Reckless & Ruined

by Bethany-Kris

  “We all heard him,” Walter muttered.

  “Why the fuck would Riley go after my brother, huh?” Theo asked, his frustration boiling over. He threw his hands high, facing Joel as his shoulders heaved with every breath. “Why Dino? There was no reason for that, none at all!”

  Alessa knew the truth. Abriella knew the truth.

  Joel, Walter, and Dean knew the fucking truth.

  Theo didn’t.

  Alessa’s heart broke for the man.

  “Of course there was a reason,” Joel said quietly.

  Theo scoffed. “Oh?”

  “Yes. Riley clearly wanted to make some point. You knew your brother was leaning toward the Conti side of things, Theo.” Joel shrugged in the chair, looking his fingernails over as he added, “And I brought it up to you, too. Dino couldn’t be trusted entirely.”

  “He was loyal to me,” Theo spat.

  “You believe he was, and I’m almost positive Riley did, too. Somehow, the man is getting information.” Joel eyed the mostly silent men in the room, never once sparing his sisters any of his attention. “Perhaps Riley’s point was to show that even those who think they might have a leg in this game, those who are close to him, are not safe from his wrath if he decides to level it on them.”

  Theo’s body trembled. “I want that man to pay.”

  “As I said,” Joel murmured, “he will.”

  No.

  Alessa shook her head but forced her mouth to stay quiet.

  No.

  Riley Conti didn’t do this.

  She wanted to tell them—tell Theo—but who would believe her?

  Alessa caught Abriella’s stare again. Even her sister looked worn and unsettled. If Abriella couldn’t manage to save face and keep strong, what did that say for Alessa? What did that say for their family and the Outfit?

  Joel had finally gone too far.

  You shouldn’t skip church on Sunday … I hear it’s going to be a blast.

  Joel’s words. Not Riley’s.

  Why had her brother done this?

  “If this doesn’t show the Outfit that Riley Conti cares for no man and cannot be trusted, I don’t know what will,” Joel said quietly.

  Joel played his game well, Alessa realized. His words said it all. He’d killed a man simply to drive Dino’s family closer to theirs by using their pain, grief, and fear. Joel ended someone’s life to further his own, not because that man deserved to die.

  It was disgusting.

  It left a terrible, smothering chill running through Alessa’s body.

  A false sadness covered Joel’s expression. His frown looked real. Even his tired, watery gaze seemed true. Nothing was. Joel was a liar.

  A filthy, untrue, turncoat liar. A dirty player in the Outfit’s games.

  Because he couldn’t win otherwise.

  Alessa wouldn’t let him win.

  She’d make goddamn sure of that.

  “We’ll get him, Theo,” Joel said.

  Theo nodded. “We better.”

  “We will, Theo. Mark my words.”

  Alessa felt Adriano’s presence in the church before she even saw him. It was like comfort and home had just walked into the room to pick her up and take her with him.

  Dressed in all black, Adriano walked down the aisle between the pews. The suit Adriano wore was appropriate for the funeral. His hands were clasped at his back and his head was bowed just enough to keep his eyes from Alessa’s view as he passed her by. Silent and resigned, Adriano barely graced anyone with his attention.

  Alessa wanted him to look at her.

  Just fucking look at her.

  She’d tried to call him, needing to hear his voice and make sure he was okay. She wanted to tell him what she knew about Joel and the things he had done. Adriano needed to know that Joel was planning something on Riley.

  But how could she tell him if he wouldn’t talk to her?

  The funeral went on as planned, despite the bombing from the day before. The location for the service had changed to a smaller church, one Alessa’s grandfather used to attend when he was a younger man.

  Somehow, Adriano must have gotten the change of venue for the service if he showed up. He showed up alone, interestingly enough. Alessa didn’t miss the fact that Riley and none of his men had accompanied Adriano to the service.

  Adriano came alone. He came unprotected.

  He didn’t look the least bit frightened as he stepped up to Joel with a sympathetic frown and offered his hand, quiet apologies for their loss, and nothing more.

