King of Souls

by L A Cotton

  “Bambolina, it’s just a little pain. The doctor said I need to take it—”

  “Aha, I knew it.” She glared at me. “Bed rest for you.”

  “Will you be in the bed with me?” I smirked.

  “Nicco... this is serious. You’re still healing. You almost—”

  I cut her off with my mouth, kissing Arianne with all the frustration and desperation I felt.

  “Wow,” she breathed. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes dilated. “He didn’t say anything about no kissing, right?” She dived back in, scraping my jaw with her fingers, dragging me closer.

  Laughter rumbled between us and I was about to try my luck at taking things to the next level when a voice boomed, “Nice place.”

  “You have got to be kidding me?” I dropped my head to Arianne’s shoulder.

  “Nice to see you too, Cous,” Enzo grumbled.

  “You guys, this place is so freakin’ cute.” Nora threw her arms around us both, not caring I was sporting a semi and still had my lips attached to Arianne’s neck.

  “Isn’t it?”

  I untangled myself from the girls and leaned against the counter. We’d settled on a place in Romany Square, a stone’s throw away from the VCTI. Arianne wanted to continue volunteering there and liked the idea of being able to walk. I hadn’t broken it to her yet that the only way I would ever let her walk freely around the neighborhood was if she wore a t-shirt with the words ‘Niccolò Marchetti’s Wife’ stamped across the front, or with at least two bodyguards.

  Not that Luis ever let her out of his sight.

  “How are you holding up?” Enzo glanced down at where I was holding my side.

  “If Arianne asks, I’m fine.”

  “Hurting like a bitch on the inside?” he whispered.

  “Something like that.”

  “I guess you won’t be making an appearance at L’Anello’s for a while yet then?”

  “Never,” Arianne called over. “He’ll never be making an appearance at L’Anello’s again.”

  “Shit, man. Your girl grew balls.”

  “Like Nora doesn’t have yours firmly in the palm of her hand.” My brow quirked up.

  “It isn’t like—”

  “That? Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that. Before you know it, you’ll be planning how to keep her.”

  He snorted. “I think you own the market share in being pussy whipped. Have you spoken to your old man this week?”

  The question caught me off guard. “Not for a couple of days, why?”

  “He seems a little preoccupied. I wondered if you knew what was up with him?”

  Dread snaked through me, but I pasted on a smile. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fine.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He walked over to Nora and roped his arm around her neck. It was a display of total possessiveness if ever I’d seen one.

  Arianne threw Nora a questioning look and she shrugged, but I saw the slight flush to her cheeks. Enzo had surprised her.

  And she wasn’t the only one.

  “So, what’s the plan?”

  “We have a few more boxes to unpack. Matteo is getting Alessia and Bailey from school and then heading straight here.”

  “Sounds good. Babe, check the refrigerator and see if Nicco got the beers in.” Enzo tapped Nora on the ass before diving over the couch.

  “Hmm, what just happened?” She frowned at him and then us.

  “I think Enzo grew feelings.”

  “Heard that,” he grumbled.

  “Are you two like... together?” Arianne whispered. “Because you said it was nothing.”

  “I thought it was nothing.”

  “I’ve known Enzo my entire life,” I said. “And that, the way he is with you, isn’t nothing. Just be careful, okay?” Enzo was complicated, and the last thing I wanted was for Nora to get hurt. Especially after everything she’d been through.

  “Worry less about me and Enzo, and more about when your wife is going to let you get some,” she said around a half-smile, moving around us to the refrigerator.

  “You told her?” I gawked at Arianne, and guilt filled her expression.

  “Well, it’s hard not being able to... you know. I had to talk to someone.”

  “Come here.” I snagged her waistband, yanking her closer and dipping my mouth to her ear. “Tonight, when our family and friends leave, I am going to carry you into our bedroom, strip you naked, and spend time reacquainting myself with every single inch of your skin.”

  Her fingers twisted into my sweater as she suppressed a soft moan. “Any objections?” I asked and she shook her head. “Good, didn’t think so.”

