We all know how this could go if Franco decides to play us dirty.
We’re ready to do what is necessary.
There’s nothing that could stop me from returning to my queen.
I open the door and walk inside.
Fuck.
The barrel of a rifle is pointed at my head.
I grab it instinctively, years of training kicking in. I push it upwards as somebody drives a knee into my stomach.
The hallway is filled with men with rifles and pistols.
I barge the man with the rifle and swing it around like a baseball bat, catching him under the chin.
He roars and collapses into one of his onrushing men.
My men are fighting all around me, growling and roaring as they wrestle for their guns.
I collapse atop a man and hammer him with my fists, bringing my knuckles down with a devastating impact on his jaw. He’s trying to take my new life away from me.
He’s trying to kill what Lucy and I have.
I can’t allow that.
I spin when I feel someone walking up behind me.
My gaze moves over the room.
Fuck-fuck-fuck.
Most of my men are pinned against the wall with rifles pointed at their chest. Aldo wrestles on the floor, gritting his teeth as he aims a vicious head butt at the man beneath him. Aldo may be small but the bastard knows how to fight.
He’s sliding his arms around the man’s neck – going for a rear naked choke like we do when we train in martial arts – when a man approaches behind him, prodding the back of his head with his rifle’s barrel.
“It’s over, Aldo,” I growl, standing slowly as I stare into the eyes of the man with the gun. “We need to remember the stars, cousin.”
He pauses, and then stands slowly with his hands up.
Remember the stars is code to bide our time and save our energy for a follow-up attack. We’ve used it ever since a bunch of jumped-up bikers tried to make a play and took us hostage when we were kids. We fucked those bikers up bad and got them and their drugs out of my city.
“Remember the stars?” the man with the gun aimed at me snaps. “What does that mean?”
He’s tall and skinny, with acne creeping up his neck. His hair is jet-black without a shred of steel in it. His Adam’s apple is a bony fist in his neck, making him look even more angular. He has no experience, no grit.
I don’t recognize any of these men.
“Where’s Franco?” I snarl.
“No questions,” the kid grunts, as Aldo and I walk over to the wall with our men.
“Where is Franco?” I say again, colder this time.
“I said no questions—”
I dart out and take his rifle, spinning it and aiming it at his head. All his false confidence drains away and he shivers, staring at me like I’m a lion who just escaped its cage.
Three of his men already have their guns trained on me, but I don’t flinch.
“They’ll kill you,” he whimpers.
“Won’t save you,” I tell him. “Now, where the fuck is Franco?”
“Don’t say a fucking word,” one of his men grunts.
“You’ve got three seconds, boy,” I snap.
My mind throws itself back to the closeness in the garden with Lucy. When we counted to three before saying how many children we wanted. That was only last night, and yet it feels so detached and remote from this it could be a hundred years ago.
These motherfuckers are keeping me from my woman.
“One, two…”
He shudders and turns his face away from the rifle.
“Three—”
“Wait,” he cries. “Okay. Just wait.”
“Shut your fucking mouth,” his man snarls, but the kid has never felt terror like this before. He must be nineteen, twenty at a push.
“Franco is attacking your estate,” he says. “Please, don’t shoot.”
The words take a moment to hit me.
Franco is going to try to kill Lucy and Maria and all my staff, and Toto… Or he’ll kidnap them and do grotesque things to them, torturing them in the most depraved ways.
The men move closer to me with their rifles.
“Against the wall,” one of them grunts. “Now.”
It’s the smart thing to do, but there’s nothing logical about love, and these bastards are trying to take that from me.
Don’t they know who I am?
Don’t they know how long I’ve ruled?
“Now, Lioni,” the man growls.
I close my eyes for a moment, taking a bolstering breath.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Lucy
“I can’t believe Luca said you’re a lazy boy.”
I giggle as I flail the toy rope around. Toto leaps around on the lawn, throwing his whole body into every jump, his fluffy orange tail wagging like there’s a motor attached to it.
Maria sits beside me in the lawn chair, a wide cap pulled low to shade her face from the sun, holding her coffee like a proper lady.
I find myself longing to see her as a mentor figure, a mother figure, something I was never allowed to experience. The staff at the orphanage were efficient and kind, but none of them ever felt like mine.
“What is it, dear?” Maria asks.
I throw the rope and Toto bounds away, biting it and shaking it from side to side.
“What’s what?”
“Don’t play games with me. You’ve wanted to say something ever since we came out here.”
I wring my hands, anxiety moving through me like hot liquid. “It’s silly. It doesn’t matter.”
She leans forward and lifts the brim of her hat, revealing her smiling sun-dappled face. “You and Luca are going to be together forever, am I correct?”
I nod, fresh fire infusing me, even as part of me cautions to be wary about so much sudden enthusiasm.
I’ve known him such a short time… and yet minutes and hours seem to grow whenever I think about Luca, seeming longer.
Our date last night – and the walk and the kiss and his patience – felt longer and more fulfilling than any other experience in my life.
I know I should be cautious, but it’s as though I physically can’t, like my body and my mind won’t let me.
