Envy: A Second Chance Romance (Deadly Sin Series Book 2)

by Penelope Marshall

  "What the fuck?"

  "They were human fuckin' traffickers. They lined us up like cattle, auctioning us off to the highest bidder. Fortunately, Torello was at the auction. He bid on me and made it clear with a simple look that no one else should. I was thankful at the time. I thought I had been saved by my Prince Charming. Boy was that a fuckin' mistake. In retrospect, the fact that he was at that kind of auction should've tipped me off."

  "You were young and scared."

  "Stupid is more like it. Funny how youth makes you think you know everything when, really, you don't know shit about shit."

  "So you've been with him all this time?"

  She nodded.

  "Do you love him?"

  "I think I was with him so long; I eventually grew to care for him; but love?" she said, shaking her head.

  "Got something against love?"

  "Nothing against love. I read about it all the time. Just never seen it up close and personal before. Except, of course, my parents. They had been married forever."

  "Had been?"

  She shook her head, and looked down, trying to hide her face from me.

  "What is it?"

  "I think Torello killed them," she said, her voice cracking as she stuttered the words out.

  I reached out and pulled her close. "I'm alone in the world too, you know," I confessed, trying to let her in.

  "Maybe we can be alone together?" she asked, looking up at me with wide and vulnerable eyes.

  God, how I wanted to say yes, but the wall I had built around my heart made me change the subject—quickly.

  "I'm gonna keep you safe until I can get you to your aunt's."

  "I know you will," she whispered, looking away from me.

  There was a knock at the door. It was Ari, standing on my doorstep looking up and down the street nervously.

  "Come in. I'm only gonna be a couple hours. Shouldn't be an issue since no one but you know she's here."

  "Just hurry the fuck up," he said, looking around the house for Celeste, who walked out of the bedroom. "Hurry up—every minute I'm near this girl I'm in danger."

  "Don't be such a pussy. You can handle yourself, can't you?" I asked.

  "Get the fuck outta here, Hunter," Ari said, taking a seat on the couch.

  She wrapped her arms around me. "Hurry up, please," she said in my ear.

  "It'll be okay," I whispered back.

  CELESTE

  It had been an hour since Hunter left, and Ari had not taken his hungry eyes off of me once, making me extremely uncomfortable. I knew that look all too well. That was the look of an animal eyeing his prey, and, unfortunately, I was his prey.

  I didn't want to go to the bedroom, as that would just send a signal that I wanted to take things further, so I decided to get out of his line of sight and head to the kitchen.

  "Did you want me to make you something to eat?" I asked as he looked away from me and peered out the windows.

  "Yeah, sure."

  "Anything in particular?"

  "Whatever you got in there."

  I walked into the kitchen and bent over to look in the sparsely stocked fridge. I was startled by the graze to my hip, and I quickly straightened my posture to see what had brushed by me—but I already knew.

  "What are you doing?" I asked.

  "Nothing. Just noticing what Torello and Hunter see in you. You sure are a tight little thing, aren't you màmi? I bet that pussy's tight, too."

  I crossed my arms, tightening the muscles in my thighs, as I shifted my gaze down to the large white square tiles that covered the kitchen floor.

  He inched closer to me as I moved back, eventually running out of room, the kitchen wall impeding my escape. His left hand pressed against the wall, the other, running its fingers through my hair. I looked away, my face cringing in fear as the cigarette smoke from his breath drifted in my nostrils, the smell making nauseous.

  Ari flashed a deviant smile as his fingers traced down the length of my hair, over my shoulder, and down the middle of my chest where the plunging neckline of my dress slightly exposed my cleavage.

  I knew I should've changed.

  "Please don't, Ari," I begged, trying to push myself up against the wall, praying it would give way to give me room to escape.

  "But Hunter and Torello are good enough for you, baby girl. I promise I gotta bigger dick than both of them put together. I could make you just as happy. Hunter wouldn't have to know unless you wanna tell him."

  "But I would know," I said, unclasping my arms, pushing him to the side as I tried to escape.