  Arianne turned slightly, brushing my lips with hers. “Until tonight.”

  “Tonight,” I choked out.

  Jesus Christ. It was going to be a long fucking day.

  THE NEXT MORNING, MY father summoned us to the house. We couldn’t catch a break. Enzo’s words from yesterday lingered in my mind. He was right, something was wrong. I just couldn’t put my finger on what.

  The arrangement with Roberto was, to my knowledge, going as well as could be expected. Word from our contact down in local PD was that Mike Fascini was looking at serving serious time. Scott was gone, his case open and shut thanks to our friends in the police department. And doctors were confident I would make a full recovery.

  “You’re nervous,” Arianne said as we climbed out of the SUV.

  “Thanks.” I tipped my chin at Luis. He’d become our personal chauffeur since I was released from hospital. I couldn’t ride my bike or drive yet. And Arianne still hadn’t gotten her permit. It was on my list of things to do as soon as I was up to it.

  “I just don’t like surprises.”

  “I’m sure it’s nothing.” She leaned into my side.

  “Yeah, probably.”

  We entered the house and headed straight for my father’s study. “Niccolò, it’s a damn good sight to see you upright, Son.”

  “Thanks.” I accepted his hug but didn’t miss the tightness in his expression.

  “And Arianne, you look as beautiful as ever.”

  “Thank you, Antonio. Should I leave the two of you—”

  “Actually, this concerns you too. Please, sit.”

  My senses were working overtime.

  “After you and Tommy visited Vermont,” my father leaned forward, steepling his fingers, “Luis Vitelli provided Tommy with some information about the failed attempt on Arianne’s life.”

  “I remember,” I said, wondering where he could possibly be going with this.

  “Tommy did some more digging...” He inhaled a shaky breath, the blood draining from his face.

  “He found something?”

  “Nothing. He found nothing.”

  “But that doesn’t make any sense.” I frowned. “It had to be Fascini.”

  “I know, Son. Which is why I sent Tommy to see Mike Fascini.”

  “What?” Now I was really confused.

  “Something about the whole thing had been bothering me. Mike would have needed to pin the hit on us. There would have been a paper trail, something.” He scrubbed his jaw. “And then, when Fascini moved the wedding date, I started to wonder, what if Fascini didn’t orchestrate the hit, but provided the right person with the right information. But I discounted it because it is not possible.”

  He was talking in riddles... until everything slammed into me.

  “You think we have a traitor in our ranks.” It wasn’t a question.

  I’d wondered myself how Fascini could have found out that we visited Elizabeth Monroe, but I’d assumed he was having us watched.

  “I don’t think, Son.” He expression turned grim. “I know.”

  “Who is it?” Any traitor to the Family knew what it meant.

  They knew it was a death sentence.

  “Fuck, I don’t know how to say this, Niccolò. It is...Vincenzo.”

  “Vincenzo?” Arianne’s voice was small. “Enzo�
�s dad tried to have me killed?”

  “According to Fascini, he made contact with Vincenzo under a guise, drip feeding him the information he needed to organize the hit.”

  “He wanted war,” I said flatly.

  It made no sense, and yet, it made perfect sense.

  My uncle had always spited my father over his soft approach to handling Roberto Capizola. He preferred to get things done no matter the cost, but my father saw the bigger picture.

  “It was Vincenzo who informed Fascini that you and Tommy had been to Vermont, just as it was him who gave them a heads up about the police warrant. But Scott intercepted the call, that’s how he managed to evade arrest.”

  “Figlio di puttana!” My fist clenched. “He betrayed us.”

  “He did.” My father sank back in his chair. “My own brother. I always knew he didn’t like the way I ran things, but I never thought...”

  “What happens now?” Arianne sounded eerily calm.

  “We live by a code, Arianne.” My father looked her into the eye, treating her as an equal. Under any other circumstance, it was a moment that would have filled me with pride.

  “So he will die for his sins?”

  “He will.”

  She inhaled a shuddering breath. “This will destroy Enzo.”

