The office was where we held all the business. It was located under a strip club that the family owned. Growing up, I’d always gone with my father to the office; he wanted me to learn the family business when I wasn’t in school, so seeing naked women was never a new thing for me. The strippers didn’t take too much interest in me until I was in high school. That was when I finally filled out into my large frame. Several of the girls offered to teach me how to please a woman, and being a stupid high school kid, I took them up on their offers. Sure, those women were hot and always ready to go for a ride, but as I grew older, I realized that they were just assets of our family business. They weren't real people.
They certainly weren't Vienna.
As we walked the rest of the way to the conference rooms, I wondered what she was doing. Who she was with. Was she safe? I had spent hundreds of nights dreaming about her. Dreaming about what I would do when I saw her again. How I would take her and make her mine. It was one of the only things that kept me sane in this place. I would give anything to have those hazel eyes on me again.
2
Vienna
“Welcome to the Starlight, what can I get for ya?”
I said that same phrase at least fifty times a day. I hated working at a restaurant, but at least for the most part, people were nice. The smell of fryer grease on my clothes, however, I would still be able to smell once I was dead.
The elderly gentleman smiled up at me. “The regular, darlin’. You on your own today? It's busy in here.”
I scribbled down two eggs, white toast, and three slices of bacon on my waitress pad before I smiled back at him. “Yep it's just me. Leah will be in later though, so when you come back for dinner tonight, you'll see her.”
“Nope. It's Wednesday, I’ll eat at the senior center. Then we get to play bingo.”
Mr. Herman, I loved that old geezer. He always tipped the waitresses well, and he was sweet to us. Sweetness to a waitress could go a long way, especially in our diner. We treated him like family.
“That's right, I didn't even realize it was Wednesday. I'll get your breakfast for you.”
I brushed my hands on my apron as I walked into the back. “New order!” I yelled as I slapped my order paper down on the counter. “It's Mr. Herman's, so make it quick.”
Chevy waved at me with the spatula. “You got it.”
I went back out to the front and noticed the empty coffee pot. I walked up to the station and grabbed the coffee grounds from the cabinet below. The smell of the fresh grounds wafted over me as I waited for Mr. Herman’s order. I looked around the diner and sighed. The rest of my customers already had their meals. If more customers didn’t come in, today was going to be a very long day.
My eyes trailed over to the booth in front of me. In it sat a middle-aged gentleman reading the newspaper and quietly mumbling to himself.
“Anything interesting?”
He pulled down the paper just enough so that his eyes looked at me over the newsprint. “Just some gang banger being let out of prison. I don't even understand this. How do they let some asshole who killed somebody out? Isn’t he a danger to society?”
I shrugged. “I guess it's not really our choice. Or maybe he had a good reason for killing that person. Maybe they were worse than he was.”
I knew as soon as the words left my lips that I shouldn't have said it. The man looked at me with wide eyes. I hadn't been raised like this man. I was used to people killing other people for sport.
Sometimes I wondered if that made me a bad person.
My mother was an accountant, and she was very good at her job. Especially at covering up money that was not supposed to be there. She had handled the books for a very famous mob family in Baltimore. The Gioti family. She had done all of their accounting for most of my life. Growing up around the mob gave me a very different perspective on life.
And then one day, it was all over, and the life that I knew completely changed.
I remembered it like it was yesterday. We were sitting in the office below the club that the family owned. I was eating candy out of a fancy box by some famous chocolatier. It was the most amazing chocolate I had ever tasted. Each bite practically melted in my mouth. My mother and I would've never been able to afford luxuries like that had we not worked for the family. So I knew, even back then, that my mother working for them was a precious gift. I just didn't realize how precious her life was. I was licking excess chocolate off my fingers because it was a hot day, and they were melting in my hands when I heard the commotion outside the door. At first, it sounded just like any other argument, and I had heard them a thousand times before. I remembered not even reacting until my mother told me to climb under the desk.
“Why?”
Her face was so serious. “Vienna, just get under the desk right now.”
I dropped the box of chocolates on the floor and scurried under the desk, hiding next to her feet. Someone broke through the door just a minute later.
“I'll kill you for this, Gioti. I'll kill you and your whole fucking family. Especially that bitch.” I heard a man's yell from just a few feet away. And then the loud pop of a gun. I smacked my hand over my mouth so I wouldn't scream. They always taught me not to scream. There was another pop of the gun, and this time, I saw my mother’s legs lose tension as she slumped in her chair.
I didn't come out from under that desk for hours.
I sat there watching the crimson blood pool at her feet. I had never been that close to death. I hoped that maybe they could save her. But I was fifteen, and I knew better. There was nothing they could do. She was gone.
The cops arrived, and they found me huddled in the corner underneath my mother's mahogany desk hugging my knees to my face. I don’t know who called them. Who let them into the Gioti den. Why they didn’t just clean it up themselves, like they had a hundred times before.
Maybe that time was different.
