Maybe one day, but not today.
Yes, Italy might have been a mistake. It would have been a fatal mistake if Mateo hadn't stepped in. But that didn't mean the rest of her time on the run had been a mistake; she'd had so many new experiences and made wonderful memories. She'd visited the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, gone dancing in Edinburgh, met a hacker in Jakarta and learned some awesome new digital printing techniques that would keep her up to date with her forging business. She wasn't willing to give that up. Not yet.
“You been taking your medications properly?” The question was so unexpected, spoken in a gruff tone of voice, that she almost asked him what he meant. Then she realized he was talking about her immunosuppressants; her antirejection drugs from the kidney transplant she’d had when she was twelve.
She pulled her purse closer and nodded. “Yes, I never forget them.”
He gave her a piercing look. “Be sure that you don’t.”
Her temper flared. “Don’t treat me like a child, Mateo. I’m well aware of the sacrifice made to me by my mother. I wouldn’t be alive if she hadn’t donated her kidney.”
“Wasn’t talking about your mother. I care that you survive, and you need that kidney to survive. You only have one functioning kidney left, you need to be more careful. Stop being so reckless with your health. The bullet could’ve easily taken out the kidney, killed you.”
She twisted on the table to glare down at him where he’d pulled a chair up to the table to work on her. “Thanks for the reminder, I nearly forgot.”
He tilted his head until his eyes met hers. They were a beautiful velvet brown, but serious. “You won’t be given the opportunity to endanger yourself again.”
Raina didn’t respond. Mateo was convinced she didn’t take her health seriously. She wouldn’t convince him otherwise until he saw her taking care of herself, taking her pills regularly, eating healthy foods, exercising. But that wasn’t in the cards, at least not right now.
"How do you plan on getting us out of here?" she asked.
Not that she actually intended to go with him, but talking to him, having him talk to her, distracted her from the pain.
When she had woken up, he told her that he managed to pull the bullet out while she was passed out. Thank the fucking gods, because the patch job on her bullet wound hurt so bad, she couldn't imagine anyone digging around inside while she was awake.
Raina was used to pain. She had gone through some of the most painful treatments of her life as a child. Pretty much anything else, including a gunshot wound, was child's play compared to a kidney transplant.
"We'll probably drive out," he said. "Then take an airplane from a neighboring country. It’s the only way I can think of to get you out safely without the Italians coming after us."
She smiled to herself, looking down at the table that she was sitting on. She tapped her fingernail against the stainless steel. "Yes, my safety. It's the most important thing, isn't it," she said drily.
They all wanted to treat her like a precious pampered princess. In reality, she was raised a farm girl, became a college drop-out thanks to Mateo and Sotza, and was now a career criminal, making some of the world's best forged documents. It was almost laughable that these tough guys wanted to lock her up in a tower and surround her with guards and bubble wrap.
He grunted. "You haven't seen what your stepdaddy is capable of. Yes, little girl, your safety is the most important thing here."
That comment sobered her. As much as she loved her family, she couldn't forget for a single minute that they were involved in organized crime. And that some of them, Mateo and Sotza most of all, were determined to push her into the life too.
Her mother was equally as determined to keep her out. Raina was on her mother's side. She couldn't imagine spending her life that way. She had too much to live for, too much she hadn't seen or done yet. The mafia felt like a cage, she just couldn't do it.
"So we drive out," she echoed his words. "Sounds good."
She tried to sound listless and pathetic as she thought of ways to escape. She didn't think Mateo would be overly vigilant with her right now. He'd come to her rescue; he wouldn't expect her to run away. Not in her current shape.
It took another half hour before Mateo finished with her. He cleaned the wound, stitched it shut, taped gauze over it, then wrapped more gauze around her middle, holding everything in place. She sucked in a breath as his knuckles brushed the bare skin of her belly, burning a path of sensation where he touched. Mateo didn’t seem to notice. He was quick, calm and professional.
He helped her put her shirt back on, rolling it over her head and then one at a time pushing her arms through the arm holes. Raina wrinkled her nose at the dried blood all over the shirt, but she didn’t have an alternative.
Mateo gently slid her closer and helped her stand, taking her hand in his and easing her off the table. He didn’t back away immediately, just held her loosely in his arms. Raina leaned in closer, enjoying the human contact. It felt good being held by him, feeling his strength against her body. She felt safe.
For a brief moment she considered staying with him. Allowing him to take her home. She’d come to know him well enough, from their time in Venezuela and some of the things her mother had told her about him, to understand that he was a man with integrity. Though he was a mob enforcer, he held himself to a standard of ethics. It was a twisted kind of ethics, where murder was okay, but lying was wrong.
If he took her home, if she allowed the seemingly inevitable progression of their relationship to continue, she knew he would take good care of her. Forever. It was a thought that was almost irresistible.
But so was the lure of the whole wide world at her feet. And she wasn’t willing to give it all up to become a young bride. Not yet.
