UNPROTECTED: A Dark Bad Boy Baby Romance (Hanley Family Mafia)

by Zoey Parker

  “You’re right, of course. But really, who’s going to know?”

  I gape at him as the inference at what he’s saying sinks in.

  “All they’re going to see is this paper,” Carlos continues, his voice light, casual.

  “What about me, Carlos?” I ask.

  He doesn’t answer, his eyes locked on a spot over my head, the inevitable conclusion worsening with every passing second.

  Then, his eyes meeting mine, he murmurs, half to himself, “Yes, what about you?”

  A smile plays on his lips and my blood runs cold, words surging forth:

  “Carlos, please, I won’t tell anyone – I swear. I’ll leave, leave Toronto, Ontario, Canada even. I’ll stay out of your way I promise. Please Carlos.”

  His gaze is still beyond me. When it flicks to mine, his smile forms fully, says, “Oh you’ll leave Canada alright.”

  Now my whole body is trembling.

  “Carlos – please – don’t do this – please, I-”

  “Have already shown that you can’t be trusted. You lied to me Toni. You lied about fucking Gabriel Pierson all this time. You lied about trying to change our family business right under me. And just now you lied about letting Gabriel Pierson down here to rescue his sister.”

  “Carlos, please...”

  He pats my head.

  “Don’t worry Toni. You will stay out of my way. You’ve been trying to learn more about the family business, the girls – well, now you’ll get to experience it all firsthand.”

  Our eyes meet in horrible understanding, and I croak, “No.”

  Carlos pats my head again.

  “Yes, I’m sending you out with the next shipment of girls. You won’t be ruining my plans any longer.”

  “Carlos...”

  “Papa always said that sometimes what we have to do to succeed isn’t always pretty.”

  “Carlos…”

  “And now mother can come back here, where she’s always belonged.”

  “Carlos,” I gasp, “Look at me.”

  And, finally, he does.

  I let my gaze bore into him, convey all my repentance, my sadness, my terror. I fill that gaze with every one of our childhood memories: snow angels and snow cones, sand castles and paper fights and Monopoly games and pizza birthday parties and crying here, together, as Papa passed away.

  But our shared gaze lasts only a moment, our understanding less than a second: he blinks and opens his eyes a new man. Not my brother, not Carlos. But a stranger, a tyrant doing what it takes, whatever it takes.

  “There will be a guard waiting in that armchair,” Carlos says, gesturing over, “With orders to shoot you if you try to escape.”

  I’m shaking my head, back and forth, not caring about the muzzle of death pressed into my forehead.

  “No… no…”

  With the palm of his hand, Carlos shoves me back through the door into the room.

  “Goodbye Toni,” he says, and then the door is filled with the back of my favorite armchair.

  The irony is a stab to the heart, but really, I’m as good as dead already.

  Chapter 29

  Gabriel

  Back in my apartment, I sit.

  I sit on my lush black leather seats, watch, wait.

  It’s been half an hour, and still Hannah hasn’t stirred.

  She’s on the other couch, covered by a woolly afghan Momma made years ago. It’s canary yellow and stands out ridiculously in this black room. Then again, so does Hannah.

  She’s always been a flash of color and this outfit she was kidnapped in is no exception: bright teal tank, neon lime skirt with a choker to match.

  The others left on a beer run, knew better than to try talking to me.

  Until I know she’s okay, nothing else matters.

  Only Pip stayed, the only one who matters anyway. He’s a pre-med dropout, so he can help. I wouldn’t have let him leave if he wanted to.

  I pat Hannah’s head, smooth down her soft blond hair.

  Did I make the right choice in taking her here instead of a hospital?

  The clenching of my hands at even the thought is the answer.

  No, if Hannah were there, being taken care of by strangers, being protected by no one, neither of us would’ve been able to rest. No, not when Carlos and the Piccolos are still out there, could take her again.

  As Hannah sleeps, I scan her once more. Her clothes look dusty but intact. Her fingernails have dirt under them while her fingers are clenched.

  I want with everything in me for Hannah to wake up and yet, I’m afraid for her to. Afraid of what she’s been through, of what it’ll make me do.

  She may look fine, but her face is tense and her every breath sounds like something of a fight in itself.

  The Piccolos are going to pay for this.

  And to think, that all this time Toni knew…

  I stand up, start pacing. I won’t think of it now. I can’t. Hannah is all that matters.

  Hannah’s body shudders with a cough.

  I crouch down, and one of her eyes peeks open, blinks sleepily before closing again.

  “Hannah?” I say softly, and she smiles.