I didn't even cry. I was too terrified to do anything but breathe. She was gone.
It changed my life. Everything I thought I knew was suddenly ripped away. Including Luka Gioti, the son of the mob boss. I had spent nights sitting alone with him, talking about every part of our lives. I held my breath when he spoke sometimes, because I was just so entranced. He told me all his stories, and even some that didn’t belong to him. Horrible things people had done to keep others safe. But that night, no one kept my mother safe.
No one.
I remembered them taking me away in the back of a cop car, and the last face of the Gioti family that I saw was Luka. He was just standing there with his hand up, waving goodbye. If only I had known it was forever. If only I had known that that was the last time I would ever see Luka Gioti, I would've told him.
I would've told him that I was madly and irrevocably in love with him.
But I couldn’t tell him that now. Now that we were on opposite sides of a brewing war. Of a life that was falling apart.
3
Luka
“Luka, so good to see you. You're looking fit, healthy even.”
I sat down across from my lawyer, a sleazy man named Richard that we kept on retainer. There was always somebody in jail in my family, or some FBI agent coming after us for money-laundering or something else that they thought they could tie to the family. But they never could. Richard may have been greasy and a little bit disgusting, but the man knew how to do his job. He was excellent at hiding secrets, a perfect lawyer for a mob family.
“I'm good, Richard, but a little confused. What the hell are you doing here?”
“Well, you know the little side project you've been having me work on for you, the one I'm not supposed to tell your father about?”
I sat up a little bit straighter in my seat. If he was coming here with information, I was ready to listen. “Yeah, what about it?”
Richard hunched over a bit, his tie touching the table. He looked both ways before speaking. “I found her. She's working at some little diner on the other side
of town.”
Vienna.
A sense of calm washed over my body at the thought of her face. Those beautiful doe eyes, her flushed cheeks in the neon glow of the club. The way I remembered her. “She's in Baltimore? I swore they said they put her in the foster system so they took her out of the city. Witness protection program or some other bullshit.”
He shook his head. “I don't know, man, we never were able to find out what really happened to her. But she's here. I know that she never testified. From the information I was able to pull, she was under the desk the whole time and never saw who the shooter was. Without a witness, they could never make a solid case against her mother's killer.”
I didn't know that. I thought she was taken into witness protection because she was going to testify. “No, I just assumed. I tried to find her after she left, but there wasn't much. My father wanted to take care of her, because even if she wasn’t blood, she was family. He wanted to show her that she would never have to want anything for the rest of her life. But we could never find her.”
Richard nodded in understanding, pressing his lips together in a thin line. “The situation was terrible. It started that investigation against the family, people looking into books that were cooked. I mean, shit did spiral down to you landing here.”
It was true. I had taken the life of a man. He deserved it, though. He came after my family. He ripped Vienna away from me. She was only fifteen when her mother was killed. She must have been thrown into the foster system with no other family to speak of. My family had tried to find her; they didn't want her to feel alone. If there was one thing the mob was good at, it was taking care of our own. If she was placed in witness protection, then she would have completely vanished. There was no reaching her. Even our contacts with the Marshalls had no idea where she was. I hadn’t seen her in a decade.
She had been too young for me back then. I was seventeen and she was only fifteen, a baby. It wasn't right, the way I felt about her. It was one of the many reasons I'd hidden my feelings. But I didn't have to hide it anymore. Now that I knew where she was, I could tell her how I felt. About how I had killed for her. And how I would do it again if it ever came to it.
I wasn’t afraid of death. I couldn't be, not in my family. The only thing that I was scared of was that once I told her what a monster I was, she would reject me. I was worried that she wouldn't think that me taking revenge on the man who had hurt her mother was worth it. Maybe she would think it was the wrong decision. I wasn't sure.
“When is my meeting set with the parole board?”
Richard shook his head. “Still set for next month. Got a great judge on it, so it's going to be easy. And then you walk out of here a free man, with only four years under your belt. That's a personal best for me.”
I smiled at him. “And I'm sure my family will reward you handsomely for that.”
He sat back and folded his hands across his rather large belly. “You have no idea. Your mom misses you the most. But your dad is still running business as usual. Nothing that we can talk about here, of course.”
“Of course. Besides, this is a personal call, right?”
“Yup. I have absolutely nothing to report from the family. Just that they want you home for good. They don’t want you taking the fall for the family anymore.”
“I'm ready for that too. About this little additional piece of information—you keep that just between us for now, got it?”
He nodded. “You wrote the check for this one, kid. I only report to you.”
I put my hands behind my head and thought about it for a moment. Vienna. Back in Baltimore. Hopefully back with me.
4
Vienna
I walked past the empty table and sighed heavily. Leah saw the look on my face and immediately knew what was wrong. She rubbed my arm in an affectionate way. “We all miss him, honey.”
“I know. Just these mornings are a lot harder without him.”
