by Cecy Robson
The family room opens up to a wall of glass leading out to the lanai. Her eyes widen. The crew I hired already placed lit candles to float around the pool, and set a table of with white linens with fine china. Two chefs, one preparing appetizers and the other the main course, are already working hard to finish the elaborate dinner, while a server rushes to fill glasses with champagne.
“Hey,” I call out when Apollo and Gianno head for the table where an older woman is placing jumbo shrimp cocktails on a tray. “You’re taking your stuff to go.”
Autumn pauses in the middle of reaching for a glass of champagne. “What’s up?” she asks, looking at Aedry.
I motion with a tilt of my chin, so she can tell her. She grins at Autumn. “Salvatore arranged for you and the boys to swim with dolphins.”
A round of “omigods” from Autumn follow a slew of “holy shits” from my brothers. They might have seemed hungry, but they scramble out the door when their cab arrives.
“Let’s play Star Wars trivia on the way down,” Autumn suggests when I tell them it’s going to be an hour’s drive.
“Nerd,” I mutter.
“Devirginizer,” she fires back, skipping past me.
I smirk. Like Aedry, Autumn doesn’t take my shit. But it’s Aedry’s laugh that causes me to turn back toward our suite. She steps out in a strapless white dress that hugs her small curves and shows off her tan.
“I don’t usually wear white,” she says, her cheeks flushing when all I do is stare.
The dress falls above her knee, looking more bride than girlfriend. It’s something I shouldn’t like or want so damn much. But I do, even though every part of me that’s still reasonable warns me against it.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, softly.
She smooths her palms over my chest when I avert my gaze. The longer we’re together, the more I know she’s the one. I want to marry her. But while I told her I’d never let her go, I’m not sure how long I can keep her with me, even with what I plan to do tonight, and especially not with everything that’s going down with the bosses.
“Salvatore?” she says.
“You look beautiful,” I say.
“Thank you,” she says like she doesn’t believe me, like I don’t mean every damn word. “You look really great, too.”
I showered after making sure everything I planned was in place. It’s hot outside, but I wore a long-sleeved white shirt, knowing it’s a look she likes on me.
In the distance, thunder crashes, but it doesn’t draw her attention. She walks slowly toward me, realizing something is messing with my head.
“What is it, love?” she says.
She had to go and call me that. I press a brief kiss to her lips. “Nothing. I just need to eat.”
She nods and allows me to lead her to the table. She does a double-take when a local band is led into the lanai. I pull her against me. “I told you I don’t dance. But tonight, I’ll make an exception.”
She beams through her shock. I pull out her chair, but just as she sits, Devan, one of the staff members approaches. “Sir, you have a phone call.”
There’s a hint of urgency in his features. I already know who’s calling, but I don’t let it show. “Someone’s calling you here?” Aedry asks.
Rather than give some lame excuse or flat out lie I say, “I’ll be right back.”
I try to keep my pace steady as I follow Devan into our suite and take the call.
“Salvatore,” I say as a way of a greeting.
The unsteady breath Vin releases warns me I’m in a shit ton of trouble even before he speaks. “You alone?”
Hell. What did you do?
“Yeah. What’s up?”
“We have a situation.”
He says “we.” Like always, Vin makes his problem, my problem.
“What situation is that?” I say, already assuming I’m flying out tonight to fix whatever Vin fucked up this time. As much as I’m usually ready for anything, I’m not prepared for what he says next.
“Lucca is on the other side of the island, taking out Bianchi. Him, Encacio, Carlo, and two locals already wasted his first on the beach, and a couple of men, but there was another boss we weren’t counting on being there, along with a few of his boys.” He lets out another breath like he’s taking a drag. Like the first, it comes out ragged. “Lucca’s the only one left. He needs you to take out the other targets.”
Rage unlike anything I’ve ever felt roils my stomach like lava. “You’re telling me you sent me, my woman, and my family to the same fucking island where two mob bosses were meeting?”
