Liar's Lullaby: A Dark Mafia Romance (Mazzeo Mafia Book 1)

by Nicole Fox

  “Flattery will get you nowhere,” Vanessa scoffs at him sarcastically.

  “Oh, I’m not trying to flatter you,” Lucio assures her. “I’m warning you. You’re in over your head, little girl.”

  “I’m not a little girl,” she snaps right back. “Come over here and I’ll show you just how little I’m not.”

  I frown and step between Vanessa and Lucio. “That’s enough! Vanessa, shut up.”

  She looks at me like I’m a traitor, but I ignore it for now and turn to Lucio. He cuts me off before I can even begin to present my case.

  “Where’s Evie?” he asks.

  “In the kitchen. Enzo’s with her.”

  “Enzo is not the nanny,” he growls. “You should be with her.”

  “Yell at me later all you want,” I offer. “I won’t even fight back. Just give me this. Fifteen minutes is all I need.”

  He’s still glaring at Vanessa, but a second later, his gaze back shifts to me.

  “You have ten.”

  I don’t argue. “Wonderful. Van, let’s go.”

  I don’t wait for him to change his mind. I grab Vanessa’s hand and lead her into the house. I’m aware that we’re being followed inside, but I ignore our shadows and lead her into one of the supply rooms next to the kitchen.

  The guards stay on the other side of the glass wall. They can see us, but I’m pretty sure they won’t be able to hear us if we keep our voices low.

  I whip Van around in a circle, grab her by the shoulders, and shake her like the idiot ragdoll that she sometimes is.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I exclaim.

  “I should be asking you the same question!” Vanessa retorts. She’s glancing at what she can see of the mansion over my shoulder. She’s clearly impressed. “Nice digs, by the way.”

  “Vanessa,” I chastise.

  “What do you think I’m doing here?” she says. “I came looking for you! Where’s my red carpet?”

  I make myself breathe and count to five before I respond—just so I don’t accidentally pop off and strangle my best friend.

  “How did you even know I was here?”

  She smiles mysteriously. “I have my ways.”

  I grit my teeth and narrow my eyes. “Vanessa…”

  “Jesus,” she sighs. “You sound like my mother. I mean, you sound like her if she’d suddenly started to give a shit about me, that is.”

  “Are you purposely being difficult, or did you suffer a head injury on your way in here?”

  Vanessa grumbles. “I was worried when I didn’t hear from you, okay?” she explains. “I went to your apartment and that asshole you call a landlord told me he’d kicked you out.”

  Kicked me out is a nice way to put that. I’d call it more of an attempted rape-slash-extortion, but to each their own.

  She continues, “Then I went to the restaurant and your boss told me that you’d stopped coming to work. I was freaking out. I didn’t know who to ask, where to look for you. In the end… I ended up contacting—”

  It hits me just before she says his name.

  “Xander,” I finish.

  “Yup,” Vanessa says apologetically. “I went over to the scumbag’s apartment. I was half-certain I’d find you there.”

  “Ew.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” she says. “Anyway, you weren’t there—obviously. But it was clear he knew where you were. It didn’t take a lot of prodding to get him to spill.”

  “And by prodding, you mean…?”

  “I flirted with him,” Vanessa says with a horrified shudder at the memory. “Yeah. Sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize to me,” I say, glancing towards the glass windows at our observers. “I’m the one who feels sorry for you. He’s a sad excuse for a cop… even a corrupt one.”

  “In this instance, I was happy to exploit his weaknesses.”

  I shake my head and focus back on the issue at hand. “You shouldn’t have come here,” I tell her. “It’s not safe.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  Her frizzy blonde curls go flying with every tic and twitch of her head. I’ve always said her hair is the most expressive part of her—which is saying something, because every part of Vanessa is expressive to the maximum.

  “Because I don’t have a fucking choice,” I say curtly. “It’s a long story.”

  “Give me the short version. Cliff Notes-style.”

