by B. B. Hamel
Anger rose up inside me. “I don’t know anything, and I wouldn’t tell you if I did,” I snapped. “You’re not going to find it so easy to kill my family.”
“Maybe,” Vince said, smiling. “But we’ll definitely give it our best.”
I pushed him away, pissed beyond words. Why would he say that to me? I didn’t want anyone to die, didn’t want my family hurt. I didn’t want the Italians to get hurt, either. All I wanted was my baby, nothing more.
Maybe I had made a huge mistake coming to Vince. Maybe I should have just run away, tried to make it on my own. I knew my family would hunt me down though, and I had basically no resources to help me. Vince was my only real hope.
But it was coming with so much more pain. I hated that I was going to be the direct cause of death and destruction. I hated that my family was willing to go to war over me, because I knew they didn’t care about me.
I was just a pawn in all this, an easy excuse. Arturo wasn’t going to war over me; he was going to war because he was sick of my family taking his territory.
The bastards all wanted to pin it on me. They were all bastards, especially Vince.
He grinned at me, a delicious grin.
A dirty bastard’s smile.
“Come on, princess,” he said. “Let’s go.”
“You can use me as an excuse,” I said softly, “but the truth is, you all just want to kill each other. I’m a convenient reason. But I won’t let you drag me down with you.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Come on.”
We continued walking, heading back toward my rooms.
How quickly things changed. Not long ago, I was thinking about wanting Vince in my life. He had made my body feel so incredible.
Now, though, he was just another bastard I had to deal with. All of these men wanted to kill each other, and they wanted to use me as an excuse.
But I wouldn’t break. I had Alexei to think about.
Vince dropped me off at my rooms and walked away, a dark and stormy look in his eyes.
Chapter 14
Vince
So it was going to be war.
I hadn’t really expected it to come to this. When I first saw her standing outside the gate, I thought it might lead to some bickering, some annoying skirmishes, but not all-out war.
How fucking wrong I was.
The day after Kaley met with Arturo, I was out in the streets preparing for the coming fight. I still had her taste in my mouth and her anger in my mind, both of which drove me absolutely crazy.
I understood her anger. I understood why she would hate us for blaming her for this war. Truthfully, I knew it wasn’t her fault, and Arturo had even gone out of his way to make sure she understood that.
But she still resented being used as an excuse to kill each other.
Kaley was going to have to understand the men she was involved with. If she wanted me to be a father to her kid, which I wasn’t sure I really wanted, then she was going to have to accept that I was a fucking violent man.
I was a mafioso. I was a mobster. I was a killer and a thief. I lived my life according to my own principles, and no man had control of me, what I did, or when I did it.
I was a free man and always would be.
I climbed out of the car, Rafa right next to me. I stretched and looked up at the Chinatown buildings.
“Finding Bao today?” Rafa asked.
“Why else would we come to this shithole?”
He laughed. “Good point.”
“Come on.”
Bao ran a series of drycleaners throughout the city, but they were really just a front for money laundering. His store in Chinatown was his cleanest and best place, though it was still rundown and a piece of shit by the standards of the area.
I pushed in through the front door. A woman was sitting on a stool, watching a small television.
“Hello,” she said.
“I’m looking for Bao.”
She looked at me. “He not here.”
“Where is he?”
“Don’t know. You got clothes?”
I clenched my jaw. “Get me Bao.” I lifted open my jacket and showed her my gun. “Now.”
She stared at me, wide-eyed. “He not here.”
“Get him on the phone.”
“I can’t. Bao not here.”
I stepped closer to her. “Listen, lady. I know you speak English just fine. Get Bao on the phone or I’m going to shoot you in the fucking kneecap. Got it?”
She stared at me. “Fine. Hold on.” I glanced at Rafa, and he grinned at me as the woman grabbed a phone and dialed a number.
She said something in Chinese into the receiver and waited. More Chinese back and forth before she finally looked at me. “Bao coming,” she said.
We waited for another minute, she spoke more Chinese, and finally she handed me the phone.
“Bao?” I asked.
“Who is this?”
“It’s Vincent. You know, your fucking business partner.”
“Ah, Vincent.” He sounded a little nervous. “How are you?”
“I’m pissed off. I’m very angry that I had to threaten one of your employees just to get you on the phone, Bao.”
“Ah, well, I’m sorry about that, too.”
“Tell me about the shipment.”
“We’re having trouble. It’s costing us more than we expected to bribe the dock workers.”
“How much more?”
“One hundred thousand dollars.”
“Fuck,” I said. “What the fuck, Bao? You said we were all paid up.”
“We were, Vince. We were. But the workers want more now. They’re squeezing all our shipments.”
“Fuck.” I looked up at the dingy ceiling and did some quick math. “I can front that. But listen to me, Bao. If you dodge my calls one more time, I will hunt you down and I will kill you. Do you hear me?”
“Yes, of course, Vincent. I will be at your beck and call.”
“One more thing, Bao. This has to happen fast.”
“If you can get that money, we can move very quickly.”