  It was brazen.

  Bold.

  Crazy.

  Completely insane.

  And guessing by the look on Joel’s face—the unaltered rage churned with shock—this was just another game to the families.

  Dean stood beside Alessa, keeping her firmly in place. She couldn’t skip out or try to catch Adriano as he left. Dean wasn’t likely to leave her side.

  Abriella’s hand found Alessa’s. Without a word, her sister squeezed.

  Someone was there.

  People were watching.

  This is how you win in a war. Play dirty.

  Adriano passed by Peter and Sara who stood at the casket, offering them the same he did Joel. Abriella and Alessa stood in the front pew, directly across from Terrance’s casket. Briefly, Adriano paused at the casket, murmuring his goodbye to an Outfit boss.

  When Adriano spun on his heel, turning his back to the casket, his gaze caught Alessa’s. She searched his eyes, needing to find something there staring back. Something familiar. Something comforting and loving.

  Anything.

  Alessa found nothing.

  Adriano looked cold.

  It burned her, searing through her heart and soul with a devastating intent.

  Abriella squeezed Alessa’s hand again.

  Just another game.

  Adriano had to play his, too.

  Christ.

  Alessa hoped that’s what it was.

  Abriella slipped inside Alessa’s bedroom silently. “Hey.”

  Alessa didn’t look up from her phone. She was waiting for a call or text, but nothing came. Nothing except useless platitudes and apologies from college friends and distant relatives about the death of Terrance. Certainly not the phone call or message Alessa wanted, at least not from the right person.

  Adriano.

  Alessa sighed, shoving her phone down to the blankets. “Hey.”

  Abriella waved at the door. “The house is still packed full.”

  Great.

  “Still?” Alessa asked.

  “Very,” Abriella confirmed. “And it’ll probably keep going most of the night. Joel is already drunk, but I’m not sure if that’s because he’s an idiot, or because he’s pissed off about Adriano showing up at the funeral after the bomb.”

  Alessa tried not to be annoyed, but she really just wanted to go home to her apartment, away from the prying eyes of the guests and mourners. As was custom for a family after a funeral, the Trentinis arranged a dinner and quiet party for guests to celebrate Terrance’s life. Quiet being the key word.

  Apparently no one got that message.

  It wasn’t uncommon for the parties to get loud, even if it was brought on by a funeral. Given the bombing a day before, and Adriano’s show today, a great deal of the Outfit’s families had shown up alongside friends and relatives.

  Alessa just couldn’t stand it anymore. She had needed to get away, and the very first chance she could, slipped upstairs to her old room.

  Well …

  New room.

  By the end of the week, she supposed she would be living in this space again.

  It felt like the old her—a younger, more naive Alessa.

  “Adriano won’t answer my calls,” Alessa said.

  Abriella frowned. “Give him a couple of days. Maybe he’s just out of it right now. Eve is in the hospital, too.”

  Yeah, Alessa heard. Evelina had taken a few bumps and cuts from flying d
ebris. The front and side windows of the car she had been in when the bomb went off had exploded. The Conti driver had been badly burned.

  “I want him to know,” Alessa said. “I need him to know that I know who did this.”

  “This is going to backfire,” Abriella muttered.

  Alessa glared at her sister. “I don’t care. Adriano probably thinks I blame his family for this. I need him to know that I don’t.”

  “No, I meant Joel.”

  “What?”

  “Joel,” Abriella said again. “He’s trying to turn people against Riley. I think it’s going to backfire.”

  “How so?”

  “Fear is a great motivator, Alessa. The stronger man always wins.”

  “But all these people are here, Ella.”

  Abriella shrugged. “Middle men. Unimportant men. Go back downstairs and take a look around, Alessa. The right men, the ones Joel should have, didn’t follow the family back to the dinner.”

  “Laurent is here,” Alessa said.

  “Tommas isn’t,” Abriella replied just as fast. “And everybody knows he makes the important calls for the Rossi side.”

