Awakening

by Lee Savino

  AJ turned to grab the woman’s arm and she turned, her hair swinging back from her sculpted face.

  Anna.

  Before she could stop herself, Cora was up and moving in their direction. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her bodyguard following and halted. “Where’s the ladies’ room?” she asked a passing server.

  By the time Cora had gotten directions, she was sure Anna would notice her trajectory towards the back of the room and follow. Her mind was racing. What the hell was Anna doing there with AJ?

  Cora paced for several minutes in the fancy bathroom seating area, waiting for her new friend. Had AJ figured out they’d been snooping around at the strip club? How much did he know?

  Cora whirled around as the doors opened and Anna finally walked in.

  “Anna, what’s going on? Why are you here with AJ?” Cora’s voice cut off when she saw the furious look on Anna’s face.

  “How dare you,” Anna said. “Like you even care.”

  Whatever words Cora had been about to say died on her lips.

  “Cora Ubeli,” Anna ground out her last name. “You think I wouldn’t find out? Your husband is the biggest mobster in Olympus.”

  Under all her makeup, Anna looked tired, but her brown eyes flashed. Cora wasn’t the only one who was fed up. “I should’ve guessed it when you showed up at The Orchid House. You weren’t there to help. You just needed more soldiers in your war.”

  “Anna, no, I—”

  “Don’t.” Anna held up her hand. “I trusted you. I needed to get away from AJ, not sucked into a vendetta between him and his biggest enemy—your husband.”

  Gods, no, that was the last thing Cora wanted. But how could she even begin to explain—

  “Don’t worry, he didn’t recognize you. It was your friend you brought with you—the designer. You think AJ doesn’t know his whole business is a front for your husband’s drug trade?”

  Cora drew in a shocked breath. That was why Armand and Marcus were so close?

  Cora shook her head. “Anna, I swear I didn’t know AJ would recognize Armand. You have to believe me.”

  “AJ hates your husband,” Anna hissed. “He knows everything about him. And now he thinks I have an in with Armand somehow. He’s looking for weakness. I should point him straight to you.”

  All of Cora’s air left her lungs.

  “Don’t worry,” Anna said bitterly. “I won’t sell you out. I have standards.”

  “Gods, Anna, I never wanted to drag you into this. I’m sorry. I’ll get you out of it, I swear—”

  “You’ve done enough.” Then Anna’s face fell, her expression going bleak. “You should know, AJ will do whatever it takes to hurt your husband. We’re both just collateral damage.” Anna took a step back. “AJ says he’ll be taking me back to Metropolis to star in some movies. He owns me now.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ll figure something out,” Cora babbled. She didn’t know how, but she had to fix this. “I’ll come for you.”

  Tears glistening in her eyes, Anna shook her head. “They call me a whore. But you spread your legs for a monster. I never want to see you again.” And with that, she left.

  Cora let herself sag into a chair. Anna’s words had hurt, but worse than the accusation of betrayal was the look of terror in her eyes.

  He owns me now.

  Lowering her head into her hands, Cora tried to think it through. Had she just made everything worse?

  The question was, was AJ still working for the Titans (aka her mom)? Or was he branching out on his own now that there was unrest among the power players?

  Either way, it amounted to the same thing. AJ was just a power-hungry pimp. And he wanted to expand his borders beyond Metropolis. He’d needed an in to New Olympus.

  Her mind worked through it, clinging to the facts and trying to work out the bigger picture now that she had even more puzzle pieces.

  AJ was looking for Marcus’s weaknesses when he came to town, that was for sure.

  He found the Orphan and the Orphan’s weakness—Iris. So he kidnapped her to control The Orphan. Then he could use The Orphan to dick around with Marcus. But what did that really get AJ besides giving Marcus a headache and a publicity hit when The Orphan refused to play Marcus’s club?

  No, it had to be about something bigger.

  What about that mysterious shipment she kept hearing about? The way people whispered about it, it sounded like a game changer.