“It wasn’t supposed to go down like this,” he says, his voice rattling.
“How the hell was it supposed to go down―when you’re pitting every last boss against you?”
Vin pauses. He knows I’m pissed. That doesn’t stop the words that shoot out of his mouth. Because he’s scared and because he’s not God damn here to take care of his own business―because he fucked up yet again―he plays the boss card, and he plays it hard. “Devan has the jeep for you. Ammo and the pieces you need are in the glove compartment. You’re going to go to the compound, you’re going to back-up Lucca, and you’re going to take care of whoever threatens my position. Do you understand me, Sal? You need to do this.”
“You motherfucker,” I bite out.
The silence on the other line is like a death warrant itself. He didn’t just set me up, he put everyone I love in danger. If Vin was standing in front of me, I swear to Christ I’d choke him with my bare hands.
“I’m not asking you,” he says, making like I didn’t call him what I did. “I’m telling you, do this.”
He disconnects. It takes all I can not to tear this room apart.
He wanted me here for backup. He knew―knew―I wouldn’t just hop on a plane and leave the country. So, he sweetened the opportunity by inviting my family.
Rage quivers my hand. It’s Aedry’s sweet voice that forces me to get it together. She knocks lightly on the door. “Salvatore? I’m sorry to interrupt, but the appetizers are ready.”
I don’t answer, wrestling with whether to snag her and my boys and get the hell out of here or do what Vin asks. If I try to escape, Vin will put a hit on me to keep face. No, that asshole won’t do it himself. He hasn’t got the balls. But the shit he’s sending me to do . . . no way in hell will I get out of this alive without blowing someone’s head off.
“Salvatore?” Aedry calls once more.
I swipe at my face, not realizing how bad I’m sweating until then. “Give me a minute, babe,” I tell her. From the years and shit I’ve been handed, I shouldn’t be surprised how steady I keep my voice. It comes with practice. But with Aedry and my family in danger . . . that’s trouble I never counted on―not out of the country―not away from where I can protect them.
Right now, I don’t have a choice. Right now, I’m Vin’s bitch and he damn well knows it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Salvatore
I open the door, expecting Aedry to be standing there. As I look out to the lanai, she’s back in her seat and turned to where the band is playing a calypso version of a modern song. She looks . . . happy, sitting there with a tray of fresh oysters at the center of the table and two large shrimp cocktails placed at each setting.
Her smile fades as I approach.
“Is everything all right?” she asks.
I kneel in front of her and place her hand in mine, taking in her soft, beautiful features and recognizing I’m waiting too damn long to answer. “Aedry,” I finally say. “You know I love you, don’t you?”
Slowly, she clasps her mouth, her shock evident in her soft voice. “Oh, my God . . . Sal.”
The stress brutally clenching my gut twists harder. She thinks I’m proposing! “I have to go out,” I say quickly.
“Oh,” she says, her face heating. “Wait, you’re going now?”
“I have something to take care of.”
“Um. Okay.”
She glances at the food. “Let’s have a quick bite and I’ll go with you.”
“No. You stay here,” I say, rising. “Enjoy the meal, the band, it’s all for you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
What I tell her isn’t an explanation. It’s nothing more than a bunch of lame-ass comments thrown together. When it comes down to it, I have nothing to say―nothing that will explain why I’m leaving her, by herself, after setting up this surprise in the middle of paradise.
My vague comments do jack to console her. She averts her chin when I try to kiss her, keeping her attention away from me when she speaks. “Where are you going?”
“A friend of mine is here on the island. He’s in trouble and he needs me to go find him.”
Her expression crumbles as she tries to understand. “But then why can’t I go with you?”
“There’s a storm coming,” I say. As if on cue, thunder crackles in the distance. “I don’t want you out with me if the weather gets bad.”
She drops her gaze, but then meets my eyes. “Is this friend really a man?”
My stare hardens. I’m not pissed she asked. I’m angry at myself for giving her a reason to doubt me. “Yes.”
