep,” I rasp. “All of those girls at Westwood who followed you from class to class…”

“I never touched a single one,” Gabriel growls. “Because I wasn’t there for them. I was there for you.”

After one last teasing lick of my swollen clit, Gabriel lets my tits go and lifts his face up from between my legs.

Before I can gather my senses, he grabs me by the hips and violently flips me onto my stomach.

“Gabriel!” I scream, shocked by the sudden savagery.

“Don’t call me Gabriel,” the dark wolf quickly growls back. “Call me daddy. It’s time to test your limits.”

Sticking a knee under my legs, Gabriel forces my ass into the air. Then, without warning he whips my bare cheeks with the hard leather of his folded belt.

The sudden shock of pain crackles through my body at light speed. Before I can even process what just happened, before I can even scream for him to stop, to be gentle, I feel the searing warmth that follows the crack.

The red-hot afterglow washes through me like lapping waves, before settling in my core. The molten pressure there only grows more intense.

“That fucking hurt,” I mumble, my fingers curled into fists around the bedsheets. “Gabriel, you—”

I’m interrupted by another lash to my bare ass. Again, a flash of pain tears through me. But it’s quickly followed by that same searing warmth.

It’s fucking addicting.

So much for being treated like a porcelain doll.

“That’s not my name,” Gabriel reminds me. “Not right now. Not to you. Give in, baby. You’ll like it better that way.”

“Am I supposed to give in, or am I supposed to—”

Once more, Gabriel’s whip snaps across my ass cheek.

“What was that, myszko?” he asks.

Fuck. The harshness he puts into that word ‘myszko’… it makes me shiver.

But it’s not the only thing making me shiver.

Pressing the leather belt against my throbbing cheeks, Gabriel forces the pain to linger just a little longer. The skin where I’ve been whipped is already on fire. But just inches away, my cunt is wetter than it’s ever been.

“Daddy,” I whisper. “Tell me what I’m supposed to—”

Another lash sends a muted whimper rushing from my lips.

“You’re supposed to take it,” Gabriel orders. “Now, do you want more?”

My fists clench and my toes curl as I consider his question.

Do I want more?

I know I shouldn’t, but that’s not what comes out of my quivering lips.

“…Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, daddy.”

“Good girl.”

Another whip sends my feet into the air. But before they can bend sharply enough to drop onto my throbbing ass, Gabriel pushes them back down to the mattress.

Another lash stings my raw cheek. Then another.

“More,” I hear myself beg.

“What was that?”

“Daddy, please!”

It feels so fucking wrong to call him that… yet so fucking right. Another lash cracks the molten pressure swirling around in my core. My entire body starts to tremble, but Gabriel doesn’t let up.

His brutality makes me cum. An earth-shattering orgasm rips through every inch of my body. It’s too intense to take head on. But when I start to squirm against the overwhelming pleasure, Gabriel throws aside his belt and crawls on top of me, pinning me to the mattress, forcing me to surrender.

“That’s just the beginning, baby,” he growls deep into my ear, even as I continue to shake. “I’m going to burn away every last inch of your innocence. Set you on fire and plunge you into the flames of hell… But don’t be scared. I am the devil. And you will find your place by my side. Ruling. First, though, you need to learn to enjoy the pain. And you definitely need to lose that fucking cherry.”

Pushing me down with the palm of his hand, Gabriel shoves his hips into my throbbing ass. Immediately, I feel the heat of his massive bulge.

It so huge that just the thought of trying to fit it inside of me is terrifying. But I fight through the fear.

Gabriel is right. This is just the beginning.

I want more. I need more.

I need him.

Fuck. I’ve lost my mind.

“Will you break apart if I fuck you, baby girl?” Gabriel asks, his fingers wrapping around the back of my neck.

The tremors of my first orgasm have hardly left my body, but I’m already desperate for another round.

But how could Gabriel top what he’s already done to me?

“There’s only one way to find out,” I rasp. “Fuck me, daddy.”