  He gripped my neck, slamming my back against the wall. "I didn't give you permission to leave, bitch," he said in my ear, raking his fingers up my thigh.

  I pushed his hand away. "Please," I begged as my eyes began to shine with tears.

  He leaned in, grazing his lips to mine, his knee intruding between my legs. The lump in the back of my throat grew as the tears began to stream down my cheek.

  He paused when his phone rang. Pulling away, he took the phone out of his pocket.

  "Yeah," he answered with annoyance in his voice.

  "Hunter—no—everything is fine here," he said, winking at me as he pressed his finger to his pursed lips.

  "Yeah—I'll let her know," he said, hanging up the phone.

  Ari looked at me as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket. "Well, it looks like your boyfriend is on his way back. I'll get at you later," he said, turning and walking away.

  Silently, I exhaled a sigh of relief.

  He turned back to me, and I instantly tensed up. "Oh, and make sure this stays between us. I'm not a good guy like Hunter. I'm willing to do shit to you."

  I nodded.

  It wasn't too much longer after that when I heard keys jangling at the door lock, followed by the door creaking open. I jumped up from the kitchen table, where I was watching Ari like a hawk, and threw my arms around Hunter as he walked in. I didn't know what it was about him, but he was my safety—the eye in my storm. With him, all my vulnerabilities disappeared, and without him, I was broken.

  "What's wrong?" he asked.

  I didn't reply.

  Ari stood up from the couch and cleared his throat. "I'm gonna get outta here."

  I looked at him sheepishly as he glared back a warning, which caused me to bury my face back into Hunter's chest. His heart began to beat a mile a minute, and the second Ari walked by, Hunter seized his arm.

  "What the fuck happened, Ari?"

  Ari yanked his arm away. "Nothing man. Nothing fuckin' happened. Ask the puñeta. She'll tell you."

  I began to tremble as the telltale signs of a fight began to present themselves. It was like watching two pit bulls raring to go.

  Hunter eased away from me, and looked into my eyes. "Tell me what the fuck happened."

  I could see it in his eyes—he knew—he knew what Ari tried to do. He let go of me, sweeping his arm around to position me behind him. Grabbing Ari by the arm, Hunter rammed him into the wall, making a dent in the drywall. His forearm pinned Ari's neck down.

  "I asked you for one thing. Keep her safe, and you do this?" Hunter growled through gritted teeth.

  "She's a whore. What the fuck is the difference? My dick, your dick…it's all the same to her."

  "She's not a fuckin' whore."

  "Hey, you can try to wrap trash up in shiny wrapping paper…doesn't mean it ain't still trash." Ari chuckled, glancing over at me.

  His words infuriated Hunter, who clenched his right fist, swinging the hard mass directly at Ari's jaw. Ari's eyes widened a second before the flesh and bone made contact with his jaw, causing his head to wrench to the left. He fell to the ground, holding his hand to his jaw, spitting a mixture of blood and saliva on to the pristine beige carpeting.

  "Muthafucka', you hit me—over her?" Ari asked, pointing at me.

  "Fuck you, Ari. You're a piece of shit leech. Get the fuck outta my house, and don't come back!" Hunter yelled, holding the door o
pen for Ari.

  Ari stood up, his lip bloodied, as his gaze shifted between me and Hunter.

  "Over her?"

  "Over a lot of things; she was just the last straw."

  Ari looked at Hunter, his eyes red with anger.

  "Enjoy your whore," Ari said, spitting on the floor at my feet before he walked out.

  Hunter slammed the door behind him, shaking his head. "That snake muthafucker."

  I laid my hands on his shoulders, which were hot, shaking from fury. Grabbing his hand, I scanned his knuckles, checking for open wounds. Surprisingly, there was not one scratch. Rubbing my palm over his hand, I looked up at his face; his eyes were narrow and focused out the window.

  I wrapped my arms around him. "I'm okay."

  He didn't respond.

  FURY

  ANGELO

  It was one of those really warm days in San Diego. The kind of day the Santa Ana winds made the city heat up like a sauna. I made my way through a stagnant crowd of soldiers, escorted by an associate of the Torello family, headed for the back office where Rez would be waiting.

