Kiss of Death (The Council Series Book 2)

by Nicole Banks

  “What the fuck do you mean? Do you know who did it?”

  “We have an idea. We caught someone at one of the houses.”

  “Good. Bring him in, I want to talk to him.” Boris hung up the phone, slamming his fist onto the table. “This fucking cunt,” he growled into the office.

  So much for his victory.

  Ivy cried as she kissed Otto, feeling everything she felt for a man who was practically a stranger, but she felt like she’d known him her whole life. She wished things could have been different for them. She wished this was their beginning instead of their ending. She wished she had a lifetime with him instead of the short week she had. She wished that a lot of things for her life could have been different, but she’d never get the chance to change any of it now.

  She pulled away first, knowing she couldn’t spend the rest of the night kissing him. “Was this real?” Otto whispered and his hand fell down to her chest. “Or was this all Bruno?”

  Ivy felt crushed that Otto even had to question the attraction and feelings that lingered between them. She couldn’t fake this, even when she wished she could bury the connection they had. “This is real.” Her hand covered his. “It’s crazy, but I felt you inside of me from the moment we locked eyes. I don’t know what it is about you, but what we’re feeling for each other is real.”

  Otto stepped back, and Ivy mourned the loss of his heat. Her body tensed when she saw Otto reach into his waistband and pull his gun back out. This was it. He was going to be the one to kill her, and weirdly enough a feeling of peace settled over her. The man who had given her pleasure was going to be the one to take all her pain away.

  “Tell me your truth, Ivy. I’d like to believe you were just a pawn in all of this, but I need your truth. I can’t protect you from the man who’s probably got his ear glued on the other side of the door or Sofia.”

  “You want to protect me?” Ivy asked in disbelief.

  Otto nodded. “If I’m right about you, you’ve been in enough pain.”

  Ivy blanched, and she started to sweat. She had wanted to tell Otto before, but now that he was willing to listen, she felt a sense of shame about what she’d been through and what she had put her sister through. Otto would kill for Gia; she wasn’t sure he’d be able to understand how she put Eve in harm’s way. “Why do you need the gun?” she asked instead.

  “Because I need to make sure Smoke hears your truth too. You got him and my boss thinking I’d believe anything that comes out of your mouth, so I need him as an ally.”

  Ivy nodded, even though she thought it was a bad idea. She had no illusions that Sofia and Smoke would much rather see her dead than believe what she’d gone through, but Otto had a look in his eyes that made her feel safe.

  Otto nodded at her to open the door, and Smoke came in with a scowl on his face. “What we doing? You fuckin’ her? I’m killin’ her? You marryin’ her? What?” Smoke sounded disgruntled. “I know you’re incapable of hurting her cause’ you be a little bitch sometimes, Otto. So what’s the game plan?” Smoke crossed his arms over his chest.

  Otto let out a sigh, rubbing his beard. “One day, I’m going to shoot you, but for now, sit down and listen to what she has to say. She wasn’t behind what went down in Tres, she was just a pawn in Bruno’s plan.”

  Ivy looked over at Otto, wondering how he’d been able to figure it out without her saying anything. He was getting his ass beat when Bruno was talking to her.

  Smoke leaned up against the wall and looked at Ivy expectantly. Her gaze bounced between him and Otto before she let out a shaky breath. She could do this. She could share her and Eve’s story, and maybe it would help her lessen the hurt that she had carried around since she was sold off to Bruno.

  “I’m not from here,” Ivy started, remembering the painful argument she had with her mother before she stormed out of the house. Her sister had been right on her heels with her own bags packed. Eve’s sense of adventure made her excited to be out from under her mother’s thumb, and Ivy had been too in love with her ex at the time to see the set up for what it was.

  “Three years ago, the guy I was dating owed these scary men money. One of them had been Bruno, and instead of my ex paying his debt, he bargained his life for mine and my baby sister’s, Eve.”

