by Blaire Drake
I picked up the flier and looked at the menu. “And let me guess—you get the meat pizza, but you have them take off the spicy beef and add extra cheese and ham.”
She pursed her lips.
“And then you have them make the crust extra crispy without burning the cheese, and ask them to bring you extra garlic mayo because eating crusts without it is simply barbaric, and anyone who doesn't should be shot.”
“You think you're so smart,” she fired at me.
“I don't think, Principessa. I know.”
“Shut up and order my pizza, Rosso. I'm hungry.”
“I love it when you tell me what to do.”
“Yeah? Then do it or I'll be telling you to get the fuck out of my house.”
“Why don't you?”
She looked at me like I was stupid. “Because I'm not going to pass up my favorite pizza for free. Don't forget the extra garlic mayonnaise, okay?”
I picked up my phone and dialed the number on the front, then ordered her damn pizza. I smiled and watched her the whole time I made the call, even though all she did was sip from her cup of coffee. She was obviously trying not to look at me, so I put extra effort into keeping my eyes on her.
I knew I was pissing her off. Her jaw twitched every now and then, and after each drink of coffee, her lips pursed a little tighter. I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd been thinking of all the ways to hurt me. I would have gladly taken every single one if it meant it killed the awkwardness that was lingering between us.
I didn't usually stay this long after sex, and I got the feeling Adriana had been having the same fuck and fly relationships I'd been having.
“You can stop staring at me now. I'm hardly a Van Gogh painting.”
“Nah, you're right. You're closer to Picasso.”
Her jaw dropped. “You pig.”
“You walked right into that.” I grinned. “Maybe you're not a Picasso... Probably the Mona Lisa, judging by the look on your face right now.”
“Are you saying I'm grumpy?”
“Yes.”
She put down her mug and turned to face me, her arms folded across her chest. “You're starting to piss me off, Rosso.”
“Good. Great things happen when you're pissed off.” I winked.
She didn't find me funny. “Yeah? Are you gonna think its so great when I finally tire of your bullshit and twist your balls up your asshole and into your gut?”
“Feisty.” I waggled my eyebrows, goading her further.
“I'm not even responding to you anymore.” She pushed off the side. “You're just doing this to annoy me deliberately. I'm wasting oxygen here.”
I laughed and darted in front of her before she could leave the room. She glared at me and put her hands on her hips.
“What do you want now?” she demanded of me, her eyebrows shooting up.
“Nothing,” I answered, lying through my teeth. My eyes dropped to her mouth, and I traced the curve of her plump lower lip with my gaze. They parted and she sucked in a breath when she realized where my eyes were.
I figured I was already going to Hell when I died, so kissing her was only going to get me a first class ticket down there.
I stepped forward and gave in to temptation. My hands curved around the sides of her neck, my thumbs resting along her jaw, and I tilted her head back as I pressed my lips to hers. It was nothing like earlier, that fast, hurried, desperate sensation. This was closer to the way she'd kissed me on the beach.
Slow. Easy. Gentle. Savored.
Adriana's hands rested against my sides, and she leaned into me. She was so small compared to me, and I moved closer without taking my mouth from hers. I wanted to enjoy this moment, just breathe her in and surround myself in her while I could.
Every second our lips touched, a foreign, protective instinct roared to life inside me until it became more than just protective. It turned obsessive, possessive... Dangerous. And it wanted one thing.
I wanted one thing.
Her.
Adriana.
I wanted Adriana Romano to be mine, and I knew in that moment that I'd go to the very edge of the universe and fight my way back if that's what it took.
I broke the kiss and rested my forehead against hers. She breathed deeply, keeping her eyes shut, and a few loose hairs tickled my cheek. She didn't speak or try to move away from me. I didn't want to do either things myself, but I had to.
She wasn't going to walk out of this kitchen, away from me, without knowing that I wasn't playing.
If she had any doubt that I wanted her, I was going to erase that shit quicker than she would know what was happening.