“Fine. I’ll call you soon and arrange a drop. In the meantime, be fucking accessible.”
“Of course. Of course. I apologize again.”
“Fine.” I handed the phone back to the woman. She gazed at me with a bored expression as she hung it up.
“Sorry to bother you,” I said.
“It comes with the job,” she said. “Bao is an asshole.”
I laughed. “Yeah, he is.”
I followed Rafa back out into the street. We leaned up against the car, looking around.
“So?” he asked.
“We need another hundred grand.”
“Fuck.”
“We can take it from the steak shop.”
“Steak is all tapped out, boss,” he said.
“Pets?”
“Done too.”
“How fucking thin are we right now?”
“We’re locked up in this deal, boss.”
“Fuck,” I said. “Arturo wants to use these guns in the war, too. I’d planned on fucking flipping them.”
“Maybe we can ask him to front this?”
“I’ll float that to Lucas. You find us some money somewhere else just in case.”
“Got it, boss.”
We climbed back into the car and headed back toward the compound.
“Never did trust that Bao guy,” Rafa said.
“Shut up, Rafa.”
“Yes, boss.”
Annoyed, I looked out the window and watched the city flash by. This girl had complicated everything, way more than I could have guessed.
Back in the compound, I strolled through the hallways toward my rooms. As I drew closer to Kaley’s door, I heard the baby crying loudly from inside.
Without thinking much about it, I knocked on the door.
“Hold on,” she called out. “Coming.”
She pulled it open, looking flushed. H
er face instantly dropped when she saw me.
“Expecting someone else?” I asked.
“I hoped you were Sonya. What do you want?”
“Heard the kid crying. Thought I’d check on you.”
“He’s fussy today,” she said. Alex was in her arms, crying away. She was bouncing him, trying to get him to relax.
“Need a hand?”
She eyed me, suspicious. “Why?”
“I’m trying to be fucking nice.”
“Fine. Come on.”
I stepped inside and she shut the door.
“Here,” she said. She handed me Alexei, him crying and all. “I need to use the bathroom. Just hold him for a minute. I’ll be right back.”
“Wait, no,” I said. “I was thinking a back massage, maybe get you off again. Not a crying baby.”
“Just a minute.” She was already walking away toward the bathroom.
“No. Hold on.”
But she was already gone.
I looked around the room, uncomfortable as fuck.
“There, there,” I said to Alexei, rocking him slightly. “There, there. It’s okay.”
He was screaming so loudly. I couldn’t believe that anybody could live with a baby that screamed like this. What was I supposed to do with him?
“It’s okay, little guy,” I said and began to walk. “It’s okay. Vince has you. I can throw you twenty feet in the air, I bet.”
As I moved and spoke, slowly the baby’s screams got quieter.
“Yeah? You think that’s funny? I could throw you like a football, I bet.”
And after a second, he stopped.
I laughed, looking down at him. He blinked back at me with these blue eyes, just like my own.
“You like when I talk to you?” I asked. “You like to hear my voice? Shit, maybe you are my son.”
He just blinked at me.
“What do you do, anyway? Aside from screaming, crying, pooping, and eating?”
Then he smiled at me.
I felt something weird in that moment. I had felt it before, but it was a little stronger, a little more intense this time. Alex smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
“Oh. That’s cute as fuck,” I said.
“Don’t curse at him.”
I turned and saw Kaley. “How long were you standing there?”
She was smiling at me. “Not long. He likes you.”
I looked back down at him, and he smiled up at me, squirming around.
“He moves a lot,” I said stupidly.
“Yeah. He’s a baby.”
She sat down on the couch, sighing.
“How long was he crying?”
“Too long,” she grumbled.
I kept walking around the room, bouncing him in my arms. He seemed to like it, so I just kept doing it.
I was playing with a fucking baby, not an hour after setting up a deal with a Chinese arms dealer.
What a weird fucking morning.
Kaley was watching me with this strange look on her face. I didn’t exactly understand it. It wasn’t anger, which was what I was used to. It was more like curiosity mixed with amusement.
“What?” I asked her.
“Nothing. You just look like a natural, holding him.”
“Don’t get used to it,” I said. “I had a moment of weakness.”
She smiled. “Yeah. Your baby can do that to you.”
I looked down at Alexei, and he laughed up at me again.
“Are you my baby?” I said softly.
And then my phone started buzzing.I walked quickly over to Kaley and handed him off, opening the phone.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“It’s me,” Rafa said. “I think I got a lead on some cash.”
“That was fast. How much?”
“About half of what we need. The Latinos are looking for some smack, and we happen to have a surplus.”
I nodded. “Set it up.”
“Will do.”
I hung the phone up. Kaley smiled at me.
“Work?” she asked.
“Work.” I looked at her for a second. “Call Sonya and give her the brat. Let’s go back to that jungle room and finish what we started.”
Kaley laughed. “No, thanks.”
“You sure? I’ve been thinking about slipping my thick cock deep inside you all fucking day.”
