Savage Mafia King (Vicious Heirs #3)

Prologue—Isabella

I drum my fingers on the rail that runs along the edge of the balcony. Below, the lights of New York City glimmer. Normally, being out here, seeing the brightness in front of me, would send a rush of excitement through my body, with all the possibilities flashing through my mind.

But tonight? Tonight, there's only one way this can end. And I'm not looking forward to it.

I lift the glass of red wine to my lips, letting the rich, full flavor linger on my tongue for a moment before I swallow. If I just focus on the moment, what's right in front of me, then I won't have to consider what I'm going to face next. My phone is sitting in my back pocket, and the moment it rings, I'll have no choice but to go to him.

Him. Even the thought of him sends a shiver down my spine—and not in a good way. Marcus. Marcus fucking Silva. If there's one man I want nothing to do with, one man I know will only cause me the worst kind of trouble, it's him.

So why the hell am I going to meet with him tonight?

Because I have no choice. Because, if there was any other way I could deal with this, I would have done it already. But I need to step up and help Blake, before something terrible happens, before the mess that he's implicated in catches up with us. When our parents were alive, Blake might have been able to handle it on his own terms, but now, it's just the two of us. We need help if we're going to keep things from getting more complicated than they already have.

We need protection. We need power. We need the kind of strength that Marcus's family can bring to the table, even if they're the last people I want to align myself with. Silva is an asshole, I know that much, but he's an asshole with influence in this city, and we need that right now if we're going to keep the people on our tail away from us.

This is all my brother's fault. And I know he knows that. If he hadn't dabbled in drug smuggling, we wouldn't be here at all. He got himself into the middle of some operation via the restaurants he owns, but it blew up in his face, leading to the arrest of one of the other men involved, part of the O'Toole family. And now that the O'Tooles are looking for someone to place the blame on, my brother has landed at the other end of their sights.

But fuck it, he's my family. He's the only family I have left. And I refuse to let something happen to him. I refuse to let him get hurt. Even if it means aligning myself with the last person on Earth I want to see right now.

I down the last of the wine, staring blankly down at the city below. I'm sure plenty of my sorority sisters are out on the town tonight, enjoying their freedom, flirting with guys, and drinking and dancing at clubs. I should be there with them. Hell, I would be, if it wasn't for all of this. I'm back at the penthouse I keep in the city instead of the sorority house on campus, hiding out from the rest of the world for a little while longer, though I'd do better to be on campus right now, close to him when he finally makes the call.

Marcus Silva. It's not like I don't know who he is. I've had plenty of run-ins with him over the years, given how hard I work to maintain my family's reputation on campus. My mother was part of the Termina sorority, just the same way I am, though she never rose through the ranks quite as much as I did. I practically run the place now, even when I was on my break to Italy the semester before last. People respect me there, the girls look to me for guidance, and I'm always willing to give it to them.

But Marcus? He's involved with the underground. The Silencio club, the fighting rings that take place on those late cold nights. Everyone knows about it, but he's formidable enough that nobody would dare say a damn thing about it. We're both seniors now, and the two of us have done our best to avoid each other since we started here. Not that we haven't had a few clashes in the past, when his fighting rings spilled over onto the fundraisers we held for the Termina house.

But I know better than to cause trouble with another of this city's major families. The Silvas might have suffered a few blows in the last few years, but they still have influence here, even more so since Giovanni joined forces with that Elena girl. There isn't an inch of this city they don't have a hand on, one way or another, and Marcus and I have been maintaining an unhappy compromise to keep anything darker from going down here.

My phone buzzes against my hip, and my heart skips a beat in my chest. I reach for it, my hand hovering over it for a long moment before I finally answer the call. Lifting it to my ear, I try to keep my voice as breezy as possible, but his tone down the line makes my heart beat faster.

"Isabella."

"Marcus," I snap back. I know I should be a little more polite to this guy, but it's hard to erase all the irritation I feel when he speaks.

"You should try being a little nicer to me. I'm doing you a favor, after all."

I grit my teeth, fighting the urge to shoot back with some smart comment. "Where are you? I'd rather do this in person."

"I'm on campus. You know the Devia building?"

"Yes."

I study politics, and most of the lectures take place far from the Devia building, but I know the campus like the back of my hand—comes with the territory of being a sorority maven.

"Meet me there in ten minutes."

"Half an hour," I correct him. "I'll be there soon."

I hang up before he can say anything else. I don't want to hear whatever smart comment he's got to throw in my direction. I can already imagine how smug he is about me having to come to him for help. He knows what's going on with Blake, and he's the one who reached out to me, offering an opportunity for us to work together to solidify the presence of both our families in the city. A union, he pointed out, would benefit both of us, even if I wish it could be with anyone other than that fucking brute.

I head inside, grabbing a jacket and making for the door. I notice that my hands are shaking, and I do my best to steady them. There's no way I'm going to let him see me like that. No, as far as he's concerned, I'm walking into this totally in control, totally ready to take on anything he might try to throw at me, and I'm not going to let anything convince me otherwise.

I stride out of the door, lifting my chin, and take off into the night to meet the man who might very well change everything.

Though, for better or worse, I still don't know.