I need to get my shit together. Nothing’s making sense in my ordered world anymore. Answers are coming up empty. I have more bodies on my hands.
“I recognize that look,” Laura comments as I enter. Grey hair tied in a neat bun, a black dress clothes her slender and aged form. The smell of food is a heavy scent in the room. Behind her, plates are laid out on the side ready to be filled and presented.
Slipping into a seat, I wrap my fingers around the mug of coffee she hands me. “What look?”
“It’s the same one your father had when he met your mother. You may not want to acknowledge it, Kay Lockwood, but you’re in love with that girl.” When I open my mouth to respond, she shushes me. “Deny it all you want, but sooner or later, the truth is going to smack you in that handsome arrogant face of yours just like it did your father. I’m not blind. The second you turned up with her, I knew something was different.”
Love?
I automatically reject the idea. That’s an emotion I don’t do. It makes fools out of men, and I’m not about to become one of them. Sex I understand. Lust. What I’m experiencing toward Evelyn is sexual attraction nothing more.
“You’re wrong, Laura. For one thing, I barely know her,” I scoff. Placing the tip of a cigarette between my lips, I light up, daring Laura with my eyes to complain.
“You think that matters?” she continues, ignoring the twists of white smoke I blow up into the air. “Sometimes all it takes is a glance, a spark of connection. Fate. Destiny. Call it what you will, but it does exist. Your parents experienced it, and now you have, too.”
My phone pings.
Pushing the old woman’s word aside, I dig it from the pocket of my jeans and check the message.
Paulo: We need to meet.
“I have to go out. If I don’t come back, I want you to arrange for Evelyn to get home safely even if you have to smuggle her out of the country.” Not waiting for a reply, I move toward the bedroom to finish dressing. The sound of the shower running isn’t a surprise.
Pushing the bathroom door open, I’m enveloped in warm air. I see Evelyn’s obscured, curvy outline through the steamed-up glass. Oblivious to my presence, she hums softly to herself, her hand running over her body slow and methodically.
Stripping off quickly and silently, I slide back the misted door.
Evelyn’s gasps. Twisting her head, she peeks at me in astonishment over her bare shoulder. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Sealing us in, I rescue the soap from her hand. Reaching past her I place it on the edge. I need to be buried inside her warm wet heat again. Seek gratification to get her out of my head. Trailing my tongue along the vulnerable cord of her neck, I lap the water droplets from her damp skin. Moaning low in her throat, Evelyn presses herself into me, her head tipping to the side granting me access. Hard and jutting, my cock is wedged between us. Hot water cascades over our skin, plastering our hair to our heads, the heat laden air cocooning us from the outside world.
“Kay.” Her soft murmur urges me on.
Spinning her around, my mouth slams down on hers as I cradle her skull. Evelyn doesn’t hold back. Opening her mouth, she accepts my onslaught. Tongues twining, delving, it’s a silent battle without words. Feeling the slick contours of her body, my hands slide from her hair, down her shoulders to grasp her hips. Lips still fused with mine, she melts into me. Lifting one of her legs, I wrap it around my hip opening her to my thrusting invasion. In one hard push, I’m inside her. A mewl leaves her throat. Around my cock, her inner walls squeeze me tighter. She’s just as turned on as I am. Lost in the madness of animal attraction. Evelyn gasps. Fingernails biting into my shoulders, she complies when I lift her up to curl her other leg around the other side. Back resting against the tiles, her eyes lock with mine as I fuck her roughly.
“Good girl,” I praise as she joins my desperate rhythm.
She doesn’t answer in words. Instead a moan drifts free of her throat, her blue eyes cloudy in ecstasy. I keep up my merciless pace. Everything feels sharper this time. Fiercer than the first time I’d taken her.
Evelyn gives a strangled cry as she comes all over my cock, sending me into my own release. Gripping her buttocks cruelly, I hold her still as I fill her with thick jets of cum. The swiftness of our coupling leaves me panting.
Kissing the bridge of her nose, I press my forehead to hers. “I have to go out for a while. Behave while I’m gone.”