  I wasn't excited to deliver the news that I had failed to capture Celeste after giving chase last night, or about losing two Escalades. Luckily, a few of us made it out alive. Or unlucky for me—depending on how you looked at it.

  "He's pretty mad today," he said.

  "He's pretty mad every fuckin' day," I replied.

  "You wanna closed or open casket?" he asked as he opened the double doors, motioning for me to proceed by myself into the small dimly lit office, smelling of smoke and old sex.

  "Fuck you," I whispered as I brushed by him.

  Rez was sitting behind his desk as usual; the seat faced the wall as a puff of smoke ascended toward the ceiling. The wall behind his desk had a massive painting of him with his sweet Celeste in a compromising position. Not a picture her parents would have liked to see if they were still breathing this polluted California air.

  Rez was the king of the money laundering game in San Diego. Wanting all the money, power, and women to himself, he would kill anyone who gave even the slightest inkling of opposition, and Celeste's parents were two of those people. They should've just given her up without a fight. I tried to warn them, but when that didn't work, I had to convince them the old fashioned way. A bullet to the head—one and done, as they say. Or in this case, two.

  I couldn't get their begging out of my head. I still remember the whole thing like it was yesterday. Now that I think about it, I don't think I'll ever forget. They were an older couple, and reminded me a lot of my parents, which sharpened the sting even more than a normal execution. I certainly wouldn't want anyone making my dear sweet mama get on her knees and face a wall, but that's what Rez ordered, and what Rez says, goes. It's as simple as that. Innocent. Guilty. I didn't have a say. Otherwise, it's my knees on the ground facing a wall, and that shit ain't happening. Even if God Himself forgave me for everything I'd ever done in life, He certainly wouldn't forgive me for them. I know I wouldn't.

  The door shut behind me, alerting Rez to my presence. His chair slowly spun around to face me, his eyes darted back and forth, his face swelling red with fury when he realized Celeste wasn't with me.

  "You're a fucking sorry excuse for a man, Angelo. Where the fuck is she?" he bellowed.

  "Celeste is with Ari." I eked out the words, taking a step back from his reach.

  "Ari? How in the hell did she get into the hands of a low-level piece of shit like Ari?"

  I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. I just looked past him, at the picture hanging on the wall, wishing I was somewhere else. Anywhere else.

  My silence made his dark brown eyes bulge out from his head, the vein in his neck seemed as though it could burst from underneath his skin at any moment.

  Standing up from his chair, he walked around the wooden desk and leaned against it. "So she's with Ari? You had one job! One fucking job."

  "I know boss, but by the time we tracked the Maserati's GPS—"

  "Shut the fuck up with the excuses!"

  "I'm sorry."

  "Sorry is not the word I would use, you piece of shit," he said, pushing himself off the desk, jamming his finger into my forehead and knocking my head back.

  "I can get her, boss. I can get Ari's number and find where he's hiding her."

  His fury almost made it impossible to speak, he quietly asked, "Are you sure?"

  "Yeah, boss, don't you worry, boss."

  "Worry? Do you think I'm some delicate fucking flower?" he bellowed.

  "No, no, no, boss." My eyes locked onto his hand, awaiting the impending beating.

  He straightened out his navy blue tie and flattened out his matching fitted suit to compose himself.

  Running his fingers through his finely cut hair, he said, "I want the bitch's head on a stick."

  "Yes, sir." I nodded.

  Rez made his way back to his chair and sat down. Shuffling some papers around his desk, he pulled a small photo out from underneath a stack. He smiled as he ran his fingers over the old tattered photo.

  "Who's that, boss?" I asked, trying to make small talk.

  He glared up at me. "It's fuckin' Celeste, you idiot. Who the fuck were we just talking about?"

  "Forgive me, boss," I said, lowering my head.

  Rez looked back down at the picture. "How dare she burn our bed, and embarrass me by leaving. I want her fuckin' dead." He shot up from his chair. "Dead!"

  "Yes, boss. I'll kill her myself."

