Ace of Hearts

by Gray, Khardine

  “I’m not finished.” I giggled, backing away playfully.

  “It looks fine. I’ll put it in my living room.”

  “This one is mine.”

  “What?” He gasped and reached for me, grabbing my waist and pulling me to his chest. I started laughing and tried to pull away. “You tricked me.”

  “No, it wasn’t a trick. I decided to keep it and do another for you. That way you can come back and get it.”

  He carried me away from the easel and set me down on the edge of the bed, crouching down then looking back to me.

  “You think I need a reason to come here?” He cocked his head to the side.

  “I’m giving you a reason. There’s no harm in having something ready as an excuse.”

  He glanced back at the painting and smirked. “Your dad’s going to lose his shit when he sees that.”

  “Do you care?”

  “No, but you might, baby.”

  “I don’t. I don’t care. Sounds like you care a little though.”

  “I don’t but he may kill me when he sees that painting. Why the hell did you make my dick look so big?”

  “Because it is?” I started laughing.

  “Okay, so the only way he’s gonna know you know that is because you saw it.”

  “Oh my gosh, you do care.” I burst out laughing.

  He ran his fingers over my thighs and settled by the crook of my waist.

  A sexy, cat-got-the-canary smile danced on his lips.

  “Baby, I don’t care. What I care about is him with his shit stopping me from seeing you. The less shit I have to deal with the better.”

  That made it sound like he wanted to keep seeing me. I stared at him, not answering, just looking.

  It was that weird time again, during the early hours of the morning. It was way past the time I’d normally retire to bed. I wasn’t as tired as the last time when I’d just conked out.

  I did wonder though if sleep would take him away from me.

  “What? What are you thinking?” He prodded and tweaked my nose playfully.

  “What you just said. Sounds like you want to see me more than just for one night, or two.”

  The playful smirk receded from his face. “Maybe I do, but I… shouldn’t…”

  “Why? Because I’m the boss’s daughter?” He wouldn’t care about that. I thought he might the other day. Not so much now.

  “No,” he answered, confirming my thoughts.

  “Then why shouldn’t you? Because we’ve known each other for a little over two weeks and look at us?” I smiled.

  God, I couldn’t believe it was so little time.

  “That’s one reason.”

  I ran my fingers over the sharp chisel of his jaw deciding on whether I should continue to press the issue.

  I wasn’t stupid. I was used to the world of men and knew the worst thing you could do was push, and press an issue when it was vague.

  He was being vague and I was sure he had his reasons. It didn’t mean I liked it but I liked us right now.

  “It’s okay. I’m not prying.” I nodded. “This part is nice. Thanks for coming over and seeing me. My father is not the easiest person to deal with.”

  I thought I’d say that because it was true. I was certain Pa would have at least had his questions if Xander asked if he could come and see me. Pa hadn’t said anything to me about him but I knew he knew something was going on between us.

  “He’s not going to stop me from seeing you, Jia. Maybe I’ve just jumped on the crazy train wanting to protect you and I don’t trust anyone else to do it but me.”

  That was sweet and explained his behavior earlier.

  “It’s nice being protected by you.” I gave him a one-shoulder sassy shrug. “I like the other things that we do too when you’re protecting me.”

  “Yeah, like this?”

  He reached up and ran his fingers over my right breast, moving slowly over the nipple that hardened to his touch.

  “I really like that.” I pushed into the touch and he started squeezing.

  “But that feels more fun for me. You allowing me to touch you and suck your tits.”

  He squeezed harder and I decided to spice things up a little by taking off my top. My breasts bobbled invitingly toward him, my nipples puckered, begging to be sucked.

  I shook my head at him and smiled. “Trust me, it’s me who has more fun.”

  He obliged by closing his mouth over my right nipple and sucking.

  That was it, all it took to send me over the edge again.

  We ended up in my bed seconds later, him buried to the hilt deep inside me.

  Then it was like we went crazy on each other. Completely crazy.

  Lost to the throes of passion, no longer caring.

  I never even heard the door open until it was too late.

  Usually I was able to hear the front door open because I listened out for it so much with the guys always around.

  Not today though.

  It wasn’t until the heavy footstep sounded against the floor board that I saw Pa.

  Xander saw him too and moved off me. He’d been balls deep inside me telling me how hard he was going to fuck me. Then we saw Pa.

  I couldn’t even talk, or respond. Shock robbed me of doing anything but covering myself.

  “Get your fucking clothes on. I need you,” Pa snarled at Xander. He wouldn’t look at me. He kept his gaze on Xander, giving him fiery daggers of disapproval.

  At least he had the decency to leave us, so Xander could get changed properly.

  Pa practically slammed the door shut.

  “Fuck,” Xander breathed and looked to me.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was coming.” I shook my head. Pa had never, ever done something like that before. And what would he do now?

  Would he fire Xander?

  “Don’t apologize.”

  “I am sorry.”

  He stopped my next words with a quick kiss. “Jia don’t apologize.”

  “What if he fires you and I never see you again?”

  “No.”

  “He could.”

  “55 River View Heights,” he said backing off the bed.