Taking advantage of the moment and the fact that Raina wasn’t pushing him away, Mateo touched her lightly, running his fingers from her waist up her arms. Tingles ran up and down her sides even though he was touching her through her shirt. She ignored the blatant chemistry, stepping to the side and breaking his hold. She didn't have time for that right now.
Mateo picked up her leather coat and held it open for her. She turned around giving him her back and put her arms out while he carefully slid the sleeves on and tugged it over her shoulders. She groaned as she twisted and her back twinged.
He put a hand on her shoulder and said in her ear, "I'm sorry, it's going to hurt for a while."
"You know what it feels like to get shot?" At first the question was said with sarcasm, but then she realized given his profession he might actually know what it felt like.
Mateo confirmed her suspicion. “Si, I do."
Raina forgot her dilemma for a moment. “When were you shot? Where were you shot?"
He gave her a long look. "Now you're interested in me?"
If only he knew. Raina was always interested in him. Not a day had gone by in the past two years that she hadn’t thought of him. Especially when she was alone in her bedroom, late at night, remembering each and every encounter with him. The way he’d looked, smelled, sounded. Those memories had kept her close company.
She shrugged. "I guess we finally have something in common."
He pinched her chin between his fingers and tilted her face up to his. He towered over her. She wished she wasn't so short. She hated looking up to virtually everyone she spoke to. "We got plenty in common, little girl. And once we’re back home you're going to have all the time in the world to get to know me better."
That last comment jarred her back to reality. No, she wasn't, because she was getting the hell out of there.
She scooped up her purse and pretended to walk with him to the door, but before they reached it, she grabbed his arm and stopped him. "I have to go to the bathroom."
He glanced around the room and then shook his head. "You can wait until we get to the hotel."
"I have to pee right now, Mateo. I've had to go for a while, but, well, the hole in my bac
k sort of took precedence."
His face hardened but he glanced around the room again then opened the clinic door and growled to one of his men, “We’ll be right out, get the car started."
Taking her arm in a firm grip he walked through the clinic, mindful not to jostle her too much. He found the bathroom door, pushed it open and looked inside.
"You expecting to find shooters in the toilet?" she asked sarcastically.
"I haven't stayed alive this long by getting lazy." He opened the door wider for her to go in and then closed the door behind her.
Raina turned the water on so he wouldn't be able to hear through the door. She surreptitiously locked the door, careful to slide the bolt as slowly as possible so it wouldn't click and alert him to what she was doing. She breathed a sigh of relief. There was a decent sized window in the bathroom, most likely because no one expected a person to crawl through it in an animal clinic. She was about to test that theory.
But first, she really did have to pee. She did her business quickly, washed her hands in the running water and grabbed her purse. She slid the window open as delicately and quietly as possible while still trying to be speedy.
It was a bitch crawling through that window with a gunshot wound. She tried to do it without pulling any stitches, but a sharp pain went through her ribcage when she was forced to drop a few feet from the window to the ground. She hit hard and almost lost her balance but managed to catch hold of the side of the building. She gasped in pain and reached around to touch her back. She brought her fingers up in front of her face, but it was too dark to see if there was any fresh blood. Hopefully she hadn't torn the stitches.
She glanced around and didn't see anyone nearby. All of Mateo’s men were at the front of the building waiting for them. No one expected her to try to escape.
She melted into the shadows, running as quickly as possible while trying to be invisible to anyone who looked. As she left the scene, her quick brain came up with a few possibilities of what she could do next. Staying in Italy wasn't an option. But leaving Italy was going to be really difficult on her own with the Italian mafia after her.
One very stupid plan kept popping into her head as she mulled over the possibilities. Perhaps it was time to finally use her stepfather's name, show the Italians why it was a colossal mistake to fuck with a Sotza.
Chapter Three
“This is a bad idea,” Raina muttered to herself. “This is such a bad idea and I’m definitely going to get myself shot… again.”
She didn't have a choice though; she was going to have to dig deep, find her guts and find a way into this nightclub.
The nightclub, Banditos, was an exclusive invitation-only social establishment. And Raina did not have an invitation. However, she did need to speak to the man who owned the club along with half the city. The father of the man who tried to have her killed.
Raina forced her shoulders back and stood straighter. Pain shot through her back and abdomen and she nearly bent over in agony. She reached out blindly, using the wall of the alley next to the nightclub to steady herself. She took long deep breaths, in through her nose and out through her mouth, until the waves of dizziness passed. She had no choice, she had to go inside. She straightened her jacket and ran her fingers through her hair, combing it first and then fluffing it, trying to give herself a sexier appearance.
Though she felt like a corpse warmed up, she figured she could still pull off sexy. She was young, she was confident, and she was determined.
She approached the doorman. "I need to meet with Signore Savino please."
The bouncer eyed her up with interest, but his cold dark gaze was shuttered. His massive body blocked the doorway, making it impossible for her to dart around him.
"Better get out of here," the bouncer said with a wave of his hand. "The boss likes blondes and you’re too delicate for what he'd have in mind."
Raina was insulted that the bouncer assumed she couldn't take care of herself. She might look delicate but in reality, she was hell on wheels. Just ask her parents. Any of them.
