by Naomi West
“Wait just a damn second, Piero. I tried to strike that bargain with you earlier, when I was the one held at gunpoint, but you wouldn’t have any of it. Don’t act like we ever agreed on that.” He was a cocky fuck to think that I would just let all this go. He’d hurt me, and I had a good feeling he hadn’t been kind to Alexis.
“What are you gonna do, Lorenzo? Kill me? I’m Matteo’s son, remember? If you kill the son of a mafia boss, you might as well turn the gun back around on yourself as soon as you’re finished. Matteo might not love me, but he won’t rest until he has his revenge. And might I remind you that he already knows about everything you’ve done.” I could hear the fear in his voice.
“I think we’re a little past the point of bargaining, don’t you? I tried really hard to be the person Matteo wanted me to be, and it still wasn’t enough. I’m done with it—with all of it. And I’m done with you.” I put a bullet in his brain, and he went limp underneath me.
Matteo knew that Piero was here to kill me. I didn’t doubt that Piero had told him the exact location of the warehouse, and it wouldn’t take long before he realized his son hadn’t come back with my head. Piero might have been content to let me go—or to think he was—but Matteo never would. I knew what my next step had to be.
Piero’s blood made a halo around his head. Picking up his hand, I dipped his finger in the red stuff and scrawled it across the floor. “Matteo, you’re next.” I slipped out the door and made my way to Industrial Avenue.
Chapter Twenty
Alexis
The ancient carpeting underneath me smelled like must and rubbed against the skin of my legs. The duct tape on my hands and wrists bound me tightly. The only saving grace was that they hadn’t gagged me. In the corner of what looked to be an old office, I couldn’t get comfortable.
Not that my captors expected me to, or even cared. Ever since I had come to, they had spent their time trying to decide what they could get away with.
“What do you think, Tony? They said she was a stripper. You ever seen her out at any clubs?” This one was short, with piggy little eyes that roved up and down my body.
Tony shrugged. His shaggy, brown hair hung down to his shoulders. He wasn’t as clean-cut as most of the capos I’d met while with Lorenzo. “I don’t know, Rex. Maybe. She’s got the body. Hey, why don’t you show me your tits? I wanna see if they look familiar.” He laughed as though he’d made a hilarious joke and moved toward me.
“Hey, now.” Rex grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. “The boss said we can’t touch her. He wants her for himself.”
“He ain’t the boss yet,” Tony reminded him, still eyeing me hungrily.
Rex shook his head. “He might as well be. As soon as the old man decides to retire, Piero is it. We’re lucky we’ve gotten in so good with him already. We’ll be in the top of the ranks as soon as the crown changes hands.”
“But it isn’t much fun to be put on guard here when we can’t even do anything.” Tony shook his head in disappointment. “Maybe Piero doesn’t like us as much as we think.”
“You idiot.” Rex crossed his arms in front of his chest and rolled his eyes. “Would you rather have been part of the team that had to take down Lorenzo?”
Tony’s eyes widened slightly at the thought. “No, I guess not. I wonder if they made it.”
“Shut up. Of course they did. There were three of them and one of him.” Rex hunched his shoulders up around his neck. “But still, it’s Lorenzo. Somebody came out of that a little worse for wear.” He grabbed a nearby office chair, the upholstery ragged and stained, and sat down backwards.
Lorenzo. My heart surged at the mere mention of his name, even though it came from the lips of this dumb buffoon. I reached out to him in my mind, wishing I had some way of knowing if he was all right. If I could, I would have told him to run for his life. There was no getting away from all the enemies we had made between us, and I had long ago resigned myself to a miserable life. Lorenzo had the street smarts to start all over again and be successful. I would always be trouble for him.
“You think Matteo gave him the contract he wanted?” Tony mused. “Piero has wanted to kill him for a long time, but up until recently, I never would have thought the boss would allow it. But if everything Piero said is true …” He trailed off while gesturing toward me.
I felt so guilty. It hadn’t really been my fault, but I hadn’t helped matters any. I’d been caught up in a tangled web of crime and intrigue, and no matter how much I struggled, I could never find my way out. I could only hope that Lorenzo did.
“Sure he did,” Rex assured him as he checked his watch. “I bet Lorenzo is dead already. Piero will be here soon, and all we have to do is step out of the room while he, uh, conducts his business with the girl.”
I bit my lip and ignored the rest of their conversation. If Piero really meant to have his way with me, then he had another thing coming. I would fight him until I died. I only wished that I’d had more time to prepare for all of this. As soon as I had realized I was mixed up with the mafia, I should have insisted that Lorenzo teach me more about guns and fighting. I hadn’t stood a chance when Piero’s men entered the apartment. There hadn’t been a moment to reach for the gun hidden in the bookshelf or the one in the top drawer of the dresser. They’d burst in and taken me down like a sack of flour, and I was done for.