  Fuck.

  Enzo.

  I hadn’t even considered my best friend, still trying to wrap my head around the fact my uncle was a traitor.

  “Lorenzo is strong. He will survive this.”

  “When?” I asked through gritted teeth.

  “Tonight. It is already set. Me, you, Michele, and Enzo.”

  “Not Enzo, he doesn’t need to witness that.”

  “You know he must. It is the way things must be done.”

  I managed a small nod. There would be an interrogation. A chance for Vincenzo to purge his sins and cleanse his soul before death.

  “Excuse me.” Arianne got up and hurried from the room.

  “She needed to know,” my father said. “There are some things we cannot protect those we love from.”

  “I know.” Even if my father hadn’t asked for her to be here, I would have told her. It just didn’t make the reality any easier to process.

  “Where?”

  “One of the cabins.”

  I nodded. It wouldn’t be the cabin Arianne and I had hidden in, the place I’d proposed. That was sacred now. It would be another one of our places. Somewhere my father had no problem with getting a little dirty.

  I stood, desperate to go after Arianne. “What should I tell Enzo?”

  “Whatever you need to tell him to get him there.”

  “YOU DON’T HAVE TO WATCH this,” I said to my cousin as my father drove his brass knuckles into Vincenzo’s face.

  “The truth,” he roared.

  “The truth?” Vincenzo spat, blood oozing from the numerous cuts on his face. “The truth is you don’t have what it takes to be the boss...”

  Enzo was deathly still beside me, dark energy rolling off him. I didn’t want him to be here, to witness this. But my father was right, there was an order to things.

  “You know how this ends, Vin,” Uncle Michele stepped forward. “Tell us what we need to know, and all of this can stop.” Pain glittered in his eyes. He didn’t enjoy this. Few men did. He was offering his brother-in-law an out, but Vincenzo always had been a stubborn fool.

  “Vaffanculo!”

  The crack of Michele’s fist against Vincenzo’s cheekbone filled the cabin. His head snapped back, rolling on his shoulders like a rag doll.

  “Why?” My father hissed. “Why would you betray us? Your famiglia.”

  “Because it should have been me. He promised me a spot at the table, you know?” Vincenzo was sneering now, rivulets of blood staining his teeth and chin. “Once the Capizola heir was gone and Roberto came for you, I was going to take the Family into a new future. A strong future. You can’t trust them. The Capizola are—”

  “That is my wife you’re talking about.” I yanked out my pistol and stormed toward him, jamming it right against his forehead.

  “Niccolò,” my father warned. This wasn’t over until my father said it was over. But I couldn’t just stand here and listen to my own flesh and blood talk about hurting Arianne.

  “You don’t have the balls, kid,” he spat. “That Capizola puttana keeps them in her purse.”

  I cracked the butt of my pistol across the bridge of his nose, blood splattering everywhere. But he didn’t look fazed. Instead, his lip curled into a sneer.

  “It was me, you know?” he spat. “I did it. I killed Lucia.”

  A chill rolled through the air as we all realized what he’d just confessed.

  “You lie.” My father advanced toward us, dark energy rippling off him. “She left.” His voice cracked with pain, matching the vise around my heart.

  He’d killed her.

  My own uncle had taken my mother’s life?

  What nightmare was this?

  “She didn’t leave.” Vincenzo didn’t show even an ounce of remorse. “She found out what I’d done and threatened to tell you. Always so loyal,” he said.

  “You’re telling me you killed my wife?” My father was shaking, anger radiating from him, making the air around us crackle. “I’ll fucking gut you and feed you to the fish.” My father went to attack, but a gunshot went off and a hole blew right through Vincenzo’s skull.

  We all looked at Enzo who stood as still as a statue, not even an ounce of emotion in his eyes as he stared at his father’s dead body.

  “You good, son?” My father walked over and took the pistol from his hands.

  “Better than him.” His eyes were black. Soulless.

  This was bad. Real fucking bad.

  “What do you want us to do with the body?” Michele asked.

