Rebellious Reign: American Mafia Book 2, page 1
REBELLIOUS REIGN
PART 2
JACIE LENNON
Copyright © 2023 by Jacie Lennon
All rights reserved.
Visit my website at www.authorjacielennon.com
Cover Designer: Dez Purington, Pretty in Ink Creations
Photographer: Katie Cadwallader Photography, @cadwalladerphotography
Cover Model: Kat Kostoff, @kat_luvs_
Editor: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforeseenediting.com
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
CONTENTS
About The Book
Content Warning
1. Wryn
2. Connor
3. Wryn
4. Connor
5. Wryn
6. Wryn
7. Connor
8. Wryn
9. Wryn
10. Wryn
11. Connor
12. Connor
13. Connor
14. Wryn
15. Wryn
16. Wryn
17. Connor
18. Wryn
19. Wryn
20. Connor
21. Wryn
22. Connor
23. Wryn
24. Connor
25. Connor
26. Wryn
27. Wryn
28. Connor
29. Wryn
30. Connor
31. Wryn
32. Connor
33. Wryn
Epilogue
Thank you for reading!
Also by Jacie Lennon
Acknowledgments
ABOUT THE BOOK
Broken by a secret.
Wryn
My life has been turned upside down.
What started as a fake marriage has become real and so much more.
Ruby is still missing, and I’m devoted to finding her.
But now, I can’t help but also focus on Connor.
He tells me he’s falling for me.
He says our arrangement isn’t temporary for him anymore.
Then, a favor gets called in, and it could be the end of us.
I don’t think Connor will forgive me for my betrayal.
Connor
Life has never been perfect for me.
But now that I have Wryn, it seems like that might be attainable.
My plans were foiled, and I don’t know who I can trust.
Except for Wryn, the woman I think I’m falling in love with.
She’s someone I never thought I would find.
Although I didn’t have to look for her.
Our marriage hasn’t been conventional.
But now, I’m keeping something from her—for her own good.
I just hope she will see it that way.
If she ever finds out.
This is part 2 in the American Mafia duet and the conclusion to Reluctant Heir. You should read Reluctant Heir first as it contains important information that is relevant to Rebellious Reign.
CONTENT WARNING
As the second part to Reluctant Heir, this book is also a dark(ish) mafia romance. During the story quite a few different dark themes are talked about and I wanted to list those below for anyone who may need them. If you find them to be an issue, please take care of yourself and don’t read this book.
Violence
Blood
Gore
Talk of human trafficking
Talk of murder
On page murder
Kidnapping
Child abuse in a main character’s past that is shown
1
WRYN
It’s been two weeks of nothing. No word from Viktor, which I’m relieved about, and nothing from the four men who held Connor’s life in the palm of their hands, which scares me.
People say no news is good news, but it makes me want to jump out of my skin. I busy myself by hovering over Connor, and I can tell it’s starting to irritate him. He’s healing, on the mend, but it’s slow going. His angry flesh on the side of his face is a stark reminder of what he went through and what could have happened if Viktor hadn’t stepped in.
Connor is mad at me about that. But I did what I had to do. And I don’t regret it. Maybe Viktor will never call in his favor, but as soon as I have the thought, I know it’s laughable. Men like him will always cash in their debts, and I need to be ready.
Connor hasn’t talked about what happened to him. Maybe it’s because he wants to put it behind him, behind us, but I know it’s not going to leave. This will follow us and hang over our heads until it’s dealt with.
I stop in front of his office door and raise my hand to knock but then think better of it. I’m his wife. I don’t have to knock.
Not that I ever did before.
I push the door in and stop abruptly. He’s in a meeting. Four pairs of eyes snap to mine, and I raise one eyebrow. It’s not surprising enough to me to be hurt that I wasn’t invited. I smile and advance into the room as if I were wanted here all along.
Connor is sitting in one of the wingbacks in front of the fireplace, his bandaged hand resting on his thigh, and I look around at the others. Geo, Ginny, and Dean.
“Did you need something?” Connor asks.
I look down at the cup of tea I’m carrying. It was for him, but I’m not going to offer it now. He wouldn’t take it. So, I wrap both hands around it and take a sip, staring at him above the rim. He raises an eyebrow, and so do I.
“I came to join the conversation,” I say. Now that I know a conversation is happening, I want to be involved.
“Outside.” Connor rises, stalking toward the door.