  Ivy started crying again. The pain from the first beating and the first time she’d been raped was fresh in her mind. She remembered the way they stripped her bare to examine the goods before they agreed to take her and Eve. She remembered the way they held her down by her wrists and throat while man after sweaty man pushed their way inside of her, long after her body dried up and no longer allowed it. She remembered the way they held her down and made her watch her baby sister go through the same treatment.

  That was the first time Ivy thought they succeeded in breaking her. She was filled with rage, but it settled into despair and defeat because she knew if they ever managed to escape, her sister’s life would never be the same again. She’d only been nineteen, when they took her and she didn’t even live to see her thirtieth birthday.

  Ivy let her head fall into her hands as a sob tore through her body. The weight of everything she’d been through suddenly was too much to carry on her tired shoulders. She wanted this all to be over already. She silently wished for Otto to kill her, because she knew that was the only way the pain would truly go away.

  OTTO RUSHED TO IVY’S SIDE when she looked like she was ready to collapse. She fell into his arms as she cried her eyes out. He moved them toward the bed, and he just held her as she felt everything she probably had to hold in for three years come at her at once.

  Otto had no idea what physical and emotional horrors she had lived through. He never had that experience himself, but he could sympathize. He heard the horror stories that went on when girls and women were sold. He knew men like Bruno liked to flex their power on women who in this case hadn’t been able to fight back.

  He wanted to kill Bruno, watch the life slip out of him slowly and painfully. He wanted him to feel everything he’d put Ivy and her sister and countless other women through.

  His gaze shifted over to Smoke. It was now that Otto understood why Sofia kept Smoke close and found his antics amusing. On some level, they were the same. He had the same look in his eyes as Sofia did when she was pissed off. Where hers was all cold and ice, Smoke’s was all fire and venom. He wanted Bruno’s head as badly as Otto did.

  Ivy sniffed into his shirt and lifted her head up. She wiped away her tears and apologized. “I have never talked about what happened to me or my sister before. That small bit was enough to put me back in a place I never want to be again.”

  Otto kissed the top of her head, hoping it was enough for her to know she wasn’t alone in this. If Otto had it his way, she’d never be alone again.

  “What did he promise you?” Smoke asked.

  Ivy took a breath before she continued, but the tears never stopped falling. “Me and my sister were the defiant ones. We fought when we had our strength, but they quickly learned that to keep one of us in line, they needed to hurt the other one. I overheard Bruno and some guy talking about trying to get information out of someone a year ago.” She shrugged. “I naively offered my services in exchange for mine and my sister’s freedom.”

  “What were the terms?” Otto wondered how much she subjected herself to at the hands of Bruno.

  “I had to do a set number of jobs—it was usually to sleep with them to get what I needed. You were supposed to be my last job, and me and Eve were to be free.”

  Otto cursed as he held her closer. He knew she was innocent in all of this, and having Smoke there to hear her case would help protect her if Sofia still wanted retribution.

  “What now?” Ivy whispered.

  “We go back to Sofia,” Smoke answered. “We plead your case and then hunt down that rat bastard and skin him alive.”

  Otto stood in front of Ivy as the rest of the Council was seated at the table in Sofia’s office. There wa
s one empty seat reserved for Bebo, but according to Nico, he was moving Nat to a different location. Otto would have to call her after this to check in on her.

  The Unhinged Brothers all stood around the table, except for Smoke, who stood beside Ivy. He heard the truth in Ivy’s words and held her hand when she explained it again to the rest of the Council. It was so out of character for Smoke to show kindness, Otto didn’t know what to make of it, but he was glad he had stood beside Ivy.

  Sofia continued to stare at him and Ivy, looking more intrigued than pissed off when she first saw Ivy was still alive. Her gaze went to Smoke’s and she smirked. “Here I thought sending you with Otto would guarantee that the job would get done.” She tsked. “Don’t go getting soft on me, Smoke.”

