by K E Osborn
I scoff. “So, you used my family and me to wage a fucking war?”
“Not to wage it, bella… to win it,” Roman announces.
Turning up my lip, I glance at my father on the floor to make sure he’s all right, then turn back to Roman. “You disgust me.”
The door opens again and an older man walks in, his hair graying, his suit impeccable as he strides up to Danny and Roman taking in the ambiance of the room. “Little frosty in here, isn’t it, boys?” he chimes in a happy demeanor.
“And who the fuck are you?” I spit, my anger taking hold.
He turns to face me, his cheerful expression falling as he quickly strides over to me with fierce intent. His sudden change in character has given me whiplash. His eyes are dark, the sneer on his face is entrenched, and it makes me shudder when he stops right in front of me. “You think it’s okay to talk to the head of Chicago’s supreme Mafia famiglia like that?”
Gulping. “No… but I also think the head of Chicago’s greatest Mafia family was killed in action tonight.”
His eyes narrow, his top lip twitching as his hand snaps up. I flinch thinking he’s going to hit me, but his hand stops on my cheek as he gently caresses my face. My eyes open wide watching him, his eyes leering up and down my body.
Fuck! This is worse than him hitting me as his hand shifts from my face down my neck to my collarbone and stops right above my breast. My body begins to tremble as his palm splays out just above my heart. He leans in, so close I smell the whiskey on his breath. My pulse quickens, I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to antagonize him, but I do not want to let him think this is okay either.
“I feel your little heart racing. Ba-dum, ba-dum.” He leans in closer, his eyes tiny little slits as he stares right into my very soul.
He’s frightening.
No, terrifying.
“I’d love to hear you panting, bella. The air coursing through your lungs as I squeeze your beating heart in my hands.” He licks his lips like something from a fucking horror movie as my bottom lip trembles, tears threatening to fall. “Ba-dum, ba-dum, the rhythm, it’s so fucking enchanting, feeling it while the blood runs through my fingers,” he breathes in quickly like he’s in ecstasy, “… mmm, God, I’m so hard right now. Are you right there with me?”
Shuddering, I feel like I’m in some fucking nightmare. His hand slowly starts to move from my chest lower. I shake my head as he moves it over my breast, and I let out a small whimper as he groans in delight.
“Enough, Sal,” my father’s groggy voice rings through the air.
The man, who I now know as Sal, drops his attention from me spinning to face my father, changing his demeanor once again. He throws his hands in the air and chuckles. “Franco, my man, it’s nice of you to join us.” His voice is full of cheer and happiness. It’s like he’s done a complete one-eighty again. I don’t understand this guy at all, but I’m sure as hell happy he’s the fuck away from me.
“Leave my daughter alone, Salvatore, she has nothing to do with this. My debt is my own,” my father grunts trying to sit up from the floor.
I want to rush to him, his badly beaten body alarms me as he struggles to sit up.
“But Franco, this is where you’ve failed to realize that when you go into one of my casinos and lose all your money, if you can’t pay it back…” he shrugs, “… someone has to. Your daughter’s a millionaire, so why not her?”
Father finally sits up glaring at Sal with a stare that shocks even me. “Because Sal, you don’t have any right to go near her. If I can’t pay the debt, you take it out on me, not my family.”
Sal walks up to my father squatting down beside him. “The thing is, Franco, this is how we work. A little chaos here, a little carnage there. I want to move up. We saw this as an opportunity, so we took it. Take out a Mafia famiglia and replace it with ours. This was never about the money. Let’s face it, I could have gotten it from your charming daughter, it was always about bringing down Enzo and getting Defiance involved was a bonus.” He bops my father on the head like you would an errant child. “You were the catalyst, Franco. You helped lead the way. Without you and your debt, it wouldn’t have led to the opportunity of us fracturing the Andretti famiglia.” He stands stretching his arms out wide like he’s king fucking dick. “Now we will rule Chicago, and it’s all thanks to you, Franco. By simply losing your hand at cards, who would have thought it could have all been this simple? In some ways, I need to thank you.”