  “Theo is here for the DeLucas. Walter, too.”

  “Theo is grieving. He’s lost a great deal of people. His uncle, his brother, and in a way, his sister is married off to a family who isn’t showing a lot of support to the Trentini cause. But a lot of the DeLuca crew is keeping their distance from Joel. It’s the same thing as the Rossi crew.

  “Walter, on the other hand, is using this tragedy to climb higher,” Abriella said, looking entirely unbothered by the fact they were stuck in a mess. “He thinks Joel will take him there. As far as Riley goes, he has the biggest crew. The Conti side of the Outfit has always dominated the streets because he’s the front boss with a closer hand to the men. Riley had a great deal of support and if his crew starts moving in on the others, they’ll bow down because they don’t have a choice.”

  Alessa chewed on her lower lip. A mess wasn’t good enough to describe the shit show surrounding them. Everything Abriella said simply told Alessa that the fighting would continue until someone got what they wanted. A higher seat. The better title.

  Where in the hell did that leave her?

  Where did that leave Adriano?

  All over again, Alessa was left with the distinct feeling that she and Adriano just couldn’t be. Something was always going to stand in their way. Someone would always be waiting, ready to step in and stop them.

  Alessa didn’t want to think that way but the nagging pain in her chest, reminding her of how far apart Adriano already was from her, wouldn’t leave.

  Joel was still planning to marry Alessa off the first chance he could.

  The families were still feuding.

  Adriano still wouldn’t answer his damned phone.

  The Outfit might be a ruined mess, but her life was a hurricane.

  Pity party for one right here, Alessa thought.

  She shook it off, knowing it wouldn’t do her any good.

  “What am I supposed to do, huh?” Alessa asked. “How is this supposed to work out?”

  Abriella grabbed the doorknob and pulled open the door as she said, “Wait, Alessa. Something else will happen. It always fucking does. That is one guarantee we can always count on in this life.”

  Waiting was the killer.

  Alessa padded through the bottom floor, making her way toward the large kitchen for a drink of water. Thankfully, all the guests had left the property, but it was well after one in the morning. She’d stayed hidden up in her room until she was sure the mansion had cleared of people.

  Another positive: Dean hadn’t come looking for her.

  Passing by the living room, quiet murmurs and womanly giggles stopped Alessa in her tracks. She didn’t try to hide the fact she was standing in the large entrance, but none of the people inside noticed her there, either.

  Joel sat in the leather recliner at the head of the room. A woman rested on his lap, draped across Joel and the chair. Alessa recognized her as the daughter of one of Walter’s men. Chloe was her name. There was only a handful of times Alessa could remember seeing her brother with a woman. And it sure looked like he had a whole handful of the girl in his lap, considering Joel’s hand was up her skirt and her legs were spread wide.

  Chloe didn’t act like there was anyone else in the room, watching the show she was putting on with her legs opened, her panties down around her knees, and her skirt pulled up high.

  Someone else was in the room, though.

  Dean was sprawled across the couch with a glass of whiskey in his hand, laughing loudly. The amber liquid in his glass spilled to the floor and he rolled into a sitting position. It certainly didn’t help that Chloe was starting to shudder and gasp like she was enjoying it all.

  Alessa bet the girl’s father would absolutely die if he knew what she was doing tonight. Then again, maybe Chloe’s father thought messing around with Joel would get him higher.

  Games.

  They all fucking played them.

  They all had their own to play.

  “What are we going to do about Riley, huh?” Dean asked.

  Joel shrugged, his hand still moving between Chloe’s legs.

  Alessa was just grateful the woman was turned the opposite way from her. Unfortunately, the pulled down panties and spread legs was enough to make Alessa’s stomach roll.

  “Be specific, asshole,” Joel said.

  A slur coated his words, telling Alessa her brother was drunk.

  Or still drunk from earlier.

  “Adriano and the club thing,” Dean explained.

