Mafia King's Contract Breeder

Emmanuel POV

"They’ve changed everything. The codes, the entire system—" Shen Kai looked at his monitors and shook his head, tugging the ends of his black hair in frustration. "The bugs that we planted before won’t be reusable, Boss."

I scanned the monitors from behind his shoulder.

"To be expected," I said. "We will find another opportunity."

A security breach at the Altair estate on Kensington Hill. The heir to the main line assassinated in his own home. Of course the Altairs would hurry to tighten their security tenfold more than before.

"That is to be expected," Dover said. "What I don’t get is why it’s been so...quiet."

He looked at me with some amazement.

"You killed Herman Altair. And as you said, the old man knew it was you and escaped by the skin of his fat neck...but there’s nothing in the newspapers. No word from the police. They’re just taking it lying down?"

"The police," I said lightly, "Can only meddle in the problems of the middle classes. Different rules exist in the slums and at the top of the pyramid."

"We run the slums," Shen Kai said with a shark like grin. "The police can’t solve problems like the favors we get asked for."

"Precisely." I nodded.

"And the world of the rich people is a jungle too?"

"At the top, reputation is everything." A dark smile filled with irony curved my lips. "This is a family matter. The Altairs will not want a trace of this to escape into the public view. It will all be settled under cover of darkness."

"So what will be their next move, you think?" Dover asked. "More assassins?"

"That was Herman’s signature move." I narrowed my eyes thoughtfully. "Norman is old and weak. The rest of the wider clan will be vying for the inheritance with Herman gone."

"We need information," Shen Kai concluded, switching between screens to a different page and typing furiously. "Know thy enemy. Let me see what I can dig up..."

In the public eye, the Altairs were a discreet, mysterious family. It was widely known that their wealth numbered in the billions, but they were not the kind of celebrities whose every scandal appeared in the gossip rags.

For years, I had worked from the opposite end of their sphere of influence, until I had become a force that made them lose sleep at night. But I still knew little of my biological father’s family outside of childhood memory, titbits of public information, and of course, our game of sudden death.

"Yes," I agreed, patting Shen Kai on the shoulder. "Let me know what you find. But do get to the point faster."

——

The corridor to B2 dropped several degrees the moment the elevator doors parted, concrete sweating faintly under fluorescent strip lighting that buzzed with a persistent, tired hum. The guards patrolling the holding wing in B2 snapped to attention as I walked by. I nodded back; one of them had sustained a bullet wound in the tunnel.

"How’s your arm, Louis?" I asked, slowing my pace just enough to make the question feel unhurried.

"Good as new in no time, Boss," Louis grinned, pulling back his sleeve to show me the scar, still reddened. "Think I’ll get a tattoo over it."

I nodded noncommittally and continued on, but the guard looked pleased by the conversation. Such attention was necessary to inspire loyalty. Remember their names. Understand what they want, where their strengths and weaknesses lay. Essential skills for the empire I had built and would continue to expand.

Even if their petty wants and fears were often alien to me, I understood the pattern. With Vienna, however—I did not understand what madness had come over her.

I opened her cell door and stepped inside. By now, she had spent days in this narrow space with age-old blood between the tiles, a dark map of every enemy who had bled out on this floor. Where many of my enemies had drawn their final breath—some of them put out of their misery by Vienna herself.

A single bulb swung faintly overhead, throwing her shadow long and trembling against the wall.

"Sir." Vienna pulled herself to her feet, eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot.

"What were you thinking?" I asked coolly. "You have had long enough to clear your head. Do you have an answer for me now?"

"I didn’t know she was pregnant with your child," Vienna said weakly. "I wouldn’t hurt her if I knew it."

"Is that such a difficult leap of assumption?" I lifted my eyebrows. "That is what I bought her for. She is doing her job."

Vienna’s expression twisted into a grimace.

"Is that all she is to you?" The question came in a whisper.

"What else could she be?" I frowned. "I have never seen you like this. I thought you were better than this, Vienna."

"You keep her close," Vienna complained, her voice bitter, rising. "You punish me for her sake."

I scoffed.

"I keep her close because that is what she is for. And I do not answer to you in who and what I choose to keep close. Have I given you so much leeway that you think you can command me now?"

Vienna bowed her head, reining in her burst of temper.

"I’m sorry, sir. I am. I will be strictly professional," Vienna promised. "I will guard your heir with my life."

I looked at her for a long time. We had fought side by side for so long that I often forgot that she was a woman. With all the weaknesses that women had.

"You almost cost me my heir. I have killed idiots for much less," I said. "But I will give you one more chance."

Vienna’s shoulders loosened in relief. She swayed slightly.

"If you act against my will again, I will end you myself."

I held open the cell door and let her out. I still had use for her. Vienna lingered in the doorway, looking back at me with fervent intensity in her bloodshot eyes.

"I would welcome it," she whispered.

Tiresome, I thought. I did not need devotion in the form of her throwing herself upon my blade. All I needed were soldiers who carried out their function. Vienna’s feelings for me were beginning to be a liability.

——

I stopped outside the tightly closed door of the guest suite on my way to my bedroom. The penthouse was as quiet as it always was, when I found the time to enjoy my solitude.

Strange. Every time I had Lara here, she filled up the space like a force of nature. I had been prepared to be irritated by her slovenly habits.

Instead, all I had was a closed door and her demand to be given space.

I pulled at the corner of my lip unenthusiastically, continuing on to my own bedroom.

Patience. I had plenty of patience.