Leaning my head back against the wall, I stared up at the water-stained ceiling and thought of Lorenzo. He had been my captor, but he was so much more than that now. He was my protector and my lover. My love. If I ever got the chance, I would have to tell him that. He meant more to me than anyone had before. The best part was that I knew he would never take advantage of it.
As though I had summoned him, Lorenzo’s face appeared in a doorway on the other side of the room. I blinked, sure that I was beginning to hallucinate. But he was still there. He put a finger to his lips.
My heart thundered. I had to make sure the thugs didn’t turn around and see him. “You know, you guys are a couple of pussies.”
Rex and Tony snapped their attention back to me. They had stopped talking about my upcoming rape as though it was nothing more than a business transaction and had moved on to what bar had the hottest waitresses, but they stopped talking altogether when they heard me.
“Excuse you?” Rex got out of his chair and took a step toward me.
“You heard what I said. You’re pussies. I mean, you’re sitting here trying to be good little boys for Piero, but do you even know what you’re going to get for it? Did he ever agree to give you a certain amount of money or a specific position in the family? I don’t know him very well, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s just using you.”
“Shut up!” Tony barked. “You don’t know anything about our business.”
In the doorway, I could see Lorenzo grinning. I focused on the other two men again to keep from giving his position away. “Don’t I? Seems to me like you’re just a bunch of schmucks groveling for whatever scraps the Morettis are willing to give you. Losers.”
“She needs to shut up.” Tony’s voice was low and menacing now. He grabbed the crotch of his trousers. “I think I know just how to do it.”
“Sorry, gentlemen. Not tonight.” Lorenzo stepped out of the shadows. My heart leaped toward him. The gun in his hand wasn’t his, and his fingers were bloody and bruised, but he held his arm straight and steady. “I’ll take over from here, if you don’t mind.” He fired two shots in quick succession.
Tony’s eyes widened in surprise before he slumped to the floor, his blood spattered on one of the old cubicle walls. Rex had lurched toward the newcomer, but he only made it a couple of steps before he crumbled.
Lorenzo was next to me as they hit the ground. He whipped a large folding knife out of his pocket and slashed at my bonds. “Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”
Though I’d managed to stay brave during my captivity, the walls I had put up around me fell instantly now that Lore
nzo was by my side again. “You came for me.”
He looked at me intensely. “Of course I did. You didn’t really think I would just leave you, did you? Come on. We’ve got to get out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Alexis
“What is this place?” I looked around at the sun-faded carpeting and peeling wallpaper. The cushions on the couch sagged toward the floor and the bare bulb overhead flickered. “This doesn’t seem your style.”
“That’s exactly the point.” Lorenzo peeked out the window before shutting the ratty blinds and moving on to the next room to do the same thing. “It’s just a place I keep for emergencies. I pay the rent in cash to an old lady who’s half-blind and doesn’t care what goes on in the building as long as she has her money and the cops don’t show up.”
I sat down carefully on the sofa. My butt sank down into the upholstery until it was lower than my knees. “And nobody knows about it? Not even Matteo?”
He returned to the living room and smiled down at me reassuringly. “He paid me well, but he never asked me what I did with the money. At first, I thought it would just be a good place in case a hit went wrong and I needed to hide out for a while. That never happened, and I almost gave it up. But now I’m very glad I kept it.”
“Lorenzo, what’s going to happen to us? When they came and took me, Piero said he would kill you. I know he meant it. And he would have killed me, too, if you hadn’t shown up. How are we ever going to get away from these people?” I felt somewhat safe again now that he was by my side, but I knew the danger was far from over.
He ran a hand through his thick hair. “We’re getting the hell out of Dodge, that’s how. But first, I have to kill Matteo. Piero’s dead, so we don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
I scooted forward to the edge of the couch, which took some effort. “How are you going to do that? He’s got more than a couple guys around him. Piero has told him everything that’s going on, and he’ll only have increased his guards. There’s no way. We should just leave.” I’d been moving from place to place my entire life, and it was clear to me that it was time to do so again.
“Alexis.” He came forward and ran his hand down the side of my hair. It hadn’t been brushed since sometime that morning, before Piero’s men had abducted me. But Lorenzo didn’t care. His eyes were soft, but his voice was firm. “We can’t. As nice as that sounds, we have to make sure this is taken care of. Matteo will never let me live, knowing I killed Piero. He’s a powerful man, and the only way to be safe from him is to be sure he’s dead.”
“I guess you’re right,” I admitted. “I’m just scared. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“It won’t.” He bent forward and pressed his lips to mine. “You’re the only person who could ever really hurt me.”
“Tell me it will be all right,” I begged. “Tell me we’ll get our chance to run off into the sunset, Lorenzo. I need you.”