I moved my mouth to her ear, wrapping one of my arms around her tiny waist. “I have no idea how you feel about Gaige Pontarelli, but I'm not a fool, Addy. He wants you, but that's tough shit. You were mine before he even knew your name, and you're still mine now. You never stopped being mine.”
“That's a bold statement for someone sent to kill me,” she whispered.
“It's a pathetic statement for someone who'd take the bullet for you.”
“You're losing your mind, Carlo Rosso.”
“You always made me do stupid shit. Why would now be any different?”
She shuffled back half a step and looked into my eyes. “You're not a dog, Hunter. You don't have to piss on me to mark your territory.”
My lips twitched to one side. “You're right. The bite mark on your tit does that well enough.”
She jerked her head from side to side until she saw the light purple bruise flowering on her right boob. “Shitting hell, Hunter!” She pushed me away and slapped her hand over it. “What did you do that for?”
“You told me not to play.” I moved her hand away from it and gently touched it with a fingertip. “I told you to tell me to stop. You didn't. I wasn't playing, and I told you that. And I don't care if I have to cover your whole damn body in bite marks, from your neck right down your stomach to your sweet, tight cunt.” I pulled her against me and squeezed her ass, and she inhaled sharply. “I belong to you, Adriana. Absolutely. More ways than you know. But you sure as fuck belong to me, because you always have, and because you know that if you have to belong to anyone, it's to me.”
She stayed against me for a moment before she flattened her hands against my chest and stared up at me. Resilience shone in her eyes, and she swallowed hard before she spoke. “If that's true, then you'll do what I want you to.”
“If I haven't already made that clear, then I should probably fuck you again, because I'm running out of words.”
She pressed one finger against my mouth. “Take me to New York.”
My shoulders tightened. “And?”
“Take me to my house so I can kill my father. I want my empire back.”
Fuck—she really wanted to do it. I thought before that she was joking, or that it was nothing more than a pipeline dream. But now... I believed her. The determination that colored her irises bright blue was practically screaming out for revenge.
She looked exactly like her mother, I realized, looking at her then.
There wasn't a single bit of Enzio inside her body. She was all Alexandria. From the fiery temper to the stone-cold manner she could adopt at the drop of a hat. Both of them mixed sometimes, and when that happened, you didn't fuck with her.
I had no intention of fucking with Adriana right in that moment.
She looked as though she'd truly make good on her threat to my balls.
My phone rang on the island, and I glanced at it. It rang four times before cutting off, then it immediately started back up.
I let go of Adriana and grabbed my phone. “Talk of the devil, and he'll call. Don't make a sound.” I answered the phone with her eyes hot on me. “Boss.”
“Is she dead yet?” Enzio snapped. “I'm losing my patience, Carlo.”
“I'll get it done,” I responded firmly. “She's more social than Kim fucking Kardashian. She's like a human magnet. I can't get her alo
ne—even at night she has company.”
“Excellent. She's alive and she's a slut.”
I clenched my jaw.
“Isaiah is getting on a plane tonight. He'll meet you at your hotel at eleven. If you don't have the job done tomorrow, he's going to do it, and then he's bringing me back your fucking head.” Something slammed, probably a door. “So it's her, or both of you. Get a fucking move on, assassino. I'm not paying you to get your dick wet with some Californian wannabe sluts.”
The line cut out. I pinched the bridge of my nose and put the phone down. I guessed I had to be thankful for him sending Isaiah and not someone else. If what Darien had said earlier was true, then Isaiah would be an asset to us, and Adriana would be safe. Enzio might question me—and he was—but he wouldn't question Isaiah.
Like Darien told me; he trusted Isaiah implicitly.
Maybe that would work in our favor.
“What did he want?” Adriana asked, breaking through my inner thoughts.
I met her eyes. “The usual. Are you dead yet?”
She rolled her eyes. “Great. Let me guess, he's getting angry?”
“He's sending Isaiah to Los Angeles tonight.”
She stilled, and worry skated over her features. “He's sending... Oh, no.”