  “Vanessa, please, we can’t do this now,” I beg. “I think I can convince him to let you go. But you have to go.”

  “Without you?”

  She’s clinging to my forearm. It makes me realize how bad I needed the touch of a friend.

  Not the touch of a little girl who’s as lost as I am.

  Not the touch of a brooding don with a penchant for emotional sadism.

  But a friend.

  Someone who cares about me, pure and simple.

  “I can’t leave.”

  “I’m not leaving without you,” Vanessa says firmly.

  I grab her hands in mine. “I appreciate the gesture, but I’m okay.”

  She frowns at me, searching my expression for clues. “Wait, are you trying to tell me that you… you want to stay?”

  “I… It’s complicated.”

  I’m racking my brain, trying to find a way to make her understand. But I’m coming up blank.

  I could tell her about Evie. That might help.

  But for some reason, I’m reluctant to.

  “He and I, we have an… agreement,” I say, fumbling over the words.

  Vanessa stares at me for a moment. “Ah-hah…”

  I wrinkle my brow. “What is that face…?”

  “It’s just… This is an interesting development.”

  Oh, God help me. Vanessa’s expression is veering into uncomfortably familiar territory.

  “Stop it,” I tell her. “Stop it right now.”

  She doesn’t stop it even a little bit.

  Instead, she breaks out into a huge grin.

  “I came because I thought I might find you handcuffed to a radiator in the basement. I just never expected to find you tied to the bed in the room of your extremely hot captor instead.”

  I can only screech, “Are you fucking kidding me?!”

  “You’re going beet-red.”

  “Because I’m horrified and offended that you’d think I was sleeping with Lucio Mazzeo.”

  “Damn! Even his name is hot.”

  I grind my teeth in frustration. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Hey, I’m not judging.” She holds up her hands in self-defense. “My panties are wet just looking at him. I bet he’s an animal in bed.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” I snap at her. “I’ve never been in his bed.”

  “So, what—you guys do it on the floor?”

  “Vanessa!”

  “What?” she says innocently. “You’re hot and single. He’s hot and… single?”

  “His relationship status does not matter,” I say through gritted teeth. “I have absolutely no interest in the man.”

  “Then why are you so willing to stay here with him?”

  “He offered me a job, okay?”

  Not exactly the truth, but I need to say something to get Vanessa off my back.

  And I’m also trying to protect her.

  The less she knows, the better.

  For everyone involved.

  “What’s the job?” Vanessa asks. “Because, you know, I could really use one, too. If he needs someone to spitshine his windows, or his—”

  I press a finger to her lips before she can finish that morbid thought. “You’re terrible.”

  “No, I’m a survivor,” she corrects. “You hitch your wagon to a guy like him, and the rest of your life is golden.”

  “He’s a dangerous man, Vanessa.”

  She glances past me, and I know she’s looking right at him. I resist the urge to do the same.

  “Yeah, he looks really fucking dang
erous,” she says, biting her lower lip sexually. “The kind of danger I want to get into.”

  I give her a light punch on the arm.

  “Fucking ow!”

  “Stop being a wuss,” I snap back at her.

  “No, you stop being a wuss,” she snaps right back. “If you’re really not banging him, then I suggest you start.”

  “Because your answer to everything is sex?”

  “Because you haven’t been laid since you finally came to your senses and left that dickwad ex of yours.”

  She’s not wrong.

  But I’m sure as hell not about to admit that.

  “And your suggestion for a rebound is the mob boss with a god complex?”

  She shrugs like that’s nothing. “You gotta think outside the box sometimes.”

  I roll my eyes. “I think our ten minutes are up,” I say, noticing the god complex in question walking towards us. “Do me a favor and keep the attitude to a minimum, okay?”

  “He can hold his own.”

  “Vanessa.”

  “Fine, fine!”

  And then he’s on us. We pivot as one to face him, shoulder-to-shoulder, with identical innocent smiles on our faces.

  “Had a nice little catch-up?” Lucio asks.