“Forever,” I say, nodding.
“Which means – God willing – I will be in your life for quite some time. So you better get used to speaking your mind with me.”
I grab the rope when Toto brings it back, focusing on the movement of the rope so I don’t have to focus on what I’m saying.
“I’ve never had a mother figure before. And when we’re together, Maria, I know it sounds crazy… but I see you in that way. You’re the only person I’ve ever felt like a daughter with. And I know that probably means I’m freaking insane, completely crazy because we only just met. But lately, it’s like the phrase only just met doesn’t matter so much.”
Terror spikes into me when she doesn’t respond right away, and I know I’ve overshared. I replay the words in my mind, picking them ruthlessly apart, hating myself for the way I gushed, even if it is the truth.
“I’d love that,” she says.
I flinch, turning to her. I don’t detect any sarcasm in her voice.
“Really?”
She reaches over and touches my forearm, smiling warmly. “Really. I know it’s not how things are usually done, but you’re part of the family now.”
A smile spreads across my face. “That means so much to me. I’ve never had a family before.”
“Well, you better get used to it.” Her grin widens. “Honestly, Lucy, you needn’t be so paranoid. Those days are behind you. But I understand how difficult habits can be to break.”
“Yes, it’s that, exactly that,” I say. “I guess I’ve learned to be on the defensive.”
“Because of high school?”
“How did you know?”
She laughs lightly. “I’ve lived through high school as a teenage girl.
I know how awful it can be at times.”
“Try it with social media. There’s no freaking escape. Not that I’m trying to devalue anything you went through.”
“Not at all. I can’t imagine not being able to go home and forget about that horrible place.”
I nod, fighting off tears. I’m far too emotional lately, but perhaps that’s because I’ve never allowed myself to truly feel before, not with this depth and realness.
“One of the football jocks made a Facebook page. They called it ‘The Sexiest Girl in School’ and posted a bunch of photos they’d secretly taken of me in class. The comments were horrible. I had to delete my account in the end. Leaving high school was the best thing that ever happened to me… well, until recently.”
I lean down and stroke my hands up and down Toto’s small bristly-furred body.
“People can be so cruel,” Maria hisses. “That young man should pray he never runs into you when you and Luca are on a date together. He’d regret his decision very quickly.”
“Do you think there’ll be a time when he and I can go out, on actual dates in the city?”
She nods. “I believe so. Luca will handle this business with Franco and the city will be far safer than it was before.”
“He wants to make it the safest city in the world, it sounds like.”
“Yes. It’s always been his passion.”
“He’s sort of like Batman.” I giggle. “With all his money and how muscular he is, and his secret gadgets around his house like the platform and the restaurant.”
“I’m sorry, dear, but I have no idea who… What was it? Baseball Man?”
I let out a laugh of pure hilarity, my belly getting tight with the laughter. “Are you kidding, Maria? Batman.”
She shakes her head. “No idea.”
“How can you not have heard of Batman?”
“Who is he? Does he have bat wings?”
“He’s a rich man who fights crime dressed like a bat.”
“Ah, so basically like Luca,” she says, smiling. “Without the bat costume. Unless you two have started to experiment already.”
I laugh. “You are so gross.”
“Hey.” She aims a sun-bright smile at me. “Isn’t that what mothers are for?”
I know she means it as a joke, but the heat of belonging moves through me nonetheless.
A man strides quickly across the lawn, dressed in a black suit with black sunglasses and an earpiece. He stands over us, his fingers drumming against his leg. “Ma’am.”
“Paulie, what is it?”
“An attack on the estate. We need to take you to the bunker.”
“Attack?” I yell. “Here?”
Paulie smiles tightly at Maria, seeming to silently ask her permission to speak in front of me, and Maria waves her hand. “Anything I can hear, she can hear, Paulie.”
“Franco and his men are approaching in jeeps. We caught them on the forest cameras. We need to go. Now, please, ma’am.”
I scoop Toto up and stand, feeling like my legs are going to turn to vapor and I’ll collapse at any second.
“Where’s Luca?” I ask, my heart thudding almost painfully in my chest. “He was supposed to be meeting with Franco, wasn’t he? He left me a note. How do you even know Franco’s with them if they’re in cars?”
Paulie sighs darkly. “Because he was standing up, out of the sunroof. He was sitting on the roof of the car and waving a gun around. That’s how we know, miss. As far as Luca is concerned, I have no idea where he is. The last we heard he was going to the Lounge with the men, but we can’t reach him.”
My footsteps falter. The only thing that keeps me standing is Toto pressed against my chest, his little heartbeat drumming against my palm. I can’t fall and hurt him, but walking feels impossible.
In the distance, thunder crackles.
No—softer, tinnier, closer.
Gunshots.
“Come on, dear,” Maria says briskly, touching my arm. “We’ll be safe in the bunker.”
“What about Luca?” I say, still unmoving.
“Wherever Luca is he’d want us to keep you safe. Now move.”