Shaking my head, I watch my father who seems defeated. Steadying my shoulders, I won’t take this lying down. “You’re crazy!” I blurt out louder than I wanted to.
Sal turns to face me, an evil glint in his eye letting me know he’s only just getting started with me. “Oh, sweet little thing, I prefer the term deranged but crazy works as well.”
I scoff. He took that as a compliment and not the insult it was meant to be. He walks over to Roman, leans in and kisses his forehead, then does the same to Danny. My mouth falls open at the show of affection. “Boys, I need you to show Ms. De Villa what we do to people who won’t pay their debt.”
I race forward to my father on the floor. They let me cradle him in my arms. “You’ve beaten him enough, I think he’s gotten the damn message.”
A dark, ominous rumble echoes from Sal’s chest. “Oh, he got the message, little thing, but you haven’t.”
“What does that even mean?” I yell.
Danny bends down pulling my father from my arms as I try with all my might to hold onto him, but Danny’s too strong. “No, Danny, please. Don’t do this!”
“We need to make sure you understand, Neve, if there’s a debt owing to us, it gets paid. You understand that now, don’t you, little thing?” Sal asks menacingly as Roman pulls out a gun and presses the barrel to my father’s forehead.
“Yes! I understand. I will give you whatever you want, just don’t kill him,” I scream as tears pour down my face in rivers.
“Whatever I want?” Sal asks making a shudder run over my entire body.
I hesitate. “Yes,” it comes out as a breathy whisper. I know what he’s thinking. A man like him takes everything his body desires, and the gleam in his eyes right now craves not just my money but me.
“I’ll hold you to that… kill him anyway,” he gruffs.
Pain sears through my chest as I scream out at the same time a huge explosion rumbles through the front of the house. We all turn toward the door as Sal, Roman, and Danny tense. Gunfire echoes through the house and a slow smile creeps up my face.
Ace found me.
“What the fuck is going on?” Sal yells.
Roman groans keeping his gun aimed at my father. “Defiance, Andrettis, not sure.”
“I underestimated Torque and his Defiance…” He hesitates. “Well, go find out,” Sal screams, but before anyone can do anything, the door to the room bursts open.
I fall to the floor throwing my hands over my head as I see Ace, Torque, Trax, and Sensei storming in. Their guns are drawn as they quickly assess the room. The sounds of the rest of Defiance taking over the house filter through the walls while Danny makes a run for it, T-boning Trax as they fall to the floor beginning to wrestle. Ace glances at me, the same time Sal pulls out a gun aiming it right at him, but Torque is on him straight away and goes to fire.
Roman shoves my father at Torque forcing them to crash together as Torque’s weapon discharges, the bullet flying off into the wall. Roman takes off rushing for the nearby desk to take cover as Sensei unloads three rounds of bullets in Roman’s direction. I hear a muffled gurgle at the same time Ace rushes toward me. He falls to the floor dropping his body over mine to protect me from any stray bullets, then tries to pull me behind a small drinking station.
Torque throws my father to the floor, then takes off after Sal who’s rushing through to try and make it out the back doors. But Torque aims his gun up high unloading in quick succession, firing off as many rounds as possible until his gun clicks over
empty. Sal falls to the floor, I watch his body slump in a heap as the red pool of blood oozes from his torso.
My body trembles with the noise still filtering through the house while Ace holds me tight, his fingers gently smoothing up and down my back.
Torque lets out a heavy breath and kicks Sal’s unmoving foot, hard. “That’s for Enzo, you piece of fuckin’ shit!”
Suddenly a blast echoes through the room making us all jump. Almost in slow motion, Torque collapses to the floor. We turn to see a barely alive Roman lying on the tiles with an evil glint in his pain-filled eyes, and in his hand he’s holding a smoking gun. Sensei and Trax both rush around the side of the desk. I hold my ears as the roar of bullets echo through the room pummeling into Roman one after the other. His eyes slowly close as the gun drops from his hand with a thud then the room shifts to silence.
The metallic smell of blood mixed with the smoke from gunfire litters my senses as my ears ring. My heart’s hammering in my chest as we all glance at an unmoving Torque.