He kissed me harder this time, his hands cupping my jaw. “I need you too, and we’ll be together just as soon as this is all over with. Trust me, Alexis. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
We tumbled to the floor together, our arms and legs twining around each other as we became one. It was the culmination of everything we had experienced, everything we had felt, and everything we had feared. I could fell his strength wrapping around me, promising that it all really would be okay again. I had no choice but to believe him as our flesh melded.
“Wait. There’s something I want to do.” I gently pushed him off me, laughing at the shocked look on his face. He figured it out as I got on my knees in front of him.
“Oh,” he said in surprise as I took his cock into my mouth. It was long and hard, and I pulled it in until it hit the back of my throat. “Oh!” He ran his hands through my hair, pulling it into a messy ponytail and gripping it tightly with one hand.
As if I wasn’t already turned on enough, there was something about this position that made a shock of excitement zing through my core. I sucked and pulled, eager to please him. I brought one hand up to gently stroke his balls.
“God, you’re good at that,” he moaned. His knees threatened to give out underneath him, but he wasn’t any readier for me to stop than I was. “You keep doing that and I’m going to come right in your mouth.”
I pulled back long enough to smile up at him seductively. “I don’t care where you come as long as you do. I just want to make you happy, Lorenzo.”
His hands were on my shoulders in an instant, gently pushing me back while he got down onto the floor. “If that’s true, then you’ll have to get yours too. I won’t be happy unless I know you are.” He grabbed me by the waist and flipped me around so that I was sitting on his face, his tongue flicking me into a frenzy.
Bending forward, I resumed my work on his member. I sucked it in, opening my throat and sinking him all the way until my lips were at his base. I ran my tongue up and down the length of him, exploring and playing. It was a competition to see who could get the other worked up more.
But he was winning. He ran the flat of his tongue over my pussy before dipping the tip of it inside. His fingers worked at my clit simultaneously, sending spasms all throughout my body. I couldn’t concentrate on his blowjob anymore; I was so consumed with what he was doing to me. “Stop, Lorenzo! I can’t stand it anymore.”
“Mm-mm.” He captured my clit in his mouth and sucked.
His negation vibrated against me and I screamed as waves of pleasure ripple through my core. I arched my back, pressing his hard dick in between my breasts. “I need you, Lorenzo. I need you inside me. Now. Please.” I couldn’t take it anymore. It felt so good, but it was too much.
Finally releasing me, he flipped me back over so that he was on top of me. Wrapped and ready to go, he rested the head of his dick against my slit. “Are you sure?” he teased as he held himself up on his arms. “Or would you like a repeat performance?”
I brought my heels up so that they rested in the small of his back and pressed him down toward me. “Now,” I whispered.
He complied, filling me up and easing the twitching convulsions that racked my body. I knew having him inside me would only bring on more of them, but I needed that dick inside me desperately. “You’re so bad,” I murmured.
“You wouldn’t have me any other way.” He plunged inside me, faster and faster, until my body could no longer keep up with his. A primal roar escaped from his throat as he finished before he collapsed on top of me, sweaty and spent.
“No, I wouldn’t.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lorenzo
I timed out my attack the best I could. If I showed up in the evening, the capos would be ready for me. That was always the time of day when the most activity happened with the family. The business was too dirty for much to happen during daylight hours. Even so, everyone would be awake if I came while the sun was out. By now, they all knew what I’d done and had heard about the message I’d sent to Matteo. It was better to catch them unawares.
Though I had no doubts that Matteo would have a guard or two posted around the clock, my best choice was the early hours of the morning. Matteo and most of the upper-level capos would be asleep. Only those who were still trying to work their way up through the ranks would be stuck on perimeter duty, and I could get past them with no problem.
I’d managed to get back into my apartment just long enough to grab the most essential weapons out of my safe and all the cash I could carry back to the safe house. It was dangerous to stay too long; someone might have been watching for my return. I left all our clothes behind. I would just have to take Alexis shopping again.
I felt much like I had that night I killed Calzoni. There had been a big purse on the line, not to mention my reputation as a hitman and my standing in the family. The stakes were different now. It was my life and Alexis’s. I could not fail.
Creeping forward through the heavy landscaping that butted up to the back
of the Moretti mansion, I once more ran through the plan in my head. My hand came down to my belt just to be sure my magazines were there, waiting for their time. I was one man against many, but my need would assure my victory.
There had been no time to survey the scene, to watch for normal routines, and to note the holes in the them. I had only my memories to go on. I, as one of Matteo’s favorites, had almost never been put on outside security. My place was at Matteo’s side. I knew he would be in his room. The French doors that led out to a balcony on the second floor would lead me straight to him, but that’s where he had the most security. He expected an attack from there. I would come up from below.
As I encroached on the patio, I watched for a guard. One had to be back here, but he was nowhere in sight. My heart jumped as I thought I might actually make it into the house without having to kill anyone, but then I saw a single red eye gleaming at me from the darkness. He was standing off to my left, a cigarette burning in his hand and giving away his position. Fool.