  “Burn him for all I care.” Enzo stalked out of the room.

  “Go,” my father ordered me. “Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

  I gave him a tight nod and took off. But when I got outside, Enzo was gone.

  And so was his car.

  Arianne

  “DO YOU THINK HE’LL be okay?” I asked Nicco as we cuddled in bed. It was two days after Nicco had returned from the cabin, his face pale and hands trembling, and fallen into my arms.

  I hadn’t asked what had happened.

  I hadn’t needed to.

  Vincenzo was gone.

  Enzo was fatherless.

  And everyone in Antonio’s most inner circle needed to learn how to adjust to life after Vincenzo’s betrayal.

  But then Nicco had told me about Vincenzo’s final confession. He’d killed Nicco and Alessia’s mom when she’d discovered her brother-in-law’s betrayal. She wasn’t gone. She was dead. Nicco had broken in my arms that night and I’d comforted him the only way I knew how—with my body, heart, and soul.

  “He just needs some time,” Nicco said. “His dad wasn’t exactly a doting father growing up but he was still his dad.”

  “I can’t even imagine how he must be feeling. Nora’s going out of her mind with worry. He won’t answer any of her calls.”

  “She should probably back off, give him some space.”

  “This is Nora we’re talking about...” And she didn’t know the entire story.

  Nicco rolled me onto my side so we were face to face. “They’re our friends and I know you’re worried, I am too, but what I’d really like right now, is to enjoy waking up in bed with my wife.” His hand slipped between us, finding my center.

  “Oh, God...” I moaned as he rubbed lazy circles over my clit.

  “Does that feel good?”

  “Hmm-hm,” the words got stuck in my throat as he slowly pushed a finger inside me.

  “You were already wet for me, Bambolina.” Nicco kissed me, his tongue mirroring the way his fingers glided in and out.

  “More,” I demanded

  “Patience.” His laughter tickled my face.

&
nbsp; “I need you, Nicco. Please...” I wasn’t above begging. Besides, it usually paid off.

  Nicco dragged one of my legs over his hip, dropping down the bed slightly to position himself at the perfect angle to rock into me.

  “Fuck,” he hissed. “You feel incredible.” Nicco anchored me to his body, doing all of the work. His mouth was everywhere, on my lips, my neck, latched onto my breast. He was like a man starved, feasting on my skin, savoring every inch.

  “Ti amo.”

  “Always,” I said, waves of pleasure rising inside me, threatening to pull me under.

  But I wanted to fall.

  I wanted to lose myself in him. In the way he loved me so completely.

  “Jesus, Bambolina. I don’t think I will ever get enough of this.” He rocked harder, pushing us both closer to the edge.

  I was almost there when my cell phone blared.

  “Leave it,” he growled, sucking and nipping my collarbone.

  “I wasn’t going to answer it,” I panted, barely able to breathe, too overwhelmed with sensation.

  Nicco hooked my leg higher, going deeper. So deep it was like he wanted to consume me. “Let go, amore mio.” He whispered against my ear and it was my undoing. I shattered around him, my body trembling with ecstasy.

  “God, Arianne.” He stilled, clutching my body to him as he slowed his movements, drawing out the moment.

  “That was nice.” I nudged my nose against his.

  “Nice—”

  My cell phone began to ring again.

  “Don’t answer it.”

  “It could be important,” I said, fumbling over my head to try and find it. “It’s Nora. Hey...”

  Her sobs filled the line. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “He kicked me out.”

  “What do you mean he—”

  “I went over there to see if he was okay and he kicked me out. Said he couldn’t deal with me right now...” She hiccupped.

  “Nora, he’s... it’s complicated.”

  “Secret mafia stuff. Yeah, I know. But he was so... cruel, Ari. You didn’t see the way he...” Her voice trailed off.

  “Why don’t you come over to the apartment and we’ll figure things out,” I suggested.

  “No, I’m okay. You told me not to get involved with him, and I didn’t listen. But he was different... he was... Do you think I’m stupid?”