  Smoke shrugged. “I’m trying to win you over, boss lady.”

  “I highly doubt I’m the one you’re trying to win over.” Sofia stood up and walked around the table, brushing Gia’s shoulder along the way. She stopped in front of Otto and Ivy. She reached for a strand of Ivy’s hair and twirled it around her finger. “I’m sorry about your sister. I have no siblings, so I don’t know what it is to care for someone like that. Men like Bruno and Boris have no real power in their world.”

  She let go of Ivy’s hair but continued to talk to her. “They think abusing women makes them powerful. They think their fear-driven tactics make them untouchable. They don’t understand that fear never keeps an empire standing for long. Eventually it’ll crumble because there’s always something out there stronger than fear.”

  Sofia turned around to face the Council. “I’ll pardon Ivy, even though I believe she should have come clean sooner, but I understand love makes people do pretty much anything, and that’s why you kept your mouth shut.”

  She turned back around. “I can’t stand what you did and what it cost me, but given what you’ve been through and the pain you’re probably going to carry for the rest of your life, anything I would have done to you might have seen like a welcome change.” Ivy tensed bedside Otto, and Sofia chuckled. “You’re safe, and don’t worry, I am nothing like the men who thought they could own you. My word actually means something.”

  Sofia looked down and noticed Ivy was now holding Otto’s hand. “Word of advice, Ivy. If you stand with Otto, you’ll still be a target—everyone in this room is a target until Bruno and Boris are taken care of.”

  “I know,” Ivy whispered.

  “Do you? I plan on retaliating against both men.”

  “Good,” Ivy’s voice steadied as she spoke. “I want Bruno to pay for killing my sister.”

  Sofia smiled, patting Ivy on the cheek. “There might be hope for you yet.” She leaned in, so only Ivy and Otto could hear her. “Just know, if you pull something like this again, Otto won’t be able to save you.”

  Otto watched Ivy look over the new addition she made to the ink on her arm. Her half sleeve was now a full sleeve thanks to the hook up one of his friends did for her. It was Otto’s way to give Ivy something to remember her sister with. She was heading back to California to see her mom and tell her the news about Eve. She asked him to come along, and he didn’t even hesitate. He wanted to be there for her in any way he could. This wasn’t something she should do alone.

  “Your guy did a good job,” Ivy murmured, never taking her eyes off of the fresh ink. She was in a black dress that tied at the back. The top was a halter, leaving her midriff bare, and the dress had two slits going all the way up to her hips, exposing enough of her legs to make his mouth water. She was sexy as sin, but knowing the years of abuse she endured, he was afraid to touch her now and felt like shit for mauling her in the locker room at Tres.

  Otto walked toward Ivy, putting his front to her back. Their eyes connected in the mirror, and just that quickly, everything felt right in his world—though in reality it was far from it. He ran his fingers down her bare back and enjoyed watching her shiver at his touch. Her lips parted. and he heard the change in her breathing.

  He leaned down so his lips were at her ear. “Is this okay?” he whispered, still trying to learn what was and wasn’t okay. He wanted to give her new experiences to balance out all the bad she had to deal with at the hands of Bruno.

  Ivy’s lips pulled back into a small smile and she turned around, throwing her arms over his shoulders. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, loving the way she fit against him. He still didn’t understand it and couldn’t explain their deep connection, but he’d be a fool to ignore it. Her hand came down to play with his beard. She had done that a lot while they were sleeping. He figured it was a security blanket of sorts for her, and he was never going to shave if it gave her a sense of safety.

  “It’s kind of you to care enough not to hurt me,” she whispered up at him, “but your touch always felt different. There was never pain behind your fingertips, only pleasure.”

  He groaned her name and pulled her closer to him. He looked down at her, noticing the dark circles under her eyes, and his hand came up to cup her face. “We don’t have to go to Wolf’s tonight. We can stay in.” She’d been running around getting things in order to bring her sister home to her mother. She had cried her weight in tears, and Otto didn’t think she had let herself breathe after everything. She spent years being nothing more than property that was abused and used; he didn’t think she needed a night out, more like a night to just take in everything that happened.