  “What’s there?”

  “That’s where I live. You can find me there whenever you want.”

  I released the breath I’d been holding on to when he kissed me again.

  “Thank you,” I told him breathlessly.

  Another kiss was planted on my forehead then he got dressed and left. I put my clothes on too and went downstairs. I knew Pa would be waiting in the sitting room. That was exactly where I found him.

  He stood by the mantelpiece looking at my painting of the Tuscan countryside.

  He turned when he saw me and rage washed over his face.

  “So that’s how he watches you?” he asked.

  “You had no right to come into my room like that.” This was crazy shit. All of it. Once again it had come back to the part of this messed up situation where he treated me like a child. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  “Jia, I understand you’re a grown woman and you can screw around with whoever you want, but not when I’ve specifically expressed my wishes for you.”

  Oh my God, he was going to sell me that shit again about Armand.

  “Wishes, you mean Armand?” I snapped and scowled at him.

  “Why are you asking the question you already know the answer to? Fucking hell Jia, I never believed you’d defy me like this. Not when I need you to comply. You saw the shit that’s happening. You’ve seen it and you insist on making life difficult.”

  “Pa!” I cried. My voice was more an anguished scream of everything inside me. “Will you listen to yourself? Will you seriously listen to yourself? You’re telling me to be with a man who cheated on me. God knows how many times. I don’t want that. Fuck, we all saw for ourselves that he was with Maria the night of the shootout. You know what he’s like. How can you want me to be with someone like
that?”

  “So what, you think this Xander blows into our lives and suddenly you’re in love with him?” he growled.

  In love…

  What a nice thought. What a nice dream to have. Maybe it explained it. The passion, the life force that took over me when I was with Xander. Maybe it explained it all. It would make sense to call it that. I didn’t think time could question things like love. I didn’t think time had a place because you’d end up questioning yourself.

  So maybe I did love him.

  Only yesterday I’d thought I’d never been in love before. Maybe I was…

  Maybe it wasn’t a maybe…

  I thought people knew if they were in love or not. I knew it. I felt it. Swirling within me like the passion it rode on. Warming me and filling me with everything good.

  Pa looked furious. “This is an outrage. You know nothing about him.”

  “But you knew enough to hire him and make him a knight.”

  “That is different. A resumé is just a resumé. It doesn’t tell you all about a person. We know nothing more about him other than the fact that he was a marine for years and has the ability to shit on everything I say. A person like that can never be truly trusted. Secrets and lies are up their sleeves. Always an ace up their sleeve.”

  “Like you…” My gaze clung to his. “You mean like you? So many secrets and lies. You can’t even tell me why you think I’m in danger. You can’t, can you?”

  Pa stood his ground. His shoulders tensed and his face hardened. “Armand knows our ways. He is La Cosa Nostra. Our families go back to Italia bellezza. He is who I chose for you. Not this ace of hearts who defies me every chance he gets. I chose Armand for you. You talk about Europe, well now you get your wish. You can go. Armand will take you next week. You will be his wife, so prepare.”

  A tremor lanced through me. It pierced through my body like a sharp knife slicing through my skin. It pierced my soul and shattered my heart.

  “No,” I breathed, clutching a hand to my chest and shaking my head. “No Papa.”

  “Yes. So, you will end this thing, whatever it is you have with Xander Cage.”

  I shook my head and tears spilled down my cheeks. “No.”

  “No? Jia, test me and I will be forced to do what is necessary to remove a threat, no matter how useful he is to me.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath that nearly choked me. “No Papa, you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t hurt him…”

  “Hurt? Bellezza you know I don’t aim for hurt if someone stands in my way. A threat is a threat and you eliminate them. Get rid of them for good.”

  He meant he would kill him.

  He would do it.

  I knew he would.

  After all, my father was a monster.

  Chapter 24

  Xander

  I swore to god if I had the power I would have ended that bastard from the second I set my eyes on him.

  I didn’t hear Giovanni come into Jia’s room. I didn’t hear him and that said a lot because I was sharper than that.

  I’d enjoyed the beauty far too much, indulging in her more than I should. Going deeper down the hole of distrust. Allowing myself to feel for her. I couldn’t believe I’d allowed myself to get lost in her the way I had. It was crazy and exciting and it was getting past the line of return. The line I should have set up was so far away from me I couldn’t see it and it was making me slip up.

  It was making me make mistakes.

  If that wasn’t true I would have, at the very least, heard Giovanni when he came into her room this morning.

  And, the fucking thing that he needed me to do was to accompany Vinny in dropping off a package. It was money. Money for diamonds.

  We carried two hundred grand to a guy that looked like a dealer, shady as fuck in the back streets of San Jose. It was a dive of a place that screamed dirty dealings. Having seen the diamonds the other day in the vault I knew that Giovanni had a thing for them. But fuck, I wasn’t prepared for the diamonds I saw today.

  Celestine diamonds. That was what people called them because of their starlight appearance. The thing was, if memory served me right, I knew they were worth more than what we handed over to the guy.

  That took up the morning, then I was put on duty with Freddo to watch over the casino floor.

