THE ENFORCER: a Mafia Romance (Bad Romance Book 2)

by Shanna Bell

  Husk gave him a stern look. “The FBI handles this case. And we advise you not to get any other party involved, such as your recent connections to the Bratva.”

  Like he would ever ask Kristoff for help.

  “You expect me to sit back and twiddle my thumbs, while this fucker goes after my family?”

  “That’s exactly what we expect,” Husk said. “Decker is somewhere in this city, and we will catch him this time. Do not get in my way, or I will have you arrested before you can say ‘Semper Fi.’”

  Oh, he was going to Semper Fi this asshole right fucking now. “I’d love to see you fucking try.”

  Achilles stepped in between them. “Look, we both want the same thing; to catch Decker. Now, why don’t you tell us, Special Agent Husk, how we can help? I’m sure you didn’t come all the way here just to warn us.”

  Husk backed off. “If we don’t catch him this time, he will go underground, and it may take another month, even years, before we hear from him again.”

  “We need your cooperation,” Gonzales said.

  “That’s why you’re here. I’m the bait.”

  “You are the bait,” he acknowledged.

  “The FBI will protect you and your family,” Husk added.

  “Protect me and my family? This fuckwad took out four Marines before you even knew what was going on. Now you think you can just come in here and tell me what to do?” Everything dark inside him was fighting to reach for the surface.

  Achilles cleared his throat. “At least we know he doesn’t target someone’s family. That’s something, right?”

  It wasn’t really a question, but Hector didn’t miss Gonzales’ eye twitch.

  “Tell me,” he snapped.

  Gonzales sighed. “We don’t believe he targets women or children. However, when he blew up Hawk’s garage, his wife happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. She… didn’t make it.”

  Hector realized that, up until this moment, he had never truly experienced fear. Gut-wrenching, bone-crushing fear.

  ***

  He didn’t leave his office for the rest of the day. Not until it grew dark outside. He had a decision to make. One that might rip out his soul.

  His phone rang, and he picked up without looking on the screen. For a few seconds, there was nothing but white noise in the background.

  Then a voice said, “I know they visited you. So you know I’m going to end you, Diaz. Did you really think you’d get to fucking live happily after? After what you did to my brother?”

  Every part of him went on alert. “Decker?”

  “You don’t get to live, Diaz. You don’t get to have a family to live for. Just like I don’t have a family anymore.”

  “Decker. This isn’t what your brother would have wanted. Turn yourself in.”

  More static, then a voice, devoid of any emotion. “You don’t get to fucking be happy. You should say your goodbyes.”

  Click.

  “Dammit!”

  Decker wouldn’t stop coming after him. He was never going to stop until one of them was dead. It could take weeks, months, to hunt him down, especially now he knew about the feds.

  He dropped back into his seat. He should’ve never married Mary. By marrying her, he’d put her on Decker’s radar. He’d vowed to protect and honor her. Not to lure the danger into their lives.

  Damn you, Decker.

  Part of him had always known this domestic bliss was too good to be true. A man like him didn’t get to have it all. The sins of his past had come back to snatch away the glory of his present.

  There was only one thing left for him to do.

  CHAPTER 30

  MARY

  Mary grabbed the leather cushion of the bar stool—she needed something to hold on to—and shook her head at the love of her life.

  “No.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I said ’no.’ I decline your proposal.”

  “It wasn’t a proposal. I said I want to get separated.”

  The words almost shattered her. Again. How could he speak those words so casually while every syllable tore her apart? Something fishy was going on here. There was no way that the man who had made such passionate love to her just last night would change like this overnight.

  “Tell me the real reason why you’re doing this.”

  Please let there be a reason.

  Please don’t say you got fed up with me. That you want your freedom back. That you regret our marriage.

  Hector let out a frustrated sigh. “Truth is, I’m done playing house. It was good while it lasted but now I’m... bored. It’s suffocating. This isn’t the life I want. I like my freedom. You got the kid, so I held up my end of the deal. It’s time to part our ways.”

  Heart. Officially. Shattered.

  “I… I don’t know what to say. Or where we go from here.”

  Never in a million years had she expected this to happen. She could’ve sworn that he cared about her. She had been ready to tell him she loved him. She was going to be brave, take the plunge, and just tell him. Now everything was tainted. He wouldn’t believe her, even if she did tell him. He would think of it as a ploy to get him to stay. Just as he would if she were to tell him about their baby.

  Her hand instinctively went to her abdomen.

  Oh, God, she was going to be a single mom. She was going to be a pregnant, twenty-one-year-old divorcee with a six-year-old.

  She forced herself to stay upright. Her heart might be a mangled, bloody mess, but she would keep her spine straight. She had to stay strong. Hector might not feel that way, but she had a family to protect. At least she still had a house.

  “So, now what?” she asked. “Are you just going to leave? Or do we get separate bedrooms or—”

  “You can’t stay here.”

  She sucked in a breath. This was actually happening. He was kicking her out of her own home.

  “I guess I should start packing then,” she croaked. Zoe would be in school for a few more hours. This gave her at least some time.

