He pulled to a stop outside a steakhouse, and I didn’t wait for him as I got out. I was on edge—more on edge than usual—and I wasn’t sure if it was the good kind or the bad kind. There was something in the back of my mind telling me to be aware of everything going on around me, but I didn’t know why. It was probably because this was the first date I’d been on in so long, or maybe my spidey sense had kicked in and was trying to warn me. Either way, when Brad took my hand to lead me inside the restaurant, I jumped out of my skin.
“Sorry.” I laughed, trying to sound easy, but I knew I was anything but that.
“No worries,” Brad said, his lips pulled up on one side in that smile I’d seen him use so often. It was the kind that I knew people melted at, but for me, it made me even more nervous.
What would happen after this? Would he expect anything of me? I wasn’t a virgin by any stretch of the imagination, but I also didn’t do this kind of thing often. I hadn’t had a man hold my hand since…well, damn, I couldn’t even remember since when.
Had it really been that long?
I rolled my shoulders back and tried to give myself a pep talk as we were shown to our table. It wasn’t long until our orders were taken, and then Brad started talking about himself. I listened intently, not wanting to miss any of what he was saying, and as soon as he paused, I opened my mouth, about to volunteer something about me, but before I even got the chance, he was back to talking about himself and what his plans for the future were.
By the time we’d finished eating, and the bill was placed on the table, I knew his entire life story, but he knew absolutely nothing about me. I bet he didn’t even know what my last name was. In some ways, I was glad he’d done all the talking because that prickly feeling I’d had since I got out of his truck hadn’t gone away, but I also knew there was no way I could go on another date with him.
Brad was all about himself, the typical high school jock who hadn’t changed one bit even though he’d been in college for a couple of years. I smiled at him as he stood and offered his hand, and this time I took it, knowing there was no reason to be nervous around him because I wouldn’t be going out with him again.
He pulled me closer to him as we made it to his truck, and once we were both inside, he asked, “Wanna go somewhere else and continue this?” Did he not realize how bad this date had gone?
My face reddened as I stared at him, wondering how to politely say no. Just as I opened my mouth, my cell beeped, saving me. I pulled it out of my purse, unbelievably grateful for the interruption.
Noemi: You need to get home right now.
I frowned at the message and typed a reply.
Aida: Why? Is everything okay?
I waited several seconds, staring at my screen as I bit down on my bottom lip, but when the read signal didn’t show up, I turned to face Brad. “My sister said I need to get home.” I showed him my phone, trying to prove that she had messaged me and that this wasn’t some kind of ploy to get away from him. I was glad I’d be getting away from him, though.
“Okay.” He smiled, but this time it didn’t quite reach his eyes, not like it had throughout the night. My stomach dropped, and I winced. I hated letting people down, and I wouldn’t be able to think of anything else but how I’d technically bailed on our night. Although a quick look at the time said it was already 10:30 p.m., so I hadn’t really bailed. Right?
The truck was silent save for the low singing on the radio. He’d talked nonstop, and now he wasn’t saying a word. I wasn’t sure which one I liked less…no, I did—definitely the silence. I couldn’t stand when there was no noise. It made me want to fill it with useless chatter and information, but more than that, it made my ears ring, almost as if the silence was so loud it was deafening me.
Brad pulled the truck to a stop a couple of cars down from the store, and relief flowed through me. It would only be seconds until I was out of the truck. I grabbed my purse off my lap and looked ahead. What the…
Two blacked-out SUVs took up the spaces directly in front of the store. It wouldn’t have bothered me if the store was open, but it was nearly 11 p.m. now, so why were they parked there?
I stared up at the apartment, seeing all of the lights on. Had they waited up for me? Were they watching me right now? My eyes widened. Had something bad happened? Noemi said I needed to get home right now, but my brain hadn’t computed that something seriously wrong could have transpired.
“I had a great time,” Brad said, his voice low. I felt his hand whisper over my knee, and I jumped in response—yet again.
“Sorry.” I laughed it off, trying to be easy breezy, but the lights being on in the apartment had taken over my brain, and all I could think about was my ma looking out of the window and seeing what I was doing. At that thought, I flung the passenger door open and shuffled out of Brad’s car. “Thanks for tonight,” I stumbled out. “Erm…” I hooked my thumb over my shoulder, signaling the store. “I better head inside.”
Brad opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, I slammed the door shut and twirled around. I didn’t turn back to face him as I walked past the SUVs, and it wasn’t until I was at the side door that led straight up to our apartment that I realized a man was standing in front of it—a man I didn’t recognize.
“Aida?” he asked. His face was a weird mixture of rough and smooth and his hair was in a crew cut, as if he didn’t have the patience to style it.
“Y-es.” He nodded, opened the door, and waved for me to go inside. “Who are you?” I asked, unable to keep my curiosity in any longer.
He winked. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
I frowned, not understanding what he meant, but walked by him anyway. My heels clicked on each stair as I made it up to the apartment door at the top. As soon as I opened it, Noemi’s face appeared. Her wide eyes told me something was going down, and when voices from the living room echoed toward us, she yanked me into the bathroom.
