The Tempted Series: Collectors Edition

by Janine Infante Bosco

  “That’s all I ever wanted,” I whispered.

  His lips curved and his eyes melted for me the way they used to before our love became tainted. “Good to know, Reese’s.” He leaned down and pressed his lips lightly to mine. “Don’t give up on happily ever after,” he whispered against my mouth before pulling away.

  I stared at him blankly not knowing how to process his words but knowing I would only be wasting my time giving them any thought. Anthony glanced down at his watch briefly and then back to me.

  “Merry Christmas, Reese’s.”

  Before I could answer him, he turned around, grabbed his leather jacket from the back of one of the chairs, and strutted back into the living room. He bid goodbye to his mom and sister as I remained in the kitchen. Actions spoke louder than words and Anthony’s screamed that we were nothing more than a thing of the past. I wiped the tears from my eyes, realizing how many years I had wasted pining for a love that would never work and decided that getting over Anthony was going to be my New Year’s Resolution.

  Chapter Twenty

  2015

  I lifted the Styrofoam cup of coffee to my lips and took a sip as I stared at the darkened house I had parked in front of. I had been sitting in this fucking car for six hours, driving nearly three hours to get here and the rest of the time spent parked across the street from Maryanne Valente’s house. It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t so, fucking cold and dreading the trip back to Brooklyn. It had started to snow a little after I got here and now the snow turned to ice. People barely knew how to drive in the rain much less sleet, at this rate I’d be home tomorrow some time.

  I placed the cold cup of coffee in the cup holder and reclined my seat a little, trying to make myself more comfortable. I don’t even know why I’m here. Victor has ordered me to check in on Val’s wife and son and I always come back with nothing to report. It’s been going on for years and frankly, this shit is getting old. I didn’t like sitting there and spying on Maryanne or Mike; it made me feel like an asshole. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve seen Mike acting like a belligerent drunk and wanted to get out of the car and smack some sense into him. The guy needs a friend. I used to be his friend. But Victor doesn’t want them to catch on that I’ve been peeking in from time to time on them, keeping Victor in the loop.

  Maryanne had the sense to banish Victor from their lives after Val was murdered and shockingly Vic has obeyed her wishes. Well, except for my little visits, but other than that he doesn’t show up and try to sway her to his side. Some people might say Victor should’ve taken care of Val’s family after he died but he took care of them by letting them go.

  I had to give credit where credit was due and Maryanne deserved it; she escaped the mob, it’s a shame she had to lose her husband to be free. I’ve sat here many nights and watched as she struggled to reign Mike in, hoping that he would turn a corner and straighten out his life and found myself comparing her to Adrianna. It would’ve been so easy to come home and take back my girl. So easy to make a future with her and Luca but then I’d come here, and I’d see how lonely Maryanne looked and how lost Mike was. I knew that I didn’t want that for Adrianna and Luca. There were no guarantees in this world and I’d likely succumb to the same fate as Val, leaving behind a wife and kid probably even a few more kids.

  After spending Christmas Eve with Adrianna and Luca, it became even clearer that pairing up with Jack to take down Victor was the right way to go. That little taste of what life could’ve been like with her fucked me up. I couldn’t go on pretending I didn’t want her or Luca in my life. I wanted them to be mine. I never thought I’d love another man’s child but what I felt for that little boy was real and something I craved more of. It was amazing how one night could make me want so much more than I ever thought I’d have or I deserved.

  I had to square things away so I knew undoubtedly that I could be what Adrianna and her son needed. I wanted to be the man in her life that provided her with stability and security. A man she didn’t have to worry wouldn’t come home to her because he was shot at or because he was caught up in some bad shit that would put him away. I wanted to be a father to Luca, teach him all the shit my old man never taught me, the things I had to teach myself because he wasn’t around. And I wanted to give him a brother or a sister, maybe both, who knows. I never got to see Adrianna through her pregnancies, neither one of them, and they both weren’t anywhere near as memorable and joyous as they should’ve been. I wanted to change that for her, to take the ugly memories away and replace them with beautiful ones.

