Dirty Empire Read online

  Miles Perri, the oldest of Camillo’s four sons, is indeed a murdering psychopath. Jury’s still out on Leo.

  “If Miles found out about our arrangement, he’ll kill his brothers.”

  “That’s why we need to touch base, stat.” We haven’t reached out to Merrick or Vince to tell them we won’t be arriving in Vegas tonight. We wanted to wrap our heads around the situation first before we stepped out waving a “you missed us, you cocksuckers” flag in case it is the Perris behind this. For all we know, their oldest brother has them tied to chairs as he extracts information.

  Caleb’s phone chimes with a text. He promptly checks it.

  “Farley?”

  “Yup. All clear.”

  I sigh with relief. Empire is closed on Wednesdays, which made it easier for our security team to haul in the dogs to confirm that whoever tried to kill us tonight didn’t also wire the three-story warehouse. It’s one thing to blow up a small plane with a handful of people in it. It’s pure madness to light up a packed nightclub. But we aren’t sure yet who we’re dealing with and it could very well be a madman. “We need to keep security detail on both the club and our home until we get figure it out. Is he on his way here?”

  Caleb nods through another long drag. “Three guys will stay on this place, and three will come with us.”

  I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night. “Who do we call first—Merrick and Vince or Dad?” Despite what we may think about our patriarch, he’s done a few laps around the someone’s-trying-to-kill-me block. He’ll have solid advice.

  Caleb scowls at me. “Dealing with Dad is not a fucking phone call, Gabe. This is an in-person conversation. A private one.”

  I groan. “Yeah. Okay.” Fuck. Caleb and our father in a room together in the best circumstances is a terrible idea, which is why Caleb never visits him. My head’s already hurting, thinking about witnessing this rare encounter. “I’ll call Donny. He can make it happen.” We’ve lined the Fulcort guard’s pockets with enough cash over the years to earn us the occasional private meet outside of visiting hours. I feel sorry for the poor schmuck though. Vlad won’t take kindly to being dragged out of his cell bed in the middle of the night. He’s likely to sit up swinging. “Say we’ll be there in two?”

  “Three. Maybe four, if we have to shake a fed tail.” Caleb flicks his half-burnt cigarette into an empty tumbler. “We need to have a friendly little conversation with Uncle Peter and Vic first.”

  “Like, go there to see him?” It’s my turn to stare at Caleb like he’s the idiot. “If he’s behind this, he’ll be waiting for us.”

  “I hope so.” He reaches below the counter and pulls out two more gun clips.

  “Just a friendly conversation, huh?” I can’t help but chuckle, though none of this is funny. With the mood Caleb’s in, he’s liable to shoot our cousin between the eyes without so much as a hello. And the sharp set of his jaw makes me think that’s exactly what he’s planning on doing. Those two have never gotten along, and Vic is a cockroach. The world could do without him.

  But I can’t help wonder how much worse will things get before sunrise.

  Will we both even be around to see the sunrise?

  “Farley and the guys will be here in ten and then we roll.” Caleb nods toward my side of the house. “You want to give her a heads-up that we’re leaving?”

  “If I want to wake up with my balls attached, yeah.” That woman has a sharp temper, and the Easton name doesn’t seem to strike fear into her. I admire that about her.

  Caleb eyes his wing of the house, where that cute blond is showering, and I already know where his head’s going. Both heads.

  Normally I’d warn him to keep his dick in his pants. Mercy has been adamant that my brother not add her best friend to his infinite parade of mindless lays. But after what happened tonight, everyone’s on edge. I’m not about to cock-block him, not when he’s this wound up. Maybe blowing his load in someone will clear his head enough to not start a war tonight.

  Besides, Michelle has been eye-fucking him since the night they met. She practically dry-humped his lap the night he drove her home, if his version of events is accurate. That my brother didn’t take advantage of that is a damn miracle.

  “We hit the road in twenty,” he announces with grim determination, marching for his wing.

  I grin. “Thought you said ten.”

  “Your dick can thank me later.”

  Twenty minutes. Just enough time to make sure Mercy remembers me in case I don’t come back.