  A very noticeable bulge in Dean’s slacks caught Alessa’s attention. Dean was clearly enjoying the show between Joel and Chloe. That was even more disgusting to her.

  “We’re going to make you, of course,” Joel said flippantly.

  Dean grinned. “Yeah?”

  “Walter suggested it. Getting you the button will clear that nonsense right up. And it looks good for my sister to be getting hers with a made man when the time comes, anyway.”

  “Perfect,” Dean said, rubbing his hands together. “When?”

  “Soon. Just act fucking surprised when you get the call. All right?”

  “Got it, boss.”

  Alessa couldn’t let that happen. She clenched the still silent phone in her hand a little harder, willing Adriano to answer one of her many messages back.

  Chloe’s loud cry was swallowed up by Joel grabbing the girl’s face, pulling her up high, and shoving his tongue down her throat. Alessa turned away, not wanting to see that or what was going to come next.

  Apparently, she didn’t have to see anything. Their next words were enough.

  “What do you think, Chloe?” Joel asked, his tone dark and deep with drink. “Are you up for a little fun tonight? Two, maybe?”

  “Maybe,” Chloe echoed.

  “Whiskey dick goes all night,” Dean said, almost like he was warning the girl.

  Yuck.

  That was the man Joel planned on trying to marry her off to eventually.

  Right. No way.

  It wasn’t going to happen. Alessa didn’t care what she needed to do in order to get Dean gone from her life forever, she would do it. The information she learned tonight, and the little bit of understanding she had when it came to the Outfit and initiating members, was the perfect chance to help Dean along … far away from her.

  Even if that meant he would be going six feet under.

  Alessa had never spilled blood. Her hands had never once been dirty. She’d fucking bathe in it if that meant getting the hell away from Dean and the Artinos.

  Play dirty.

  This is how you win in a war.

  But what would winning mean?

  Alessa was willing to risk it.

  “Yes or no?” Joel said.

  “I’m still waiting on that from you, Joel,” Chloe murmured. “We keep fucking and messing around, but you don�
��t want to talk about real life.”

  Joel laughed. “Oh, Chloe. You need to forget about that shit.”

  “Be grateful you’re sitting on his lap at all, babe,” Dean said, chuckling.

  Chloe scoffed. “I’m good enough to fuck, but not anything else, huh?”

  “You don’t wife a whore, sweetheart,” Joel replied.

  Ouch.

  Alessa kept walking.

  “Who are you texting?”

  Alessa didn’t get the chance to hide her phone from Dean before he snatched it from her grasp. “Dean!”

  Dean waved her off, scrolling through her iPhone and the few vague messages Alessa hadn’t deleted from the last hour. Adriano’s contact name and information had always been disguised as someone else. She had always been careful to delete their conversations from the main inbox as well as the history and text files. Plus, she always kept her messages to Adriano short, sweet, and without any real detail to give away who he was.

  Nonetheless, Alessa’s anxiety still pounded deep.

  “Give me the damn phone,” Alessa said.

  Dean gave one last look at the screen, rolled his eyes, and handed it back over. “Who is Rain?”

  Quickly, Alessa slipped her phone back into her pocket. “A girlfriend from school.”

  “A new friend or just someone?” Dean asked, walking over to the office door. He looked out into the hallway and checked the hall. “Still quiet.”

  Alessa didn’t care if the hall was quiet or not. “Why does it matter if she’s a new friend or not?”

  “You haven’t been texting her for very long but the contact was made years ago.”

  Shit.

  Alessa racked her mind for an appropriate excuse. “We met a long time ago at school, exchanged numbers, but never really hit it off. Her grandmother died. I just found out this morning from a mutual friend when I picked up some stuff before coming here. I was trying to get a message to her. To say sorry, you know.”

  It was a good enough excuse. Joel had allowed her driver to take Alessa to meet up with a friend to get some of the assignments and notes that she’d missed from her summer classes.

  Dean leaned against the doorjamb and eyed Alessa curiously. “That seems nice of you.”

  “Does who I am scream ‘bitch’?”