“Thanks. I’ll have to tie this silly thing this time.” She reached out to take it from my hands, but I pulled it away before she touched it, my eyes glued to the band of purple bruises circling her neck.
“Oh, Haley,” I breathed, my horror-filled words carried off in the wind but still rung loudly in my mind.
Her face hardened, and she snatched the scarf from my hands. “Please, just leave it alone.” Her brittle whisper barely penetrated above the ambient noise and the blood whooshing in my ears. She sounded defeated and hollow, nothing like the cheery woman I’d thought I was befriending. How miserable was her life? Was there any way she could get out?
“I’m so sorry.” My voice broke along with my heart, bleeding for this poor woman alone and friendless in Mexico with a monster for a husband.
She lifted her eyes to mine, blue like the endless sky and equally empty. Haley was a shell of whoever she used to be. Broken and tragic. “Don’t be sorry. Just go home, Giada, and never look back.” The words were spoken without a hint of emotion; her features eerily detached.
She turned without another word and began to walk back toward the house, leaving me frozen in shock, the wind whipping through my hair and tugging at my sweater. A clamp squeezed down around my heart, and the burn of grief smarted at the back of my throat.
Haley was in so much pain, and there was nothing I could do.
I was no longer in that alley being attacked, but I felt equally as powerless as I had then. As women, we had a duty to help one another when it came to our safety. No woman should have to be scared in her own home.
Three hours later when Primo came home, I was curled up in the living room still thinking about what I’d learned, haunted by the ghost of Haley’s agony.
“Everything okay?” he asked, using his fingers to lift my chin and bring my gaze to his.
I gave him a thin smile. “Yeah, but we need to talk.”
Primo’s face hardened. He nodded in understanding and sat in the chair opposite me. I told him all about my visits from Naz and then Haley. He listened without comment, allowing me to purge the thoughts and emotions that had been festering all day.
“I’m not happy about it, but I can’t say any of this surprises me,” he finally said, leaning back in his chair.
“You should have seen her, Primo. It was heartbreaking.”
“I’ve never pried into their relationship, but I knew if he dealt with his wife the way he handled raising me, he likely used his fists to communicate. He was a strong believer in physical lessons. Not the most civil means to teach, but effective, nonetheless.”
“I wish there was something we could do to help her.”
He did a brief scan of the room, ensuring we were alone. “Me severing ties with him will be hard enough. I don’t think there’s anything I can do for her that won’t enrage him.”
I nodded, my gaze drifting outside to the sun sinking down past the horizon, coating the landscape in thick swaths of tangerine and fuchsia. “Can you tell me about the picture?” I asked, unable to bring myself to look at him. “He said you fucked her. I let him think I believed him so that he wouldn’t be suspicious, but it didn’t make sense. I need an explanation.”
“The picture was taken Friday, he hadn’t lied about that. And I was going to fuck her. That was my plan.”
His admission was a knife straight to my gut. Whether he went through with it or not, just knowing he’d planned to was still painful. I kept my gaze trained outside, even when I heard Primo rise from his chair and close the distance between us.
“I told you that I had hoped to send you home. To push you away in order to keep you safe. But when it came down to it, I couldn’t.” He reached down and slid his hands beneath my armpits and lifted me until I stood before him. Then he placed his hands on either side of my face and demanded my attention. “You aren’t just on my mind; you own my every craving. Nothing smells as sweet as your hair on my pillow. No wine could ever taste as sweet as your lips on mine. No paltry sunset could ever mesmerize me like the flecks of gold that dance in your emerald eyes. You have become my reason for breathing—the thought of another woman is comical compared to what I feel for you.”
His eyes burned my face as they drank me in, then his lips molded against mine. A kiss so deep and devastating it stunned my senses. He stole my breath and gave me his own with the sensual glide of his lips and the roll of his tongue against mine. His hands, rough and warm and familiar, held more of my heart in their strong grip with every caress of my face and tug of my hair.
Not my heart. His.
The jittery, excitable organ in my chest no longer beat for the sole purpose of pumping blood through my veins. It beat for him. Sang for him. Lusted for him.
Like a compass pointed north no matter its location, my heart would forever yearn for this one captivating man. All I could do was follow its lead and hope my heart knew best.
Chapter 22
Giada
“You do that in here just to torture me, don’t you?”
I peered between my legs, ass high in the air, to where Primo was jogging on the treadmill and smirked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. This is a gym. I’m doing yoga. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.” I spread my legs from a downward facing dog pose into a standing straddle forward bend, hands on my ankles and body wide open for his viewing. I may have been wearing leggings, but it felt seductive as hell, and I loved it.