  I wasn’t sure what I’d be heading into when I stepped to my bedroom—Mercy, packing? Aiming to launch the alarm clock at my head in a fit of rage? The anger is strong in this one—so I’m relieved to hear the steady stream of water from the bathroom.

  I settle at the threshold to the sprawling shower stall and admire her naked body, my hands itching to grip her tiny waist where it flares out into round hips. Those curves might be my favorite on her. Those or the dip in her back, just above her tailbone. Every time I drag my tongue down her spine and reach that spot, she tenses with anticipation.

  Then again, those long, toned legs of hers are also a favorite of mine, especially when they’re curled around my body.

  As are her tits, filling my palms.

  And that tight, inviting pussy.

  Who the fuck am I kidding? Every square inch of this woman’s body makes my mind go blank. Especially when she’s in the shower.

  She peers over her shoulder to catch me admiring her. “I thought you’d already be gone by now.” She says it coolly, as if talking about a household errand I need to run. But I catch the slight hitch in her voice at the end.

  “Just waiting for security detail to show up. You and Michelle will be safe here tonight while we take care of this.”

  Awareness flashes in her chocolate brown eyes. There’s no point lying to her; she’s figured out we’re on someone’s hit list. But the less she knows, the better, even if being kept in the dark pisses her off. A lot of what I do pisses her off.

  She turns back to face the tile wall, her fingers weaving through her strands of long raven hair. “So much for trying to change.”

  I can’t believe she’s throwing my words from earlier tonight back in my face. “This is different.”

  “Is it?”

  “Yeah, it is.” My irritation flares. Can’t she see the truth? “What the fuck do you expect us to do? Nothing? Wait until they try a second time?”

  Silence answers me.

  “Maybe you don’t care if I’m dead, now that you’ve got an account full of money to pay for your father’s lawyer. Is that it?” Have I misread Mercy up until now? The way her body molds again mine at night, her soft smiles when she wakes and sees me next to her, the way her lips linger on mine every chance she gets. I thought something was happening between us, but maybe I’m wrong about everything and she still hates my guts.

  My stomach churns with that thought.

  She spears me with a scalding glare. Her pretty, full lips pry open, and I brace myself for one of her tongue-lashings, but she pauses. After a moment, she shakes her head.

  I finally see fear in her eyes. I’ve been waiting for it to arrive all night. All I want to do now is scoop her up into my arms and make her believe it’s all going to be okay, that I’m not going to let anyone hurt her.

  Has she been stewing over all the directions tonight could have gone, like I have? Not that it didn’t already end in tragedy, but I’ve had an endless loop of horror-show scenarios playing in my head: Caleb and Michelle, happily sucking back drinks on the plane while they wait for us to arrive; Michelle, tucked into her seat, ready to surprise Mercy when she boarded.

  Mercy, boarding the plane ahead of me.

  Every time that last possibility so much as glances across my mind, I’m hit with the urge to lean over and empty my stomach. It’s quickly followed by the need to interrogate Uncle Peter with a gun barrel pressed against his forehead.

&n
bsp; If we’re right about this, I’ll pull the trigger myself.

  Regardless, whoever set us up to die tonight will pay the price.

  I take a deep breath to calm myself. The last thing I want to be doing with her right now is fighting. “You know how to use a gun?”

  She nods. “My dad taught me before he went away.”

  No doubt because of the shithole apartment he let her move into. The entire place should be torched. Maybe I’ll have to take care of that once I’ve taken care of my current mess. Or at least have it condemned. She’ll be forced to stay with me for good.

  I think I like the idea of that.

  But what’s beginning to matter more to me is that Mercy likes the idea of that, too.

  No, not just likes it.

  Loves it. Loves it enough to not decide she’s had enough, that she wants to leave. Could I fault her? No. But I also don’t know if I can bring myself to let her go.

  Fuck, Caleb was right. This woman has her claws in my heart.

  I’m not losing her.