  The other eye peeks open, and she murmurs, “Black on… black on…”

  I laugh, feel like lifting her up right here and now. But instead, as both of her eyes open, I help her into a sitting position.

  Regarding me with an amused sort of stupor, she declares, “You saved me. I knew you would.”

  I throw my arms around her, and she hugs me back.

  I hold her tight, never want to let her go, never want to have this moment end. This moment before I know. I don’t want to know what they did to her and yet, I have to.

  As we draw apart, Hannah nods, reads my thoughts with a grin.

  “Don’t worry. It wasn’t that bad.”

  I scrutinize her face.

  “So, you… remember?”

  Another prompt nod.

  “Everything. Though I do feel like an idiot for getting conned by Carlos when I was trying to con him.”

  She gets up and flops down on the couch. I flop down beside her.

  “So, you knew all along?” I ask, and she nods, brushes her bangs out of her eyes.

  “Thought I could help for a change.”

  “Want me to give you a minute, Boss?” Pip asks.

  He’s risen from the other couch. I stare at him. He looks happy but uncomfortable. I’d forgotten he was here at all.

  But Hannah shakes her head, sighs.

  “No, everyone already knows how stupid I’ve been. I mean, I thought I could get information from him, maybe mess with him a bit, but I think he knew all along. When he caught me snooping in his phone, it was all over.” She frowns, shakes her head, murmurs, “Thank God you came, I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if…”

  Now, it’s my turn to shake my head.

  “Let’s not even talk about it. How are you feeling?”

  I gesture to Pip.

  “Pip, come over here.”

  As he comes to sit in the spot I’ve patted on the couch, Hannah shrugs.

  “I feel groggy, but that’s from whatever drugs they gave me to keep me sedated in that horrible cement room. Otherwise I’m fine.”

  I nod, turn to Pip.

  “How does she look?”

  Hannah pouts at me.

  “Gabe, I’m serious…”

  I stand up.

  “No, I’m serious. I almost lost you. No way am I not having you checked out.” I put my hand on her shoulder. “Or letting you out of my sight, for that matter.”

  As Pip takes what looks like a stethoscope out of his bag, Hannah regards me with an unimpressed expression.

  “So what, I’m on house arrest in your bachelor pad until further notice, is that it?”

  I smile, go over to the kitchen to get us some water bottles.

  “Something like that.”

  When I return with three Aquarellas, Pip is shining
a LED flashlight in Hannah’s eyes, peering into her mouth, then her ears. All the while Hannah’s glare is on me.

  Once he’s finished I hand both of them bottles, then turn to Pip.

  “So, what’s the verdict?”

  He looks nervous, maybe from my intent stare boring into him. When Pip speaks, however, his voice is calm.

  “She’s fine Boss, a bit dehydrated but it doesn’t look like they did anything to her unless…”

  His face goes red, and Hannah stands up.

  “I’d know if they did that. And at any rate I’m not having either of you check that, so there!” She storms off to the hallway, then pauses. “So, you’re saying I’m stuck here, then?”

  I follow and pass her, coming to a stop in front of her with a nod.

  “Yes.”

  She stretches herself to her full height.

  “Here in your bachelor pad, even when you have your guests. Who is it lately – or should I ask who are the latest ones?”

  I shrug. “No one.”

  My sister’s jaw drops. “Seriously?”

  I shrug and she lets out a low whistle.

  “Damn, me being gone really hit you harder than I even imagine. You okay? You didn’t…”

  The image of that second whiskey a few days ago appears, and I shake it away with my head.

  “No, no, don’t worry.”

  A warm smile spreads over her face and she throws herself onto me in a hug.

  “I love you, Gabe.”

  “Love you too, Hannah.”

  As we separate, she heads for the guest room, saying, “My usual room’s okay?”

  “Yep and Hannah?”

  She stops.

  “Who was it, other than Carlos, that you saw when you were there? Did anyone else come to see you?”

  Hannah turns, shakes her head.

  “Nope. Carlos was the one who dumped me in that godforsaken little room and he was the only one who came periodically, to lord his victory, sneer at my helplessness. There was a hole in the wall too. Sometimes I’d stare out of it, but the only other person I saw was this woman – his sister, I think – who came down, but didn’t seem aware that I was there. The walls were pure cement, too thick for my yelling or banging to get through.”

  “Oh,” I say.

  I steady myself on the wall, resisting the sudden urge to sit down.

  Toni might have been telling the truth.

  “Gabe, what’s the matter?” Hannah is asking, peering into my face.