Primo slammed his hand down on the emergency stop button, and the whirring of the treadmill rapidly slowed. He stalked over to me, sweat molding his clothes to his chiseled body. The scalding heat of his ravenous stare engorged my clit until it pulsed with anticipated pleasure. I rocked my hips gently from side to side, a tasty treat to lure the hungry wolf.
As his feet stepped within reach, strong hands clasped my hips and pulled my center roughly against his throbbing erection. “This is what you do to me. Whether you’re bent over in my gym or eating fucking breakfast in my kitchen, you make me so hard I can’t think straight.” His voice scraped across my skin like the gravelly sand from the beach outside our window.
My cheeks flushed, and my breathing stalled as one of his hands slipped down to cup me. I was so wet I was sure he could feel it. A deep, masculine groan poured from his throat, but before he could make another move, his phone began to ring.
“Fuck.” He tore himself away from me, the loss of his touch making me feel achingly empty. “Yes,” he answered in a clipped tone. “Overnight? What about the girl?”
I stood and turned toward him, meeting his angry gaze.
“Yes, Santino can manage her … alright, I’ll see you at the airport in an hour.” He ended the call and glared at me, but I wasn’t the source of his frustration. “Naz wants me to go to Vegas with him for a couple of meetings. We’ll be gone overnight.”
I smiled reassuringly. “Not a problem. If Naz is with you, I should be fine, right?”
“I suppose, but I still don’t like leaving you here when I’m so far away.”
I walked over and placed a hand on his chest. “I’ll be fine, promise. I won’t leave the house until you’re back. You better get upstairs and get ready. We don’t want to give Naz any reason to doubt you.”
“Fine, but we’re finishing what we started in the shower. I wasn’t done with you.”
“But I only just started my workout,” I argued in mock protest.
Primo grinned wickedly. “I’ll give you all the workout you’ll need. Now, go.” He spun me by the shoulder and smacked my ass.
I yipped and giggled, then did what I was told.
An hour later, Primo was gone, and I was left to my own devices. I occupied myself successfully for a few hours but grew bored by midafternoon and sought out reinforcements.
“Come on, Santino. You have to be just as bored as I am.” I’d found him scrolling through his phone in the kitchen and invited him to play pool, but he declined. Unfortunately for him, I rarely took no
for an answer.
“Bored, yes, but alive. Primo finds out I played with you, and he just might kill me.”
“Psh,” I scoffed. “One, he won’t find out. Two, we’re in a better place now, so he won’t freak out like he did the last time. Trust me. It’s either that or we do each other’s nails. I think you’d look amazing in a rich coral shade.”
Santino rolled his eyes to the ceiling and shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
I did my best cheerleader impression, clapping my hands and bouncing on my toes before hurrying upstairs. The ironic part was, I sucked at the game. I never played much growing up, but I enjoyed it when I did, and it was far better than spending another hour doing nothing.
“I feel kind of funny that I don’t know this already, but do you live in the house?” I asked as we started our first game.
“Yeah, I have a room by the garage.”
“Do you like living here? It’s not like you can bring girls home or invite friends over.”
He shrugged, then bent to aim his next shot. “That’s never bothered me. I know what it’s like to live on the streets; living here is hardly a sacrifice.”
I felt like an insensitive prick. Primo had told me about their rough beginning—of course, Santino wasn’t going to be bothered by something as petty as impressing girls. He was a good man. The more I got to know him, the more I could understand why Primo had gone back for him.
“Well, I’m glad Primo has you to watch his back.” I smiled even though I completely muffed my shot.
“You have a funny way of showing it—trying to get me killed playing pool with you.”
“Please, drama queen. Just play the game.”
He glared at me wryly, then sank the game-winning eight ball without ever taking his eyes from mine.
***
It was remarkably quiet in the house at night when everyone was gone. I wouldn’t have thought there would be much difference, but once Alma left and Santino retired to his room, the Spanish-style mansion felt empty. I called it a night early and retreated to Primo’s room, where his comforting scent still lingered in the air.
On the nightstand closest to the door, I found my phone plugged in and waiting for me. I wasn’t sure when he’d had the chance to set it out before he left, but he’d done it intentionally. It was a statement of his trust in me and showed that he was more concerned with my safety than preserving the illusion of my captivity.
I scooped up the phone and snuggled into bed, breathing deeply over his pillow. I could smell the earthy cologne he wore mixed with his natural musk, enveloping me in visions of sunrise and sex on a tropical beach. Exotic. Sinful.
Thank you. I added a lipstick kiss emoji and hit send, hoping he was near his phone. A minute later, my phone dinged.
It was the least I could do. Were you able to keep yourself occupied today?
I bit down on my lip and grinned. I did. I managed to rope Santino into playing pool with me. Seconds after hitting send, the phone rang.
“Hello?” I answered coyly.
“You know that didn’t go well the last time.” His voice rumbled across the line like a dog’s feral growl, but he didn’t scare me.