She blushed. “I’m sure.”
“Your loss.” I gave her another long look, her holding that damn brat. That warm, squirming little brat.
I walked to her door, opened it, and quickly left.
Chapter 15
Kaley
I shouldn’t have been so surprised that Vince was able to calm Alexei down like that, but I was anyway. Vince was Alexei’s father, so it made sense that they would have some special connection like that. But it was still such an interesting surprise to see this tattooed badass mobster holding and talking to a little baby.
Then he had to go and ruin it with his dirty talk, of course. Not that I particularly minded it, but I was trying to keep my distance from him. It made it hard to stay away when he kept talking about doing to me exactly what I wanted him to do.
I wanted him to touch me, to run his coarse fingers down my soft skin. I wanted him to slip himself between my legs, press his cock deep inside me, make me beg for it, make me say his name. I wanted him to want me, to take me, to make me feel amazing again.
But our families were at war, and besides, I had Alexei to think about.
There was a knock at my door. “Come in,” I said, assuming it was Vince, back to tease me some more.
But it was Sonya. “Hi, Kaley,” she said. “And hello, little Alexei.”
“Hi, Sonya. I don’t need you today. I’m going to watch him.”
She smiled at me. “Actually, I was sent here by someone.”
I raised an eyebrow. “If it was Vince, forget it.”
“It wasn’t Vince.”
I cocked my head. “Can you tell me?”
“Actually, I’m not supposed to.” She was smiling hugely.
I sighed. “Are there always this many secrets in this place?” I asked her.
“Of course there are, sweetheart.” She walked over, and I handed Alexei over to her. “But you’re from a mob family, so you should be used to it.”
I laughed, shrugging. “You’d think.”
“Go ahead on outside. You can’t miss her.”
“Her?”
Sonya smiled. “Whoops. Just go before I say anything else.”
I smiled and then turned and left the room, walking out into the hallway.
Just ahead, I spotted her. Louisa Barone, the beautiful, strange daughter of Arturo. I walked over to her. “You got me in trouble,” I said.
“I know.” She shrugged. “You’re fine.”
“I guess so.” I stopped in front of her. She was wearing tapered sweatpants and a loose white T-shirt, and her hair was piled up on her head in a messy knot. She looked absolutely ravishing, and I felt a little jealous.
“Why’d you call me out here, Louisa?” I asked her. “Want to drag me somewhere I shouldn’t be again?”
“No,” she said. “Someone wants to meet you. I was told I have to make introductions.”
She didn’t seem happy about it.
“Who?”
“Come on.” She turned and started walking. I hurried to catch up.
“Where are we going?”
She didn’t respond or look at me.
Louisa was an odd bird. I didn’t know what to make of her. One second she was kind and outgoing, and the next she seemed totally withdrawn and uninterested in me. She was clearly just doing what someone had asked her to do, and I wondered who had the power to order around Louisa Barone.
There were rumors about Louisa, things I had overheard the men whispering about. Apparently she was a mad woman, totally crazy, and Arturo kept her locked up in her room. That was clearly not true, though she was a little we
ird. She also supposedly was hideously deformed.
I was beginning to learn not to trust most of what I heard second-hand.
Of everyone in the Barone family, Louisa was the most enigmatic. Lucas worked for the family, and so he was out in the world all the time. But there were rare sightings of Louisa outside of the compound, and none that I’d heard of in the last few years. I liked her, but I was wary of her.
We quickly moved down the hallway and finally stopped outside a door. She knocked once and waited.
The door slowly opened. A very pretty woman was standing there, maybe around my age or a bit older. She had long hair, sparkling eyes, and an easy smile that instantly made me feel at ease.
“Hi, Lou,” she said.
“Natalie, this is Kaley. Kaley, this is Natalie Barone.”
And then it clicked. This was Lucas’s new wife. I had heard of her but had never met her. Supposedly she had nothing to do with the mob and was a pretty normal person, although she lived in the mansion.
“Thank you, Lou,” Natalie said, and then she smiled at me. “Sorry about her. Lou can be weird.”
“Can I go?” she asked, annoyed.
“Yes. Thank you for leaving your room.”
“Sure.” Louisa turned and walked quickly away.
I stood there, self-conscious. “Uh, she’s interesting.”
“Lou doesn’t get out much.” Natalie opened the door farther. “Come in, please. Call me Nat.”
“Okay, Nat.” I stepped into her room.
It looked very similar to mine, though she had redecorated it. Where my rooms were austere and fancy, Nat had changed her little living room to feel like a normal person’s house. The expensive furniture had all been replaced by modest but comfortable things.
And sitting on the couch were two little boys.
“Kaley, these are my boys. This is Stokes, and this is Cooper.”
They were busy staring at the television, which was playing some brightly-colored kid’s show, the sort of thing that looked like someone on drugs had made it.
“They’re so handsome. Hi, boys,” I said.
Stokes was older and looked exactly like his father. Cooper was younger and looked more like his mother. They were both very handsome boys and seemed very well behaved.
