by Soraya Naomi
“Your mother saw us!”
“She saw us lying in bed with the covers up to our necks, Henry.” She smirks at my stunned expression.
Rolling on top of her, I tease, “I’m embarrassed for us then.”
“Don’t be. My mom is really chill; she won’t tell anyone if I ask her not to. She’s probably happy it’s not Keano.” Mary strokes my hair in the most comforting manner and I grunt into her neck before lifting my head.
“How often has she found you in bed with a guy?”
A crease forms on her forehead. “What? Never.” And then she shows her teeth. “Henry, are you jealous?”
I arch a brow. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” she admits and braces my neck, pulling me close until her breasts flatten against my chest and her adoring gaze is all I see.
As I tangle my fingers in Mary’s soft curls, it strikes me that my world is starting to revolve around her. Her touch soothes my demons of distrust spawned by Tara, which is disconcerting yet also the one thing I seem to crave.
I’ve never been this careless just to spend the night with a woman like I do with Mary, but she’s the first one I’ve known who sees more than my physical appearance and is genuinely interested in me, the guy beneath the disguise of a hacker. And while her outer beauty is what attracted me to her at first, her inner beauty is what’s tying me to her. So it bothers me that she thought she was a fuck buddy last night. I know she’s more, but what exactly, I have no idea. I can’t define it because I don’t even understand it.
A few weeks ago, I would’ve been livid to be in this kind of situation, to be questioned about my behavior. However, instead of sending me running, Mary has pushed that sentiment out of my mind. But I can’t tell her I love her, not until I’ve dealt with Tara and figured out exactly what this emotion is. Of course, I lust for her. But love? It’s been such a long time, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to give her what she wants – I’ve been honest about that.
Now, because I’ve become so deeply involved, I have to eliminate any threats to this relationship. I need to take care of Tara once and for all and also get rid of Keano – I can’t have anyone who might harm Mary walking around in the Loop. At this point, I’ll be damned if either of them messes this up. Mary trusts me, and I don’t deserve it, but I’ll take it.
I peck the tip of her nose, surprising myself at the sweetness of the gesture, before I jump up. “I have to go to work.”
“Okay. Go shower and I’ll lie here and get woken up.” She rolls onto her stomach, pressing her face into the pillow, and when I spank her ass, she lets out a muffled shriek.
After a turbulent day yesterday, she manages to remain lighthearted, and it’s definitely rubbing off on me. Somehow, we’re both unfazed by the mayhem that surrounds us as long as we’re together – that indisputable pull I have toward her has tightened.
More relaxed, I take a quick shower, and after twenty minutes, I’m dressed while Mary’s still sprawled out in the bed.
Stepping into my shoes, I ask, “Has Adriano told you if you have any guards? I don’t want you on campus alone, Mary.”
“Yeah, David’s going to pick me up from here, and he’ll drive me where I need to go. I know the drill.”
The fact that she’ll be out and about with a guard makes these circumstances easier. A normal civilian would worry and fight me tooth and nail with the way I monitor and somewhat control this aspect of her life without giving her a specific reason, but she understands that it’s all to keep her safe.
And Mary is anything but normal or ordinary.
Leaning down, I kiss her lips. “Answer your phone when I call you.”
“Yes, boss.” She mock-salutes me, and I squeeze her ass before turning around and exiting her bedroom.
***
Deciding it’s time to get my priorities in order since I’ve been consumed with Mary lately, I place a determined knock on Tara’s door. I’m supposed to contact her on Friday, which marks the two weeks we agreed upon, but I’m done trying to scheme and plot to conjure a way to get access to a shitload of money. I have my loaded gun and am prepared to torture her as much as needed to force her to unlock my files in City Hall’s system. This is who I am now – fuck the consequences to my psyche. I’m not a black hat hacker anymore, I’m a mafia black hat hacker, meaning I’m a man who murders just as easily as he hacks these days.
When she doesn’t answer, I push the door open with ease yet freeze as I step inside. The room is empty; no bed and no futon, and when I enter the kitchenette, I discover that everything has been cleared out.