  “I’ll be back in a few hours. I’m leaving a Glock on the nightstand for you. We’ll have guys stationed around the perimeter and the house locked down. No one’s getting in here. It’s just a precaution, but you won’t need it.” I add after a moment, “Just don’t shoot any of my guys. Too many people have died already because of us tonight.” My throat clogs up with thoughts of Finn and Felix.

  Gone, just like that.

  Will there even be anything to put in their caskets?

  Whatever anger and fear radiated off Mercy evaporates as her face fills with sympathy. She leaves the warm spray of water to close the distance. Drops of water hang from her thick fringe of eyelashes as she gazes up at me. “Did you know them long?” she asks in a whisper, reaching up to toy with strands of my hair.

  “Since we were kids,” I answer gruffly. I’m surprised by the way my eyes suddenly burn with emotion. I have to look away—down, over Mercy’s naked body, over her hardened nipples and the gooseflesh springing across her wet skin—so she doesn’t see. Christ, those two were some of our oldest and most trusted friends, but I didn’t really appreciate how much they meant to me until now. I definitely can’t remember the last time I felt like shedding a tear over anyone.

  After my mother died, maybe.

  There’s no place for men who cry in the Easton family, my father had drilled into our heads over the years.

  “You know, it’s okay to show how much you cared about them,” Mercy croons softly, coming close enough to press her forehead against my lips while keeping space between her slick body and my clothes, as if trying to keep me from getting wet.

  “I’d rather show you how much I care about you,” I hear myself say.

  She pulls back, and her eyes flash with surprise.

  I don’t have time to console Mercy—or myself—the way I want, meshed in my bedsheets for the next seven hours. I seize her tiny waist, pulling her flush against me as my lips fall on hers. The kiss turns frantic almost immediately, our tongues and teeth slipping and sliding and clashing and smashing in a graceless tangle. My greedy hands squeeze her curves, the moisture that clings to her flesh soaking through my dress shirt.

  But it’s not just me who suddenly can’t get close enough. Mercy’s fingernails scrape at my chest. She fists the oxford cloth, popping several buttons as she stumbles backward toward the stream of hot water, yanking me with her.

  I kick off my shoes as I let her lead me in. A shower, however quick, will feel refreshing after hours of sitting in dry desert heat. “Caleb will be banging on the door in fifteen minutes,” I warn. Knowing my brother, he’s already balls deep in her friend and racing for the finish line, making the most of being alive for the moment.

  “He’ll have to wait,” Mercy murmurs against my lips, fumbling with the rest of my buttons until they’re unfastened.

  We should be doing this in Vegas, in the penthouse suite of the Mage—the hotel and casino that Caleb and I are looking at purchasing. It’s another step in our bid to move away from our family’s drug business and into full legit territory. That’s where we were heading tonight, ahead of our meeting with the Perri family tomorrow.

  She peels my shirt off my shoulders, breaking our kiss long enough for her heated gaze to drift over my chest. She doesn’t have to tell me; I hear her sigh before her lips are back on mine and her deft fingers are tearing away at my belt buckle and zipper as if she can’t get me undressed fast enough. Tugging my pants and briefs off my hips, she drops to her knees to pull them down my thighs. I brace myself with my palms against the tile and chuckle as she curses with irritation and yanks at the wet material.

  My laughter chokes off with the first swipe of her tongue across my tip.

  “Fuck,” I groan, letting my head fall back and my eyes shutter for a moment. There isn’t a woman in existence I’d rather have sucking my cock, and I’ve had plenty to compare against. They all blend together, for the most part. But Mercy’s mouth? Just the thought of her on her knees in front of me would be enough to make me come.

  I peer down to find Mercy’s eyes locked on mine as she sets to work on me, strands of wet hair plastered across her gorgeous face. As much as I love this woman’s lips around me, the only thing that might help calm this brewing storm of emotion is to bury myself deep inside her.

  Guiding her mouth away with a hand cupped beneath her chin, I seize her slight body and lift her up… up… off the shower tile floor. She grips my biceps with her hands and clenches my hips with her thighs as I pin her against the wall. I don’t waste another moment with foreplay, plunging deep into her, earning me a gasp and soft moan.