  "Such a terrible turn of events. She was my favorite. I fuckin' love that woman. I treated that bitch so well."

  "You treated her so good, boss."

  Staring at the picture, his eyes began to shine with tears. "As a matter-of-fact, bring her back alive," he ordered.

  "You want me to take some of the guys, boss?"

  He casually stuffed the picture into his inside breast pocket. "Are you still fuckin' here?" He banged his hand on the desk. "Get the fuck outta here!"

  "Yes, boss." I turned and wrapped my fingers around the knob.

  "Angelo," he called out to me.

  I glanced over my shoulder. "Yeah, boss?"

  "Don't take anyone with you. That Celeste can spin a nice little tale. She'll have some poor son-of-a-bitch ready to start a war over a little tight pussy. I don't need a war right now. Not with Detective Morrison breathing down my neck."

  I chuckled.

  His face went red. "Did I give you fuckin' permission to laugh?"

  "No, boss. Of course not," I stuttered.

  "I didn't ask for your opinion, either. Get the fuck outta here!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

  Once again, I turned to leave, when I heard him say, "Wait, wait, wait."

  "But boss, you told me to leave," I replied, still holding on to the doorknob.

  "Don't you think I know what I just said?"

  "Of course, boss," I replied.

  "I'm Rez Torello, and I can change my muthafuckin' mind if I want to."

  "Of course you can, boss," I agreed, trying to soothe the beast.

  "I wanna call Ari first. You know—give him a chance to return my property."

  "Of course, boss," I agreed, letting go of the door.

  "Give me his number."

  MY PROPERTY

  ARI

  I stood outside his door, wiping the blood streaming from the corner of my mouth.

  That bitch hit me—over some cunt.

  My phone began to vibrate in my pocket. "This better not be that mutha'—"

  I paused when I saw that a private number was calling me. I clicked on the green icon, and said, "Hello?"

  "Ari, please?"

  "This is Ari."

  "This is Rez Torello. Do you know me?"

  "Yes. Yes. I—"

  Rez interjected. "You have something of mine."

  "No. I—"

  "I don't wanna hear excuses. I want my property, and I want it now."

  "I don't
have her."

  "So you know my property is a 'her'? I thought you didn't have her?"

  "I don't."

  "I don't believe your lying ass. I wanna see your face when you say that to me. Come to my office. Do you know where—" he was about to ask when I interrupted.

  "Yes, I know."

  That was a mistake, as interrupting only served to rile him. "Don't you ever fuckin' interrupt me again!" he yelled.

  "Of course, Mr. Torello, sir."

  "Twenty minutes," he said as the phone clicked off.

  I looked down at my phone and then turned back to Hunter's door. I lifted my hand, ready to knock and tell him about the phone call when the pain in my jaw returned. I rubbed on the spot where he had just punched me, contemplating my next decision.

  Fuck that piece of shit. He made his choice.

  I turned and walked back to my car. "I'm not dying for those two bitches," I said under my breath as I jumped in the car, and peeled out of his driveway.

  HUNTER

  I looked out the window, watching as Ari drove away in the old '87, leaving tire marks on the pavement.

  "What's going to happen?" she asked, her eyes beginning to shine with tears. "I'm sorry I brought this to your door."

  She nibbled at her thumb as I looked out the window again, then walked over to her.

  "Hey, I don't want you to worry," I said, rubbing her arms.

  "I'm not worried for me. I'm worried for you."

  "Why's that?"

  "I've been ready to die for a long time. In fact, I've wanted to die for a long time. This life ain't nothing but a flash on the radar, and my flash is starting to lose its luster."

  I spun her around. "Don't talk like that," I said, wrapping my arms around her tightly.

  "What did I ever do to deserve you?" she asked, laying her head against my chest.

  "Just by being you."

  She wrapped her arms around my neck, as my eyes pored over her face; her smooth skin, seemingly untouched by the world, was the shade of the white sand just outside the house. Shifting a wisp of hair away from her face, I gazed upon a pair of lips so inviting that I struggled to resist the urge to kiss them.