The Marriage Sacrifice Read online

They’d lived rather happily side by side. Nico’s men didn’t interfere with club business, and they stayed out of anything owned by the boss. Anything touched by Garofalo, they ignored. The city was big enough for all of them, and he didn’t see a reason to poach on their land.

  Besides, most of the associates Garofalo and his mafia mob did business with, wouldn’t give their club the time of day anyway.

  It always made Ugly Beast laugh that the wealthy were happy to rub hands with men that had a lot more blood on them than the MC, also a lot stricter rules as well. They were a little backward in their thinking as far as he was concerned.

  “So, tonight’s celebrations do not include the very men who put you back on top?” Smokey asked.

  Ugly Beast kept watch on the men in the room. He was aware of the soldiers who held their guns. No wonder they were having so many problems. They all looked like they couldn’t piss in a freezing cold wind, let alone fight them.

  He wasn’t worried, but he had already assessed the dangers.

  Returning his attention back to Garofalo, he made sure to make eye contact with his Capos as well. There were five here that he counted. He had heard their American friends had taken out three of them before the Hell’s Bastards took over.

  “Tonight is a feast. A reuniting if you will.”

  “It’s a damn soiree where you all pat each other on the fucking back for a job well done.” Smokey sat down on the edge of the desk, showing to the men in the room he wasn’t afraid of their boss. Their king.

  To be honest, Nico Garofalo put fear into most men and women. The only difference was, the MC had seen far worse in their life than this man, and that was saying a lot.

  Smokey whistled. “Check out that piece of ass.” He lifted a picture from the desk before tossing it out to his men. Hunter caught it first before handing it over to him. Ugly Beast glanced at the woman, passing it around, seeing the tic in Garofalo’s face. He didn’t like the disrespect. He’d already noticed the signal he’d given his men to stand down.

  In both of his hands, Ugly Beast had the knives, waiting and ready to strike out. He didn’t do politics. That was Smokey’s job.

  For him, all he did was make sure they got out alive. The scars on his back and face were a testament to that.

  He’d gladly look death in the face and laugh. Until then, he was going to make sure each and every single person stayed out of the club’s way. Simple as. It’s why he was the Sergeant at Arms.

  “She your wife? Your mistress? I bet a horny fucker like you would have a whole stash of sluts stashed around the country, huh? I bet he does.”

  “It’ll be easy to find out,” Rock said.

  “Hell, yeah, give them all a real good initiation with the club. We love ourselves some pussy, and we don’t have a preference, ugly, fat, nice, evil. We’ll take them all.”

  “Please, leave us,” Nico said, finally speaking up, and looking at his men. Ugly Beast would bet money Nico had never begged or even asked someone to leave nicely. Most of the time, he guessed men and women who were not welcome left here in body bags. For the Hell’s Bastards, Nico had no control. He wasn’t the one in charge here; Smokey was.

  They didn’t hesitate and were out of there.

  Smokey clicked his fingers, and some of his men left as well. There were five Capos at Nico’s back, along with his Consigliere. Smokey had kept six men. The difference between them and the mafia was they really didn’t give a fuck if they came out alive. Nico and his men always had to have one man standing otherwise another crew would take his turf.

  “That’s more like it. So, tell me, Nico, why weren’t we invited?”

  “You’re aware our association cannot go noticed. We must remain quiet.”

  “Oh, I know. What I want to know is why I wasn’t given a fucking invitation. This doesn’t have your politicians, your businessmen, or your associates. This is family, made men, and a celebration. Now, last time I checked, we were the ones that handed you the American mob’s head; Black, I recall his name was.”

  Nico raised his head, clearly not liking the truth that he’d failed whereas they’d succeeded.

  “Now, forgive me if I’m wrong, but that makes this our celebration.”

  “Then go ahead, join us,” Nico said, standing up.

