“When her mother became pregnant, Sergio wanted to ‘clean up his act,’” my father drawled sarcastically as he came back to his seat. “He said he wanted out of the life so that he could keep his family safe. As a family man, I could respect that.”
“But—”
“Yes, you can’t get out of this life alive. That’s where the girl comes in,” he said, keeping his eyes on me as he took a sip of his drink.
I looked down at the picture. My father would never let someone leave the business alive. If Sergio was still alive and my father let him walk away, that only left…
“He bargained the girl for his own life then,” I stated.
My father smiled, a mischievous glint appearing in his brown eyes. “You’re too smart for your own good, you know,” he said, raising his glass to me. “You’re correct.”
I closed the folder. “So what happens now?”
“That’s where you come in. See, Sergio thought if he changed the girl’s name and moved her clear across the country, she’d be safe. So the first thing that needs to happen is that Sergio must pay for breaking his blood contract. And once he’s dealt with, I need you to travel to South Carolina to retrieve the girl.”
I ran a hand down my face. Out of all the things I did for our family’s business, traveling to retrieve “packages” was my least favorite. It was a lot different than taking things in your own territory. On one hand, I didn’t know if her father had paid people to protect her or if there was already a trap there waiting for me. But on the other hand, I trusted my father knew what he was doing. Though I questioned his sanity at times, he was always thorough in his plans and never sent me into a situation where we didn’t have an advantage.
“So you want me to go to South Carolina to get her and bring her back here to California for…what? What do you want me to do with her? Kill her? Sell her? Make her work?” I asked.
He waved a dismissive hand at me as he took a gulp from his glass. “It makes me no difference. Sell her, keep her for yourself, whatever. She just needs to understand that she’s now Moreno property. I have faith you’ll break her in well, yes?”
“Of course,” I replied, a sinister grin on lips as her face flashed in my mind. The thought of breaking her actually made me excited. My fingers tingled in anticipation at the thought of watching the hope leave from her eyes and the will to fight leave her body. I couldn’t wait to see the fear that always came when they realized this was their new life and there was no way they could escape it alive. And there was nothing that I loved more than to break away every innocent piece of their world, leaving them with nothing but the exposed ugliness and evil that was now their life.
“But before you think about the girl, deal with Sergio,” my father said, interrupting my thoughts.
“But why now though? I mean if he gave her up before she was born, why are you just now trying to get her?”
“We’d made an agreement that once she turned 18, he would hand her over. But he sent her off somewhere under a new name and then disappeared himself. It took a couple of years, but we’ve found both his location as well as hers.” He shook his head and finished the rest of his Bourbon. “I should’ve killed him back when I had the chance.”
“I’ll take care of it,” I said as I stood, clutching the folder in my hand. “I’m guessing you’re going to allow me to use your jet? There’s no way I’m flying commercial with an emotional woman.”
“Everything of mine is at your disposal. Let me know when you’re ready to leave and I’ll have my people get everything you need,” he said with a nod.
“Okay then. I guess I’ll get with my men and make a plan on how to deal with Sergio,” I said.
“Be sure to keep me in the loop. You know I don’t like being in the dark,” he said.
I nodded. “Will do.”
As soon as I turned to head for the door, his voice stopped me once more. “What happened with Joseph?”
I slowly turned back around to face him and shrugged. “He’s dead,” I stated, my tone flat.
“Method?”
“Pure capsaicin.”
He let out a low whistle and shook his head. “Ouch,” he said. “I’m sure he suffered through that.”
“He did,” I stated. “Is that all? I need to get to work.”
“Always the eager one,” he said with a small smile as he stood and walked over to me. “Just be careful out there. We’re all we have.”
We’re all we have. It was that one sentence that reminded me that he was still my father and not just my boss. That he still had a sliver of humanity left inside of him after my mom died, no matter how small of a sliver it was. When you lived a life of crime, it was hard to show that familial love and affection when you had a shit ton of enemies waiting to exploit you for that weakness.
He clapped me on the shoulder with a grin as he opened the door. “Keep me updated and let me know when to start preparing the jet,” he said.
“I will. See ya,” I said and left his office.
Blocking all past memories from my mind, I focused on the new task at hand.
First, deal with Sergio for trying to cheat my father out of what belongs to us.
Then finally, go to South Carolina to pick up my new toy.
“Babe, you’ve been obsessing over numbers since it happened,” my boyfriend Heath murmured, gently taking the iPad from my hand.
I frowned. “But what if it was a mistake? A glitch or something?”
It was still hard to believe that my cosmetics company had not only sold out all of our Puppy Love eyeshadow palettes and lipsticks, but it also raked in one million dollars in an hour.
The whole launch was doomed when the idea was first born. People bitched about the colors not being bright or flashy enough. Critics claimed the palette was nothing special and that donating a portion of the proceeds to a local animal shelter wasn’t enough to make people waste money on it. So imagine my surprise when it launched and sold out in an hour—breaking the website in the process—and brought in a million dollars with raving reviews from beauty influencers. There had to be some kind of mistake.
