For Adriano

by Soraya Naomi

He chuckles. “It’s a stiff affair.”

  “Want to have some fun?”

  “What did you have in mind? Nothing illegal,” he warns, the old cop in him peeking through.

  “No. Just messing with someone.”

  “Hmmm... Possibly Adriano?”

  I stop, and he collides against my back, both his hands on my shoulders. “Was it that obvious?”

  “Unless you’re blind, yes,” he teases and urges me forward. “What are you going to do, Cam?”

  “Make him a little jealous? After I annoy him.” I grab the chef’s arm as he passes me. “See the guy on the left at the front? He prefers nuts in his starters, main course, and dessert, please. He likes the bite.”

  Wade rolls his eyes and laughs at me.

  “Yes, ma’am.” The chef nods agreeably and starts shouting orders to his kitchen staff.

  “Now”—I entwine our fingers and point one at the dining room—“flirt with me in there.”

  Wade groans and brings me to a standstill. “I’m not up for this.”

  “I’ll owe you.”

  “You do realize you just said that to a P.I.?” he retorts with an arched brow.

  “I’ll owe you,” I confirm. “Come on.”

  Another groan. “Only because you amuse me, and maybe this will liven up this party.”

  And for a man who wasn’t up for it, he’s a surprisingly good actor.

  We sit back down and gradually scoot closer together while we’re seemingly in an interesting conversation, but he’s just talking nonsense, and I’m trying to focus on Adriano from the corner of my eye. His lips are set in a hard thin line.

  Salads are being served, and Adriano’s absorbed with his food. “I’m starving.” He picks up his utensils and shifts greens and nuts around. “It’s filled with nuts,” he complains to no one in particular and looks up to wave over a waiter.

  I’m concentrated on him until he catches it. Then I bite a piece of lettuce off my fork.

  Adriano slouches back in his chair. He slides the plate away, and then the waiter comes up, and they have words.

  “Never mind,” Adriano utters, “I’ll wait for the next course.”

  Wade and I touch shoulders, and he mumbles, “Never mess with a man and his food.”

  We each break out in a smile.

  Fallon clears her throat, observing us questioningly.

  Adriano’s spitting fire at Wade and me. His date is trying to gain his attention, also shooting me the evil eye when she follows his gaze that’s glued on me.

  When James finally starts to pay attention to his guests too, I focus back on my food.

  Steaks are served with side dishes, and Adriano’s are filled with nuts again.

  The crease between his brows deepens, and he immediately meets my eyes.

  I grin innocently, and one side of his mouth tilts up in recognition. His smile is hiding his anger.

  “Enough now?” Wade asks close to my face, draping an arm around my shoulder. His fingers caress the bare skin on my upper arm.

  “You are good.”

  “Listen, Cam, I obliged you because I like you. You’re Fallon’s friend, so you’re also my friend. But look around, you didn’t only make Adriano jealous enough to kill me.”

  I check the guests, and Luca and James are also aiming a scowl at Wade.

  “Be careful before you decide to bait these men,” he advises and sits back.

  I swallow and realize he’s suspicious of Luca and Adriano’s Mafia connection. And I’ve learned that I’m not allowed to talk about the Syndicate except with the four high ranking men.

  For the rest of dinner, I’m lost in thought. I can’t chase someone who doesn’t want me.

  As we relocate to the adjoining room that has a white dance floor in the center and a band playing, Adriano falls into step between Wade and me and bends his head to Wade. “It’s time you stop touching her, Leonardo.” He snags Wade’s hand from my lower back.

  He doesn’t wait for an answer and stands pressed up against me. “You’re pushing me too far.” His tone is menacing. “Move.”

  Adriano places both hands on my bare skin right above my hips and leads me forward to the far corner of the packed dance floor.

  “Dance with me.” He entangles our fingers, rotates me, and pulls me close to him, fingers splayed right above the swell of my behind.

  His hand glides up my arm, and he twines it around his neck while the singer starts to perform one of my favorite songs: Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’.