  “You want to disrespect me and my boys, give it a try. You think you succeed in this city by your muscle that don’t look old enough to stroke their own dicks, let alone handle a gun, give it a try. By the end of the week, you’d be out of business, on the streets, or behind bars. I know the deals you’ve got going down all up and down this country, and I can end it with the snap of my fingers.”

  Doing business with Garofalo was not something they’d entered into lightly. With this man, the streets would run red with blood and had been before they intervened.

  Smokey had his reasons—Ugly Beast wasn’t sure what they were—but he never questioned his president’s actions. It was up to him what he wanted to have done. If it was ever life-changing to the club, they would all meet at church to discuss. They had debated Garofalo for over six hours before they agreed to help him. Some of the brothers weren’t happy with forming an alliance, a true one, while others figured it was inevitable.

  For him, he couldn’t give a shit. Whatever the club decided he’d live by and had been doing that for a long time now.

  “What is it you want?” Garofalo asked.

  “You came to me for help. You promised me this would benefit me, and the first moment you could prove that, we’re not even invited. You don’t want to associate with us, don’t ask for our help and expect consequences when you do.”

  The picture was thrown back to Smokey, who placed it very gently on the desk.

  “We don’t have any way of forming an alliance,” Garofalo said. “We also agreed that we didn’t want our union to be recognized outside of our main members.”

  “That is true. However, your main members are here, and I realize your word means shit. Next time you got someone knocking on your door, find another MC.” Smokey stood up. “Any other cut besides the Hell’s Bastards steps foot on this turf, I’ll take that as a message for war.”

  In another token of disrespect, Smokey presented the men his back. They really didn’t care what the men were about. In this room, the MCs were the ones that ruled on top.

  He heard them muttering.

  “Wait,” Nico said.

  They all stopped at the door, just as Smokey knew they would.

  Tonight’s meeting was about getting reassurances from their newfound friends that they were not going to get fucked over at the first opportunity.

  “What?” Smokey asked.

  “Forgive my … rudeness. In our world, a way we agree to an alliance and make arrangements is through marriage.”

  “You sell your daughters for peace and power.”

  “I don’t believe you’d be quite so willing to make such an agreement. Your way of life is very different from ours.”

  “Oh, you mean we treat women like human beings and you treat them like cattle,” Smokey said.

  He watched carefully, seeing the insult spread across each Capo. They clearly didn’t enjoy having their truths thrown at them.

  Interesting.

  “That’s how we form a peace treaty and an alliance. Marriage. If you’re willing to consider it, then please, show me a member who’d be happy to have a bride. Vigo has a daughter. She’s nineteen, and he’s been trying to find a husband for her.”

  “Does she look like a dog?” Hunter asked.

  “If you are agreeable with her, then we can negotiate.”

  Smokey was silent. “She here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Go and get her.”

  Now this did surprise Ugly Beast. Marriage wasn’t what they wanted. He didn’t show their enemies he was shocked though. No, he waited to see how this would play out.

  The Capo now known to them as Vigo left the room.

  �
�Isn’t this all exciting?” Smokey said.

  Ugly Beast chanced a look with Hunter, who was also holding his shit together.

  Who was getting married today?

  “So, your men are agreeable with the prospect of marriage?” Nico asked.

  “Yes. I’m their president. They know I put the safety of the club above all else.”

  This was a ploy, it had to be, or Smokey wanted to see how far he was willing to go for their help.

  Seconds passed.

  No one said a word.

  Ugly Beast didn’t mind silence. He was always prepared for the worst though. Silence was always the setup for pain. It was during these moments, he’d prepare himself, be ready in time for the torture yet to come.

  Their peace was interrupted by the sound of the door behind being knocked on, and in walked Vigo, holding the arm of a girl.

  Ugly Beast didn’t get a good look at her as she passed. Her floral scent filled the air. It was sweet, pure, how he imagined most girls of the mafia families were.

  “Ah, Abriana, it is a pleasure to see you again,” Nico said.

