Impossible Odds: A Mafia Romance (The Five Families Book 4)

by Jill Ramsower

  “I think I’m going to run to the restroom,” I told her, scooting out of my chair.

  “No problem, you can leave your stuff here if you want.”

  I thanked her and made my way inside to the back of the restaurant where the single-stall water closet was located down a hallway past the kitchen. I did my business and debated telling Haley that I’d hit my shopping limit and ask to go back home after lunch. It had been a decent morning, but I’d been on edge the entire time, and my stress levels were maxed.

  As I stepped out of the restroom, a hand wrapped around my mouth, and I was yanked to the back of the hallway and out a back exit into an alley. Sticky nausea filled my belly, curdling into a thick mass of fear and helplessness. My heart leaped into a frenzied pace, forcing its way from my rib cage and up into my throat. I tried to pull in a lungful of air past the finger under my nose and only got a paltry breath tainted with the stench of grease.

  It was a man’s hand and strength that assaulted me, but I couldn’t see him. He stayed out of view behind me, pressing me against the wall once we were outside. I tried to squirm and fight, but it was impossible once he had me against the wall. He hissed at me in Spanish, mouth next to my ear, and yanked my dress up around my hips.

  Every molecule in my body crawled with disgust and terror.

  I couldn’t understand a word he said, but I didn’t have to. His voice dripped with the bloody promise of violence.

  Oh God, no. This can’t be happening.

  Tucked in a corner next to an overflowing dumpster, I screamed against his hand, my voice muffled by his meaty palm. Reason and logic escaped me as I succumbed to terrified panic, thrashing and hyperventilating against his hand. If I passed out, at least I wouldn’t have to live with the wretched memory seared in my brain. But before it came to that, the man was yanked off me, sending me stumbling to the ground.

  I looked up in time to see Santino pull out his gun and put a bullet right in the man’s forehead. His head shot backward, a spray of blood splattering the brick behind him, and a deafening bang ricocheting off the walls of the alley. Totally unfazed, Santino slid his gun back in its holster and helped me off the ground before the man’s body fully came to rest.

  I clung to him as relief sucked all the strength from my legs and had me shaking like a newborn fawn. “You’re here. You saved me … he was going to … but you saved me.” My words tumbled out past my quivering jaw. I wasn’t crying. It was shock that had my body rebelling.

  “I’ve got you. I told Primo I’d keep you safe, and I meant it.” He directed me toward the mouth of the alley just as one of Haley’s guards came jogging back, gun in hand.

  He shouted something at Santino in Spanish, to which Santino shot back an equally mystifying, rapid-fire response so scathing it would have withered paint off the wall. Not allowing a reply, he turned his back to the man and led us to his car parked a block away.

  “What did that man say to you back there?” I asked, still trying to process everything that was happening.

  “He asked me what I was doing following them. I told him not to fucking question me when he couldn’t even do his own damn job.” Santino helped me in the car gently, but his voice was deadly sharp. He was furious. When he got into the driver’s seat, he texted out a quick message then started homeward.

  “I thought we were safe with them around. I knew you were worried, but I couldn’t imagine anything happening with two guards watching us.” My head slowly shook back and forth, recalling how fast a simple bathroom trip had spiraled into the unthinkable. Were the streets of Guaymas really that unsafe?

  “If they’d had any intention of keeping you safe, it wouldn’t have been an issue.”

  My head snapped in his direction. “What are you saying?”

  His jaw flexed and contracted. “Nothing. I’m not saying anything except that I’m glad I followed you back to the restroom.” He ended his statement with a finality that communicated he would say nothing further on the matter.

  We drove the rest of the way home in silence, the first pangs of homesickness aching in my chest.

  Chapter 20

  Primo

  I had to go into Hermosillo for the day, an hour and a half drive from Guaymas. Most of our operations were run from Hermosillo, but we preferred to live on the coast. I had several meetings to conduct, one of which was at a strip club we owned. That’s where I was when I received a text from Santino informing me of Haley and Giada’s impromptu shopping trip.