  I sighed heavily, tapping my hand against the steering wheel. If I didn’t get to the bottom of this and find out who killed Danny I had no shot of any of those things happening. It all could be a pipe dream especially if Victor wasn’t responsible. It was a stretch to believe that a forensic report had been tampered with. It was more likely the case Jack was just so distraught that he was looking for someone, anyone to blame. However, just like he couldn’t shake the feeling that his brother’s death was foul play I had a gut feeling the fire wasn’t just a coincidence.

  I played the facts over and over in my head, desperate to find something linking Victor or someone in the organization to Danny’s death but it felt like I was chasing something that didn’t exist. The report said the fire was caused by a faulty attic fan and cited that there had been no evidence of foul play. However, just because Danny died didn’t necessarily mean that the investigation he was working on against Victor died with him. If things had gone the way Vic had planned for them to go, Danny’s evidence against Victor would’ve been destroyed. That was assuming the FBI probably didn’t have hard copies of everything they had on him.

  What I did know was that the body that had come into play, creating this mess, was the remains of someone Jimmy had killed. I didn’t have a name or anything but whoever they had dug up, had Jimmy shaking in his boots. The man was manic when he showed up at the compound the night of the fire. I couldn’t tell if he was scared because he did a shit job of burying the body or if he was nervous about them identifying who he killed. It could’ve also been the fact that he had been sloppy and by being sloppy, Victor had heat on him. Either way I couldn’t help but keep going back to the way Jimmy acted that night and how out of character it was for him. Jimmy was an eccentric asshole, but he was always calm, cool and collected, a controlled man who knew his limits but that night he acted as if he didn’t have any.

  It made sense that if anyone were going to tamper with the fan it would be him. He’d cover his tracks and save his own ass. I know that if it were my crime being investigated I’d want to be the man who made it all go away, leaving no room for error. The more I thought about it, the more I saw Jimmy’s face and I tried to wrap my head around all the possible scenarios. The bureau wasn’t looking into Jimmy they were more interested in taking down Victor. If the Fed went missing or ended up dead, the first person they were going to think was responsible was Vic. Even if Danny’s evidence disappeared, they’d work to drum up more evidence against him determined to take down the mob boss, especially if they think he killed one of their own. So if my theory was right that would put Victor in jail and with him in jail the only one to gain something would be Jimmy. He was next in line to command the family as the underboss.

  Still, he didn’t have the time to fuck with the fan after leaving the dog pound that night. I was missing something else. If I was right and able to find the proof I needed to confirm my suspicions it would all be for nothing. If Victor’s hands were clean in all this, I had no bargaining chip. I made the deal with Jack hoping I’d blackmail Victor into letting me leave the mob but if Jimmy was the one responsible, I had nothing. Vic would whack Jimmy and move me up in the organization desecrating my chance of reclaiming my relationship with Adrianna all together. I’d roll over and die before I took her and her boy back into my life only for her to end up like Maryanne and Mike.

  I was sure of one thing, I wanted Adrianna back and noth
ing was going to stop me from getting what I wanted, what I fucking deserved.

  A car pulled into the Valente’s driveway and seconds later Mike stumbled out of the car. He wasn’t alone, always had one woman or another with him. This time she was blonde with tits the size of watermelons. I wondered where he found these over processed broad’s, maybe they were strippers. None of them ever looked like the girl you bring home to Mom. Mike towered over his date, standing about six feet tall and despite the fact that he couldn’t play football anymore, he was in prime shape. He definitely wasn’t the lanky kid I remembered. He wasn’t as broad as I was but he had an athletic build. Mike and Adrianna were the same age, twenty-five, but they both looked older. A part of me believed that was due to the lives they lived and the sadness they endured. His brown hair was mussed by way of either his own fingers or his date’s. I haven’t been up close to Mike, haven’t been face to face in years, but I’d bet anything that his brown eyes would stare at me blankly. He was empty, a fact proven by the way he lived his life. He started to hide it better though. He didn’t use his date as a prop to hold him upright like he did those first few times I had followed him from bar to bar. Mike wasn’t living, he was existing, just a shell of a man. It was a real fucking shame.