  I slide down the wall until I’m sitting on the hardwood floor, staring at the black wall ahead of me.

  Damn it, Toni couldn’t have been telling the truth, could she?

  “Gabe?” Hannah is asking, sitting on the floor beside me.

  “About before... when you asked if there were any women while you were gone, I wasn’t completely honest. There was a woman. Toni. Toni Piccolo.”

  “What?” Hannah asks, her voice a shocked hush.

  I nod.

  “I’ve been seeing her for a few weeks, but I had no idea who she really was until today. I found out when I came to rescue you, she was there, said she didn’t know anything about you being there.”

  “Shit Gabe, did she know who you were?”

  I nod again.

  “Don’t know for how long, but yeah she admitted she knew, said she wanted to tell me but… Hann, she’s a Piccolo, this had to be part of them screwing with us, trying to get information out of me.”

  “Probably,” Hannah says, “Just… what was she like?”

  The words come out before I can stop them, “I don’t know. She was an enigma: passionate yet subdued, fiery yet playful. I always wondered why she was so closed-off, but I guess that mystery’s solved for now at least.”

  I frown at the wall.

  “And when I was with her... Hann, it was crazy, it was like I wasn’t myself, like time slid away. It was like, everything was perfect.”

  I stand up, offer Hannah my hand.

  “Though it doesn’t matter now. Everything she told me was basically a lie, so our entire relationship probably was too.”

  Hannah stares at my hand, doesn’t take it.

  “I don’t know, Gabe.”

  I shrug.

  “Well I do. The Piccolos have caused us enough problems to last us decades. Now that you’re home safe, I’m going to end it. I’m going to put them down for good.”

  Hannah rises, raises her blue-eyed gaze to mine.

  “Is that what you really want to do?”

  I don’t respond and she continues, “Put them down – just how they’ve been trying to do to us, continue this never-ending conflict?”

  I look at her, my rosy-cheeked, clear-eyed little sister. My Hannah whom I almost lost.

  “You don’t get it,” I say, “They almost took you from me. I almost lost you, Hann.”

  She puts her hand on my shoulder.

  “But you didn’t.”

  I turn away, back to the living room.

  “I’ve got to get to work.”

  I’m halfway there when Hannah says, “Oh and Gabe?”

  I pause.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’ve never heard you talk about any woman like that. How you just did about Toni. I’d think about what you’re going to do. Toni’s different and you know it.”

  I say nothing, and Hannah continues, “I’m not saying to trust her or go back to her. I’m just saying, maybe make sure she’s lying before you dismiss her altogether.”

  I walk back into the living without another word. Sit down and sink into the leather couch in silence.

  Hannah doesn’t understand. Just how intense this casual “fling” with Toni has gotten. That I’m not worried that Toni is a liar. I’m worried what I’ll choose if she is.

  Chapter 30

  Toni

  I wake up dead.

  I’m on my back on a hard, concrete floor, in a little box of a room. I’m hungry and delirious. I must be dead. There can be no other explanation for this.

  I roll onto my side and remember.

  Gabriel, seeing me, knowing the truth, rejecting the both of us. His sister, that drugged-out flop of a girl. The blind rage in his eyes. The gun pointed at me.

  Slipping my hand in my pants pocket only confirms what I knew already: My phone is gone.

  Carlos must’ve taken it out. There goes my last chance.

  Now there’s no knowing how long I’ve even been here: minutes, hours, days…

  Really, who cares? I’m doomed in any case. I will be shipped, sold and screwed – over and over and over again - and there’s nothing I can do about it.

  A low moan escapes my lips.

  Why, oh, why did I have to stay? Why did I ever trust Carlos? Why did I lie to Gabe?

  Frustrated tears spill down my face.

  God, I’ve been so stupid.

  I get up on hands and knees, then rise.

  Maybe Gabriel’s sister missed something. Maybe Carlos isn’t as careful as he thinks. Maybe there’s a way out.

  But all my circling around the room reveals are corners full of spider webs and dead spiders who’ve died waiting. Trapped in a box of an underground room with no flies, the unnatural life killed them. Just how the sex trade life will kill me.

  My second circling of the room turns up the smallest of holes by the left corner.

  I peer through to see my eerily undisturbed den: the closet door neatly closed, the Renoir painting straight. In the corner of my vision, on my armchair is a pair of men’s legs. The guard who has orders to kill me. As if that was something to really be afraid of now.

  Leaning against the wall, I stare dully at the flap door, the one I know leads to the couch with the guard who has orders to kill me. My last chance that’s not a chance at all.