“Nessa, you’re the savviest business woman I know. You worked hard for this and you deserve every bit of success that you’re getting right now,” he murmured, taking me into his arms.
“You think so?” I asked with a smirk as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
His bright green eyes sparkled with love and adoration. “Oh, I know so,” he stated and devoured my mouth.
A low moaned slipped from my throat as his tongue found mine, his hands moving down my curves to settle on my ass. I slipped my hands under his white t-shirt, relishing in the feel of his tight abs and chest.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I murmured in between kisses.
“A quickie on the counter before everyone gets here?” he asked with a wicked grin.
I bit my lip and nodded. “Bingo. Take this off,” I whispered, lightly tugging on his shirt.
He grinned and reached down to remove his shirt when the elevator doors that gave entry into the penthouse pinged and rolled open.
“Party’s here, bitches!” Savannah sang as she entered the penthouse. “Vanessa, where are you?”
“Or not,” he said with a chuckle. “I really wish they’d learn what a call button is for.”
I gave him a quick peck and turned back to the uncut produce still sitting on the kitchen island.
“I’ll make it up to you later,” I promised. “Can you help me with the veggies?”
“I told you before that you didn’t have to do this. You should be relaxing for your own celebratory dinner,” he said, grabbing a knife and settling next to me.
I shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. I need something to keep me busy so that I don’t keep analyzing numbers.”
“Vanessa?” Kandice sang out. “Where are you? We have wine!”
“Kitchen!” I called out, popping a sliced carrot into my mouth.
Vanessa and Kandice entered the kitchen with their boyfriends in tow, moving over to hug me.
“If it isn’t the one-hour millionaire! I still can’t believe it! Congrats, girl!” Kandice said as she squeezed me.
“Thank you,” I gushed. “It’s still crazy to think about. I can’t believe it myself.”
“You better believe it. You’re going to be the biggest makeup mogul in the beauty industry pretty soon,” Heath said and kissed me.
“Thanks, babe,” I said.
Savannah looked at all the ingredients on the island and rolled her eyes. “I know this is your house and all, but why are you cooking your own celebration dinner?” she asked.
“Yeah, I asked her the same thing,” Heath agreed, smirking at me.
I scoffed, playfully jabbing him in the side. “I wanted to be helpful! I needed to do something to keep myself from overanalyzing the numbers. I just—”
“Okay, okay, that’s a sign that you need wine pronto,” Kandice interrupted. “Let your head chef boyfriend here put Kyle and Ash to work and you come relax with your besties.”
“Yeah, go relax, babe. I think we can handle it. Right, guys?”
“Yeah, the men got this,” Kandice’s boyfriend, Ash, said, rolling up his sleeves.
“There’s nothing more sexy than seeing a man work his way around the kitchen,” Kandice said, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him.
“As long as someone tells me what to do, I’m down,” Savannah’s boyfriend, Kyle, said with a shrug.
“Yes, please keep an eye on him. He’s very talented. He can even burn air,” she teased. When he tried to put an arm around her, it didn’t go unnoticed that she stepped out of his embrace and shook her head. An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment until Heath cleared his throat.
“How the fuck do you burn air, dude?” he teased.
“Well, you guys have plenty of time to rehash that story,” Savannah said, looping her arm through mine. “Okay, ladies! The wine calls us!”
I looked to Heath. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” I asked.
He smiled his beautiful smile and leaned over to kiss me. “Yeah, it’s fine. I’ll let you know when everything is ready,” he murmured and kissed me again. “Love you always.”
“Love you forever,” I said before Savannah dragged me off to the living room.
The three of us settled on the white sectional couch, Kandice placing three wine glasses on the glass coffee table. Savannah tossed her fiery red hair over her shoulder and grabbed a wine glass as soon as Kandice poured wine into it.
“Let me be the first to say how proud I am of you,” Kandice started, passing me a glass.
I smiled. “Aww, thanks. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the best friends a girl could ask for.”
“And the best boyfriend!” Heath called out the kitchen.
“Shut it, Heath! You’re stealing our moment,” Savannah threw back before smiling at me. “Now what were you saying about your wonderful friends?”
“You guys are the best and I love you,” I said and laughed.
“And we love you too!” they said in unison as we clinked our glasses together.
As we talked about my cosmetics company, I noticed Savannah glancing back at Kyle with a frown. Seeing their interaction in the kitchen earlier, something was going on that she hadn’t told us about.
“Everything okay?” I finally asked, placing my hand on her knee.
She gave me a small smile and nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.”
We spent the next 45 minutes catching up on life and work. When we got to the topic of relationships, Savannah grew quiet and focused on drinking more wine.
“Are you sure everything’s okay? I mean you and Kyle are good, right?” Kandice asked.
“Food’s ready, ladies!” Heath called from the kitchen before Savannah could respond.
“Good, I’m starving,” she said and hopped off the couch.
Kandice and I watched her as she made her way to the dining room table, settling for the seat at the head of the table.