"Tell him Raina…" she hesitated. She'd never invoked this name before. She loved her adopted parents and she was more than happy to have the last name Duncan. But Duncan wasn't going to get her into an establishment like this. "Tell him Raina Sotza is here."
"You don't hear real well, do you – " The bouncer started to speak and then stopped himself, thinking for a few seconds. "The Butcher? That Sotza?"
"My stepfather," she said truthfully. The fact was it didn't matter if Sotza was her birth father or her stepfather, any relation of Sotza’s had automatic protection.
The bouncer's eyes bulged as he took her in, connecting enough dots to realize exactly who she was. Sotza’s relationship with Vee Montana had rocked the underworld. Two titans, first colliding, then falling in love and rising up to rule the Venezuelan cartel had caused waves the world over.
"Please follow me," the bouncer said formally.
He led her through the entrance and down a hall, his big body blocking her view. They reached a door on the other end, which was blocked by another very large man. Her bouncer said a few words to the other one, jerking his thumb back towards the entrance door, indicating the man should go take over. Then he led her through the nightclub itself. A beautiful and gaudy piece of art that must’ve cost a fortune to build and decorate. Although, if the crowd was anything to go by, the nightclub likely brought in plenty of revenue. Maybe it doubled as a front for Savino’s other operations.
As Raina was looking around with curiosity, her eyes caught on someone she feared she would see there. Antonio Savino. The moment her eyes landed on him, he looked up and caught sight of her. His face reflected shock for a few seconds, then anger. Raina took a step closer to the uncertain protection of the bouncer as Antonio hurtled toward them.
“You!” he snarled, trying to shove past the bouncer to get at her.
“Surprised to see me?” she asked tauntingly.
She tried not to look as pale as she felt. If he didn’t know she’d been injured in the attack, she didn’t want him to find out.
“I’m going to fucking – ” he started to threaten her, but the bouncer stepped between them.
“I’m taking her to meet with your father.”
The look on Antonio’s face was almost worth the gunshot wound in her back. Part terror and part impotent rage.
Antonio turned to the bouncer and growled in a low voice, “Give her to me. She’s an ex-girlfriend. I’ll take care of her and make sure she doesn’t come back to cause more trouble.”
The bouncer wasn’t fazed at all. Maybe he was used to dealing with Antonio. “I’m taking her to see your father. If you want her, you can negotiate with him.” He took Raina’s arm and walked away, dismissing Antonio. Raina decided that this moment was one of the most satisfying in her life.
As they approached the chained off VIP area, her personal bouncer said, "Stay here," and pointed at a spot on the floor, then strode away. Raina glanced at the spot, amused. Did he actually expect her to stand exactly where he put her? Raina trailed after him, though she gave him a wide berth. After all he was a very large man and she had plenty to lose.
Raina stopped when the bouncer stopped. She stood waiting about fifteen feet away as he bent over to speak into a man's ear. The man appeared to be in his 50’s and was decently good-looking. Cassie, Raina’s best friend, would call him a silver fox. He wore a tailored suit, dark grey with a blood red tie and handkerchief in his pocket. His dark grey hair was slicked back and he wore rings on several of his fingers. He had that look about him; the one she was beginning to recognize from all the mobsters she had dealt with. A hard, cold, dead look. It sent a chill straight through her.
She lifted her chin. It didn't matter. She’d lived a lifetime in only twenty-one years. She was a fighter. She wasn't about to let one scary ass man stop her from forging ahead and taking care of herself, the way she'd always done.
The Italian�
��s head jerked up once the bouncer was finished speaking. He stared at her, at first in shock, and then with something closer to speculation. He was sizing her up, trying to figure out why she was there, in his town, alone. Without them saying a word to each other he would know that she was vulnerable. She was voluntarily walking into his lair knowing that he could easily have her killed. She was banking on her stepfather's name to keep Signore Savino from doing that.
Raina walked forward, adding some swagger to her step, trying to project an air of both confidence and femininity. She sensed he would respect both, and in this moment, she needed the man on her side.
"Signore Savino, thank you for seeing me."
He tilted his head toward her, acknowledging her words. Though they both knew that he had not agreed to see her, that she had pushed her way into his nightclub using the only weapon she had; her connection to Sotza.
"I have information about your son."
Raina slid into the booth. The Italian raised an eyebrow at her and then lifted his drink, some kind of amber liquid in a crystal glass, and took a long sip.
Instead of asking her about his son, he said, "What do you drink?"
Raina’s head was swimming from the pain in her back, from lack of food and from anxiety. She was not about to add alcohol to that mix. "Nothing for me, thank you."
He stiffened noticeably and flicked a finger at her. "In my bar, you drink. If you drink with me, I will listen. Otherwise you leave." He glanced to the side where his son was pacing outside the VIP area like an angry tiger.
Raina's heart pounded. If she left without the promise of his protection, Antonio would pick her up and finish her off. And if she somehow managed to slip past Antonio, she would have Mateo to contend with. She needed Savino on her side.
Born a Queen (The Queens Book 3) Page 2