  My other arm loops around his neck as well, and every part of my front is pressed to his as he sways me around, ever so slowly.

  When your legs don’t work like they used to before.

  And I can’t sweep you off of your feet.

  Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love?

  Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks?

  He tightens his clutch, and so do I, wanting to hold on to this serene moment between us as we both search for peacefulness amidst our personal war.

  Darling, I will… be loving you till we’re seventy.

  And baby, my…heart…could still fall as hard at twenty-three.

  After minutes of silence, his breath fans across my temple. “Why are you mad at me, Cam?”

  We can’t see each other’s faces, and I think we’re both perusing the room to ensure James hasn’t spotted us.

  “Because you’ve been ignoring me, and you spent the night at headquarters,” I reply, feeling my frustration grow.

  He must feel it too because he starts to caress a path up and down my back. I almost moan from the quiver his touch causes.

  Then I’m being led backward until I hit a hard surface. We break apart, and Adriano pushes down the lever and drags me inside, practically hurling me to the center of the small room.

  “And that makes it okay for you to throw yourself at Wade?” He inches closer after shutting the door.

  I pay no mind to his question. “Were you with one of the girls?”

  He tilts his head and stays silent too long.

  He might not be used to having to answer for himself, but I can’t take this anymore, so I stride past him and crack open the door. But his arm shoots out from behind me, over my shoulder, effectively slamming it closed.

  In the softest tone, laced with regret, he whispers against my ear, “I should stay away, but you make it impossible. I’ll never allow you peace with another man!”

  His nose buries into my hair, and I lean back against his chest while his hand slides down the exposed skin of my side, edging under the satin fabric of my dress, to my stomach. His lure is sweet and agonizing temptation.

  I mutter, “Why do you do this? I won’t accept this anymore. I deserve more than your pushing and pulling me in ten different directions, Adriano. I want you, but you have to stop this man-whoring of yours.”

  His fingers weave into my hair, and he roughly turns my face, murmuring against my lips while our eyes lock. “You know what makes me furious? You always think the worst of me. I was in the strip club, yes. I’ve been sleeping in our room because I can sense your presence there.” He releases my hair, and his other arm also winds around my waist. “No other woman has been in my bed.”

  I flatten a palm against the door and throw the other back around his neck, arching into him. “I’m sorry.”

  “Cam, if you could only see yourself through my eyes, you’d know there’s no need to make me jealous. I’m already in Hell.”

  “Then fight for me. Fight for us.” I brush my lips against his as his fingers dig into my stomach, but he won’t return my kiss and pulls me back by my hair.

  “I don’t know how.”

  And before he gets the chance to reject me again, the door handle rattles.

  “Adriano? Cam?” Luca’s voice comes booming from the other side. “Open it.”

  Adriano releases a deep sigh, takes a step back, and opens the door.

  Luca looks in
and probably sees our flushed expressions. “I’ve been looking for you two. James needs you, Cam.”

  Adriano and I trade a glance.

  “You two are treading on thin ice. Come on.” Luca checks to see if it’s safe, and I hurry to James and Rosalia.

  The rest of the evening, we both ignore each other for once.

  CHAPTER 22

  Adriano

  “Has Fat Sal contacted James?” I ask Luca from the passenger seat of a beat-up old Honda while staking out the Chicago Harbor.

  Two point eight kilograms of pure, best-quality-in-the-U.S. cocaine is going to be exchanged for seven hundred thousand cash between my soldiers and Fat Sal’s soldiers at nine p.m. sharp. During the last deal, Capo John disappeared, and so did our one million dollars and the drugs.

  “Not yet.” And he looks at me. “Where did you disappear to last night?”

  I snuck out of Rosalia’s birthday party an hour after Luca busted Cam and me. Our altercation absolutely rattled me, and I surprised myself by voicing the words that have been afflicting me for days.

  I’ll never allow you peace with another man.