  “I’ll have your stuff delivered wherever you want,” Hector said. “I’m sure Jazzy will have you before you find a new place. I… I called the realtor. You can pick any place you like. Anything you want, Mary, just ask and it’s yours.”

  Anything she liked? Was he kidding? He thought he could buy her off with an expensive house?

  She stepped back from the kitchen table and the block of knives, afraid of what she might do. She would either stab him or beg him not to cast her out. This was her own fault; she had practically forced him to marry her. Had she really expected it to last?

  Actually, yes, she had.

  “You said that once I was yours, there was no going back.”

  He flinched, and a darkness settled in his eyes. She wasn’t sure who it was meant for; her for calling him out on his lie or himself for not being able to commit?

  Screw this.

  She walked up to him. “You said I was yours. How did that change overnight? Tell me.”

  When he tried to leave, she grabbed his arm. Heavy muscles were spasming under a layer of flannel.

  “No. You don’t just get to leave like that. Look me in the eye!”

  He looked up, his eyes burning a green fire. For half a second, it was all there for her to see. A million battling emotions swirling inside them, with a hint of despair. Then he shut it off. If it hadn’t been for that window into his soul, she would have missed it. Whatever it was that had Hector kick her out, it wasn’t his lack of feelings toward her.

  She let go of his arm. Tears fell from the corners of her eyes, but she didn’t wipe them away. She let them fall freely, and with the tears her soul cleansed in a sense. For she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that this man loved her. For a moment, it had been there for the world to see, in the depths of his eyes, in all its naked glory.

  Hector went for the door. “Achilles will take you to Jazzy’s. I’ll have your stuff sent after you.”

&
nbsp; “What about Zoe?” There it was again, the slight hunch of his shoulders, as if the name of their girl was physically hurting him. “Are you just going to abandon her as well?”

  “I’ll talk to her and explain. You need to leave, now.” With those parting words, he left.

  Sometimes the depths of male stupidity baffled her. He really believed he could just stash her away at Jazzy’s and be done with it. Little did he know, she intended to keep him. She had fought to become a permanent fixture in his life, and that was exactly what she planned to stay. There was no way she was playing into his hand by hiding behind the walls of the Detta mansion. She had a feeling, the second she did, that would be the last she would see of him for a long time. No, she had to make a different move. A bold move. Something that would bring Hector Diaz to his heels. A move that would make him think twice before he ever tried to rip her heart out again.

  ***

  The next morning, Mary suppressed a sigh as she watched her brother-in-law scrutinize her from across the dining room table. Like, from the complete opposite end of the table.

  So, maybe her entrance last night had been a bit dramatic. Instead of greeting Kristoff with a proper “hello,” she’d sobbed that Hector was divorcing her and had ended up crying all over him. Still, she was proud of herself for keeping the tears at bay until she had put Zoe to sleep. The little girl had no idea what was going on, and Mary had sold their homelessness as a sleepover. The girl was ecstatic.

  “You don’t have to keep a distance like I have the plague,” she grumbled. “I’m not going to cry again.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m not certain of anything anymore, so I’m going to go with, I’m pretty certain.”

  Judging by his scowl, he didn’t seem too happy with that answer. Apparently, the man who had no problem with massacring a crowd couldn’t handle a woman in tears. She filed that info away for later use.

  “Does he know about the bun in your oven?”

  She almost choked on her tea. “You know?”

  “My housekeeper heard you puking your guts out this morning.”

  “There’s no privacy in this place,” she muttered. They had only been here for one night and her ‘big secret’ was already out. She was glad Zoe was off to school. At least that way, she didn’t run the risk of her telling Hector.

  “Answer my question.”

  “No, I’m not going to tell him. And neither are you,” she hastily added.

  His gaze told her that was up for debate. “One of the things I deal in is information. I use it whenever I deem fit.”

  “Please don’t,” she whispered.

  “And why is that?”

  Now she had to tell him of her shame. She hoped he wouldn’t hold it against her.

  “I can’t tell him because then he will come back to me, and I don’t want me being pregnant to be the reason. I can’t... trap him like that again.”

  “Again?”

  She sighed. “He kind of married me because I forced him to.”

  “You, a five-foot-something, hundred pounds of nothing, forced a Marine that’s twice your size to marry you?”

  She nodded. “I can’t do it again. It wouldn’t be fair to him or me.”

  No, this time, he had to be the one to come for her.

  CHAPTER 31

  HECTOR

  So, this was what misery felt like; a constant ache in his chest, magnified by the pain in his back for falling asleep on the couch.

  When morning came, he pulled out his phone to call Achilles. By now, his girls should be safely tucked away behind the high gates of the Detta mansion. It had been hours since Mary and Zoe had left. He’d been up all night, scouring the town for clues of Decker’s whereabouts, coming up with nothing. Then the waiting had started.

  His house didn’t feel like a home anymore: it was just an empty shell. The walls were mocking him. The absence of the sounds of pots and pans was like a blade through his chest. He’d gotten used to getting home and smelling fresh herbs, Mary cooking dinner while Zoe talked a mile an hour.