“Pres, you with us?” Ace calls out when the gunfire finally stops.
A disgruntled groan echoes from the other side of the room as Torque hesitantly rolls over. “Yeah, fucker shot me in the leg. Hurts like a bitch.”
Trax scoffs. “You went down with a bullet in your goddamn leg! Damn it, brother, I thought the fucker killed you. Motherfucker, you gave me a heart attack.”
Torque chuckles like he’s delirious. “Actually, I think it might not have even gone in.” He lifts his head glancing down at his leg. “Think it brushed past, and it’s a deep graze.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Trax groans. “Get up, you son of a bitch.”
Torque slowly gets up limping, blood pooling from his thigh. It might not have gone in, but he’s definitely hit. “I need fuckin’ sleep,” Torque groans hobbling to the middle of the room as Ace smooths his hands over my face.
Seeing Ace here fills me with hope. I know no matter what, he’ll always be here to protect me. Not only that, I need him in my life, by my side, he just makes everything better. The second he arrived,
I knew everything would be all right.
“You okay?” Ace asks, his attention now firmly on me as he wipes the tears from my cheeks.
“I am now.”
The concern on his face is clear while his eyes search my body. “Are you hurt?”
I shake my head wrapping my arms around his neck pulling him to me and embracing him tightly. Feeling his warmth is all I need right now. Knowing he’s here eases my rattled nerves.
“You came for me,” I murmur.
He pulls back gazing in my eyes. “I’ll always come for you, Natalia. Always.”
My heart swarms. He called me by my actual name, and although I don’t use it, it’s exactly what I need right now. Being Neve, got us into this mess, well that and my father. Ace seeing me as Natalia right now means so fucking much that my eyes well again for the umpteenth time tonight. I don’t waste another second. Life is so precious. I know that by the mess surrounding me as I lean forward thrusting my lips to his. My hands rush into his gorgeous locks as his arms wrap around my waist holding me to him. That spark, that energy, it soars through us as we kiss passionately. Tongues, teeth, emotions pouring out of us in front of his brothers, in front of his family and mine for the first time, letting people know we’re in this together.
“Sooo… you two are actually a thing then?” Trax mutters breaking the moment as I giggle into Ace’s mouth. He slowly pulls away from me glancing up at everyone who’s watching us, including my father. Ace looks at me as if he’s waiting for me to answer like he’s unsure of where I stand on this.
So, I answer for him. “Papa, I’d like you to meet, Ace.”
“Sorry about the circumstances, Ace, but it is nice to meet you,” my father gestures.
“Nice to meet you, too, Franco.”
I stare dazed at them both. I can’t remember telling Ace my father’s name. But I guess there’s a reason Ace is the smart tech guy. He researches everything. I shouldn’t be surprised.
“We need to get out of here, in case more Ossanis show up,” Torque relays. “We were lucky the place wasn’t crawling with them.”
“About that,” Trax hesitates. We all glance at him and I tense up. “Danny… he got away.”
“What?” we all say in unison.
Trax shrugs. “He kicked me in the balls.”
Torque scowls. “And you have the nerve to complain to me about being shot… glass houses, Trax.”
Ace helps me up off the floor, and the others start to walk out of the room. “I was so fucking worried about you,” Ace murmurs.
I peer into his sincere eyes. “Do you have any news on Brody, Grier? Shit, Cindi?”
“Cindi’s fine. Brody and Grier…” he grimaces, “… not so much.”
“This is all my fault. I’m sorry I caused this damn mess,” my father calls out loud enough for us all to hear.
Torque looks at him like he’s ready to shoot him himself. “Just don’t fuckin’ play into mafioso’s hands, because I’m telling you, next time… we won’t bail you out.”
My father nods in understanding as I glance at Ace. I feel terrible. How did I not know my father had this problem?
“Thank you, Torque,” I reply.
He glances at me. His anger seems to soften as he gives me a curt head dip. I cuddle into Ace’s side as far as I can needing as much strength from him as possible right now.
“It’s late… or early, fuck! Whatever. I need to get back to the club and get Foxy or Chills to assess my leg then go to fuckin’ sleep. No more drama tonight, agreed?” Torque grunts.