  I’ve been so caught up in obeying orders that I never thought about beyond the present. She’ll have more dates and a new life, with someone else. And the idea of her moving on– which will happen eventually, because I can sense she’s growing weary – is like a dagger to my heart.

  I fled her magnetic pull and visited my parents for a drink, and then I called it a night, feeling even more conflicted. Perhaps she’s right; why am I not fighting if we can’t stay away from one another? As time passes, my need to punish her evaporates, leaving me with a deep, unfulfilled longing that’s slowly tearing me in half.

  “I was tired, so I left,” I answer, scanning the dark area where the ships are docked.

  “Look.” He points outside my window. “There’s another car coming.”

  Another vehicle without its headlights on creeps behind a dumpster and comes to a stop.

  I can’t discern how many men are in the car. “We’re not the only ones who brought back-up.”

  Luca opens the glove compartment and produces two extra handguns and silencers, shoving one into my hand. “Is your regular loaded?”

  I nod and screw the suppressor on. “In my ankle holster.”

  The deal takes place on the boat at the left side of the pier. Our two soldiers are already in place, waiting on deck, as Fat Sal’s two soldiers step aboard. Two briefcases are exchanged, but Sal’s soldier cocks a gun and shoots one of my men in the head, the bullet report resounding into the night. Our extra guy targets Sal’s extra guy and then rears back – I think he got shot in the shoulder – as he pulls the trigger, and his opponent falls back. Sal’s soldier pitches both briefcases off the deck and jumps after them.

  Luca places his hand on the door handle. “I want the money and our drugs. Go after him. I’ll distract the men in the other car.” And he throws open the door.

  I bolt out of the vehicle with my gun in hand, chasing the soldier who’s holding both of my belongings under his arms.

  He sprints down the straight path and to the left where some massive steel containers are located, lined up neatly next to each other. The man cranes his neck and then quickly rounds a container, out of sight.

  Slowing down, I keep my gun held up against my chest as I edge along the sides of the container, and then I hear hurried footsteps. I turn the corner and aim my weapon just as he, again, disappears around the other corner.

  I retrace my steps and stand still, holding my breath as I can hear him tiptoeing toward me again. Then he stops a few feet before reaching me.

  Silence thickens through the water sloshing in the distance and the creaking of the boats.

  Seconds tick by.

  Unexpectedly, I hear him running away from me.

  Rounding the corner, I race after him, gaining on him since the cases are slowing him down.

  “Stop!” I yell, and I jump on him, landing on his back.

  He hits the concrete with a loud thud and screams out in pain, but he still manages to twist around and attempts to punch me. I dodge his fist, and blood streams out of his head when I hit him with my gun, but he’s strong and knees me in the stomach.

  The gun slips out of my grasp as we roll over, and then he knocks the back of my head against the ground.

  “Jesus fuck!” Stars form behind my eyelids, but I hook him in the jaw and roll him onto his back. Swiftly retrieving my other gun from the ankle holster, I raise it to his forehead.

  He holds up his hands, and I move off him.

  Out of breath, I order, “Get up.” All ten fingers are wrapped around my gun to keep it steady.

  “Okay! Yes!” he stammers and obeys immediately.

  I heard footsteps right before I got up. Without knowing if it’s Luca or an enemy, I glance around while edging back from between the two containers. I hear a noise in the distance and spot a shadow far behind the soldier. My aim moves to the shadow, and I pull the trigger. Then I direct my weapon back on the soldier right in front of me as he charges at me, so I shoot him in the heart. Both bodies hit the ground, and I retrieve the briefcases of money and drugs.

  I used my regular gun without the silencer. We need a clean-up crew here as soon as possible. I run back to the car where Luca’s waiting for me.

  I yank open the door and deposit the briefcases in the back seat. “There was one more man. Both are dead. Call a clean-up crew.”

  Luca plops into the seat with his in phone in hand as I rev up the engine and drive away as fast as I can.

  “What happened with the other car?” I ask as the harbor shrinks in my rearview mirror.