She doesn’t answer, releasing my hand and shifting her body to face the food. “I thought you were hungry,” she reminds me.
I don’t respond in the way that she wants or in the soft voice she deserves. My fury at Vin keeps my tone sharp. “I’ll be back soon,” I say.
I want to tell her that I love her. I don’t want to walk away with her mad at me, especially if I don’t make it back. But I can’t. I don’t tell her I love her much. If I do now―soon after I already said it―she’ll know something’s wrong.
I kiss the top of her head and make a silent vow, for her and for my brothers, to make it back.
Devan, he’s one of those men paid well to keep his trap shut and his employer happy. Don’t know if he’s ever killed. Don’t care. But this isn’t the first time he’s done shit that maybe he shouldn’t. He steps around the jeep, moving like a shadow. “The items requested are in the glove compartment as promised, and the navigation system is set, sir.”
I try not to take it as sign as the breeze picks up and the sky darkens. In the distance, and a hell of a lot closer than before, thunder booms. I look Devan square in the eye. “No one but my brothers, my woman, or her friend steps foot on this property, understand?”
At his nod, I slide into the jeep, making quick work of checking the Sig, two 380 autos, and a few daggers with enough jagged teeth to shame a shark. But it’s the bulge at my hip that draws my attention.
The ring, the one I’d planned to give Aedry tonight, pushes against my leg.
I pull it out. I want to look at it and pretend for just one God damn minute that someone like me can have a real future with someone like her. Instead, I drop it in the console and use the ankle strap in the kit to secure my knife in place.
Given the arsenal at my disposal, Vin doesn’t want anyone walking away. If he gave me this knife, it’s to make a statement. What the fuck’s wrong with him? I’m not one of those mindless sheep of his, willing to cut anyone he points to. But if I stand a chance at getting through this mess alive, I’ll need every weapon I have.
“Is there anything else, sir? Devan asks.
He takes a step back and drops his eyes when I face him. No. This man hasn’t killed. But he thinks I can. “If I’m not back by morning, get my people out of the country by any means necessary.”
“I will, sir,” he says. “And if you wish, there are men who can protect them for a price. You want them here?”
“No,” I say, cutting him off before he can continue. “Just you.”
“Very well, sir,” he says. He seems to understand what I’m telling him, that I don’t trust anyone and that my family needs to stay safe at all costs. For everything he’s doing and how easily he agrees, Vin must have dropped ten to twenty grand in his lap.
I tilt my chin and start the navigation system. From Aedry’s side to the time it takes me to pull onto the dirt road is maybe three minutes tops. Each of those minutes is long and I change my mind about grabbing Aedry and finding my brothers about half a dozen times. But once more, I have to do what Vin says.
Except, as far as I’m concerned, this friendship is long over.
My debt will be paid in blood tonight.
The drive to Bianchi’s estate should only take thirty minutes. With the rain causing mudslides all over the island, it’s been an hour and change, and I still don’t know how close I am. I swerve all over hell, working out a plan. Lucca should be calling me and he’s not. Either he’s dead, hurt, or running for his life. I find out which it is as I round the bend.
My lights strike Lucca staggering down the road, illuminating his pale face and the blood streaming down his body. He lifts his piece and fires. I swerve out of the way, narrowly missing a tree as I skid off the road.
I roll the window down when I catch sight of Lucca in the side view mirror. He stumbles forward, his gun out.
I crouch low. “It’s S!” I call to him, careful not to reveal names. “I’m here to get you out!”
The other family probably knows who he is by now. That doesn’t mean I need to announce him. And as much as I think his head’s not clear in the condition he’s in, I’m hoping he can recognize my voice and hear it through the rain.
When he doesn’t answer, I ease up in my seat in time to watch him collapse. Every instinct tells me to get out and haul ass―that he’s done. But Lucca, he’s young, smart, and, to some extent, a friend. I can’t leave him.