  “Get your head down, girl. Show some fucking respect.” Vigo pushed her head down, and she did.

  Ugly Beast admired her from the back. He’d seen several of the wives as he entered the house, and this Abriana wasn’t like a lot of them. She wasn’t slender. The dress she wore, which fell to her knees, molded to every single curve, and she had a nice ass. The dress was so tight it showed the outline of her panties.

  “How old are you, Abriana?” Nico said.

  “Nineteen.”

  “The perfect age for marriage, and look at those child-bearing hips. You remind me of my mother,” Nico said. “Well, Smokey, come and have a look at her.”

  Ugly Beast watched his president walk over to the girl. He lifted up her chin, grabbed her face, turning her this way and that.

  “She’s a bitch with a pussy. I don’t know what I’m looking at,” Smokey said. “She got any diseases?”

  “My daughter is clean. She is pure. Never touched.”

  “Is that right?” Smokey asked. “Your pussy never known a cock, Abriana?”

  He noticed her hands were clenched at her sides. She didn’t like this, but rather than lash out at them, she remained silent, her lips pressed firmly together.

  “No.”

  Her voice was so soft, gentle. She stood out in a room full of men who would likely chew her up and spit her back out.

  Smokey turned her to the group.

  She had long brown hair, and it was glossy and thick. There was minimal makeup on her face, but he saw her large brown eyes were wide. She was afraid and struggling with being manhandled.

  No one said a word to each other as they all looked at her.

  Finally, Smokey looked at him. “What do you think, Ugly? You like her?”

  He nodded his head, seeing no reason to dispute it. She wasn’t the most stunning woman in the world, or the ugliest. Some would consider her plain, but again, her eyes. He stared into them, and there was something there that struck him hard. There was an instant tug inside him to help her.

  “She’s all right,” he said.

  Smokey burst out laughing. “This the reason you’re having trouble selling the girl. No one fucking wants her. Wow, in our world, put a virgin amongst the wolves and that bitch would be a slut begging for dick within a few hours.”

  Abriana’s face was so red, and she stared at the floor.

  Clearly, she wasn’t happy being here in this room. For Ugly Beast, he was pissed off that her father didn’t stick up for her. The men looked bored.

  “I’ll take her,” Ugly Beast said, speaking up.

  This made her look up.

  “Good, because it was going to be you that I picked,” Smokey said. He shoved the girl toward him, and Ugly Beast made sure to hold her. “What do you guys say? We get down to the nitty-gritty basics, seeing as we’re now family.”

  Abriana didn’t fight against him. The moment she was steady, he removed his hands from her shoulders and watched the men in the room.

  “Is this what you want?” Ugly Beast asked. “Marriage to me?”

  “She’ll do as she’s told. She’s a good girl. You don’t have to worry about that. She knows to keep her mouth shut and to be loyal or to face the consequences. All of the women know what to do. You can leave, Abriana,” Nico said.

  Abriana nodded her head, but Ugly Beast wasn’t happy. He grabbed her wrist, stopping her escape.

  “Did I fucking ask you?” he said, glaring at Nico.

  He didn’t like the mafia. In fact, he’d rather shoot them all dead right here, right now. Smokey laughed.

  “Do you want to get married?”

  Abriana stared at him with startled eyes. She wasn’t going to tell him the truth.

  She nodded her head. “Yes, I serve for the family.” She bowed her head like a good little servant, and seeing it set his teeth on edge. He still wasn’t happy.

  Nodding his head, he watched her leave. She was so silent, the door barely making a sound as it closed.

  He wondered what she was thinking in that moment.

  He didn’t want a wife. The last thing he expected coming here was for him to become eligible as a husband.

  “So, now that we’re all going to be one big, happy family. Let’s talk real now. Money, guns, drugs, pussy, and power. That’s all I’m interested in.”

  Smokey finally took a seat, ready to make a deal.