  But that had been in the pre-Decker era. Fuck, had it only been one night? It felt like an eternity since he’d been alone in an empty house.

  Achilles picked up at the second ring.

  “You got eyes on my girls?”

  “Me and two dozen other men.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  “Oh, didn’t I tell you? Mary’s visiting your brother. Though, I’m not entirely sure on the visiting part. When my sister Joanne came for a visit, suitcase in her hand, she stayed for three months. Right up until the moment her husband showed up to grovel at her feet. How are you on the groveling part, my friend?”

  “She wouldn’t.” The only way Mary would leave him to live with Kristoff would be in an alternate universe.

  “I kind of think she already did. Zoe even brought her stuffed doll. You know the little one never goes anywhere without it.”

  Not Spidey!

  Welcome to the Twilight Zone.

  ***

  Another twenty-four hours passed and still no word on Decker. They were scouring the city, both his men and the FBI, but the asshole had disappeared off the face of the earth.

  Which was why he was in the gym, trying to punch a hole in the punching bag. He grunted and threw a six-piece combination at the bag, then stepped back. He ducked, did a left and a right, threw another set, snapping his fists back after each hit.

  “Where’s the fun in that, Marine? Hitting a bag that doesn’t hit back.”

  Hector looked up. Kristoff had just sauntered inside, Damon at his side.

  “Go away.”

  Kristoff jumped up onto the boxing ring and climbed inside. “Come on, bratan,” he yelled for everyone to hear. “Let’s go a round.”

  “I told you not to call me that.”

  “Yeah, you did. Unfortunately, your wife hasn’t gotten that memo. Or else she wouldn’t have moved in with her bratan-in-law.”

  Mentioning Mary to him right now was not a good idea. After learning where she was staying, his anger had reached a new peak. Though, in hindsight, Mary staying at Kristoff’s was the best move she could’ve made. Only a crazy guy would try to get into a kingpin’s house.

  This time, when he went back to pummeling the punching bag, he pretended it was Kristoff.

  “You gonna tell me why you kicked Mary out? Was it a marital spat? A brain melt?”

  “I’m handling it.”

  “The way you handled Storm?”

  Hector’s head snapped up. “What do you know about Storm?”

  “The suka tried to file a complaint about a certain Mexican that threw him out of a window, holding him by his ankles.” Kristoff gave him a speculative look. “What did you threaten him with? According to my guy at the station, he was equally pissed off as afraid.”

  “I told him to make it his last yoga class with Mary or I would bend him into a downward dog position he’d never recover from.”

  Kristoff looked down on him from the ring. “Showing him mercy instead of finishing him off was a mistake. It makes people take advantage of your good nature and go to the police.”

  Hector sighed. “What did you do?”

  “I just banished him. He should consider himself lucky. Damon wanted to feed him to Capone.”

  “Capone?”

  “His pet shark.”

  He wasn’t even going to ask. “What do you want, Kristoff?”

  “I want your wife and kid out of my house.”

  That made two of them. “Then kick them out.”

  “If it were that simple, I wouldn’t be here. Your woman insisted we’d celebrate Halloween. She batted her eyelashes at me and reminded me that it is my duty—she dared call it that—as an uncle and brother-in-law to honor this family tradition. I told her that since you were going to divorce her, she would technically no longer be my family. That was when she gave me that ‘kicked puppy’ look, and I ended up giving
her free rein over redecorating the place. My house looks like a haunted castle now. Note to self, and you; never, ever give a woman free rein over anything. She will multiply and before you know it, they will take over the place.” His eyes narrowed. “Fix this.”

  “My heart bleeds for your pain.”

  “Word on the street is you don’t have one. I got a call from a certain Tess last night, insisting I get the fuck over to you. She seems to think that by making herself my problem, I’d be more inclined to ‘help you snap out of it.’ This Tess woman threatened to empty my bank accounts.”

  “Can she do that?”

  “Since she once put Gio on the no-fly list, I’d rather not find out.”

  Hector didn’t like the look on Kristoff’s face. “What did you do? You’d better not have threatened her. Tess is harmless.”

  “I tried to hire her, of course. She refused. Something about, even though she had a thing for Darth Vader, she wouldn’t succumb to the Dark Side by working for the Empire.”

  “You don’t seem too disappointed by that.”

  “She compared me to Vader. It’s an honor.”

  No, it really wasn’t. “I can’t believe we’re talking fucking Star Wars.”

  “I have a swear jar in my house now. I’m losing money every time I open my mouth.”

  “Don’t you have a mute button?” He was done with this shit. He wrapped a towel around his neck and started toward the showers.

  “Your wife makes a killer lasagna,” Kristoff called after him. “The beef just melts in your mouth. Why would you dump a woman who can cook like that?”

  Hector stopped in his tracks. She’d made Kristoff his favorite meal?

  “It was delicious,” Kristoff continued. “She topped it off with panna cotta.”

  No. Not his dessert. Surely, she didn’t make the one with—

  “It had fresh raspberries with coconut.”

  That’s it. The fucker was going down!

  He climbed inside the ring, noticing that a few of the guys had paused their workouts and made their way closer.