by Rye Hart
I think I had it all figured out, how to choke Stefano off from the family business. He had his hands in everything. Asset accounts. All the business fronts. And if I could take control of those by notarizing paperwork and assuming the rightful ownership of my father’s estate, I could wipe his name from the accounts. Choke off his legitimate revenue stream. Shut down those shell corporations. If I cut off his cash flow, he had no way to stay in power. No way to pay people. Everything would crumble from underneath him, and when he went looking for the reason, he’d find my name stamped on everything.
And nothing he could do about it.
My eyes concentrated on the window. I saw the curtain flutter three times before shutting. I got out of my car and slipped in quickly through the front door and was met by Romeo’s strong arms wrapping around me.
He planted a kiss on top of my head. I felt like I was home.
“You have to stop what you’re doing,” he said.
I furrowed my brow and pushed myself away from him.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“I know what you’re doing. Trying to overthrow Stefano. You need to stop. It’s not safe.”
“How do you know that?”
“Your bodyguard showed up at my house this afternoon.”
“He what?” I asked, dumbfounded.
“Enrico showed up at my house and told me what you were trying to orchestrate. It’s not safe. Matteo isn’t safe with you doing this.”
“Enrico’s compromised, Romeo.”
“How do you mean?” he asked.
“Enrico’s in love with me,” I said. “Has been for a couple of years now. It’s unrequited, of course, but he can’t be trusted. He has his own agenda. I’ve been on my guard with him from the moment he commanded me out of your house like he owned me.”
Romeo narrowed his eyes at me. “ Look, I’m working under the assumption that Enrico is now Stefano’s pawn. Especially since he came to you. Why would he go willingly talk to a man he probably views as competition?” I asked.
“And let’s face it. There is no competition,” he said with a grin.
I giggled and shook my head as he drew me back into his embrace.
“It feels so good to hold you, Julia.”
“You can’t listen to the information Enrico gave you,” I said as I rested my cheek on his chest. “There’s a good chance that any information he gave you was what my uncle wanted you to hear. I’m not the one who needs to be watching my back, Romeo. You are.”
I panned my gaze up to his as his fingers supported my chin.
“I have my own plan in the works to take your uncle and his allies down,” he said.
“What?” I asked as I furrowed my brow. “How?”
“I’m working with the police.”
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“I was able to swing things in my favor. And yes, it was all legal. The break-in, the case. All of it is tied together. They stole my father’s ring from my home and then planted it in the evidence box against me. It’s all on footage. The officer they caught doing it is on your uncle’s payroll. And I have them working with me in exchange for a lighter sentence and not automatically getting thrown in prison for the rest of their lives.”
My jaw unhinged with shock as Romeo continued to speak.
“But you have to be smart. We both need to be. You have no idea how proud I am of you for wanting to take control of your family’s business, for wanting to do things the right way. But you can’t take over your family's business and build this up for our son if you’re dead, Julia.”
“Stefano isn’t coming after me, Romeo. He’s coming after you.”
“And when he figures out what you’re doing—and he will—you’ll be a target as well. And I know you know that.”
“I’m scared, Romeo. But my family deserves better. We deserve better. Our son deserves better,” I said breathlessly.
He brought his lips down to mine, and my heart started racing in my chest.
“I know,” he said. “But Stefano’s been doing this a lot longer and has zero hesitance to kill. We’re working legally with a man who lives in illegality. He is far more ruthless than you could ever become, which is why you’re already working at a disadvantage.”
My forehead fell against his as a heavy sigh left my lips.
“Help me,” I said. “Help me do this for our family.”
“Promise me you’ll be careful, Julia. And I promise to do anything I can to help you achieve what you want. What we both want,” he said.
“I promise, Romeo. I promise I’ll be careful.”
I looked up into those reassuring blue eyes and lost myself all over again. I couldn't deny it any longer. Romeo was my home. My family. The father of my child. I was done with feeling like being with him was wrong. Because it wasn’t. He felt like home to me. Every time he wrapped his arms around me, it transported me back into another time. Reminded me of the man I had fallen in love with all those years ago.
Reminded me that he’d never left. Never changed. Never twisted to the ways of his family.
“Kiss me,” I said breathlessly.
And I didn't have to ask twice.
Romeo’s lips fell on mine and electricity shot through me. His hands pressed into the small of my back, picking me up against his body. He knelt onto the side of the bed before lying me down, his hands making slow work of ridding me of my clothing. Fabrics dropped to the floor as his lips fluttered along my skin, teasing my nipples to engorged peaks and lapping his tongue along my pulse point.
“Oh Romeo,” I said in a whisper. “Don’t stop.”
Soon, his muscles blanketed me. Molding my curves to his strength as his hands laced with mine. Our tongues danced, and my legs parted, shivering as his heat slid along my glistening thighs. I rolled against his body. Ran my toes up the backs of his chiseled thighs. I moaned into his lips as they began to swell with our kisses, but there was something I wanted to do.
Something I’d been longing to do for years.
I coaxed him over onto his back and pressed kisses down his muscles. My tongue dipped into the divots of his abs as his cock jumped against my tits. I slid between his legs, spreading them apart to accommodate my form. I nuzzled his dripping head and listened as he groaned, his balls trembling with the need to release.