I throw the door open, my feet kicking back the mud as cold rain comes down on me in waves. I roll Lucca over from where his face is buried in a puddle. He coughs up a bunch of brown shit as I haul him into a fireman’s carry.
“God damn,” he groans.
He’s hurt and I’m making it worse. I don’t care. I move fast, the rain pelting me hard in the face as I rush back to the jeep. I throw open the rear door and toss him in the back seat, shoving him forward. He crawls across, swearing until he slumps onto his back.
I jump into the driver’s seat, ready to stomp on the gas and get my family out of the country. But there’s a job to do and I need to finish it.
How the hell am I going to get us through this?
“Who’s left?” I yell.
Lucca speaks through his teeth. “No one. Me and Carlo got the last three.” His breath hitches. “Carlo didn’t make it.”
I grip the back of the seat. “You sure?”
His face is pinched tight, blood seeping through the fingers pressing against his shoulder. “No one’s left. No one.”
This should give me some relief, but if Lucca is this messed up, the whole thing was a bloodbath. “What about the staff?”
“No one will be here until the morning,” he says, his breath releasing fast.
Based on what he’s telling me, there must have been a plan. But that plan was blown to shit, given Lucca’s condition. “We have to get out of here,” he slurs. “Tonight. There’s a plane at the airport ready to take us.”
I crank the engine and peel out. “Not without my family,” I tell him. We skid back onto the road, the navigation system spouting directions. As I straighten the wheel, I take the ring I’d planned to give Aedry and fling it out the window.
I spend the next thirty minutes hydroplaning through the mud smeared roads, almost crashing twice and barely able to see more than a foot in front of me. I was a fool for thinking I could ask Aedry to marry me. How could I give her a good life when my own life has turned to hell?
I barrel across the villa’s front lawn, plowing over a couple of bushes when I lose control.
Lucca’s in the back, quiet. Too quiet. I need to stop wherever he’s bleeding from or he’s never going to make it. I drag him out, throwing his arm over my shoulders. The moment I heave him onto the porch, the front doors fly open and we’re hit with a wash of light
.
“Sal―” Gianno’s voice cuts off when he sees me carrying Lucca. “Holy shit!” he yells.
Apollo backs away, his face turning as white as Lucca’s. “Aedry,” he calls. “Aedry!”
She and Autumn race toward us as I cross into the foyer. Aedry screams when she sees us, stumbling to a stop.
Autumn charges forward, lifting Lucca’s opposite arm only to freeze.
“He’s been shot,” she says, at the same time Aedry asks me what happened.
“You’ve been shot?” Aedry says, rushing toward me.
I looked down, realizing I’m soaked with Lucca’s blood. “I’m fine,” I say, my gaze shifting to my brothers. “Pack your suitcases. We’re leaving now.”
“But . . .” Apollo begins.
“I said now!” I snap.
“Let’s go,” Gianno tells him tightly. He hooks his arm, leading him back to their room, meeting my face with anger and fear.
“What happened?” Aedry asks again, her hands skimming all over my body.
I drag Lucca to the couch, speaking fast. “Lucca works for Vin. Vin gave him a vacation just like he did us.” I lay Lucca across the leather sectional with Autumn’s help. “He went out, broke down, and was attacked. I found him like this when I drove out to help him.”
Autumn takes off into the kitchen, rustling through drawers.
“You found him like this?” Aedry stammers.
I look up from where I’m putting pressure on Lucca’s shoulder. Her voice is barely audible. She doesn’t believe me. I try to make her. “I swear to Christ this is how I found him.”
“I was robbed,” Lucca mumbles.
I thought he was unconscious, but he heard enough.
Autumn returns with towels and a first aid kit. Strands of her hair fall away from the make-shift bun held together with a pencil at the top of her head, and her glasses are dangling on the tip of her nose. But her voice is steady and so are her motions.
She shoves a folded towel against Lucca’s shoulder and gets to work on unbuttoning his shirt. But as she runs her hands down his thigh, she freezes.