  That was my day and I did it because I knew that it was better to let people cool off, let the smoke blow over, then strike. Mostly, I was worried about my own smoke because Giovanni could easily push me. Push me to a point where I could blow the mission. The mission was what I had to bring it back to.

  Except for a few messages this morning on the way to my place to change, I hadn’t been able to talk to Wes or Ethan properly. So meeting at our little office just before nightfall was the first real chance I got to talk with both of them.

  Wes had managed to get the building plans for the casino and hotel.

  The whole thing looked like a maze.

  “Want to know something of interest?” Wes asked, looking proud of himself.

  “Sure buddy.” Ethan looked to him as Wes waved his hand over the plans.

  “These aren’t the building plans they have listed at City Hall.”

  “Wes, do I even want to know how you got these?” I asked. It was the first time I’d smiled all day.

  “I have my ways, bro.” He pointed to the section that first got my interest when he laid it out. “Here, this whole section here isn’t on the original map.”

  “How did you know to look for this?” Ethan asked.

  “The plans I saw didn’t have the area with the Castle courtyard. It’s not listed. What they have available to the public just shows the casino and hotel of the Marchesi. That’s it. Of course we know different don’t we?”

  I nodded and made a fist to bump his. “This is good stuff, Wes.”

  “I knew I had to do a little more digging than usual when I saw that. I have a friend who came through for me and helped me dig a little deeper.” He chuckled.

  “Well your friend is my friend. This is really good, it gives us the upper hand,” Ethan stated. “The Ra wouldn’t know about this. Nobody would.”

  “The Ra not knowing gives us time.” I nodded. “It gives me time. I can get in and out. Find what I need to find and get the hell out of there.”

  Find what I needed and get out.

  That was the ultimate result. Me getting the prints. Then it really would be over.

  “How much time do you think you need?” Ethan asked.

  I thought about it. “Maybe a week. Less if we can work out where Giovanni’s keeping the stuff sooner.”

  It was all based on that. How soon I could figure things out.

  Wes placed his hand to his chin, in complete thinking mode.

  “What’s up Wes?” I asked.

  He pointed to the new section on the plans. His finger hovered over the area just outside it.

  “Tunnels. If there are tunnels we could go in that way,” he suggested.

  I smiled. Damn I loved this guy. It was great to have him around, especially when my brain was scrambled.

  Ethan nodded with a big smile on his face. “Great work Wes. So, if we get details of the tunnels how would we work that?”

  I pulled in a deep breath. “That’s where I come in.”

  They looked to me.

  “You got this agent.” Ethan smiled.

  It felt weird being called agent again after so many years. “Thanks.”

  “I’m gonna look into the tunnels now.” Wes beamed. “If we can find a way in and get that part sorted then we can spend tomorrow and the weekend on everything else. Cook up the best covert mission ever.”

  Covert. I liked that.

  My phone buzzed in my back pocket. It was the phone Giovanni had given me.

  I hissed as it buzzed again. I truly hoped that asshole didn’t want me for anything. I’d had enough today. Literally enough. Best if I didn’t even talk to him.

  I pulled out the pho
ne and the annoyance sapped away from me when I recognized the number as Jia’s.

  “I gotta get this guys,” I told them and answered the phone.

  “Xander, can you hear me?” she asked straightaway. Her voice sounded muffled like she’d been crying.

  “Yes, I’m here. Are you okay?” It seemed like that was all I ever asked her. If she was okay and how she was doing.

  She sniffled. “No… I’m not.”

  Usually she said yes, even when it was obvious that she wasn’t okay. Usually she could lie and tell me she was fine. Something must have happened to take away the option to lie.

  “What’s wrong baby?” I didn’t care that Ethan and Wes were listening. I didn’t care that we’d been talking business either. She was more important to me.

  “I’m outside your place. Can I see you?”

  Oh God… I knew I’d been an idiot, hyped up on her when I gave her my address. But the reason for me doing so was exactly for instances like this.

  “Of course. I’m on my way over. I’ll be there in about five minutes.”

  “Thank you. I’ll see you soon.”

  We hung up and I looked over to the guys. Wes looked concerned, Ethan annoyed. He spoke first.

  “Xander, was that Jia Marchesi...?”

  “Yes, yes it was.”

  “Please tell me you’re not off to play Casanova to this woman when we’re in the middle of sorting this all out.” He gave me a long hard stare.

  “Yes, I’m going. You guys brainstorm. I’ll come back when I can. Or, give me a call if you figure something out.”

  “Xander, this is crazy. Do I have to remind you who she is? The worst thing you could do is get involved with the enemy’s daughter.”

  He was preaching the lesson I already knew. “I’m going,” I told him and that was final.

  It was the result I would come to whether we argued it out or not.

  “Well I’m gonna look into this idea of the tunnels,” Wes cut in. “I’ll get a plan of the drainage systems.”

  I looked to him, thankful for his intervention.

  “Thanks bro. Call me as soon as you come up with something.”

  He nodded and I took my leave.

  The little warehouse office we were using was just two to three minutes away from my apartment so there really was no problem in me taking a break.