Dazed eyes stare into mine. “Where are you going?”
“To get some answers on who’s having me hunted.”
“I don’t understand everything that’s going on, but why don’t you just leave Rome? Get on a plane?”
Lowering her legs gently, I let her find her feet, steadying her when she sways. “With the price on my head, it won’t stop the assassins coming for me. I need to pull the root of the problem out at the source.”
Brushing wet tendrils of hair from her face, her brows knit together in concentration. “You mean whoever paid to have you killed?”
“Exactly.” Retrieving the soap, I lather it up between my hands before running it over her shoulders. Evelyn doesn’t protest but remains quiescent while I clean her. “Laura and Alessandro will keep you safe. Staying here is for your own protection. You understand?”
Watching me, a smile curls up the corners of her mouth. “Yesterday you had a gun to my head threatening to kill me, and now you’re washing me gently in a shower.”
Arching an eyebrow, my soaping caresses lower over the rounded globes of her breasts. “You think that’s funny?”
Biting her lip, her cheeks turn a soft shade of pink while I fondle them. “No, it’s just strange the difference a day makes.”
Titling in my mouth teases hers. “My priorities where you’re concerned may have changed, but don’t forget that I’m the one still in charge. I’m not letting you leave until I know you’re out of danger.”
Kay
Back against the wall, I survey the occupants of the bar. It’s not a usual haunt for Paulo. Right across from his club, his meetings with anyone have always been in somewhere he knows. Secure. The old man is careful. I don’t like this. My gut is telling me this is all wrong.
The click of heels make their way in a rhythm toward my table. Their owner isn’t who I expected to see. Tall, stylish, her burgundy hair is coiled up elegantly. Sheathed in a silky, fashionable dress, the jewelry she’s draped in has to be worth a fortune.
“Signora Jilani.” I keep the distaste I feel at the sight of her from my tone. “I was expecting your husband.” Instead of rising politely, I remain seated.
“Why so formal, Kay?” The Don’s wife’s red painted lips stretch in a pleasant smile. “Call me Chiara, and I arranged the meeting.”
My eyebrows rise as she takes the seat opposite me with graceful movements. “What do you want?”
“I’m here to warn you.”
“Really?” I tell her skeptically.
My attention sweeps the room, looking for signs of an ambush but come up empty. Paulo doesn’t leave his phone laying around. If she sent me a message from it to get me here, she didn’t do it alone. A waiter appears with a small white cup of coffee. Leaving it in front of her, he bustles off in a hurry to serve other customers.
Lifting her spoon, she stirs the thick, dark liquid within. “I know our relationship in the past has been…turbulent, but I am genuinely here with your safety in mind.”
A lie.
An orphan, alone she’d taken one look at me the day Paulo had brought me home and decided I was something unpleasant. Her son had shared her view. She’d seen him as the perfect child, the golden boy who could do no wrong. Shallow, egotistical he’d inherited her traits.
She’d been the overseer of every beating I’d endured under their roof. When her husband was on business, which was often, I became the sick center of her entertainment. It didn’t matter that I was a boy. Her lovers obeyed her just to seek her attent
ion.
The only one Chiara Jilani cares about is herself. Self-centred as a child and just as selfish. She believes she’s entitled. Better than anyone else. If you don’t have the clothes, shoes, hair, or money, then you’re trash.
Perfect pointed nails tap gently against the side of her glass. “Paulo is the one who placed the hit on you. He treated you like a son. Groomed you to take a position at his side in his organization, and you walked away from all that.”
Surveying her expression, I search for signs of deception. She’s hard to read. Whatever is going on behind that cool, remote gaze, I doubt it has my best interest at heart. Suspicion unfurls in a tiny seed.
Lips pressed together, I glare at the woman who’d taken pleasure from abusing me. “We both know why I left.”
Chiara tuts. “Oh, Kay, you’re still upset I tried to seduce you?”
“I was eighteen, and you were the wife of a man I respected and was loyal to. After all those beatings, did you really think I was going to become one of your lovers?”