  Vanessa brushes her hair back casually. “I didn’t realize you’ve been taking such good care of my bestie,” she murmurs. “I wouldn’t have been so—”

  “Annoying?”

  “Well, I was gonna say aggressive.”

  “Vanessa,” I interrupt, before she says something stupid, “can you give Lucio and me a few minutes?”

  “Alone?” she asks, turning to me with one raised eyebrow.

  I clench my jaw so hard that I wonder for a second if I’m going to break a molar. “Out.”

  “Jeez,” Vanessa says, giving me a wide smile as she backs out of the room. “You really need to loosen up, woman.”

  She eyes Lucio pointedly as she leaves, but fortunately, his back is to her.

  Not-so-fortunately, that means he’s looking at me.

  “She didn’t mean any harm,” I say to him when Van is gone.

  He scoffs. “I get the feeling she might disagree with you.”

  “Her bark is worse than her bite.” I’m wringing my hands behind my back, hoping he doesn’t see the nervous gesture.

  “Somehow, I don’t think that’s true.”

  I sigh. “Lucio,” I begin, “she was concerned about me. She hadn’t heard a word from me in over a week and she managed to track me down. What was she supposed to do, just let me suffer?”

  “How did she find you?”

  “She’s resourceful,” I explain with a shrug. “But don’t worry: I told her you offered me a job and she believes that.”

  His eyebrows rise. I know he’s suspicious of me.

  “She’s not going to talk,” I add hurriedly. “She has nothing to say, anyway.”

  “And what about Evie?” Lucio demands.

  “She hasn’t seen Evie. I never even mentioned her.”

  His eyes flash with fire. “I’m expected to believe that?”

  “Hey!” I snap, anger flaring up inside me. “I’m the one who’s with that kid day and night. She’s an amazing little girl and I wouldn’t do anything to compromise her safety.”

  The moment the words are out of my mouth, I think back to the night that Xander broke into my room.

  He’d seen Evie.

  Guilt pulses through me, but I can’t afford to let it show.

  “You can accuse me of a lot of things,” I continue. “But not that. I’d do anything to protect Evie.”

  Lucio’s gray eyes are thoughtful for a moment. “You’re vouching for your friend?” he asks finally.

  I nod at once. “Yes. A hundred percent.”

  “Fine,” he acquiesces. “She’s free to go. The sooner, the better.”

  “Thank you,” I say. I mean that.

  I assume that’s the end of things.

  But you know what happens when you assume.

  Instead of letting me go, Lucio takes a step forward, cutting the distance between us down to a few measly inches. His expression turns dark and threatening.

  “Do not fucking thank me,” he says. “And do not assume that me giving in to you is a sign of friendship. It’s not.”

  He pauses and searches my face for a second.

  It’s searing. Intense. So much so that I want to slink backwards.

  Stand your ground, Charlotte. Don’t let him see your fear.

  “Never forget what I told you, Charlotte,” he whispers. “You belong to me now. Make sure your friend knows that any information she carries out of here is classified. And if she starts talking to anyone that she shouldn’t be talking to… I will kill her. But not fast. It will be long. It will be slow. It will be painful.”

  I cringe against the threat.

  It’s sincere. I have no doubt that he means every word of it.

  Which is why it leaves a dark, hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  “And if she says a word about Evie—”

  “She won’t,” I cut him off. “But either way, you can’t keep Evie hidden here forever.”

  “No,” Lucio agrees, his eyes sparking with hot brutality. “But if I hear your friend is creating problems for me out there, I will keep you hidden here forever.”

  Then he walks away.

  Say what you will about Lucio Mazzeo—the man knows how to make an exit.

  17

  Lucio

  The Next Day—Lucio’s Office

  “Hey, brother,” Adriano says, strolling into my office. He’s wearing a wrinkled white button-down shirt and his dark brown hair is a little out of place. Plastered across his face is his usual carefree smile.

  For some reason, it pisses me off more than usual today.