  It was drugs. It had to be. And now that she knew that Armand’s businesses were a front for Marcus... AJ wanted a way to get access, so he took Anna.

  So what now?

  “Come on, think,” she whispered furiously. Pretty, stupid slut.

  At least all this meant Marcus couldn’t be behind Iris’s disappearance. AJ had thrown that out there to manipulate her, just like he was using Iris, and now Anna.

  What would he do when Anna and Iris no longer helped him get what he wanted?

  Cora felt cold, very cold inside.

  A rap on the door startled her. “You okay in there, Mrs. Ubeli?” Cora’s bodyguard called.

  “Coming,” she said, rising.

  Enough was enough. The cops wouldn’t help. She couldn’t tail AJ; she’d only get herself hurt.

  No matter the consequences to herself, Marcus was Iris’s and now Anna’s only hope. He had the resources to take on someone like AJ. His Shades could find out where AJ was holding Iris.

  Cora checked the mirror and straightened her dress, making sure she looked perfect.

  Yes, it was time to talk to her husband.

  He would hear her out or he wouldn’t. He’d lock her up again for breaking his rules and going out on her own or he wouldn’t. He’d either help Iris and Anna or…

  She turned for the door.

  Looked like she was still a stupid girl after all because even after everything, hope pulsed in her heart like a beacon that Marcus would listen, that Marcus would care, and that Marcus would be willing to help.

  Otherwise, she didn’t know what options Anna or Iris might have left.

  Nineteen

  “We’ll see you tonight at eight, full dark,” Sharo said as the meeting with Philip Waters came to a close. For once everything was working out the way it was supposed to.

  Marcus, Waters, and Sharo stood in the back of Giuseppe’s, a restaurant Marcus’s father had loved. Marcus could remember playing hide and seek in this little room behind the kitchens with Chiara when he was little. Now he made war plans here. Speaking of.

  “No reason your workers need to wait until then,” Marcus added, addressing Philip. “The docks will be clear. Your men won’t have any trouble.”

  “I appreciate your thought for detail, Mr. Ubeli,” Philip said. He was a tall black man, also bald. But that was where the similarities between he and Sharo ended. Where Sharo was large and built like a tank, Philip was slender, and quick to smile with his mouth full of bright white teeth.

  He was whip smart and the power Marcus held over New Olympus’s Underworld, Philip held over the Eastern seaboard’s black-market shipping lanes. Nothing came in that didn’t go through him. He’d had a relationship with Marcus’s father and now for many years with Marcus himself.

  Marcus knew he preferred working with those he knew and trusted. At the same time, Philip was a businessman and the bottom line couldn’t be ignored. But Marcus had been fighting long and hard for this deal and now that the shipment was finally here, Philip had agreed to sell exclusively to him.

  Two and a half tons of a new designer party drug, supposed to be more benign then coke but with an equal rush. When Marcus had control over it, his hold on the city would be secure.

  “See you tonight,” Marcus said, shaking Philip’s hand. Philip nodded and then headed out down the back hall, the way he’d come in.

  Marcus looked to Sharo and spoke in a low voice. “Get these troops out of here. I want everyone but Tony ready for distribution. Tell the capos.”

  “C
onsider it done,” Sharo said, and then he too moved down the hall.

  As Marcus moved out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, Giuseppe pushed through the swinging door that led into the main restaurant. “Your beautiful wife is here. I’ve settled her in the back booth and gotten her started with a glass of wine.”

  Marcus nodded, unsettled by the small leap of pleasure in his chest at knowing she was near. He’d been avoiding her, it was true. Cowardly? Maybe. Or maybe just efficient.

  He’d needed to focus on the shipment and getting everything prepared so he could make the best case possible to Waters. And in the end, it had worked out. He’d secured the contract.

  And apparently his wife had taken his neglect as indulgence to disobey his rules. When Sharo had phoned earlier letting him know she’d snuck away from the shelter, Marcus had been beyond livid. He’d almost walked out on the meeting with Philip before they begun, the meeting that had been a month in the making, before Sharo finally called back and said he had her.