I walk on ghostly legs, following Paulie into the house and down the hallway to the sleek kitchen. He walks over to the tall shiny refrigerator and drops down, rooting around underneath it.
He presses a button and then steps back as the mechanism whirs and the refrigerator disappears into the wall, sliding aside to reveal a small lighted tunnel leading to a metal door at the end of it.
“They can’t get through those doors,” Maria says. “And they probably don’t even know it’s here.”
“They could,” Paulie says. “They might’ve bribed a member of the staff, or tortured one. But the doors are impregnable. Whatever you hear, do not try to open them. Unless they’ve brought some heavy machinery…”
He trails off as he realizes what he was about to say.
“Come on.”
Maria bustles me down the hallway toward the door.
Unless they’ve brought heavy machinery, you’ll be safe.
That’s what he was going to say.
Which means that if they have brought heavy machinery, they might be able to reach us.
Fear swarms my belly, making my body feel stiff and uncooperative.
I hug Toto closer to my chest as the metal door hums and opens inward with a mechanical noise, revealing a room with several bunk beds, a small kitchen area, a door off to the side with Bathroom written on it, and a small seating area.
I walk inside, wishing Paulie hadn’t said that last part.
Maybe we’ll be safe in here and I’ll see my man again.
Or maybe Franco and his goons will cut their way in and kill me before I get the chance to feel Luca’s protective body pressed up against mine.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Luca
“What’s the endgame here?” I snarl, still refusing to press myself against the wall like these assholes want.
I feel my men bristling all around me, the intent to do violence shimmering in the air. It’s a feeling I’ve experienced countless times before, the unspoken bond between the family, every one of us ready to go to war and kill and die for our brothers if it comes to it.
“Against the wall,” the leader snarls.
He’s the oldest of them all, his hair a dirty shade of gray. He’s got too much softness in his middle and his eyes aren’t anywhere near as tough as he’s trying to act.
“Shoot me,” I say, shrugging. “I’m not going to do a damn thing you tell me to, so you might as well put a bullet in my head.”
He bites down, tightening his grip on the gun.
I grin like a wolf. “That’s what I thought. Franco may be a coked-up fool, but he knows what executing me would mean. He’d be dead within a month.”
“But you’re gonna get in line when we’ve got our hands on your little prize, aren’t you, Lioni?” he snaps. “When we can send you videos of how we’re treating her, you won’t be so cocky then.”
Rage boils up inside of me, trying to take hold of my muscles as they bulge and pulse at this man’s words.
I somehow contain it, clenching my fists so hard it feels like my forearm are going to burst.
“If he touches her, you’re all dead. Everyone here. Everyone who has ever aligned with Franco. I will end you all. That’s a promise.”
“Don’t be stupid,” he growls. “You’re a prisoner. Up against the wall.”
“Nope.”
A few of my men laugh and the man wheels the gun on them, a petulant look capturing his coward’s face. “Quiet. No laughing. I might not be allowed to kill Luca or Aldo, but any one of you fuckers is fair game.”
“You’ve threatened my woman and my men. You really must not like living.”
He wheels the gun back to me. The men around him are just as weak and soft, some of them trembling as they aim their guns, the realization slamming into them that we are real Mafia men and
they’re just pretenders.
“Talk all you want, Luca. Stand there instead of up against the wall if it makes you feel big. But right now Franco is storming your estate with enough men to conquer a fucking country. So none of this matters.”
I pray they don’t know about the bunker. I should’ve had it renovated from my old man’s day, installed modern materials, made it truly indestructible. I made the mistake of thinking nobody would have the balls to attack me there.
I didn’t account for Franco’s stupidity.
I spread my hands. “Okay. Let’s talk.”
“What?” he says.
“Enough bullshitting. Let’s talk price. How much is Franco paying you? You’re not real street guys. Franco has lost support now that Ottavio is against him, meaning he most likely took all his real men to the estate. Half of you can’t even hold your guns properly. So how fucking much?”
“He’s paying us a thousand dollars each,” the kid says, the one with the acne I faced off with before.
“Quiet,” the leader growls.
“Ten grand to every man who puts his gun down and walks out this instant.”
“How do we know you’ll really pay?” the kid whimpers.
I snap my gaze to him. “Ask anybody in the city, from the beggars on the streets to the politicians in their penthouses if Luca Lioni has ever missed a payment, and the answer will be no. Write your bank details on a piece of paper and give them to my consigliere. The payments will be made within the day. But you have to decide now, all of you.”
Just like that, most of the men lay their weapons down and start looking around for pieces of paper and pens. Aldo grins over at me, pushing his glasses up his face, and I give him a subtle nod.
My cousin’s wits are often a better tactic than stumbling in like a bulldozing rhino, destroying everything with brute force and leaving no room for nuance.
“Alright, here we go,” the kid says, taking a sheet from the reception desk and scrawling down some details.
The rest of the men do the same, lining up.
I smirk over at the leader. There are ten of us and three of them now.
But they still have the guns.
“Last chance, fellas. Ten grand versus the one Franco’s giving you.”
Model for the Mob: A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance Page 9