  I tried to figure out the point of these trips, what Vic was hoping I’d uncover by sitting here for hours as Mike got drunk and then got laid. I watched as he entered the house and the front door closed as the lights flicked on inside. I glanced at the clock on the dashboard, knowing that in approximately two hours, a cab would pull up and the blonde would be a distant memory. I moved to recline my seat when I saw a police car creeping down the street out of the side view mirror. As the car passed me, I noticed the cops paid close attention to the house numbers before stopping in front of the Valente house.

  “Ah, shit Mike what the fuck did you do?” I mumbled loudly and watched the cops turn off the engine of their car and slowly make their way up the walkway to the front door. I lowered my window in hopes of being able to hear what they were saying but I was too far away. They rang the bell first but after waiting a minute and getting no response, they started to bang on the door. So much for my nap, I thought as I ran my fingers through my hair and Mike opened the door half dressed. They exchanged a few words but nothing I could make out and then the blonde was beside Mike, handing him his shirt. Within minutes, the woman Mike had brought home ushered him to the passenger door of his car before climbing into the driver’s seat. The police made their way back to their car, waited for Mike and his girl to peel out of the driveway before they started their car and followed them.

  What the fuck just happened?

  I started up my truck and tailed Mike and the cops, keeping enough distance between us so they couldn’t tell I was following them. I grabbed my phone and quickly dialed Vic’s cell to give him a heads up. I didn’t know what mess Mike had found himself in but if he was in trouble with the cops then Victor would want to know. He didn’t answer, so I dropped my phone onto the passenger seat and continued following them until they pulled into a hospital parking lot.

  The police parked in the fire lane as Mike stepped out of his car. The officers walked around and met Mike, escorting him into the hospital. I followed his date until she found a spot and then I parked my car. I was close behind her as she walked on wobbly heels across the parking lot and into the lobby of the emergency room.

  Mike was nowhere in sight, neither were the cops that had brought him here. I don’t know how shit works in Pennsylvania but back in New York when the police paid you a visit and they weren’t there to arrest you it only meant one thing. One of your loved ones was in some sort of trouble. From what I could tell, Mike didn’t have anyone close in his life other than Maryanne. Oh God, please don’t let something be wrong with her, Mike would lose his fucking mind if something happened to his only living parent.

  I walked to the water fountain, dipped my head to take a sip, and lifted my eyes to scan the room for Mike’s date. She sat in the corner of the emergency room by herself playing on her phone. I straightened up and walked towards her taking a seat a few seats away from her. I dropped my head and peered at her from the corner of my eye as she lifted her phone to her ear.

  “Yeah, it’s me. So are you ready for how my night wound up?” She said with a sigh, leaning back against the plastic chair in the lobby. “Yes, I left with the hot guy from the bar. By the time we got back to his place and started getting into it the fucking cops showed up at his house.”

  I lifted my head and turned it slightly to watch as she shuffled through the contents of her purse and propped the phone to her ear with her shoulder. Boy, Michael really knew how to pick them.

  “I don’t know they said something about his mother being in a car accident. I know right. So now, I’m sitting in the emergency room because I drove him here. I feel bad for the guy, he’s a mess.”

  I stood up and made my way to the reception desk, the woman behind the counter lifted her eyes to mine.

  “Can I help you?” She asked me.

  “Yes, I was wondering if you could give me some information on Maryanne Valente.”

  “Are you family?”

  “I’m her nephew,” I lied, knowing it wasn’t likely they would tell me much. “Look, my cousin is in with her now. The cops showed up at his house and told him his mother was in a bad car accident. I want to know if maybe I should call the rest of the family. If she’s critical our family has to trek it from New York.”

  She bit the inside of her cheek before diverting her eyes to her computer screen and began to work her fingers against the keyboard. She paused before lifting her head and staring at me sorrowfully.

  “You might want to make those phone calls.”