  Marcus pushed through the door to the restaurant, easily locating Cora in the booth separated in a small room at the back.

  The place was full, but only a few of the tables at the front held normal couples. Towards the back, a line of his Shades sat hulking at the little tables. Marcus had taken all precautions to make sure the meet went off smoothly, including surrounding himself with his soldiers.

  The restaurant had old world charm with mahogany paneled wainscoting and dark leather booths. Marcus slid into the booth seat across from his wife.

  Her wide eyes blinked up at him and even though he’d been about to immediately rip into her for ditching her guard, for a moment he was frozen, mesmerized by her beauty. Red lipstick highlighted her kissable lips and as always, her blue eyes entranced.

  “Hey,” she said softly, then swallowed like she was just as affected by him as he was by her. Good. She better be. It was his one comfort in all of this.

  And suddenly he couldn’t stand not having his hands on her. “Come here,” he commanded.

  Her eyebrows went up. “Where?”

  He gestured to the booth seat beside him.

  Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  “Now.”

  She let out a small huff but scooted off her side of the bench and moved over to his side. She left about two feet between herself and Marcus and he let out a small growl of impatience.

  Then he moved over, hooked an arm around her shoulders, and cemented her body tight against his. And the fist that had been clenched around his lungs ever since Sharo called earlier finally released. He hadn’t even realized until this moment that he carried the tension around for all these hours. And it pissed him off that she could still affect him this way.

  He squeezed her shoulder. “I hear you’ve been a bad girl.”

  Her head swung towards him. “Let me guess. You’re going to punish me for it.” Her eyes held a challenge. Like she dared him.

  The wolf inside Marcus growled. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? I haven’t played with you for a while so you decided to get my attention, is that it?”

  With a gasp of disgust, she pulled away, or at least tried to. Marcus wasn’t letting her go anywhere.

  Her eyes flashed at him. “I’m not a toy you can take off the shelf and play with whenever you feel bored. I’m more than that.” She squirmed out of his grasp. “And to think, I wanted to talk to you about something real. Something that’s actually important.”

  She’d pulled her body away from his and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all.

  “Being reckless and putting yourself in danger is something I have to address,” he spoke through his teeth. “But yes, wife, we are going to talk about it and deal with it.” He scooted close to her, halving the distance between them. “And then you’re going to tell me everything going through that head of yours.”

  “Because you own me?” She glared up at him.

  His pants tightened as he went rock hard. Just like he always did when she challenged him. He caught her cheek and chin with his hand, forcing her gaze to lock with his. “Yes. Because you belong to me.”

  Her mouth dropped open but no words came out. That delectable little fucking mouth. He wanted to do a thousand debauched and filthy things to that mouth.

  Right now, though, a mere kiss would have to suffice because he couldn’t stand another moment without devouring her.

  As he dropped his lips to hers, though, the room erupted with gunfire.

  Twenty

  Marcus wrenched Cora to the floor. She moved in slow motion, in shock, not realizing what was going on. As glass smashed and people screamed over the deafening reports, they hunkered down under the table, his body sheltering hers as the gunfire continued.

  Cora didn’t know when the sharp racket stopped. Her ears rang.

  Marcus already had his phone out and was speaking into it. “Shots fired at Giuseppe’s. Tony should’ve been out front. We need backup.” He crouched beside the table, barely a hair out of place.

  Cora pushed up from the floor as her husband pocketed his cellphone. His other hand was fitted around a gun.

  The weapon brought the world into focus.

  “You ok?” he was asking. She read his lips and nodded. A minute ago they’d been sitting at the table. He was about to kiss her and then— And then—

  “Sit tight. I’ll be right back.”

  Slowly, she started to hear the sounds in the restaurant: the dazed, pained din of shocked patrons. Some crying, a few screams.

