Prologue

"I f it's any consolation, you're not the only man that's ever been fooled by the hair, makeup, and clothing," I said. "I mean, what teenage girl should have that amount of makeup on anyways, right?"

"You bastard," he hissed.

"That, I am," I agreed.

"What do you want?"

I leaned up against the back of the couch, staring at him as he glowered over at me from his position on the bed. While most of my enemies would be tied up during a conversation like this, there wasn't any need this time. The man wasn't going anywhere, and he sure as fuck wasn't going to try and make a break for it while butt-ass naked.

"Ah, laddie, and what makes you think that I want something from you?"

"You have to," he argued. "Why else do this? Why else set me up?"

I cocked my head a bit. "Set you up? Are you implying that you're some sort of victim here or something? That you've been unfairly taken advantage of?"

"What else would you call it?" he spat.

I laughed.

I couldn't help it.

These fucking men were all the same.

"Congressman, you wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't taken the girls up on their offer," I pointed out. "You wouldn't be in this situation if you had taken your wedding vows seriously. You wouldn't be in this situation if you were all the things that you preached about during your political campaigns."

"No man would turn down an offer from women that look like that," he argued weakly.

"Lots of men would," I countered. "Also, let's not forget, they're not women. They're fifteen-year-old girls, Congressman."

"They're whores!" he roared. "Who gives a fuck?!"

"I give a fuck," I answered darkly. "I give a fuck because they're children. I give a fuck because your disregard for women is revolting. I give a fuck because human trafficking is lightyears away from prostitution of legal age."

Congressman Oliver started shaking his head. "This is bullshit," he bit out, though no longer yelling. "What do you want, O'Brien?"

"Once upon a time, I wanted you in my pocket," I admitted. "Once upon a time, having you join all the other corrupt leaders that answer to me would have been the goal. Once upon a time, knowing that you had to suck my dick any time I asked you to…well, that would have been enough."

"What changed?" he asked, hate glittering in his eyes.

"Savina Valentine," I answered, and he immediately paled. "Or I guess Provenza now."

"What…what do you…what's Savina have to do with any of…of this?" he stammered.

"Well, because of your piece of shit son, I had to make nice with the Sartoris, letting them into my territory, muddying the waters a bit," I explained. "Plus, having met the lovely Savina Provenza, I can't say that I appreciate how your son treated her."

"I'll give you anything that you want," he offered, his voice already at the begging stage.

"Glad to hear it," I said cheerfully. "Because what I want is to make an example out of you, Congressman Oliver. What I want is to send a message to other powerful men-such as yourself-that you assholes aren't untouchable. I want to make it clear who runs this fucking state. Now, while I might have to share that title with Avgust Kotov and Nero Sartori, I still want it known that you don't run things here in Maryland. I want it known that none of you sonsofbitches run shit."

"You're no better than we are," Stewart snarled, and he wasn't lying.

"Well, that's debatable now that every person in the position of power for this state is spoken for," I replied. "You were the only holdout, and good for you for at least putting up a fight when the others hadn't even bothered."

"So, what's the plan?"

"Right now, your underaged playmates are going to brag on social media how they had a hot night with you, but you refused to pay," I answered. "Congratulations, you'll be ruined by morning."

"I'll fucking kill you," he threatened, his words empty and rather pathetic at this point.

"Ye can try," I sing-songed just to be a dick.