  My initial response was immediate worry, which steamrolled straight into anger. Why the fuck should I be worrying about Giada? First, she was with Naz’s men, and he knew we needed her alive just as much as I did. Second, where exactly did I think my little fling with her was going to go? We weren’t living some white collar, fairy-tale life. I killed people for a fucking living, and her family would kill me if they could get close enough. Continuing this idiotic charade was only going to end in disaster.

  I’d stepped out of the office and into a hall when I got the text, ready to tear ass out of there if needed. As I processed the situation, frustration bubbled to a boiling point inside me, and I swung my fist, putting a hole in the wall.

  The office door creaked open, and my day manager leaned against the frame. “If you were anyone else, I would beat your ass. But since this place is yours to tear apart, have at it.”

  I shook out my now screaming knuckles, hoping I hadn’t broken anything. “What else do we need to go over before I get the fuck out of here?”

  “Nothing that can’t wait.” He paused, eyeing me warily. “If you need to work out a little tension, several of the girls are getting off the morning shift now.” The club was open twenty-four-seven, and while sex wasn’t officially on the menu, it was far too lucrative of a trade to pass up.

  I wasn’t one to sample the product, but for once, I wondered if that wasn’t just what I needed. Maybe getting my cock wet would help get Giada out of my system. I was willing to try just about anything to free myself from the compulsion she cast over me.

  “I think I’ll just take a look around before I go,” I murmured. I wasn’t sure I would fuck one of the girls or not, but if I did, it was no one’s business but my own.

  He extended his hand in invitation toward the back of the club. “You need anything, just let me know.”

  I walked down the hall to the employee backstage entrance. Pulsing bass from the music up front could be heard throughout the building. When I’d first arrived, there were a dozen customers—above average for ten a.m. on a Friday, but not surprising for a pseudo-holiday. Things would kick up significantly toward lunch and be packed by dusk.

  Several girls were in various states of undress in the prep area, totally unfazed by my presence. A couple of others stretched to get ready for their routines. I took in each of them, debating if any were sober and clean enough for me to even consider putting my dick into them.

  One of the girls at the back of the room sat at a makeup mirror removing a set of false eyelashes. She was a petite thing, young enough that she wasn’t worn down or overly enhanced. She had long black hair and smooth coppery skin that shimmered with an ample dusting of body glitter.

  I made my way over to her, ignoring the curious glances from the rest of the girls. When she realized she had company, she peered up at me and smiled. I rarely talked to the women, so they didn’t necessarily know who I was specifically, but only management was allowed backstage.

  “Can I help you?” she asked with only a hint of trepidation.

  I let my eyes roam over her high cheekbones and full, pouty lips. “Are you interested in making a few bucks?”

  She smiled, stood, and took my hand, leading me toward the private rooms. They were small, sparce rooms designed for one purpose with a pole on one side and a disgusting vinyl loveseat on the other. Overhead, a disco ball spun in slow circles and reflected the LED colored lights throughout the room.

  She selected one of the rooms a
nd closed us inside. I refused to go anywhere near the loveseat and chose to stand as she began to gyrate on the pole. She was decent at her job. I’d seen my share of strippers dance and could honestly say there was a level of skill involved. This girl could move, but I viewed her in a clinical fashion, as if judging an audition rather than trying to get off.

  She was attractive, nearly naked, and grinding on a pole—why the fuck wasn’t I aroused?

  There was only one answer, and she had venomous green eyes and an intoxicating personality that made me forget who I was. Forget my obligations and responsibilities. Forget the dangers and consequences of being with a woman like her. When it came to Giada, I was more drugged out than any of the girls dancing at the club, and it made me fucking furious.

  I was powerless, like a pawn in a chess match I’d never agreed to play.

  Wanting to rip myself free of the web I’d landed in, I charged over to the girl and pressed her back against the pole. Her chest rose and fell in hurried, jittery movements as she peered up at me fearfully. All I could see was Giada’s challenging gaze, as green as the palm fronds above her, when she practically begged me to fuck her against that palm tree.