  “I’m not sure they were Fat Sal’s men. They witnessed the scene, debated something in the car – two men by the way, not Italian – and then drove off,” Luca explains.

  “That’s odd. So someone else is watching Fat Sal’s soldiers?”

  “It seems so. Maybe we’re not Sal’s only enemy? Or maybe someone was watching us too?”

  “Are we going to wait until Fat Sal makes a move? I’d advise we take action sooner rather than later because this is getting too personal. We already have extra security around our families.” Especially Cam, Alessa, Rosalia, and Fallon, who are being guarded by two men each. “And now, new, unknown parties might be involved. This is going to become a big problem if we don’t contain it. Club 7 is a liability.”

  “What do I suggest to James? We need to know who else is against Fat Sal first,” Luca retorts. “Although I do agree that we need to strike back – soon. I hate having so many guards around Fallon, because she becomes annoyed with me.”

  I laugh. “I hate it too.” And Luca knows I wasn’t only talking about my family but also about Cam; I detest that she’s in danger.

  “I’m going home,” Luca says and stashes the gun back in the glove compartment.

  “I’m going with you.” Cam might be in danger, so I want to see her. Abstaining is proving to be more and more difficult.

  Luca sends me a disillusioned look.

  “Just to talk to Cam,” I add.

  “Yes, sure, to talk,” he repeats sarcastically.

  CHAPTER 23

  Camilla

  Saturday after Rosalia’s party is spent with my half-sister again while Fallon is at the community center for a couple of hours.

  After dinner, we arrive back at the penthouse at the same time as Fallon.

  “Did you have fun last night, Rosalia?” Fallon asks as we enter her penthouse. She chucks her stack of mail onto the coffee table.

  “Yes.” Rosalia sighs. “But it was more a business event than a birthday.”

  I laugh at her. “Be thankful you had a party.”

  “I am.” She sticks her tongue out.

  Fallon rummages through her purse. “Guess what I took from a young man at the community center. He came in with red eyes, stoned out of his mind.” She holds up a joint between two fingers.<
br />
  Rosalia claps her hands. “We’re getting high!”

  Fallon’s head whips to her, and she snatches it against her chest when Rosalia tries to take it. “No. I confiscated this from a kid.”

  “What were you planning on doing with it?” Rosalia asks with a hand on her hip.

  “Umm... Throw it away?” she states but poses it as a question.

  “No!” we both object and smile at each other. My half-sister and I have more in common than I initially thought.

  “I’m with her,” I say to Fallon, pointing my thumb at Rosalia. “I want to get high. Just to loosen up and forget everything about the last few weeks.”

  Fallon’s expression softens, and she glances at Rosalia’s hopeful face. “Fine, but we smoke outside.”

  “Yes!” Rosalia celebrates. “We need water and food.”

  “I’ll get water bottles and snacks.” Fallon goes into the kitchen.

  “Get a lighter!” I yell and remove my shoes.

  On the terrace, Fallon and Rosalia tie their hair up.

  There are five loungers, but we huddle together on two: Fallon and I on one, and Rosalia next to us.

  Rosalia lights the joint with a cupped hand and inhales deeply. Without coughing, she rounds her lips and a stream of smoke drifts up.

  After repeating it, Rosalia hands it over to me. “Good stuff.”

  I take a draw and cough a little. Then I take a few smaller ones, letting the drug flow through my system. A sense of calmness descends on me, and a fog starts to form in my head.

  After I give the joint to Fallon, she places the tip to her lips while Rosalia is already eagerly awaiting another turn.

  “You are so greedy,” Fallon says with a smile.

  “It’s been months since I smoked. I’m never alone; always have guards around. This is my birthday party.” Rosalia’s tone becomes softer.

  Fallon breaks out in a coughing fit, and I hand her a bottle of water as Rosalia takes the joint.

  She gulps it down and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “I’m already stoned.” Giggling loudly, she practically falls over my lap.

  “Here. Take more.” Rosalia shoves the joint into her hand. “She’s fun stoned!”