“Noemi!” I whisper-shouted. “What are you doing?”
“Shhhhh.” She placed her hand over my mouth, and every bone in my body wanted to fight her off, but several sets of footsteps getting closer had me freezing.
I couldn’t make out anything they were saying, but we both stayed silent as the footsteps disappeared, a door closed, then engines turned on. Several seconds ticked by, but neither of us moved from our position.
“You can come out now, girls,” Ma said from the other side of the door.
Noemi let go of me, pushed the door open, and dragged me out with her. “What the hell was that?” she asked. “Why was he here?”
Ma’s gaze veered to me, then to my dad, who stood a couple of feet to the side. “Let’s go sit down.”
“Why?” I asked, following them because Noemi wasn’t giving me a choice with the strong grip she had on my arm.
“We need to talk,” my dad replied, his voice somber but also shaky.
Neither of them said another word as they sat on one of the sofas and signaled for me and Noemi to sit opposite them. We did as we were told, but when I pulled in a deep breath, the distinct smell of cologne overtook me—a cologne I recognized but couldn’t quite put my finger on where I knew it from.
Ma and Dad looked at each other, and with a nod of Dad’s head, he turned to face us. “You both know of the Beretta family, correct?” Noemi and I nodded because we did—everybody did. “Well, Luca Beretta died recently.” I blinked, trying to figure out where this was going. Why was this so important that Noemi had messaged me to come home right away? “Which means his son, Lorenzo, will be taking over.”
“Okay.” I shuffled to the edge of my seat and leaned my forearms on my thighs. The atmosphere was intense, promising something that I wasn’t sure I was ready for. “What does that have to do with us?”
“Well.” Ma cleared her throat. Her brows pulled down in concern—or was that fear? “Mr. Beretta—Lorenzo—needs several things before he can become boss.” Ma paused, and I stared at her, waiting fo
r her to continue, but when she turned to face Dad, so did I.
“You remember him, right, Aida?” My gaze flicked around the room, trying to place who he was talking about, but I was still occupied with why the tension was so thick around us, and why this meant I had to come home, and why there were people in our apartment.
“Erm…”
“We made the delivery the other day. He was standing in the kitchen.”
My eyes widened, and I shuffled even farther onto the edge of my seat. “I…I remember him.” I inhaled another breath, smelling the distinctive cologne, and it was all I needed to remember standing in the kitchen across from the man covered in spatters of blood. “That was Lorenzo Beretta?”
“You’ve met him?” Noemi asked, her voice sounding far away.
“Yeah.” I stared at Ma, then Dad. “Why are you telling us this?”
“He…” Ma cleared her throat and shuffled on the seat. “He needs a wife before he can take over as boss.”
I blinked.
“And he wants you,” Dad finished for her.
At first, I wasn’t sure who he was talking to, but somewhere outside of my body, I knew he was looking at me. His dark eyes bore into mine, saying a thousand things silently.
“Me?” I pointed at my chest as I stood. My legs were wobbly. I felt like a baby giraffe trying to gain its footing, only I didn’t fall over on my first try. “He wants me to be his wife?” I laughed—the lose-control-of-your-body type of laugh. They were joking. They had to be.
I turned to face Noemi, expecting the same reaction from her, but it wasn’t there. She was staring down at the floor, her hair covering half of her face.
“Aida,” Ma said, standing up, and my laughs waned into somber gasps. “You don’t have to say yes. You have a choice.” She stepped toward me, but I moved to the side.
“A choice?” I raised my brows, my emotions all over the place. I wasn’t sure whether I was feeling anger or sadness or full-on rage, but whatever it was, it was taking over quickly and I didn’t know how to handle any of it. “Was he here?” Dad stood, so I moved my attention to him. “Was that who was here just now? The two SUVs outside?”
“Yes,” Dad said, his face not giving anything away now. He’d carefully schooled his features into an expression I hadn’t seen before. “If you say yes, the wedding will be in ten days.”
“I…I don’t believe this.” I threw my hands up in the air, trying to make sense of all of this. Ten days? He wanted me to become his wife in ten days? “He came here to ask if I’d be his wife and didn’t even have the decency to ask me?”
“It’s tradition to ask the family.” Ma stepped closer to me, only this time I didn’t move. I couldn’t process everything that was happening. I’d gone out on a date with Brad and come home to someone wanting me to be his wife. “As I said,” Ma continued, “you don’t have to say yes. You can—"
“What happens if I say no?” I waited, wondering what they would say. I wasn’t sheltered from the workings of the world. I knew we paid the Beretta family each month for protection of the store. There wasn’t a street in this city that wasn’t controlled by an organization, so where would we be if I said no?
I took several steps away from them, and by the time my back hit the doorframe, all three of them were standing, watching me with wide eyes. “I…I can’t deal with this.” I felt behind me and held on to the wall, feeling like if I didn’t, I’d fall down in front of them. “I have an assignment to do.”
I didn’t say another word as I spun around and darted to the room I shared with Noemi and Vida.
I hadn’t lied. I did have an assignment, but there was no way I would be able to concentrate. We’d all grown up listening to the horror stories of the Beretta family, and there was one rule we all lived by: don’t cross them.