  I stared at her blankly for a second, my mind processing the underlying meaning behind her words before the rest of me did.

  “Now,” she added.

  “Thank you,” I replied, my voice barely audible. I turned around, grabbing my phone from my pocket and dialed Victor again, praying to God he answered the phone this time.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  2015

  I was sitting on the front porch of the Valente home when the black Escalade pulled into the driveway, parking behind Mike’s beat up truck. It had been hours since I watched Mike walk out of the hospital with tears in his eyes and a blank expression on his face. I lingered around the hospital and tried to find out as much as possible but it didn’t matter because the doctors had declared Maryanne brain dead. The doctors said there was nothing anyone could do, and that being said it was too much for Mike to process. He asked the doctors to keep her on the ventilator until the next day so he could gather his bearings and say goodbye to the only person he had left in life.

  In true Mike fashion, he went home with his date from earlier and tried to fuck his problems away. I guess his date didn’t have the heart to tell him that her pussy wouldn’t bring his mother back to life.

  Jimmy and Victor climbed out of the truck and I rose to my feet to greet them at the porch steps.

  “How is he?” Victor asked, catching me off guard since I hadn’t heard the man ever sound so sincerely concerned in all the years I knew him.

  “I think he’s in shock,” I responded. As both men moved to walk past me I reached out and took hold of Jimmy’s arm. “He’s got someone in there with him so ring the bell.”

  Jimmy rolled his eyes.

  “Kids mother’s basically dead, and he’s worried about getting laid.”

  There was no use in telling him that Mike was probably trying to forget his own reality. Jimmy was a heartless prick who would never understand grief. I don’t think he is capable of feeling anything for anyone and I doubt he has lost anyone who ever mattered to him. He rang the bell obnoxiously, and I glanced at Victor to see if he would put this douche bag in his place but he was in his own fucking world. I had seen that look on his face before. It was not long after Val died – the look tha
t he blamed himself. I couldn’t help but wonder if when I was in prison and he’d look at his daughter if he’d ever get that look in his eyes. Probably not. Victor showed no emotion to either of us when he destroyed our lives.

  “Fuck this,” Jimmy said, before taking a step back, giving him a bit of leverage as he kicked in the door.

  “Jimmy, what the fuck?” I growled, only for him to ignore me as he charged into the house with Victor close behind. I shook my head and followed them inside watching as Victor looked around, taking everything in about the modest house. Jimmy opening and closing doors, looking for Mike, finally narrowing it down to the last door. He tapped his knuckles against the wooden door, a creepy grin on his face as he looked at me and shouted.

  “Val, get your ass out here!” he hollered, holding up one finger, then two and finally raised a third before he kicked the door open and barged into Mike’s room. I snapped and stormed in after him prepared to pull him out of the room and give the inconsiderate bastard a beating.

  I was distracted by the shrill cries coming out of the naked blonde’s mouth as she stared at us not even trying to cover her body.

  “Looks like our boy is doing okay.” Jimmy said eyes glued to the woman’s rack.

  “Michael!” she shrieked, attempting to cover herself with the sheet.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Mike slurred, holding a baseball bat as his eyes diverted back and forth between Jimmy and myself.

  “Feisty little thing, aren’t you?” Jimmy crooned. He was making me fucking sick. I glanced at the woman, not giving a fuck anymore if she recognized me from the hospital and tried to wrap this charade up.

  “Sweetheart, the party’s over,” I ordered, bending down to grab her discarded dress and throwing it onto the bed. I felt Mike’s eyes pierce me and I lifted my head to meet his stare with one of my own. I crossed my arms against my chest as I exchanged a moment with the kid I used to think of as a brother. I felt for him, just as I did all those years ago when his dad died. His father was a good man, loved his son and when he died Mike was shell-shocked, but I imagine losing his mother would be even harder. I only had a mother just like Mike only had Maryanne after Val’s death. If she died, I’d be devastated. Mike’s first instinct might’ve been to drink and fuck his mother’s death away but looking at him right now, I could see how he was crumbling inside.