Infuriated, I slam a cabinet closed. “Goddammit!”
Realization dawns on me that Tara must’ve had another strategy from the beginning. She was merely stringing me along, because why else would she disappear before getting a cent from me? That bitch has bested me.
What the fuck is her endgame?
I’ll never waver in decision making again. In this cold-blooded world, it’s a mistake I can’t afford anymore, because now I’m fucked.
Barging out of the studio apartment, I attempt to assemble my rampant thoughts. How do I find Tara right fucking now? But my mind keeps wandering to Mary. I absolutely won’t tolerate for her to get stuck in the crossfire.
With Tara’s disappearance on top of Keano also being on the loose, Mary can’t go back to her apartment – ever. Unable to focus without ensuring Mary’s safety first, I decide to talk to Adriano.
***
Inside Adriano’s office, after he’s told off a Capo for not being able to locate Keano, I relay my concerns to him just as Carmine comes in with three cups of coffee.
“I need to talk to you about Mary,” I say to Adriano, making a choice that will change our lives drastically, and I’m not sure Mary won’t hate me for it. Yet my need to protect her is currently governing my actions. “Do you know how badly her apartment is secured?”
“We’ve had this discussion with her,” he answers. “She fought me about buying a more expensive one.”
“And you allowed it?” I reply, and he throws me a feigned glare.
Carmine hands me a cup. “It’s black.”
“Thanks.” I accept it, taking off the lid to let the hot brew cool off.
After stirring his own coffee, Carmine explains, “Mary promised us she’d get new locks, but clearly, she didn’t.” Then he looks at Adriano. “I’m with Henry, and I suggest she moves back to the Astoria. The apartment beneath your penthouse is for sale. Janey can contact the realtor and make an offer on it. It’s fully furnished and I think it’s already been on the market for a while, so she could probably get the keys soon.”
Seems like Carmine is in my corner, since I’m positive he knows Mary and I are more than friends.
Adriano sends him an exasperated glance. “I’m not going to order Mary to move back home. She’ll fight us every step of the way, Carmine. We also need to give her space to live her life. I don’t want her to become too involved with Syndicate business while she’s still so young.”
“I think it’s too late for that,” I tell them, and Carmine nods. “She’s involved in our group.”
Carmine sets his coffee on the desk. “You and I can buy the apartment for her. If she’s reluctant, then we’ll let her pay rent or something else so she feels independent. I’d prefer having us all living at the Astoria anyway.”
Carmine’s idea is perfect. There isn’t a safer place for Mary than the Astoria.
Adriano looks away, chewing over his brother’s proposition. “But we need to steer her a little to make her own decision so she doesn’t feel as if we’re arranging her life. I’ll talk to her and remind her that with Keano being such a big threat, it’s shown us that she’s too vulnerable in her current apartment.”
“Now that she knows much more about our Syndicate life, I don’t think she’ll be as reluctant to accept,” Carmine informs, adding around a grin, “And by the way, I can also simply bu
y it. That way, she can’t refuse it.”
Adriano’s expression turns amused. “Then you can be the one to tell her she has to live in the Astoria.”
“No. You’re the oldest.”
I chuckle. “You two are afraid of your little sister?”
Adriano merely shrugs. “You’ve never encountered her temper. When Mary’s mad, you better run.”
Carmine grins. “She’s like a mini Sophia. Just as feisty as our mother. They don’t get mad quickly and seem so sweet, but don’t get on their bad side, because then they’re scary. Italian women...”
I bark out a huge laugh. Mary is even sexier when she’s mad. I experienced it firsthand several times when I used to flirt with her and then didn’t call her.
Suddenly, I understand how conniving these two men are in orchestrating other people’s lives without them even realizing. And I’ve seen how Mary looks up to them and learns from them; that’s probably why she can be pragmatic about this lifestyle. These siblings have a true familial bond. It’s something I envy, being an orphan.
Maybe that’s why I’m so attracted to Mary and her ways?