I stared back at the empty table that Mr. Herman had sat in every day for the past year and felt the pain of his loss in my chest. He had been such a kind old man, and made working here so much easier. He came into our diner for every meal and was always happy to chat with all of us. He was like the grandfather I always wished I had. Just last week, he passed away in his sleep. They said it was peaceful, and he felt no pain. At least that was something. Leah and I had gone to his funeral. It was nice to meet his family for the first time. They told us how much they appreciated how well we'd been taking care of him for the past year. But really, it had been my pleasure. That man gave me something to look forward to every day. He made it so I didn't feel so lonely all the time.
“I'm gonna take my fifteen. Tell the boss?”
Leah just nodded solemnly. I walked back into the kitchen as I untied my apron from my waist. I passed the servers’ small break area and threw the apron on the counter and bee lined for the back door of the kitchen. I quickly pushed it open and took in a much needed breath of fresh air. The bright summer sun fell on my face and gently warmed my skin. I needed to get out more, maybe take up running or get a dog. The sun made me feel human again, and with so much darkness in the world, it really was the only light. I closed my eyes and let the warmth of the sun calm my nerves.
I walked past the trash to sit on a bench by the road and saw a newspaper there from the day before.
“Mobster makes it out of jail” was the headline.
I grabbed the paper and took it with me to the bench. Reading the article, I immediately knew who it was about. I made a call. My hands shook as I held the phone. I couldn’t believe this was finally happening. Everything I had waited for.
“He’s out.”
“We knew that was coming. Have you seen him?”
“No. But when I do, I know what to do.” I tried to sound stronger than I was. But if I didn’t, he would lose it on me. Again. I still had the marks from the last time I screwed up. Bruises that were yellow from healing.
“Good. Make it count. Make him pay for what’s he’s done.”
“I will.”
I left the paper on the bench as I walked back to the diner.
Luka Gioti would come for me. And I would be ready.
He was the reason my parents were dead.
5
Vienna
Just a few days later, I was working the night shift. The place was empty.
“I think I’m going to knock off early. There’s no one here,” I said to Leah as I filled some salt containers.
“Go for it. I’ll close up this time.”
I smiled at her. We had helped each other out so many times that neither of us felt bad anymore about leaving early or asking to exchange shifts.
I left my apron under the counter and took my tips for the night. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, waving to her as I left.
I was counting my money when I heard a loud engine enter the parking lot, startling me. I moved from the back parking to the side of the building to get a better look at what had startled me. A silver sports car drove up into the parking lot, and it seemed woefully out of place. The diner’s lot was usually filled with an array of minivans and small sedans. The revving of the powerful engine did not fit in.
The mysterious driver turned off the car and I walked into the front parking lot to try and get a better look at him. When he stepped out of the vehicle, my whole body froze. I could hardly breathe. Luka Gioti stood in front of me, dressed in a gray suit with a blue tie. His dark hair looked different, slightly longer than the last time I had seen him. And he had a tattoo that just crept out of the collar of his shirt. He looked so suave, with his hand unbuttoning his jacket, as he walked toward me. My mouth dropped open slightly at the sight of him, and as much as I didn't want to admit it, my whole body ached for him to touch me.
But that wasn’t the plan.
“Vienna?”
I simply nodded, unable to find my voice.
“It's been a long time. Do you think we could ta
lk?”
I didn't want to talk. But this was part of what we had set up. I had to go with him.
“I guess. Why?”
“Because I’ve missed you.”
I sighed. “Fine.” I didn’t mean to sound so cold. I needed to play my part better. But his missing me made this easier. He would fall into my trap.
“Are you done here? Whatever the hell here is.”
“Yeah. I just finished my shift.”
He came close enough to me that he could whisper in my ear. “I can take you now, then.” His voice was seductive and made me feel like I was under a trance. I couldn't say no to him. I never had been able to. I looked up into his gray eyes. For some reason, I felt safe when I was with him, even though he was one of the most dangerous people that I knew.
“Yeah. I can leave.” My heart was running rapidly in my chest, but I willed it to slow down. This was all part of the plan. Get him to trust me again.
I walked away from the safety and security of the diner, but at that moment, looking into his eyes, I didn’t care how dangerous it was to be around him. Without a second thought, I climbed into his car. The new leather creaked as I sat down in the bucket seat. Holy shit, this car was hot. The tires squealed as we sped off, heading in the opposite direction of my home. But he wouldn’t know where I lived, could he? He knew nothing about me anymore. It had been so long since we'd been together. And back then, we were just friends. He still had no idea how I felt about him.
I sat with my hands folded in my lap and looked out the window. I tightened my hands together and tried my best to ignore his brooding presence next to me. Occasionally, I would steal glances in his direction. The outline of his jaw was so much more pronounced, and the softness of his face as a teenager had turned into hard edges as an adult. He looked darker than I remembered, or mysterious. And I was dying to get underneath his skin and find out what he was hiding.
Beauty and the Billionaire Boss: A Bad Boy Romance Page 11