  “I don’t want you to leave tonight,” she whispers, her lips pressed against my ear, her arms wound around my neck as our bodies gyrate hard against each other. There’s a hint of desperation in her voice.

  “Trust me, I’d stay right here all night if I could.” Right here, in your wet heat. I cradle the back of her head with one hand to dull the rhythmic bump against the hard tile, pleasure radiating as I thrust into her over and over again.

  Mercy’s cries reverberate through the mammoth shower stall, growing louder as I fight the urge to unload into her, desperate for her to come first.

  Her body tenses within my arms with the sound of a fist pounding against my bedroom door. “No. Not yet,” she growls.

  My impending release rushes through my groin and along my spine, an uncontrollable force that spurns my hips harder and faster. I reach down between us to slide the pad of my thumb across her clit, intent on coaxing an orgasm out of her.

  She slaps my hand out of the way, her jaw set with defiance.

  I chuckle. “Sorry. But unless you want an audience….” I didn’t lock the door, and Caleb’s been known to kick back and watch before.

  “Goddammit.” She bows her head and watches me plunge into her. It only takes a few moments before her inner muscles are squeezing my cock in a pulsating wave and I’m bursting inside her with a deep, guttural groan.

  Her lips are lazy as they drag across my cheek in an aimless kiss. “Please don’t go,” she whispers. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

  My stomach clenches at the pleading in her voice. “I don’t have a choice. We have to deal with this tonight, before anyone has a chance to make another move and something worse happens.”

  “You’ll come back though, right?” Her body is relaxed within my arms, and yet her legs still grip me tightly, as if unwilling to let go. “You won’t let anyone hurt you?”

  “I’ll be fine,” I say, hoping fate doesn’t prove me a liar. “I’m more worried about someone hurting you.” Her wet hair has molded to half her face. I push it off her cheek, tracing a sharp cheekbone with my fingertip. “I’ll never give anyone that chance again. I swear to you, as long as I’m breathing, no one will ever hurt you. If anyone tries….” I let my voice drift, my threatening words unspoken. There’s no need; I think it’s pretty clear.


  I’ll kill them with my bare hands if I have to.

  Mercy hesitates, words on her lips but not escaping as her gaze searches my face.

  “All right boys and girls. Hate to break this fuckfest up” comes Caleb’s booming voice.

  I expect to feel Mercy tense against me and shriek—rightfully so—but she doesn’t afford him so much as a glance, her eyes curious and unreadable as she studies me.

  I steal a glance over my shoulder to find him standing at doorway into the bathroom, dressed in fresh clothes—all black, like a criminal with a plan—his arms folded across his chest.

  He gives me a pointed look, unfazed by the fact that I’m bare-assed and buried full-hilt inside a woman. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us, Gabe. We’ve got to jet.”

  “Two minutes.” I turn back to settle my lips in the crook of Mercy’s neck, inhaling the floral scent of her body deeply, hoping it sticks with me until I see her again. “He gone yet?”

  “Yes.” She sighs. “Does he go out of his way to be a pervert?”

  I chuckle. “It comes naturally.”

  Mercy doesn’t match my laughter though. She seizes my jaw within her palms and levels me with an aching look. “Promise you’ll be smart tonight, Gabriel.” Her lips are red and swollen and glistening, and a big part of me wants to ignore my brother, the late hour, and our pressing schedule and let her wrap those around my cock after all.

  “I’ll be smart. I promise.”

  I wish I could say the same for my brother.

  She worries her lip, and I have to wonder if she’s thinking the same thing. That thought doesn’t linger though before it’s replaced by a soft smile.

  I wasn’t wrong.

  Mercy doesn’t hate my guts at all.

  3

  Mercy

  “This view is next level.” Michelle grips the tumbler of scotch with two shaky hands as she peers over the rail at the view of Phoenix below us, the ice cubes Caleb dropped in before handing it to her tinkling against the glass. I always wondered what might unnerve her. Apparently, her plane exploding moments before she embarks, courtesy of a mob hit, is the ticket. It might have taken a few hours to settle in, but my normally feisty friend is nowhere to be seen, replaced by this subdued, somber interloper.