  No matter how badly I fought against my developing feelings for Giada, there was no denying them. I could fuck every woman from here back to Guaymas, and not one would dim my thirst for the Italian who snuck into my bed at night. Nothing would stop me from worrying about her or keep me from being jealous when another man looked at her.

  I could try to ignore it, but I’d only make myself insane. So where did that leave me? I couldn’t have her, but I also couldn’t keep myself away.

  I was well and truly fucked.

  I growled out a savage roar of frustration, shoving myself away from the petrified dancer and storming from the club. I had thought I couldn’t get any more upset. That my emotions had risen up and unleashed a full-on coup against me until I was a prisoner at their mercy. For hours, I walked through the motions of my day, conducting meetings and discussing business under constant threat of losing my shit. Of becoming a conduit for my emotions rather than their master.

  It wasn’t until I received a text from Santino just after lunch when I realized just how wrong I’d been. I’d had the strength to take control of my emotions—I’d just needed the proper motivation. Fear had kept me immobilized, but I was stronger than my fears.

  Giada was attacked. She’s uninjured but shaken up. I’m taking her to the house.

  The second I learned Giada had been in danger, I shattered through my flimsy glass prison and locked down my emotions with the ease of a lion crushing the life from a helpless rabbit. I was a polished steel blade, ice cold and ready to dole out retribution.

  I completed my remaining tasks in Hermosillo with mechanical efficiency, but still didn’t make it back to Guaymas until after dark. Santino was watching television in the living room alone when I arrived home. He took one look at my face and knew explanations would have to wait.

  “Upstairs,” was all he said.

  I took the steps two at a time, first checking her room and finding it empty. I then went to my room and thought it was empty as well before I spotted her head poking up over the back of a chair on the balcony. I prowled over and found her curled in a ball, bundled in a blanket to ward off the chilly evening air.

  When her eyes lifted to mine, her face flooded with relief. She bounded from the chair and into my arms, where I held her tightly against me. I lifted her legs around my waist and carried her inside, the tension in my shoulders easing for the first time that day. I could feel her breathing shudder against my neck, and her solace at being in my arms made me harder than any stripper could ever achieve.

  “Shhh, I’m here,” I murmured into her hair as I sat down on the bed. “I’m not letting you out of my sight again. Either you’re here at the house or you’re with me. Okay?”

  She nodded, then pulled back and met my eyes, her green gaze iridescent with unshed tears. Even after being attacked, her strength was astounding, and I wanted to devour it one courageous tear at a time. Our lips came together at the same time, ravenous for one another.

  That was how it was between us.

  Cataclysmic. Elemental. An inescapable force pointless to resist.

  Within seconds, we were naked and on the bed, my cock pushing deep inside her. What passed between us that night in the darkness of my bedroom wasn’t just sex; it was a promise. An apology. My unspoken word to her that I would protect her at all costs.

  When she came apart in my arms, the cool certainty of resolve snapped its whip and aligned the two warring factions inside me. I realized that protecting this woman came before anything else. Once that was decided, all the other pieces slipped into place. I was no longer conflicted.

  Giada Genovese would be mine.

  I just had to figure out how to make that happen and keep us both alive in the process.

  Chapter 21

  Giada

  From the second I ran into Primo’s arms, the dynamic between us shifted. Whatever doubts or conflict he’d been wrestling with had disappeared. His gaze was reverent, and his touch was possessive. He opened himself up and allowed me to see the depths of his desire for me. Like a balm to my soul, each caress and kiss soothed my hurt and made me whole again.

  As we lay entwined with one another, the frantic beating of our hears easing back to normal, I debated asking him what had changed. I didn’t want to push him away or disturb the blissful bubble around us, but if we had any hope of having a relationship, we needed to be able to talk openly. He’d proven he wasn’t put off by my forward manner. I needed to trust that I could be myself and speak up when I had something to say.