  “What the fuck are you so happy about?” I growl as he sits down in front of my desk.

  Adriano’s smile broadens. “Why the hell are you so crabby?”

  “I’m not.”

  Adriano raises his finger in the air like he’s about to unleash some brilliant insight upon the world.

  “Ahhh. No need to explain. I get it.”

  Before I realize it’s a terrible idea to take the bait, I say, “Get what?”

  “You haven’t gotten laid in a while.”

  I groan and press my forehead into the heels of my hands. “That’s a simplistic fucking assumption.”

  “It’s not an assumption. I happen to know that you haven’t gotten laid in weeks,” he says. “Right around the time that a certain blue-eyed beauty entered your life.”

  His words strike a chord, but I don’t let it show.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I had a great night last evening, in case you were wondering,” Adriano tells me. “It was me. Monica. Naomi. Three bottles of Dom Perignon and a little blue pill I like to call—”

  “Spare me the gristly details.”

  “The details are exactly what you need,” he tells me salaciously.

  “You’re a child.”

  Adriano shrugs. “I don’t get it, my man. Why not admit that you want her?” He sounds genuinely puzzled.

  “I don’t want her,” I reply coldly. “My interest in her is purely professional.”

  “Bullshit. I’m not buying it.”

  “Because you’ve never met a woman you didn’t want to fuck.”

  “Ah, well, sue me.” Adriano smirks as he regards me. “On an unrelated note, I heard about the break-in yesterday.”

  “One of Charlotte’s little friends,” I explain.

  “Was she hot?”

  I roll my eyes. “She’s definitely your type.”

  “A redhead?”

  “No—I just mean that she had a pulse.”

  He chortles as he leans back in his chair. “Oh ho! The boss gets a zinger in. Ladies and gentlemen, he’s awake after all. For real, though—what does she
look like?”

  “Blond. Curly hair. Aggressive.”

  Adriano’s eyes flutter closed and he starts to make a weird purring noise.

  “The hell are you doing?” I ask after a moment has passed and he’s still at it.

  He puts a finger to his lips but doesn’t open his eyes.

  “Shh. Let me enjoy this. I’m imagining me sandwiched between Charlotte and her hot friend. Clothing optional.”

  I know he’s kidding, but anger bubbles up instinctively all the same.

  “Open your fucking eyes, asshole. Charlotte is off limits. Not because I want to fuck her,” I clarify in a hurry, “but because she’s Evie’s nanny.”

  Adriano wrenches one eye open and gives me a shit-eating grin. “Whatever you say, brother. Whatever you say.”

  “Why are you even here?” I demand.

  Adriano shifts into a more serious mode. “I wanted to give you an update on the Polish movements.”

  “And?”

  “Silence,” he finishes with a clunk. He’s frowning—which is rare for the man. “They’re keeping a low profile.”

  “I don’t trust that,” I grimace. “They’re planning something.”

  “I agree,” he says. “But until they make their next move, we’ll just have to be patient.”

  “What about our eyes on the ground?” I ask.

  “The borders have been quiet,” Adriano tells me. “If the Polish are moving in and out of our territory, they’re doing a good job of covering their tracks.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “No, I don’t either,” Adriano agrees. “But our only other option is confronting them directly.”

  I shake my head. “That’ll lead to an all-out war.”

  “Would that be so bad?”

  “Are you that fucking bored?”

  “I’m sick and tired of those Polish bastards,” he tells me. “I’m ready to finish them once and for all.”

  “And we will,” I assure him. “But we’re not going to do that by jumping the gun. My father was impulsive and look what it cost him. Look what it cost all of us.”

  “Nobody remembers the Mazzeo Family before you, brother,” Adriano says.

  It’s meant to be reassuring.

  But I can’t help wondering if he’s just trying to placate me.

  “Because I corrected my father’s mistakes,” I amend. “Because I ruled with an iron fist and remade the Mazzeo name into what it was always supposed to be. But for the first few years after I became don, it wasn’t easy.”