  Weirdly, Cora’s teeth started chattering, but her body became light and loose, untethered from the moment.

  Her thoughts swirled. I’ve never been shot at before. No, wait, that wasn’t right. Her mom had shot at her. Well, at Marcus, but the bullet had hit her. Still she didn’t remember that gunshot being as loud as these were. So loud. Was this what Marcus’s life was usually like? But… It would be his enemies shooting. So that meant… Her own family, right? Did her mom know she was here? Did they want her dead, too?

  Before the whole world started to crash down again, Marcus returned. “Come on.” His face was cold and chiseled even as he held out his left hand to help her up.

  They left through the back kitchen, hurrying past a shrieking Giuseppe and his panicking workers to escape into an alley. A black sedan rolled up and Marcus opened the door, climbing in behind Cora.

  “What do we know?” he barked at the driver.

  “All other Shades were out of range but Tony’s on their tail. He saw them pull in, and called for backup. They took off right after firing the warning shots.”

  “Firing into a restaurant where I’m eating with my wife—that’s more than a warning. That’s asking for war,” Marcus bit out. “Get Sharo on the phone.”

  War. She’d known somewhere in the back of her head that things were escalating between her family and Marcus. But war? She was being naïve and stupid again. Really it was shocking that it’d had been put off for this long.

  It had been easier to dig her head in the sand, though, and fight for something tangible. To fight for Iris.

  But here it was. Her husband sat across from her, calling out orders with a gun in his hand. Rocco, Santonio, Joey and Andy DePetri—they weren’t kist rough-looking men who were nice to her when Marcus met with them at the Chariot. They were warriors and her husband was their general.

  People died at their hands. Just like people had probably died tonight, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time: standing between the gunmen and their target: Marcus and her, the Ubelis, rulers of the Underworld.

  We’re just collateral damage.

  The adrenaline hit Cora’s stomach. She doubled over and retched onto the car floor.

  And then Marcus’s hands were there, holding back her hair and offering her his handkerchief to wipe her mouth.

  “You’re ok, baby,” his voice was clipped but his hand was soothing on her back.

  The driver talked ov
er his shoulder. “Sharo’s online, says Tony lost the trail. But it’s looking like it isn’t Waters.”

  She heard all the words but barely registered them. The voices sounded muted and far away, like she was underwater and separate from everything that was happening.

  “Put him on,” Marcus ordered, sitting forward, one hand still on Cora’s back even as she curled up into the car seat, trying to make herself as small as possible.

  “Where the fuck is Waters?”

  “Back to the ship,” came Sharo’s voice over the speakers. “He’s not coming back.”

  “If he crossed us, I swear to the gods—”

  “Not him. I was with him the whole time. You think this is Metropolis?”

  Marcus breathed hard out his nose. “Has to be. And they know about the shipment. Must be an inside man.”

  “AJ.” Even over the phone, Sharo’s menace was clear, a tangible hate. Cora couldn’t believe she’d ever thought for a minute AJ was their associate.

  “We move on him now, it’s all-out war,” Marcus said. “The Titans will move in to protect him. We’ll lose Waters, the shipment, the deal, everything.”

  “What do you want to do?” Sharo asked.

  Cora watched her husband control himself and take his emotions in hand, shutting them down. Always so controlled. How did he do that? She wanted it so desperately right now, to not be able to feel anything.

  “Ignore AJ,” Marcus fired orders into the phone. “We’ll deal with him later. Meet can’t happen tonight. We prep the street, tell Waters we need more time.”

  “Needs to be soon,” Sharo answered. “Waters wants the deal, but he’s not a patient man.”

  “Tomorrow then. I’ll tell our man with the force and he’ll keep the docks swept.”

  “We get this done and then we start making plans to visit our friends in Metropolis.” Her husband’s voice hardened, and Cora could feel cold rage rolling off him.

  “Any word from Tony on the scum who did this?”

  “He lost them. But they fired on sacred ground. We’ll make them pay.”