After a smile toward the rest of those acting like they aren’t watching us, I follow him. He shuts the office door as soon as I’m through and then crosses his arms, leaning against it. He winces slightly, and I know his body is still sore. He doesn’t take his medicine anymore. The bottle is still half full in his bathroom. I check it occasionally since he won’t talk about anything.
“What are you doing?”
“I came to bring you tea. I didn’t know you had company.” I lean my shoulder against the door, facing him.
“I don’t want any tea.”
He’s abrupt, wanting me to leave, but I don’t take it personally. Ever since he woke up and confessed he thinks about me more than he should, he’s started to close himself off again. I reach up with one hand and cup his cheek, the one with the still-healing scar.
“Don’t do that. Don’t push me away.”
“I’m not,” he says, but he leans into my touch, showing me that no matter what he says, he still wants it, needs it.
We are learning each other, still in a state of limbo, trying to figure out where we fit together. Before, we were so driven by what we wanted that it was hard to see ourselves outside of that, but now, we are starting to separate the emotions, compartmentalize the relationship.
“You are. Let me in. Let me make plans with you. I’m involved in this too.” I jerk my head slightly toward his office.
“I know,” he says, reaching up to rub his jaw, moving my hand in the process. I don’t know if it was intentional or not.
I know he hasn’t had many loving touches in his life, and I think it makes him uncomfortable. But again, he won’t tell me; he won’t talk to me about any of it.
“Fine.”
He pushes himself off the door, and I stand straight too, the tea in my cup sloshing around with my movements. I drink some of it as I step out of the way, trying to keep from openly smiling.
I trail behind him, taking an empty chair in the room, and settle in as I wait for them to start talking again. There’s a lot to discuss and so much to fix that the seriousness looms over us all. I notice that Lucas and Arie aren’t here. Geo told me about Lucas’s involvement at the flower shop when Connor was taken, and I wish he were here, only so I could sink a knife into his neck too. My eyes focus on the spot where I last saw Bertrand. There are some nights I still have nightmares about it, but I’m starting to accept it more with each day that goes by.
I find that my loyalties are turning and my heart is more involved. It’s not a business arrangement anymore. These people are becoming mine. Maybe it’s because I only ever had Ruby and she’s gone, or maybe it’s because I’ve never truly had family before, but I’ve started to latch on to the people here, and I’m strangely not terrified. I should be. I know that. This world has been anything but safe, but I don’t want or need safe. I need something that’s mine.
“I wasn’t followed,” Dean says, and I look at him.
He’s not a part of those that I am starting to see as family. I wish Connor would throw him out on his ass. Anger seizes me as I look at his face, the same one that led Ruby out that side door at Club Belladonna that night, and fury rolls through me. Connor says he didn’t know what he was doing. Who knows what the truth is? I only know that I need somewhere to focus my rage, and he’s as good a place as any right now.
“You’re right,” Connor says, nodding and acknowledging the truth in the statement. “We must be careful and act soon.”
“Is that a good idea?” Ginny asks, chewing her gum loudly.
She blows a bubble, and it pops. I watch her suck it back into her mouth.
She’s different from the women I’ve met so far. She portrays herself as someone who doesn’t give any fucks about anything. Connor told me she was raised to be more male in this life than a female. She was a hoped-for son that came out with a vagina, and her father didn’t accept that. But I like her attitude. In another world, she would be my friend, and I would invite her over for wine and movie nights, and we would go on road trips.
But now, she can’t be seen with me. The other four men know that Connor was planning something. Or maybe they think he lost his mind outside of Fleur, but either way, we are the black sheep of the families now. The New Order has a bad apple in its barrel, and we need to cull the rotten fruit. Viktor saved Connor. We don’t know how. But Vincent, Paul, William, and Antonio won’t open their arms to us again anytime soon. Things have been strained since Bertrand died, but now, the tenuous line between the five families has snapped, leaving us on one side of the burned bridge and those four on the other side.
“Won’t they be expecting you to retaliate?” Ginny asks. Her legs are thrown over the armrest, dangling as she kicks one foot back and forth.
I take a sip of my tea for lack of something to do. I can’t really contribute anything to this conversation.
“They will expect it for the rest of their lives. Whether we act now or later doesn’t really matter,” Geo says. He’s twirling a ring around his finger. “We only need to remember we have one chance to get it right.”
“What do you know?” Dean asks Connor.
We all look to him. The leader. The one everyone expects to have an answer.
“I’ve read through the materials that were released to me,” he says.