“Agreed,” we all reply.
I glance up at Ace. “Take me back to the clubhouse. I want to feel safe and be with you tonight.”
He leans in planting a tender kiss to my lips. “You got it, Starlet.”
ACE
Leaving the Ossani mansion was a task. Torque was worn out, hobbling, but he still had work to do. He sends a patrol to guard Neve’s parents’ home to keep an eye over Franco and his wife because we know Danny Ossani is still on the loose. With his father and older brother taken care of, we know things can go one of two ways—he’ll either roll over and walk away, or he’ll come back swinging. We need to be on guard for option two if it comes our way because a vengeful Ossani is a dangerous man.
Torque also had a clean-up crew deal with the mess inside the Ossani mansion. If there’s one thing we don’t need is this mess blowing up in our damn faces or all over the six o’clock news. That won’t work for us or for Starlet. So, the clean-up crew is a necessity. All traces of the Ossani’s and us being in the mansion will be gone—just how it needs to be.
It was near on dawn by the time we got back to the clubhouse. Foxy immediately went to work patching up Torque while Chills helped with anyone else who was injured in the gunfight. Neve and I went straight to my room, showered, and hopped into bed. Everything else could wait. Sleep was the main thing we all needed. Without it, none of us would be at our best. From now on, until Danny is found, we need to be on guard all the time.
I’ve slept soundly for a few hours since we got in. Having Neve in my arms and knowing she was safe was all I needed. The thought of her being hurt in all this makes me feel physically sick. I think I care for her more than I even thought. As I lay here, the light of the mid-morning rays breaks through my curtains, the dust particles twinkling in the air, I wonder how I got so lucky to have met her as she lays sleeping in my arms. She’s so fucking beautiful, surely I don’t deserve her. My eyes wander over the curve of her naked shoulder, the tan on her skin only seems to glow in the hue of the room. She’s a fucking goddess. My cock hardens against her ass as I cuddle her from behind and I can’t help myself as I slowly rock into her.
She murmurs, the noise so fucking sexy it has my muscles tensing as I lean in kissing behind her ear.
“Well, someone’s woken up in a good mood,” her
husky voice whispers as her face turns to meet mine. Her sleepy eyes blink a few times as she peers at me.
I lean in kissing her lips then rock my cock into her again making her gasp against my lips. “I’m always in a good mood when I wake up with you in my arms.”
She kisses me then grinds her ass back against my cock causing a shockwave of pleasure to rock through me. I groan while she bites down on my bottom lip, at the same time she lifts her top leg, moving it back over my legs opening herself up to me. My hand wastes no time with the invitation. If she wants me to make her feel good, then hold on tight baby.
I slide my hand over her hip and down in between her legs. Her arm comes up over the top of us and loops around my head holding me as she breaks the kiss, turning her head back to the front. My finger makes its way straight through her slickened folds, she’s so wet for me already. She’s needy, for me. I slide up and down on her, making sure to add pressure to her clit. Her hips move to and fro with the pleasure I’m sending pulsating through her as she begins to pant.
My cock’s so hard it aches so fucking bad right now, but this moment right here is about her, not me. So, I circle on her clit faster bringing her closer and closer to the edge. Her soft whimpers echo through the room as she grinds back against my cock. The movement makes me want to slam inside of her, but I need to get her there first, and I know she’s so damn close.
Her back arches into my front as her skin coats in a fine mist of sweat. Her breathing’s rapid and frantic as she gasps for release. Her hand in my hair tightens, squeezing, and clawing. It’s a fucking turn-on as she rides the wave of euphoria against my hand. I circle on her again, her body shudders, and her muscles tighten as she gasps.
“Oh God,” she whimpers while her entire body clenches, then she explodes in an intense orgasm. Seeing her splinter and unravel like this has me so far over the fucking edge I can’t hold on. I don’t wait for her to recover before I yank her leg a little higher, position myself at her entrance, then thrust up inside of her from behind. She lets out a satisfied moan at the same time I do. Her pussy clenching around my cock feels like a safe fucking haven I don’t ever want to leave.