I crossed back over to her and took her face in my hands. “Trust me,” I said softly, locking my gaze onto hers. “I'll greet Isaiah at my hotel. You need to call Darien. But trust me.”
“What about Armo? He was pissed about you being here—never mind my father's consigliere.”
“It isn't about Armo. The man's on an ego trip longer than Route 66.” My lips curved into a small smile. “This is about you.”
She slowly nodded. “But you didn't answer my question.”
“I'll take you to New York. But I won't let you kill him.”
Adriana stepped back from me, forcing my hands to drop. “Why?”
“Because I won't let you lose that innocence.” I noticed a strand of hair had worked itself free from her braid, so I reached forward and tucked it behind her ear. “I don't think you'd be able to live with yourself if you took someone's life, no matter what they'd done to you. I'll take you to New York, but I'll kill him.”
She sighed heavily, but she clearly saw my resolve, so she shrugged and let it go.
For now.
***
Three loud knocks rattled my hotel room door.
I'd left Adriana as soon as Darien had returned from work. I filled him in on my conversation with Enzio, but the responsibility to explain to Adriana that he'd been secretly communicating with Isaiah for the last ten years was on him.
I didn't want to be around when she found out, if I was honest. She was gonna lose her shit.
I put the TV on mute and went to open the door.
“Hurry up, Carlo. They're gonna mistake me for a fuckin' housekeeper soon.” Isaiah's voice echoed through the door.
I forced myself not to roll my eyes. That would never happen. “Yes,” I drawled as I opened the door and stepped to let him into my room. “A six foot five Italian wearing all black, with a shaved head, looks exactly like a fucking housekeeper.”
Isaiah pulled off his black sunglasses and glared at me. “I've got two bullets in my gun, ragazzo. The Boss says one has your name on it. I can use it early.”
I kicked the door shut and opened my mouth to respond. Isaiah held up one hand, indicating for me to be quiet, then dumped his black duffel bag on my bed. I frowned as he opened it and pulled out a small device. A little light flashed on it, and he moved to the far corner of the room.
He swept the device over the curtains, chairs, plant... Everything. No spot in the room was left untouched by the tiny rectangle he was holding. He leaned over the bed, moving it over the lamp, and then, it beeped.
He shook his head and put the detector down, then grabbed the lamp. He ran a finger around the rims of the lampshade, then over every part. He smirked as he lifted it up and pulled a tiny metal spot from the bottom of the stand.
His eyebrows raised as he held his thumb out to me, showing me what was presumably an electronic bug. He chuckled silently as he turned to the balcony doors, opened one, and then flicked it out off the balcony.
“There,” Isaiah said. “You fucking dumb fuck.”
“Nice to see you, too, old man.”
He shot me a dark look. “Enzio has been privy to all your fucking conversations you've had in this room. You're lucky you didn't speak to Adriana on the phone, or you'd be dead right now.”
“And you didn't think it'd be a good idea to tell me?”
“Not really. I thought you'd be smart enough to check and find the bug.”
“Yeah, I carry a detector as a matter of necessity,” I drawled, grabbing a bottle of water from the side. “What are you gonna tell him now? Won't he be suspicious that it disappears as soon as you get here?”
“I'm gonna tell him I checked the line and found someone else transmitting on the same frequency. I'll blame it on the Pontarellis. Thanks.” Isaiah swiped the bottle of water from my hand and unscrewed it. “So she's still alive.”
“Clearly. That's why you're here.”
“I might be thirty years older than you, Carlo, but I rank above you. Watch your damn mouth.”
I rolled my shoulders. “Yes, sir.”
Isaiah smirked. “I'd beat your fuckin' ass for that if I didn't like you so much.”
I returned the quirk of the lips. “What are you doing here, Double Agent?”
He laughed, almost choking on the water. “Securing the future of the Romano family. You think the dumb fuck in New York knows what he's doing? No. Before Alexandria ran with Adriana, she ran the family. Enzio did as he was told. Why do you think he got himself in five million dollars worth of debt and tried to sell his daughter? He's as useless as a slug in a sprint.”