  “Today was the most scared I’ve ever been in my life,” I admitted softly. The room was still, but the faint hum of lapping waves gave movement to the darkness.

  Primo held me tighter, his hand cupping the back of my head. “I’m so sorry you had to face that.”

  “I had no idea it would be so dangerous in town. I could tell Santino was worried when I left, but I never imagined…”

  “The problem isn’t the town.” His words were eerily quiet with an undercurrent of murderous rage that had my heart rate quickening. “I had a feeling from the beginning that Naz wouldn’t take well to you, but I’m afraid it’s worse than I anticipated.”

  Lifting my head, I searched his face, but his eyes stayed fixed on the ceiling above. “You think Naz was responsible for my attack? That doesn’t make any sense; he needs me as leverage. Plus, if he wanted to hurt me, why not just do it rather than plan a secret attack?”

  “He thinks my attachment to you weakens me. We do need you, but not necessarily untouched. Should something happen to you that appeared to be a random accident, neither your family nor I could fault him. I don’t know for sure that he was responsible for what happened, but that’s what my gut is telling me. This is exactly why I’ve tried to keep myself from you. Everything about my life is dangerous.”

  “It is, but don’t you think I should have some say? What if I think you’re worth the risks?”

  “You may think you can make that decision, but you don’t know my life and all it entails.”

  “I think I got a pretty good tutorial today, and it doesn’t change the way I feel about you.”

  He was quiet for several minutes, lost in his own thoughts. “When Santino told me what had happened, all I could think about was getting back to you. It made me realize that I’m only making things worse with my indecision and weakness. I either needed to send you home or embrace this thing that exists between us. Since I can’t seem to stay away from you, that leaves me with only one option.”

  “So … you feel stuck with me?” I suddenly felt like the fat kid no one wanted on their team in PE.

  “That’s not what I said. I want to protect you, and the best way to do that would be to send you home, but I’m too selfish to do that. Aside from fucking over our plan, I’d never see
you again, and I just can’t make myself do it. I want you too much to send you away.”

  Joy exploded in my chest. I’d gone from crying tears of anguish alone on his balcony to floating on air, all because of this mercurial, complex man who cradled me in his arms like a precious gem.

  “You can’t fathom how happy it makes me to hear you say that you feel it too.”

  He kissed the top of my head. “It would be far less dangerous for you if I didn’t. Naz would have no reason to doubt me, and I could send you back home in one piece.”

  I shook my head against his chest. “Not one piece. My heart would be shattered.”

  “But you’d be alive.”

  “In the sense that I’d be breathing, but that’s it. I was drawn to you from the moment I saw you, and once that connection was made, I don’t think it could ever be severed. Not without devastating heartbreak. You are the life that I want, whatever that means. Whatever the consequences.”

  I listened to his steady, even breaths for long minutes, wishing life could be as simple as it was there in his bed.

  “It’s going to take me time to figure out a way for us to be together,” Primo said after a while. “I’ll have to convince Naz you aren’t a threat to me and to our operation.”

  “I don’t understand why he thinks I’d be a problem. He has a wife. Why would you having a woman be any different?”

  “I’m still sorting it all out myself. While I was in New York, I learned that Naz was responsible for my parents’ deaths. My mother worked as a housekeeper for a wealthy family. I never knew, but the man of the house had an affair with my mother, and I was the product of that relationship. When I was ten, the house burned down while I was at school. Everyone inside was killed. It was only after talking to Naz’s brother than I learned Naz had been responsible for the fire and that I’d lost not only my mother that day but my father too. Naz took me in knowing who I was. Knowing that my father was the rival he’d killed. When we got back, I confronted him about it and tried to figure out his motivations. From what I could gather, I was an experiment to him. A living doll he could craft in his image without being weakened by having a true family. He may have a wife, but she is nothing to him but a warm body. I have been his life’s work for over a decade, and he doesn’t want me to derail what he sees as my destiny. To him, your death would be a small price to pay to keep me strong and aligned to his cause.”