“We’ll have dinner with Mary tomorrow night, Carmine.” Adriano takes his suit jacket from the back of his chair before addressing me, “Carmine and I have to go. Will you be here all day?”
“Yes, I’m going to look at the camera feeds from the warehouse to see if there’s any trace of Keano.”
“Okay. Carmine, let’s go,” Adriano tells him, leading the way as I nod goodbye and enter the security room.
Closing the door behind me to ensure no one will come in unannounced, I claim the seat behind the large screen and log in to the system. Immediately, I get an alarm that someone’s trying to breach the firewall.
“Gotcha, motherfucker!” I exclaim out loud, guessing this must be Anonymous trying to hack into Club 7 again, so I quickly switch to offline mode so he can’t see I’ve logged on too.
Then I grant him access, letting him think he’s cracked my new settings. I watch him going through personnel files and attempting to change financial data, but I block him by programming right alongside him, keeping him busy in his efforts. In the meantime, I’m also energetically typing on the second keyboard to pinpoint his IP address. This time, I manage to locate him at the School of the Art Institute.
What?! That’s Mary’s school.
I roll the chair to the left to find Mary’s location by checking the GPS tracker I hid in her coat, and she’s on campus property. Though I don’t know the layout of the college, so I search online for a campus blueprint and confirm she’s in the library where there are presumably computers, and it’s also Anonymous’s exact whereabouts.
Fuck! Is it possible that Mary is Anonymous?
Confounded, I stare at the screen, my brain going into overdrive as clashing sensations bombard me, and I storm out.
CHAPTER 30
Mary
I print out my essay, which I wrote in a rush, and log off the school computer. Feeling a prickle at my nape, I look up and around the rows of desks in the library. It’s very busy and no one seems to be paying attention to me except David standing at the entrance. Grabbing my purse and the documents from the printer, I slide them into an envelope as David opens the door for me.
“I need to drop this off on the second floor,” I say as he trails me out, his watchfulness setting me on edge.
Keano’s been on the loose for a day now, and who the hell knows where he is. I’d come back to exact revenge if I were him, and he’s definitely that kind of man. I completely misjudged him; the fact that he hit me proved that already.
After I hand in my essay just before noon, I tell David as we exit campus, “I need to get my dog from Henry’s apartment. He gave me a key.” I had to leave her behind last night when I went to Little Mexico in a hurry.
“We’ll pick her up now,” he answers, repeatedly stealing glimpses around us while we cross the lawn to his SUV.
***
“But I have to walk her, David,” I implore, cuddling Strawberry in my lap in the passenger seat. “We’ll go to the park across from my apartment for ten minutes tops. Come on. I can’t keep her inside all the time. She needs fresh air.”
“Fine,” he relents since I’ve been trying to persuade him for over fifteen minutes as he parks the car on my street.
After I fasten Strawberry’s leather collar around her neck, she jumps out of the SUV eagerly, tugging the leash. With David hovering around me, I follow her toward the dog walking area and let her do her business, tying the belt of my trench coat since the mild temperatures of fall are coming to an end. When Strawberry continues to tow the leash, I release it, keeping an eye on her until she runs off, and I whistle, but she ignores me. Sprinting forward over a wide stretch of grass, I careen through trees and masses of people, commanding her to stop again, and luckily, she does so, excitedly returning to me.
Stooping low to my knee, I scratch her behind the ears. “You were cooped up inside for too long, weren’t you?”
Then unexpectedly, I feel something poking into my back as someone kneels behind me. “Get up and don’t you dare scream. I’ll fucking shoot you right here in broad daylight.”
My head spins around and I’m confronted with Keano, his outraged eyes rimmed with dark circles and his jaw dusted with a scruffy blond beard.
I swallow as I look over his shoulder, but I don’t see David in the area where I came from anymore.
“Your bodyguard won’t help you,” Keano hisses, aggressively pushing the barrel of his gun into my back and motioning for me to rise.