I tried not to laugh at that. But five million dollars? Fuck. That was pocket change to the Romano empire. I knew that much. “And let me guess: you're the brains behind the last ten years.”
“Near enough,” he agreed. “Let's just say my contact with Darien wasn't entirely limited to just him. Alexandria may have helped every now and then.”
“Is Adriana the only person who didn't know?”
“Probably.” He swung out the chair from the desk and sat down, then put his booted feet on my bed. “The Pontarellis didn't know. Still don't. Dumb fucks.”
“You're fond of that expression tonight.”
“What can I say? I'm surrounded by dumb fucks.” He grinned and swigged from the water bottle while I grabbed a second and sat on the bed. “The money to pay off Armo Pontarelli didn't come off a fuckin' tree, Carlo. Enzio thinks he's the boss, but he was Alexandria's pawn until the day he died. She left the funds to Adriana, with Darien and myself as the guardians of the business until such a time she could take control.”
“Until Enzio died, you mean.”
“Died... Was killed... Either one. She wasn't fussed.” He waved his hand dismissively and slicked some dark hair back from his face. “Although, truth be told, she probably hoped he'd be killed.”
Now that I could see. Easily, if she was anything like Adriana.
Isaiah stood and pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket. He'd barely opened the balcony door when he had a match lit in front of it. He waved the match out as he stepped outside and dropped it the way he had the bug. “I made sure Adriana was taken care of,” he said on an exhale, blowing out a thick cloud of smoke. “Alexandria had accounts Enzio didn't—and doesn't—know about.”
I rubbed my hand across my forehead. “Here's what I don't understand.” I joined him at the door and shook my head when he offered me the cig. “Why have you been doing this for so long?”
“I told you.” He took a drag. “Enzio Romano is a dumb fuck. Who do you think finds everythin' out, huh?” He raised an eyebrow, smoke billowing from his nose. He looked like a fucking dragon. “He's too afraid
to leave the sanctuary of the Hamptons, because he knows that as soon as he does, he's a dog's dinner. He's the biggest pussy I've ever met. Why do you think he has a twenty-five year old boy doing his dirty work?”
That made me snort. “I'm hardly a boy, Isaiah.”
“True.” He inclined his head in my direction. “But you're the youngest he's got. Why do you do the most risky jobs? Why, out of everyone, did he send you to kill Adriana?”
“Because I'm the best.”
He winked, and the tip of the cigarette glowed bright orange in the darkness. It illuminated his face, showing every shadowy line and wrinkle around his dark eyes. “Partly, yes. But partly because you're the one who'd get the blame for killing the princess. He's not stupid, Carlo.” Isaiah blew out the smoke and stubbed the cigarette out on the banister before carelessly dropping it on the floor. “The truth would have come out sooner or later, and you'd take the shit for her death. Not him. He never would have ordered you to kill his precious bambina.”
“Then it's a good fucking thing I can't kill her, isn't it?” I turned back inside.
“Yeah.” He laughed, following me in. He slammed the door shut behind him and threw the matches on the nightstand. “There are five people in the Romano family who know where you are, Carlo, and four of them are in this city.” He turned on the other lamp next to the second bed and unbuttoned his shirt.
“I guess you're sleeping here tonight.”
“Of course I am. I'm babysitting you, you dumb fuck.”
“Sleep with one eye open, Isaiah.”
He grinned, the silvery whiskers on his chin glinting in the low light. “Tomorrow we'll go Calabasas and put together a plan. And then I might just drop in on my old friend Armo and see if he's grown a pair yet.”
I shoved my bed sheets aside, thankful I was already in sweats, and sat down. I looked over at Isaiah. “He takes his orders from a twenty-three year old chick who's studying for a Masters degree and has no social life, despite what I told Enzio. Of course Armo doesn't have a pair of fucking balls. And neither does his son,” I added as an afterthought, lying down.