Materials he still hasn’t shown me even though I’ve asked about them. Maybe it’s not good, and he doesn’t want to tell me. He could be trying to save me from something. He still hasn’t brought up Ruby. Every day that passes, something chips away at the hope inside me and causes my chest to ache.
“Are you going to show us these so-called materials?” Dean asks, pushing for his reply.
Would he show them and not me?
“Not yet,” Connor says. “I need to figure out a few more things. Meanwhile, do you know anything about the old Lions MC clubhouse?”
“The one your old man shot up and took over?” Geo asks, raising his eyebrows and leaning forward.
“Yes, that one,” Connor says, nodding.
He rubs his bottom lip with his thumb, deep in thought. I find myself sitting forward as well, waiting for what he’s going to say.
“I haven’t been there since I was in high school. But it’s still listed in my father’s assets, which means he never got rid of it. And to my knowledge, he never did any demolition to get rid of the buildings.”
His eyes meet mine, and my hands shake. I think I know what he is saying, but I don’t know if he will confirm it out loud.
Does he think it’s a potential place where the trafficked women are held? Does he think Ruby could be there? After a year and a half, I know it’s a long shot that she’s not far away from here, but maybe, just maybe, luck is on our side.
“Have any of you ever been out there?” Connor asks, and the room goes quiet.
Everyone shakes their heads.
Connor nods. “I think it might be a holding cell of some sort. Something our fathers didn’t want us to know about.”
“Why wouldn’t they tell us about something that is family business?”
Connor glances at Geo. “With the exception of Geo, we all are firstborn here. But it seems we aren’t as in the loop as we like to think we are. It doesn’t make sense because we’ve all been involved in our fathers’ businesses since we were children. They have raised us to take over one day. Except for this one thing. And I’m not sure why they are keeping it hidden. But I think that is the very thing that would break this wide open. We find out the motive behind the secrecy, and maybe we have them. Maybe we can take them down with it and start over.”
“You are being just as secretive,” Ginny says, and I find myself nodding along with her.
“Not secretive. I’m sharing what I know,” Connor says.
Surprisingly, Geo is the one to question him. “Are you though?”
Something has changed between Connor and Geo since that night at Fleur. Geo hasn’t been Connor’s shadow, has been absent more and more, and I don’t think they talk much beyond Geo’s job to be the muscle of their operation.
“Beyond knowing that our families are stealing and selling humans, I don’t know much. It’s disgusting. And it needs to be dealt with.” Connor’s voice takes on a hard edge.
He doesn’t like being questioned. But he needs to be. We need to know the harsh truths. We need to be prepared.
“Which is what we are trying to do,” Ginny says, trying to smooth over the tension in the room. “But if you aren’t straight with us, how can we know exactly what is going on?”
“I don’t want another Lucas situation,” Connor says.
“You won’t have one,” Geo says. His voice is gruff.
He looks like he would rather be anywhere than here right now. I’m not exactly sure why. Connor’s eyes find mine, and he stares long and hard. I don’t look away. I’m not sure what he’s trying to say or ask me. But I give a small nod, and he sits up a little straighter.
“Fuck it,” he says, running one hand down his face and then grimacing. I think he forgot about the gash. “I think the only way to solve our problems is to stop them.”
“That’s what we are discussing,” Dean says, but Connor gives him a hard look, full of meaning.
“I want to take them out. All of them. They are a cancer to the families.”
The room is quiet again as everyone processes. I think everyone has thought it and knew this plan was coming, but to put it out there, to speak it, makes it a little more real.
To them, Bertrand’s death was easy. They didn’t have to plan it—I did—and Connor finished it. But this is a whole different level. To plan four murders of the men who created them is no easy feat. It’s one thing to hate your parents, but to want them dead and buried six feet under is something else.
Connor is right though; it’s the only way they will be able to clean up from this disaster. It’s the only way they will all be able to take control. Well, except for Geo. He still has Joey to look out for.
“And do you have a plan for that?” Ginny asks, blowing another bubble, as if murder wasn’t on the table right now. Her foot has stopped moving though, belying her calm demeanor.
Connor taps the fingers of his good hand on his leg as he stares at the unlit fireplace. “Maybe,” he says.
“Care to share it with us?” she asks.
Connor stares off into a corner of the room. I think he’s not going to answer her, but then he finally speaks.
“Fuck, it’s nothing set in stone, but you know the charity gala for the Heywood Society is soon.” He stops talking, like that explains everything.
“And? You want to murder them in front of hundreds of Heywood’s finest?” Dean asks, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