As steadily as possible, I stand up straight with Strawberry in my arms, and he shoves me forward, pressing up against me with his gun hidden beneath his jacket. He grips my arm as we reach the bricked path and go toward the parking lot, yet I know I can’t get into his car. I refuse to surrender to him.
Panic flares and sweat beads across the top of my lip as I peer around nervously. When we turn a corner and are secluded for a few feet, I try to run but am smothered from behind.
My eyelids droop until everything goes black...
***
My own heavy breathing thunders in my ears while all I see is darkness. Pitch black. My hands and feet are tied together in front of me, and I’m seated on a cold concrete floor, hunched over with my wrists secured to my ankles.
Suddenly, I hear a creak and shriek from the sheer dread gushing through me. Trembling in fear, I gaze into nothingness and hear a chuff.
“Strawberry?” I cry right before a yellow light turns on.
I blink profusely as my sight adjusts, and a shadow shifts in front of me, causing me to scream.
Keano rests on his haunches before me with Strawberry in a tight grasp in his hand as her barks ricochet off the walls in this empty space.
“Shut the fuck up!” he yells at me, pointing his pistol at my forehead as I purse my lips and my little Chihuahua grumbles.
“You should’ve told Carmine and Henry to kill me when they had the chance,” he speaks with malice, tracing his gun down Strawberry’s tiny ear.
“Where am I?” I snarl. “What do you want from me?”
His movement stops, and his vicious eyes scrutinize me as a muscle ticks in his jaw. “I want you to pay. You, and Carmine, and most of all, Henry. Do you know what they did to me?! They locked me up and gave me just enough water to survive while I went stir crazy in a three by four cell!” In a flash, he hurls Strawberry aside, and she scoots over the floor before hitting the wall with a thump.
“Stop!” I yell. “My dog has nothing to do with this.”
He yanks my head back by my hair while terror claws at me as he bellows, “I don’t fucking care! Just like you didn’t care when they beat me up. And you’re such a stupid bitch; you ruined my plans when you kept fucking Henry.”
My throat is stretched as he spits in a venomous voice, “You and Henry made a lot of enemies. And he isn’t nearly as smart as everyone th
inks he is. Once he was distracted by your pussy, you made it easy for us.”
Us? Who is us?
“What the hell are you talking about?” I scream, yet he digs the barrel of his gun into my temple.
“Don’t you fucking dare yell at me, bitch. You ruined my life!”
Acute horror has me biting back my retort. The madness in his tone and his ranting shows me he’s gone over the edge of sanity and will probably kill me.
Keano then crudely drags me across the floor by my hair. With my hands and feet tied, my back scrapes over the concrete as excruciating pain stabs my scalp.
“I had it all planned until Henry interfered by seducing you!”
“Ow. Let me go!” I shout but am helpless in this bound position as Strawberry regains her footing and starts to bark, coming at us.
Keano lets go of me a few feet in front of the door, and the back of my head bangs against the ground. Searing pain radiates through me as I topple to my side, completely unbalanced. I see Keano kicking Strawberry aside, and my anguish pours out, because witnessing this hurts more than my physical pain. “Stop it!”
“Fucking dog,” he sneers as she struggles up from the corner, and then he glances at me cruelly before aiming his weapon at her.
“NO!!!” I cry at the top of my lungs, my stomach turning in a nauseating flop.
Keano pulls the trigger and Strawberry goes slack immediately as I blink like a crazy woman, disbelieving the predicament I’m trapped in for a millisecond until my rage explodes.
“You goddamn psychopath!” I bawl, curled into myself, my face pressed on the cold floor while tears scald my cheeks. “You’re fucking crazy!”
“And you’re fucking pathetic, crying over some dog! You care more about that dog than you ever did about me.”
Infuriated, I take an encouraging breath. “Because you’re worth less than a dog, asshole!”
Again, he grips my hair and threatens, “Too bad it took you so long to figure out. This is your own fault. You’re so trustworthy and dumb. I never wanted you, but you got me into Club 7, and that’s all I needed from you.”