  It was the first time for Ugly Beast that he wanted to put a bullet in his president’s head, with all the love in the world, of course.

  ****

  Abriana tried not to smooth out her hair for the hundredth time. All of them were laughing at her. It was her engagement party, and so many people across the family and the associates had come to see the laughingstock of what was to be her life.

  She was being married off to an MC.

  Bargained off like every other woman, only her match was considered less.

  “I heard he’s a monster. His face makes mirrors break.”

  “I hear he takes women and rapes them. That’s his deal.”

  “That’s all men. They are pigs and don’t know when to keep it in their pants. They all need to be castrated.”

  She tried not to think or show what their words were doing to her. Glancing at the time, she saw her betrothed was already an hour late. The whole MC was late, and she knew her father was getting angrier by the second.

  The past three years, she’d been a real disappointment to him and to her family. She was the oldest of five. She had two brothers that were older than she was and already made men. She was the oldest girl. Her sister Chantel was the beauty of the family, but she was only fifteen and already had men wanting to take her to a dark room and fuck. Where Chantel would make a glowing bride, Abriana was the ugly duckling in the story; only she’d stayed ugly.

  For three years now, she’d been put on strict diets, forced into exercise, and been advised over plastic surgery.

  She was worthless.

  Her father had spent many nights pointing it out, and when they didn’t have guests, he liked to randomly hit her, hoping to smack the ugly right out of her. If he couldn’t use his hands and fists on her face, he liked to kick.

  From what she heard, the MC wasn’t much better.

  She stayed in the corner of the room, praying for this man to arrive. Even if it meant she’d die sooner rather than later, she’d take it. She didn’t know how much more she could handle of her father’s abuse. There was no one to turn to.

  He was Capo.

  She also knew Nico adored her father and their family. If she went to him with a complaint, she’d be the one punished. No one else.

  Locking her fingers together in front of her, she tried to hide her curves that she’d been told time and again were ugly.

  Her mother often dressed her in black to hide her body. She knew her mother tried, but it was no use.r />
  “Are you okay, honey?” her mother, Carina, asked.

  “Yes, I’m fine.”

  “He’ll turn up.”

  “And if he doesn’t?”

  “Then, stay in your room.” Her mother patted her hands as if it was the most natural advice a mother was to give to a daughter.

  Abriana kept her mask in place when the truth was, she was screaming, petrified, and wanting to do nothing more than run out the front door.

  After the first beating, Carina taught her how to pretend. How to lie and to make it look convincing. Whenever her father started to hit her, she simply floated away and imagined herself elsewhere.

  It was a hell of a lot easier than suffering.

  She took a deep breath as she watched her father and Nico talking. They kept looking toward her, and she knew they weren’t happy.

  Her father made his way toward her, and she couldn’t think of a single way to escape. Frozen into place, she waited for his cruelty. He wouldn’t hit her in front of their guests, but his words were just as bad as any hit.

  She tensed up, hoping someone distracted him.

  As if appearing out of nowhere Ugly and Smokey slammed open the front doors, letting all know they had arrived.

  “Where is the bride to be?”

  She didn’t think it was possible for an MC to be her savior or for her to be grateful for it.

  Abriana stayed in her corner as bikers began to appear. They hadn’t changed for the event. They were still in their leather jackets, complete with their insignia. Jeans, shirts, leather cuts, and hard boots, stood out against the suit-wearing family she was used to.

  She rather liked the contrast.

  The one with the label of President noticed her and came over to her. He pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly.

  This, again, was inappropriate.

  “Excited for the big day?”

  She forced a smile to her lips.

  Lying didn’t come natural to her. She often found a smile, a tilt of the head, or even a nod, helped to evade her having to answer truthfully.

  When her husband to be, fiancé, came forward, his men were clapping him on the back. He didn’t look any happier about being the center of attention, and she rather liked that he was … unhappy about it.