Would me saying no be crossing them?
Ma said I had a choice, but I knew I didn’t.
LORENZO
I grabbed the back of her neck, needing something to hold on to for traction as I pounded into her, unrelenting in my rhythm. She squealed but soon followed it up with a groan. They were all the same—the women who sated my needs. They didn’t think twice about what I was going to do, and once I was done with them, they knew to leave. I wasn’t going to entertain them. I wasn’t going to give them hope. I knew who I was, and so did they.
I ground my teeth together and thrust deep inside her again, feeling my anger building with each movement of my hips.
Two days.
It had been two days since I’d gone to the other side of town and met with Aida’s parents, and I hadn’t heard a thing from them since. Why was it taking so long? What did they have to think about so seriously?
I’d made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. Not only would their daughter be taken care of financially, but they’d have even more protection by being part of the family. Oh, and of course, a big payout would come their way too.
So, the question remained: what the fuck was taking so long?
“Lorenzo,” the woman moaned, and I snarled. I hated when they used my name.
“Shut up,” I ground out, thrusting a couple more times before finishing inside the condom I always wore. There was no way in hell there were going to be any accidents on my watch. My dad had schooled me on that from the time I’d turned ten. Always have protection: a condom and a gun. It was two things I lived by, and neither had ever failed me.
I yanked myself out of her, pulled the condom off, then tied it at the end. “You can go,” I told her, staring down at her naked ass. She didn’t make a move, staying in the same position over the arm of the sofa in my bedroom.
Closing my eyes, I took a breath. I didn’t have time for this today. I had business to attend to and a thumping behind my eyes that promised an unbearable headache. By the time I’d opened up my eyes and zipped up my slacks, she was standing.
Veev was one of my favorites, had been since I was twenty-two, and I was sure she thought she could get away with things the other women couldn’t. Sometimes I let her think that because it was easier, but I knew things would have to change once I was a married man. I’d have to be more discreet—or maybe I wouldn’t. Maybe continuing like this would be best. At least that way, my future wife wouldn’t get any ideas.
I snorted at the thought and spun on my heels. How much longer was I going to have to wait for an answer? I had eight days left—eight goddamn days.
“Want me to stay for a while?” Veev asked.
“I’ve got work to do,” I grunted, throwing the condom in the trash, then washing my hands. The bathroom attached to my bedroom had been refitted recently. In fact, my whole bedroom had. It was the same room I’d slept in every night as a kid, but now it was twice the size with brand-new furniture. Ma said that Dad had commissioned it to be redone a year ago, yet no one else knew about it.
It made me wonder if he knew he wouldn’t be around much longer. In fact, the more I looked into things within the business, the more I knew that was true. He’d put clauses in contracts for when he was gone. He’d transferred money to offshore accounts. He’d detailed the inner workings that no one else knew about in a ledger kept in his safe that only he had the combination to. The only reason I’d gotten inside of it was because of a letter one of his lawyers had hand-delivered.
It all seemed too…smooth.
I splashed my face with some water and stared at myself in the mirror, trying to make sense of everything going on. It was too much to think about all at once. I had to focus on what was right in front of me.
I wasn’t boss yet. I had two things to complete before I could be, and that was all I needed to worry about at the moment.
Veev’s footsteps came closer to the bathroom. “We could take a shower together,” she said, her voice deceptively soft.
“No.” I swiped a towel over my face and sidestepped her. “You can shower.” I paused in the doorway, staring at her naked body. She wasn’t as curvy as Aida was, and she
was taller by at least a foot. This was my usual type, yet Aida had intrigued me. She’d wormed her way inside my mind without even realizing it. My nostrils flared, and I spun around, not wanting to look at Veev any longer. “Then you can leave.”
I didn’t wait to hear what else she had to say, so I grabbed my jacket and headed straight out of my bedroom door, where Mateo, one of the soldiers, waited patiently. “Make sure she’s gone within thirty minutes,” I demanded. He nodded in response and shuffled closer to the door.
I walked past the stairs that led into the main foyer and headed toward the secret door at the end of the hallway. Only a handful of people knew the door existed—a secret passage built for extra security.
Voices from downstairs drifted up to me as I pulled it open, but I didn’t take any notice of them. There was always something going on in the house, especially with both my brother and sister still living here. To add to that, other family members seemed to be hanging around, checking on Ma after Dad’s passing. I knew they were trying to help, but she hated being fussed over. She hated being the center of attention.
The stairs were illuminated by two sconces attached to the wall, giving off just enough light so you could see. It turned, winding down two levels. On the lower level was the basement, where we kept anything we didn’t want to be found. It had always been locked up tight, but now that Dad was gone, I was the only one who could get in there, and I intended to keep it that way. It was the first level’s door that I headed toward, the one that led into my dad’s office—no, it was my office now. I shook my head as I stepped into the room, not sure I’d ever get used to it. Not a single item in there had been touched. A new boss hadn’t been officially appointed yet, and until then, everything had to stay the same, which was why I hardly came in here.
Lorenzo Beretta Page 4