“Julia,” he said as his hand wrapped in my hair. “Open that mouth of yours.”
I parted my lips and took him all the way back. His thickness made me gag, and I saw a grin appear on his cheeks. I sucked him down, opening my throat and tasting his precum on the tip of my tongue. My hands ran up his thighs before digging in, garnering the leverage I needed to throw him over the edge.
I hollowed out my cheeks as my tongue swirled around his cock head. His hips began to thrust into me, his trimmed curls touching the tip of my nose. I moaned around him. His movements grew steadier, fucking my face as I held onto the sheets.His hand guided my lips, pumping me up and down his cock as his balls grew heavier. “Fuck, Julia. Holy shit. Oh. Hell. Yes.”
I loved his sounds. The grunting of his voice. The groans he tried to bite back. All of it, meshing in my head as a chorus of love and devotion. I loved this man. I wanted this man. I vowed to do everything in my power to make sure this man was in my life.
But before I could get him to spill down my throat, he pulled my face from his cock.
“Come here. I need to taste you too,” he said.
I climbed up onto the bed, and he grabbed my ankles. He physically twisted me around until my knees were straddling his face. I was staring at his throbbing cock as it shimmered with his desire. His hands parted my ass cheeks and massaged them deeply, causing me to whimper as he squeezed.
Then, he pulled me down onto his face.
“Suck my cock,” he said. “And let me eat this pussy of yours.”
I whimpered as my mouth fell back around his cock. My entire body locked up at his movements. His fingers were r
imming my puckered hole, taunting me with sensations I’d never experienced. His tongue pressed deeply into my clit, moving at lightning speed and leaving me breathless. I moaned around his cock and watched as his toes curled, his legs pulling taut, and his balls jumping. I bobbed my head as fast as I could, feeling my lips swell with my efforts.
Then, I felt Romeo slide his thumb into my dripping pussy.
“Yes. Yes. Yes!”
He sucked my clit between his lips, making my body hum with intensity. My throat relaxed, and my body careened out of control as I fucked his face. His hips were thrusting into my lips, and my pussy was dripping onto his. He filled me with his fingers, one by one until I was stretched and groaning with his cock in my mouth. His precum was spilling in thick threads. His cock was bulging against my teeth. His tongue ran thickly along my clit, flicking and sucking until stars burst in my vision.
“Romeo. Romeo. Don’t stop. Holy fuck. Yes.”
I sucked him all the way to the back of my throat just as his last wet finger pierced my asshole.
My entire form locked up around him, trapping his cock down my throat. My body shook with the most intense orgasm I’d ever experienced. My vision tunneled, and my toes curled. I pressed my pussy so deeply into Romeo’s face I heard him struggling to breathe. I planted my hands into the mattress and quaked on top of him, watching as his balls pulled up into his body.
“Julia. I’m coming. Oh, fuck. Drink it. All of it.”
Romeo shot threads of hot cum down my throat. I swallowed him without a second thought. His fingers pumped in and out of me as his tongue lapped languidly at my throbbing clit. My thighs clamped down onto his cheeks as my juices dripped down his chin. I swallowed all of him down until my pulsing throat milked his cock for everything it had to give me.
Then I collapsed on top of him. Romeo’s arms wrapped around the small of my back and rolled me off to the side. I crawled up the bed until I was face to face with him and he gathered my in his arms.
I leaned against him, our bodies tangled in one another as he stroked my hair. I was still shivering from my orgasm, and my legs felt numb. I nuzzled underneath his chin. He planted a gentle kiss on the top of my head.
I wanted this forever.
“I promise we’ll get through this together,” Romeo said
I sighed and nuzzled deeper into his sculpted chest.
“And once we do, we can start building our lives together. You and me and Matteo.”
“Promise?” I asked.
“I promise,” he said.
For once, I allowed myself to fully believe him. To fully take him at his word without any digging on my end. Hope blossomed in my chest as happiness settled in my gut. I closed my eyes and dreamed of our new life, like I used to do when the two of us were teenagers.
All we had to do was bring down the most ruthless psychopath in all of New York City.
CHAPTER 29
ROMEO
“Can you set up a meeting with Stefano?” Conrad asked.
“I can make that happen,” I said. “But Stefano’s smart. It’s going to take more than a wire to get any sort of confession out of him.”
“How did you know we were going to wire you?”
“Is there any other way police do things?” I asked with a grin.
I knew they wanted a meeting. Wanted a recorded confession of Stefano and all his illegal activities. But the man wasn’t an idiot. He knew when he was walking into a trap. It would take more than a wire strapped to my chest to get anything out of that man, and I wasn’t sure if the police had it in them to follow my lead. If they wanted anything from Stefano, they were going to have to be smarter about it.
Because both Julia and I had too much riding on this thing.
“We need him confessing on tape to his crimes. To killing those gun runners,” Conrad said.