“Paulo has his women.” Reaching out she caresses my knuckles. “You wouldn’t have been the first indiscretion. We could have shared something, but instead you ran away like a coward.”
Curling my fingers into my palm, I drag my hand out of reach. Her touch revolts me. She may be a beautiful woman, but that only goes skin deep. Leaving was the only solution to her lustful advances. Paulo had been good to me. No matter what I thought about his wife and son, I’d had no desire to rip his family apart. I was just the outsider. The boy on the edge looking in. Never really one of them. Both Chiara and Mauro made sure of that.
Lifting my cup, I down the last of my coffee. “Thanks for the information.”
I don’t trust her even though my suspicion is aroused. The fact she’s accusing her husband of setting up the hit on me has my focus shifting. If anyone is vindictive enough to try and kill me, it would be her. I would confront her, but this is starting to feel more and more like a trap.
Chiara watches me rise with a small smile curving her lips. “Goodbye, Kay.”
The sense of foreboding plaguing me only builds as I step out onto the street. Cold autumn air engulfs me, the sounds and sights of Rome around me busy and loud. A car catches my eye on the opposite side of the street. From the door of the club it’s parked in front of emerges a familiar form. Paulo moving slowly deep in conversation with Stefano, his right-hand man. Heads bowed together whatever they’re discussing has their expression taut with urgency. As if sensing my regard, the Don’s salt and pepper haired head turns in my direction his eyes settling on to mine.
Light detonates before my own. The car exploding in a roar. A fiery orange fist sends me backward in the shockwave of heat. Arms rising to protect me face, the ringing in my ears is deafening. I can barely hear the screams around me, the screech of tires as chaos ensues. Pieces of metal and glass raining down in an eruption of shrapnel.
Through the flames and twisted metal, I see Stefano on the ground his hulking frame covering Paulo’s.
Standing frozen, all I can do it stare, my thoughts in as much disarray as the people around me. The urge to dash across the street and check on the man I look upon as a father is hard to resist. I know, though, I can’t. I’m being played like a puppet in a game; I’m only just discovering the rules. A manipulation for someone’s own ends. Paulo’s men regain their feet, weapons drawn. The disbelief they show morphs quickly to anger. Being seen will result in a fight I have no intention of being caught in. I’m not responsible for this, but they don’t know that. I’m a hitman after all. Paid well for assassinations. My presence here looks bad. Chiara Jilani has set me up to take the fall for this attempt on Paulo’s life.
Forcing my feet to move, I hurry away. Chiara is messing with the wrong man. She may have briefly known me as a child, but she has no idea who I am now or the storm she’s about to unleash. I’m Cavalieri della morte, and we’re a force not to be reckoned with.
Leaving the mess behind me, I head for where I’ve left the car parked.
I had nothing to lose before. Now I have a woman who I care about too much. I’ve never felt anything close to love. With Evelyn, it’s as if I’ve been struck by lightening. Laura was right. Love has never been an equation in my life. I’ve never had anything but my life to lose before. This woman has crashed into my world, igniting an emotion I’ve never wanted to experience. She’s the first thing in a long time that feels right. Keeping her close will only lead to her death. I can’t allow it. Things have become far more complicated, and I can’t allow her to remain trapped in the middle of a Mafia struggle for control. My mind is already made up. Evelyn will be moving.
Slipping into the driver’s seat, I start the engine. Finding my phone, I scroll to a number, the red horn talisman attached to the end brushing my fingers.
It goes straight to voice mail. “Bors, I need an urgent favor. When you get this message phone me the hell back.”
Ending the call, I tap to the second number.
“Kay, what’s up?” Gawain’s deep southern twang fills me with relief. With the time difference, I know it’s late in New Orleans. Clicking him onto speaker phone, I toss it onto the passenger seat.
“The situation in Rome is now a shit storm.” Swinging the vehicle onto the road, I keep my gaze straight ahead.
“You need back up?”
I hear the hint of concern in his voice. “I need an extraction. A woman. She’s been caught up in this mess, and she’s in danger.”
