Deviant Prince [Romano Brotherhood, #2]

Deviant Prince | Welcome

♛

Out of all the unexpected twists and turns my life has taken, this one one takes the cake.

I nearly sent my entire family into premature heart failure by forsaking my father's business and moving out of New York City, I'm years deep in a career nobody—much less myself—saw coming, and I'm the proud mother of the world's mangiest cat despite being highly allergic.

But none of that holds a candle to my new neighbor shoving a Glock halfway down my throat on what I thought was a typical Tuesday evening.

"Vivienne," he tells me, "it doesn't have to be this way."

I stop struggling, glaring incredulously at him. "Tell that to your hand holding the fucking gun that's about to blow my brains out!" 

My voice is garbled from the weapon and my arms jerk reflexively, but the metal just cuts further into my wrists. This motherfucker really has me handcuffed and helpless in my own home. My dinner sits forgotten in the microwave, probably cold by now.

"I told you to stay out of my business," he says in that soft voice of his, but it's not to be mistaken for gentleness. No, Massimo Romano is all ice. There's nothing behind those glassy umber eyes of his, and there's nothing beating in his chest. "You proved incapable of such a simple ask."

"Kind of hard when your business is bleeding all over the hallway and waking me up in the middle of the night."

He tilts his head and once again, I get that odd sense that he's trying to understand me. He has a way of looking at me sometimes that makes everything go still. It's like he's been programed to recognize the world around him but I'm a brand new species that hasn't been inputted into his system yet.

Whatever I am to him, I hope it's at least a fucking nuisance. Because I've had enough of this guy infiltrating my life like he owns it.

"None of it has crossed your front door. Not until right now, Vivienne," he reminds me, gesturing with his other hand to the position we're in.

While that may be correct, fuck him. 

"I don't know how you think people generally work, but the fact that it's happening next door instead of ten feet closer to me really doesn't make any difference. Now get your dirty gun out of my fucking mouth, Massimo."

The firearm knocks into one of my teeth as he pulls it away, only enough that I can no longer taste the metal. Something in his face shifts a degree; as with all his other infinitesimal expressions, my mind races to catalogue this one.

It's a game I play to distract myself from what I really want. 

Not for the first time, I take note of the otherworldly pristine nature of his appearance. Perfectly tailored suit, creased sharply in all the right places. Not a hair out of place, not a spot on his skin or a disruption to his clean-shaven jaw. He's perfect—and I want to mess it up. I want to watch that composure turn to ruin.

It's already cracking. He doesn't know that I've seen it. He doesn't know how much I know.

But if Massimo is a sociopathic dick, he's just as much a sharp-edged genius. And whatever fragment of my thoughts he reads on my face, he doesn't like.

I choke as the gun finds its way back between my lips, and the telltale click reverberates through my mouth.

"I don't like to get dirty, Vivienne. Now look at the mess you're forcing me to make."

♛

Welcome to Deviant Prince!

This is Book Two in the Romano Brotherhood Series. It can be read as a standalone, but I do strongly recommend reading Dark Saint first. Massimo's story truly begins there. 

Content Warning: This book contains an extremely morally grey male main character, graphic sexual content, scenes with graphic violence/gore, and similarly disturbing themes. It also contains references/mentions of rape, assault, suicidal ideation, child abuse, and other things that might be challenging for some readers. 

This is a dark mafia romance. If you're here, I'm assuming you know what that entails. And if you know me, you know I loooove my MMCs tortured, dark, and murder-y.

This will be the only content warning in the book. If you've read Dark Saint (first of all hi! ily) this book will be significantly darker. 

Thank you for joining me on this journey! Can I just say, it's going to be fucking insane.

Happy reading!!

- G