"Such a pretty name for such a pretty girl," the man smiled before reaching out and wiping under my eyes with his thumbs. He smiled at my eyes lingering on his, and then asked, "Why are you here?"
I swallowed before I said, "I came here to watch the fight that was on earlier, but I fell asleep in one of the private rooms."
He grinned and asked, "You like watching the brawls?"
I shook my head. "No way, I actually hate them but me boyfriend fights in them, so I have to come along for support or he gets mad."
He raised his eyebrows then, but lowered them as he reached out again and smoothed my hair back from my face. He was very gentle when he asked, "Who is your boyfriend? I bet on the fights; he might have won me some money in the past."
The other men in the booth snickered at this, but I didn't look at them, I kept my eyes on the man next to me and answered, "Dominic Slater, he's the undefeated champion of Darkness. He always wins his fights."
I didn't know what I was expecting when I answered the man's question, but growling from the young lad across from me wasn't it. "That pussy gets lucky in his fights."
I was instantly mad.
"He just happens to get lucky in every single fight then?" I asked the young lad as I looked away from the man next to me. I was instantly aware that he was somehow related to the man next to me because he looked so much like him, just a younger version.
"He is a pussy, bitch," the young lad snarled.
I glared right back at him. "Well, you know what they say? You are what you eat."
The young lad grinned at me while the two other men burst into laughter. I jumped a little when the man next to me put his arm over my shoulder as he laughed. "Get my picture with this Irish beauty. It's not often someone shuts my nephew up."
I looked to the man as the other older man across the table snapped a picture on his phone. I looked to him then when he began tapping on it and reached over handing it back to the man next to me.
Referring to them as just 'men' was hurting my head so I asked, "What is your name?"
The man next to me opened his mouth to speak when the phone in his hand rang, causing a smile to light up his face. "I don't think he has ever called me back so quick before." He chuckled then answered the phone and said, "Nico, my boy, how are you?"
My full attention was on the man next to me when he said the name Nico.
The man held his phone away from his ear a little when screaming spewed from the receiver. The man nodded across to the other man across the table. After the nod that man got up and walked in the direction of the hallway where all the private rooms were. I furrowed my eyes as I watched him disappear down the hallway; I kept looking in that direction waiting for him to reappear, and when he did, he was dragging a person's body by their legs in our direction.
"Omigod," I screamed in horror of what I was seeing.
The man next to me suddenly fisted my hair in his hand and snarled, "Bronagh, I don't like screaming so cut it out, or I'll cut your tongue out, your choice."
I was breathing heavily as I snapped my mouth shut.
"Good girl," the man said then chuckled. "You trained your bitch well, Nico, I'm proud of you, son. Your woman knows her place."
I began to cry as the man dragging the male body by the legs neared the booth. I could tell it was a male and the closer he got, I noticed more things. I furrowed my eyebrow and blinked through my tears when I recognised who the person was. I narrowed my eyes to see better and when the person's face came into view I screamed out and tried to go to him.
"Damien!" I cried.
He was out cold on the ground and his face was all busted up. If you didn't know who he was you wouldn't have been able to recognise him; that's how swollen his face was.
"Shut it, bitch, you look better when your mouth is closed," the man that fisted my hair growled.
He pulled me by the hair until I was standing up from the booth. He turned me and shoved me forward until I landed on the younger lad whose hands latched onto me and pulled me down onto him so my arse was directly on his groin.
"Fuck me, you have some ass," he commented making my stomach lurched. "Marco, please let me test this one out."
I widened my eyes as I stared at the man who was grinning at me as he still held his phone to his ear. "Be here in one hour or I'll kill the girl and paralyse your brother." He hung up and dropped his phone on the table in front me.
"Marco Miles?" I whispered.
He grinned and asked, "Nico told you about me then?"
I set my jaw. "He told me everythin' about you," I growled.
Marco chuckled. "I hope it was all good?"
I curled my lip in disgust making him laugh as he dropped back down into the booth. "I thought this trip to this country wouldn't be worth it. I figured Nico and his brothers would be hard to keep employed, but you and Damien have made it very easy. Damien left Darkness just as we arrived so grabbing him was easy. Then when we went to put him in one of the back rooms, Trent found you passed out. One of the bouncers identified who you were and just so happened to mention whose girlfriend you were." Marco snickered. "That slut lady luck is being very good to me, wouldn't you say so?"
I processed what he just said and my mind lingered on one thing, the name 'Trent'. I looked over my shoulder to the scumbag who was rubbing my thighs and asked, "Trent Miles?"
He grinned at me. "In the flesh, bitch."
"You're supposed to be dead! Damien killed you!" I shouted and struggled in Trent's arms.
Marco laughed from across the table. "No, Damien shot him in the shoulder, and I told Ryder it was his heart, and that he was dead. I was about to lose those boys and after their father and I had been grooming them all their lives for our line of work, I couldn't let it happen. So when I got the opportunity to put them where I wanted them, I took it with both hands."
I glared at him in disgust. "You pretended your nephew was dead just so you could hold it over the brothers and make them work for you?"
Marco grinned. "Genius wasn't it? The Slater brothers are nothin' if not loyal to each other. They would give up everything to keep each other safe, and holding Damien's life in my hands got me their lives in return. I own that family."
I shook my head. "They want out. Dominic told me they were cuttin' ties with you!"
Marco snorted. "Yeah, he told me that as well, but I'm not very happy with my best boys jumping ship. They each provide substantial income for me, and I really like my money, so we're just going to have to talk about extending their work contracts instead of terminating them."
I felt like getting sick. "You can't make them work for you anymore. Trent isn't dead; you held somethin' over them that didn't exist in order to keep them in line!"
Marco laughed at me again. "That was an illusion; what I really held was the threat of killing their brother over them, and I still hold it over them… the threat of killing you is new but I'm sure it will prove just as effective."
He was fucking crazy!
"You won't get away with this!" I snapped.
Trent laughed, and he gripped my hair. "He already has," he said as he whacked the back of my head causing darkness to consume me instantly.