Stepbrother's Lust: A Forbidden Mafia Romance

Reagan’s POV

My lips curled. They were going to regret ever getting close.

"Boss."

The single word pulled me out of my thoughts. I raised my head and looked toward the man who had spoken. Scar stood a few feet away, his attention fixed somewhere beyond me. I was about to ask what he wanted when I noticed the look on his face.

Something had changed.

I followed his gaze.

The slum was quiet.

Too quiet.

A few minutes ago, there had been movement everywhere. People walking through the narrow streets, someone carrying a bag across the road, a woman standing outside one of the houses. Nothing unusual. It looked exactly like what you’d expect from a crowded slum. Now there was barely a soul in sight.

I narrowed my eyes and slowly looked around. Where had everyone gone?

Even the people we’d seen earlier had disappeared. Doors were half-closed, windows were dark, and the streets that had been full of movement were suddenly empty. I searched for any sign of movement, but there was nothing. No footsteps. No voices. Not even the usual noise coming from the houses.

It wasn’t natural.

Someone had cleared the area.

Or perhaps they’d been told to stay inside.

Either way, it meant one thing. We’d been noticed.

My right-hand man shifted beside me. "Boss."

I glanced at him.

He tilted his head slightly, lowering his voice so only I could hear. "We’re outnumbered. What do we do?"

I didn’t answer immediately. My eyes continued moving across the buildings around us. I wasn’t interested in how many men there were yet. First, I needed to know where they were.

A movement from one of the rooftops caught my attention, but when I looked directly at it, there was nothing.

Then I saw it.

A faint glint from the top of a roof.

My gaze stopped.

There was a rifle pointed directly at us.

I didn’t move. The glass of the scope caught the light for barely a second before disappearing again.

A sniper.

My eyes narrowed.

So that’s what they were waiting for.

My men noticed almost at the same time.

"Boss," someone whispered.

I looked toward another building.

Another rifle.

Then another.

Windows. Rooftops. Narrow spaces between buildings.

They were everywhere.

I slowly took in the positions around us. Some were obvious once I knew what to look for. Others were better hidden, tucked behind broken walls and rooftops where only the slightest movement would give them away.

The silence finally made sense. We hadn’t walked into an empty slum. We’d walked into a waiting room.

My men began shifting their positions, hands moving toward their weapons. Nobody panicked, but the tension was obvious. Some of the younger men looked from the rooftops to each other, while the veterans remained still.

I could practically feel the uncertainty moving through them.

Nobody liked being surrounded.

Especially when the people surrounding you had already taken the high ground.

There were too many of them.

The odds were ugly.

And somehow, I found that almost amusing.

I’d come here expecting to find the people behind the trap. Instead, they’d decided to reveal themselves.

Fine.

At least I had my answer.

I hadn’t come here expecting a clean operation anyway. The moment we traced that plate back to this place, I knew something was waiting for us. The only thing I hadn’t expected was for them to show their hand so quickly.

Maybe they were confident.

Maybe they thought numbers were enough.

Maybe they thought we’d panic once we realized what we’d walked into.

I almost smiled at that.

They didn’t know me very well.

I turned slightly toward scar beside me. "I only came to see something."

He looked at me, waiting.

I glanced toward the rooftops again. "And that thing’s been confirmed."

The words left my mouth casually. Nobody asked what I meant. They knew me well enough to understand that when I spoke like that, I wasn’t worried. I was deciding what came next.

My mind went back to the estate.

The car.

The report.

The shot that had nearly reached Rose’s window.

Something tightened in my chest.

They had come too close.

Not to one of my old man’s businesses. Not to a warehouse or some distant operation that could be replaced. They had gone near our home. They had watched Rose. They had put a weapon close enough to her window that one mistake could have changed everything.

I could still remember the report.

The bullet had missed the glass by inches.

Inches.

That was all it took.

One slight adjustment. One better angle. One second longer at the window.

And I wouldn’t be standing here thinking about it.

My jaw tightened.

They dared attack our home.

They dared attack...

Rose.

The thought settled something cold inside me.

I looked toward the rooftops again, and for a moment, I imagined what would happen if one of those rifles had actually found its mark.

I didn’t like the image.

Not even slightly.

My fingers flexed at my side.

I had spent the entire journey here trying to understand what they wanted. Now I didn’t care nearly as much.

Whatever their reason was, whatever game they thought they were playing, they’d already crossed the line.

I turned toward the man again.

"Open fire."

He looked at me.

"If they aren’t all dead, your men will take their place."

The words were calm, but there was no room for misunderstanding them.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

The men around us stayed still, waiting for the command to become action.

His expression changed, A grin slowly spread across his face.

Not nervousness. Not hesitation.

He looked almost entertained.

I knew that look. He was one of the few men I had who didn’t seem bothered by impossible odds. If anything, he liked them. He’d always been the type to walk toward danger when everyone else was looking for a way around it.

Maybe that was why I kept him close.

He looked toward the rooftops, studying the men waiting there, then back at me.

"You’ve earned my respect, boss."

There was something almost pleased in his voice.

Most men respected strength when it was backed by numbers. He respected the opposite. People who stood their ground when running would have been easier. People who didn’t care how ugly the odds looked.

I understood him.

Maybe that’s why he’d lasted this long.

There was no fear in his eyes. If anything, he looked like he’d just been handed exactly the kind of situation he’d been hoping for.

He glanced at the men surrounding us, then back toward the rooftops. His grin widened.

"But that’s not happening."

I raised an eyebrow.

He chuckled under his breath. "My men aren’t dying for this."

He looked toward the waiting enemies.

"They’ll kill them first."

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