  “I have to go. At the very least so Sofia doesn’t completely hate me. Plus, this is the first time I’ll be out and I get to be myself, whatever that looks like.”

  “You sure?” Otto wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but it came from his need to hide her away from the world while she healed the wounds he couldn’t see.

  She nodded before she shot up on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on his lips. She pulled away quickly, her small hands cupping his face. “I hate that I lost her. I’m not sure what my life is going to look like without my baby sister in it. Even through all of this, she had been my only constant. I have to live for her too, you know? I’m glad this brought me to you, though. It helps knowing I’m not alone.”

  Otto found her lips and kissed her—never getting enough of her taste. He had no idea what tomorrow held for them, but he couldn’t wait to experience it with her. This life of his would have left him lonely, and while he hated what she had to endure, he was grateful it led her to his doorstep.

  And maybe she’d still be the death of him—hell, she had almost succeeded—but maybe she was here to change him as he would change her.

  Maybe his sisters were right, and she was his forever person, separated by lifetimes.

  As Otto deepened the kiss, he could feel her burying her way deeper underneath his skin, making sure she was forever marked against the parts of him he couldn’t see but he could only feel.

  My poison Ivy, seeping your venom into my soul—venom only you will ever have the cure for.

  THE END!

  “YOU’RE GOING TO SEND IN another female to try and take down the Barbati organization? My plan didn’t work too well when I sent that whore, Ivy in,” Bruno snapped. “Why should this one be any different?”

  Boris let out a puff of smoke from his cigar as Bruno paced the length of his office. Bruno was pissed that his plan hadn’t worked in his eyes. He wanted to hurt Otto, and while the dipshit got the girl, it wasn’t without a price. The whore got her sister killed. The one she so desperately tried to save but failed to when the club went up in flames.

  Now, while Barbati was forced to rebuild yet another establishment, Boris already had his snake in place at Wolf’s casino. They had the casino partially open for a month now, and their grand reopening happened last week. It was a simple scheme when it came right down to it, but it was going to cripple Sofia where she needed it. Hard to run an empire with no funds.

  “Your father really didn’t have much faith in you if he didn’t teach you anything about this business.” Boris took another puff of his cigar
before blowing the smoke toward Bruno. “This is war, and wars need to think about the long term. Tres is in the ground.” He held up his index finger. “It’ll take her months and money to rebuild if she chooses to, and if she doesn’t,” he shrugged.

  He put up another finger. “Who I have in place is a hired gun. She’s all about the money, so we won’t have any problems there.” He put up another finger. “And lastly—”

  There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Boris snapped, and the door slowly opened up to reveal the ace he had up his sleeve. “Take notes, Bruno, with the right incentive, anyone can be bought. Bebo, so glad you could join us. Have a seat.”

  Love Mafia Romances?

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  Sneak Peek of Tesoro

  TODAY TURNED OUT TO BE the longest day possible.

  It was one of those days that required a strong hug that would turn into a nice, sweaty fuck session. You know that type of session that has you gripping the sheets and leaving them soaked while you’re deliciously sore in all the right places?

  Naila’s pulse picked up and her lips twitched into a small smile. Her boyfriend, Steve, was on his way to see her soon. He’d been away for quite some time, and she couldn’t wait to for the welcome home sex.

  Steve worked in marketing. He produced commercial advertisements. It was a pretty sweet deal. Every so often, he’d travel to some disclosed location in the most remote part of the country or a tropical island.

  In the beginning of their relationship, Naila always tried to carve out time to head with him wherever it was he was supposed to shoot. She’d turn his job into an extended vacation for the both of them. Naila had enjoyed those trips. But those trips had been short-lived with her hectic schedule.