“And you aren’t? Tell me what the fuck is going on, right now,” Gawain replies with a trace of sarcasm. Not many know my links to the Mafia here. My life growing up with Don Jilani. Gawain and Bors are privy to my past.
Hands stroking the steering wheel the sounds outside of the claustrophobic comfort barely register. “I’m being set up. My job was fake. I had a bunch of Russians waiting to take me out. I reached out to Don Jilani, and his wife just blew up his car while I was across the street. If Chiara’s succeeded in assassinating her husband, her son will take his place. The Jilani business and everything it entails will fall to him. I’ve no doubt that Chiara will run things through him behind the scenes.”
If that’s true, I’ll be looking for his obituary in the papers later.
We all have demons. Pasts that can haunt us. Mine’s just come hurtling back into my life. Things in my world can happen fast. The tide of success changing as quickly as the wind.
I want to fly along the streets of Rome, but I keep my speed to the limit. Snaking in and around the traffic, I start a pattern in the opposite direction to the flat. There’s no hesitation that I’m being tailed. Executed with efficient coldness, I know I’m the next target. Two birds with one stone. It’s exactly what I would have done.
“And that bitch wants you dead,” Gawain growls, his anger vibrating down the line.
“She knows I won’t just walk away. Paulo was good to me. I owe him for taking me in as a kid,” I confirm. “If I’m too late and he’s already dead, then I’ll fucking avenge him by taking her head.”
The other car accelerates out of nowhere, cutting through a red light. Veering to the right, I try to avoid it a split second before it hits, knowing it’s already too late. I’m jerked forward with the impact. Forehead colliding with the steering wheel, it sends a sharp explosion of pain through my body. There’s a ringing in my ears. I’m barely aware of Gawain frantically shouting my name over and over. Disorientated, temple throbbing, blood pools in my mouth. I feel it soaking my tongue when I swallow slowly. Eyelashes sweeping up, spots dance in the corner of my vision before it fades.
Evelyn
Bare feet moving silently along the smooth wooden floor, I pad from the bedroom toward the kitchen in search of food. The cotton material of the flowery, yellow dress I’d picked out to wear clings to my curves. Small and pearl shaped, the tiny buttons running the length of the front remind me of long summer days. Blue skies, the warmth of the sun, and the br
ight celebration of blooms. It’s the reason I picked it.
Kay’s fucking and words have left me thoughtful. In a few short hours, he’s shown me different facets to his personality. A complexity that’s left me intrigued. For everything he says and does, he’s protecting me. Last night he was hurting. Today, he’s determined to go after whoever it is out there trying to have us killed. Instinctively I somehow know they’re going to regret their actions. I’ve seen Kay kill. Ruthless, remorseless he won’t be stopped. The coldness in his eyes had been chilling.
The smell of cooking is absent this morning. No comforting scent of bacon or the thick aroma of coffee lingering in the air. Flicking a look at the door, I take note it’s ajar. Instead of everything inside me leaping at the chance of freedom, I hover by the opening. Laura and Alessandro have been careful to keep it locked since the day we arrived. The fact its open now confuses me. Do they trust me not to leave? Has Kay told them I won’t run? I don’t understand why I believe Kay, but I do. Some impulse. Maybe I’m fooling myself. Letting some misguided hope disillusion my view of the situation.
A frission of unease dances down the back of my neck at the sudden sound of a raised male voice. Not the normal quiet chatter or the sound of Laura busy in the kitchen. It’s harsh and demanding. The words in Italian from what I’ve started to recognize.
Walking slowing, I move more cautiously. Whoever it is doesn’t sound familiar. Another joins the first frightened and hurried.
Laura.
Stepping into the kitchen, what I discover freezes me in the doorway. The old woman is being restrained against the wall. Tall, broad shouldered, and looming, the man who’s holding her hostage radiates violence and savagery. One strong hand around her fragile throat squeezing, his other is pressing the edge of a knife threatening to her chest.
His Salvation: Cavalieri Della Morte Page 10