That was the other thing. I needed to find a way to pin those killings on Stefano. And if I was wearing a wire of any sort, I risked him exposing me as the man who was on the docks that day. My plan was to use the ring Officer Johnson had planted as circumstantial evidence for Stefano being the man that killed those men on the dock. And meeting with Stefano face-to-face didn’t ensure that.
“I understand, but if he kills me before you get a confession, you’re back at square one,” I said. “I can tell you that he’ll sniff a wire coming from ten miles in either direction, and he’ll search me for one. But, I think I have a better plan.”
“Then I’m all ears,” Conrad said.
“Get Officer Johnson in here and lean on him,” I said. “If you can get him to confess that he’s on Stefano’s payroll, that puts one major step between the killing of the fun runners and Stefano’s want to pin it on someone else.”
“Johnson’s already riled up. He’s agreed to help us. I don’t want to risk that,” he said.
“You have no other choice. I can’t approach Stefano wearing a wire until we’ve got something on him. A blatant confession from Johnson will do that.”
Conrad didn’t like the plan, but he reluctantly agreed. They moved me from the interrogation room to the other side of the mirror. A place I never thought a Martine would stand. Conrad was beside me with his arms crossed with Bradshaw and Langley prepared to lean on Johnson as much as they could. It was the only option we had that kept me away from that wire, so I pursued it with all my might.
“You better be right about this,” Conrad said.
“I have it on good authority that I am,” I said.
Johnson entered the interrogation room with a red face, still angry at being in his current situation. From what I estimated, he had just lost two-thirds of his income in being caught. I folded my arms across my chest and grinned, knowing this man had no way out. I was ready to watch this slimy son of a bitch go down. Protect and serve, my ass.
“Take a seat,” Langley said.
“Why?” Johnson asked.
“Because we have questions and you have answers,” Bradshaw said.
“I already agreed to help you work with a damn criminal. The hell else do you want?”
“For you to sit,” Langley said.
I bit down onto the inside of my cheek to keep from chuckling.
“Did I miss anything?” Officer Lawrence asked entering the room behind the mirror.
“Right on time,” I said. “Show’s about to begin.”
“Let’s get real, because it’s close to dinner time and I’m hungry,” Langley said. “We have you on video planting the ring into the evidence box for killing on the docks.”
“No, you don’t,” Johnson said.
“We really do,” Bradshaw said. “And we know you work for Stefano.”
“I don’t fucking work for criminals,” Johnson said. “Never have, never will.”
“That’s not what your bank account tells us,” Bradshaw said.
“My bank account? I overdrew that thing yesterday for all my hospital bills.”
“Not that one,” Langley said with a grin.
“This one,” Bradshaw said.
They slapped a file folder in front of him, and I watched Johnson’s face pale. Then, they slid the ring his way. I thought the man was going to throw up on himself, and then they put the nail in his coffin. I watched Bradshaw bring out his cell phone and point it at Johnson. Even behind the two-way mirror, I knew what they were showing him.
And the look on Johnson’s face was priceless.
“That isn’t me,” Johnson said.
“You look right up at the camera before you leave,” Langley said.
“It’s not me,” he said.
“Let me guess. You’re scared of Stefano’s retaliation if you confess. You’d rather take your chances in jail. And that’s fine with us, trust me. One less dirty cop on the force is a good thing. But you’ve already agreed to help his adversary, Romeo Martine. Do you really think you’ll make it to jail if Stefano Bianchi catches wind of that?” Bradshaw asked.
I almost felt so
rry for the man when tears appeared in his eyes.
Almost.
“If I give you want you want, you have to put me in witness protection. It’s the only way I’ll survive,” Johnson said. “He’ll kill me. He’ll kill me without a second thought.”
“Tell us, Johnson, and we’ll help you. We’ll make sure Internal Affairs helps you,” Langley said.
“You have to promise me!” the man roared, jumping up from his seat.
“Sit down, or you get nothing,” Bradshaw said.
I watched Johnson sit as I side-eyed Officer Lawrence. She bit down on her lower lip and shook her head. She probably didn’t enjoy being told to help someone like Johnson without being able to put in her two-cents herself. And I couldn't blame her. But whatever got us closer to stacking the pieces against Stefano was what we had to do. But if Witness Protection was what it took to get the confession I was looking for, then I’d gladly work it out for the man.
Anything to help Julia and me accomplish our end goal. “Stefano is a madman,” Johnson said. “I had to end things with my fiancé because he needed a man in the force that wasn’t tied down. I moved because of him. Switched banks because of him. That man dictates my life.”
“Then you shouldn’t have started working for him,” Langley said.
“Tell us what we need, and Witness Protection is yours,” Bradshaw said.
“Okay, okay. Yes. I planted the ring. For a lot of money. Stefano said something about needing a favor to help him get someone out of the way, but that’s all I know. Yes, I’ve been on his payroll, but it’s only been to keep him in the loop with things. I’ve never tampered with evidence. Ever.”
“Until now,” Langley said.
“Please help me. That man has threatened my family. My friends. I’ve switched partners three times because of threats I thought he would follow up on. I don’t want people getting hurt. I just want out,” Johnson said.
“Then you’ll do as we ask,” Bradshaw said. “Your help is still necessary, and then you’ll get your Witness Protection.”