“Has she said anything to you about Kyle?” Kandice whispered as we got off the couch.
“No, but I’ll get to the bottom of it before they leave,” I said.
I sat at the table just as Heath put a plate of filet mignon, mashed potatoes, and mixed veggies in front of me.
“Thanks, babe. It looks like it came from a restaurant,” I said.
He leaned down and kissed me. “Well, tonight is a night to celebrate your achievement. You deserved something special,” he said.
Ash and Kyle placed plates in front of Kandice and Savannah before returning to the table with their own plates. Savannah took another sip of wine.
“She’s lucky to have you, Heath,” she said with a slight hiccup. “Every girl deserves a guy that treats her right. Especially a faithful one.”
Heath looked at me with a raised brow, which I could only shrug at in response. Another bout of silence hung over the table, the only sounds coming from the clinking of forks on the plate.
“This is really good,” I finally said. “You guys did a good job.”
“Thanks,” Heath said and gestured to Kyle with his steak knife. “He cooked the veggies without burning anything. Savannah, you would’ve been proud.”
“Yeah. Sooo proud,” she drawled, rolling her eyes.
“So Vanessa, what’s next for the company? I mean with the success of your latest launch, you’re going to skyrocket now,” Kandice said.
Thank goodness for the subject change. The tension on Savannah’s end of the table with Kyle made this whole dinner uncomfortable. The more she drank, the more worried I became. Drunk Savannah was an emotional mess and the last thing I wanted was to spend a night of celebrating consoling my drunk friend while she threw up everywhere.
“We create the next product,” I said with a shrug. “It’s still hard to believe that I sold out in an hour and made that much money so quickly. I still pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.”
“You deserve every bit of success you have, baby,” Heath said, reaching over to put his hand on mine. “You work so hard and I’m happy to see that it’s finally paying off.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling warm all over.
It was amazing to be surrounded by the people who’d pretty much become my family. After years of living in fear and looking over my shoulder, it’d been hard to trust people enough to allow them into my world. For so long, I’d been empty as I roamed the world alone but Heath, Savannah, and Kandice came into my life at the right time and reminded me that you could always create your own family when the one you were given abandoned you. To have these people here to celebrate my biggest achievement meant the world to me, and I couldn’t be more thankful.
“I’d actually like to make a toast,” Heath said, grabbing his glass of whiskey and holding it up. His eyes locked with mine, a small smile on his lips as his green eyes sparkled with love and pride. “Vanessa, it’s been amazing watching you grow into the business woman that you are today. It seems like yesterday when we lived in a small studio apartment and you were up at all hours of the night mixing lip stick formulas. Now you have a multimillion-dollar business and just cleared a million dollars in only an hour. I want you to know that I’m so damn proud of you and so happy that I get to watch you on this journey. I love you.”
“I love you too,” I gushed, tears burning my eyes. We all took a sip of our drinks, but Heath didn’t sit back down.
“Also,” he continued and took a deep breath. “On top of being on this journey with you and watching you grow, I also want to spend the rest of my life with you.” My heart pounded in my chest as he got on one knee in front of me.
“Heath,” I whispered.
“I love you so much, Vanessa. Before I met you, settling down anytime soon wasn’t on my agenda, but I can’t see myself being with anyone but you. I want nothing more than to have you as my wife.”
“Vanessa Taylor, will you marry me?” he murmured.
“Yes!” I squealed, bouncing in my seat as he slipped the ring on my finger.
I stood and hugged him tight, tears streaming down my face as so many different emotions strangled me. Underneath all love, excitement, and happiness that coursed through me, there was a sliver of dread nagging at the corners of my mind. With all of the good things happening lately, something was bound to go wrong.
You’re being paranoid like Dad, I reminded myself, forcing myself to stay in the moment. I was fine, and everything else would be fine. No one was after me, despite what my father thought. I was safe, engaged, and living my best possible life. Everything would be fine.
“Oh my goodness!” I exclaimed, wiping my eyes. “This has literally been the best week of my life.”
“Speech! Speech! Speech!” everyone around the table chanted.
I giggled and picked up my wine glass. “Okay, okay. So first, I want to thank you all for coming,” I started, wiping away a few stray tears. “You guys have been my family for the last few years and I’m so grateful to have you guys here. I wouldn’t have been able to do all of this without your support. Thank you guys so much.”
“Oh, my turn! My turn!” Savannah said and stood up with her glass. “I just want to say that I’m so proud of you, Vanessa, and I love you like a sister. Congrats on your business achievement and your engagement. You’re so lucky to be with such a great guy like Heath and not with a guy who can’t even wear a condom when he cheats.”
The table became so quiet you could hear a pin drop as everyone looked at her. Kyle put his face in his hand and shook his head as Savannah shrugged.
“Cheers to you guys,” she said and chugged the rest of her wine. We all sat there in slight disbelief as she walked away from the table and out of the sliding door onto the terrace.
Rules of Bennett Page 2