“Don’t you dare be mad at him. He put up a fight, but you know how persistent I can be. I swore to him it wouldn’t be a problem.”
“And how could you possibly make that promise?”
He wasn’t there to see the color in my cheeks or the soft smile on my lips, but he could no doubt hear them in the vulnerable tone of my voice. “Because you trust him, and you trust me, and I know you’d never hurt either of us.”
Primo only grunted, making me giggle.
“How is Vegas?” I asked, redirecting our conversation.
“Pointless. There’s no reason for me to be here. We have one more meeting in the morning, and then we’ll be back by lunch.” His voice was ragged with fatigue and frustration, so I tried my best to cheer him up.
“Just a few more hours. If you’d like, I can even save my yoga until you’re home. Give you a little demonstration of all my favorite poses.”
“That’s excellent motivation to get back. In fact, our flight is scheduled for eleven, but we should be done with our meeting by nine. I’ll call first thing in the morning and see if I can get it moved up.”
I grinned, already contemplating which of my workout bras was the sexiest. “Sounds like a plan, and maybe next time you go to Vegas, I can come with.”
“I’d enjoy that, but we’ll have to be careful. I hear the pickpockets in casinos are terrible.”
My smile spread from ear to ear. “G’night, Primo.”
“Sweet dreams, viborita.”
Chapter 23
Primo
“I’d like to move up our flight by an hour,” I instructed our pilot as I rose from bed the next morning. Naz had a private jet we used almost exclusively. When I went to New York to retrieve Giada, we’d decided it would be best to charter a plane that wasn’t connected to us. Having our own plane at our beck and call was far more convenient.
“That shouldn’t be a problem if I jump in and fly back there now.”
“What do you mean fly back? Didn’t you stay here with the plane?”
“I thought you knew,” the pilot stuttered. “Señor Vargas had me fly him home last night. It’s not a problem, though. I’ll head to the airstrip now and fly up.”
My ears began to ring with a rush of blood from my thundering heart. He’d gone back, and he hadn’t told me. Naz didn’t want me to know he was back in the same city as Giada with me hundreds of miles away. It hadn’t made sense when he’d asked me to go with him. The meetings were routine and shouldn’t have required my attendance. On the flight over, he’d told me he wanted to make sure I maintained relationships with all the suppliers in case something happened to him, but that was bullshit. It was all just a scheme to separate me from Giada.
“I need you to come get me as fast as you can,” I barked at the pilot.
“Yes, sir. I’m on my way.” He hung up, and I barely kept myself from throwing my phone across the room in frustration. I could be back home in just a couple of hours, but considering the circumstances, that felt like an eternity.
Taking several deep breaths, I unclenched my grip on my phone and dialed Naz.
“Primo, I was just going to call you,” he answered in a jovial voice that made my skin crawl.
Not knowing what he was up to, I had to force myself to act as unaffected as possible. “I reached out about moving up our flight and heard you’d gone back. I hope nothing was wrong.”
“Not at all, just a bit under the weather. I’m getting older and that happens sometimes. Hopefully you don’t mind handling the meeting on your own.”
“It’s not a problem. I’ll be back later today to let you know how it goes.”
“Sounds good. Safe travels.” The phone clicked dead, and my teeth ground together.
I never imagined Naz would make a move so quickly. I’d given him no reason to be suspicious more than he already was. If he thought he was going to keep me in line by hurting Giada, he was gravely mistaken. I owed him in many ways, but even I had limits. If he laid a finger on her, I’d raze his fucking empire to the ground and watch him burn among the ashes.
Chapter 24
Giada
“Naz and Haley are on their way up to the house,” Santino called over to where I was reading by the pool.
“What? I thought Naz was with Primo.”
“I didn’t want to worry you, but Primo texted earlier saying Naz came back last night. I have no idea what he’s here for, but if he’s got Haley with him, it shouldn’t be a problem.” His words conveyed one message, but his coiled muscles and murderous gaze said another.
“I think I’ll come inside.” I stood and followed him back into the house, frantically debating why Naz would pay us a visit. I sat perched on the edge of the sofa while Santino went to the front door and greeted the boss
of the Sonora Cartel. A man who wanted me dead and regularly beat his wife into submission.
Naz’s noxious voice seeped into the room like a deadly gas, infiltrating every corner and making it hard to breathe. I tried to remind myself that he wouldn’t bring Haley over if he planned to kill me, but no amount of convincing would settle the panic flooding my bloodstream.
As their footsteps neared, I stood, and for the first time in my life, I couldn’t muster even a millimeter of a smile. Something about smiling implied that everything would be alright. It calmed and soothed people. I desperately wanted to be able to smile and banish the insidious fear clamoring through my veins.
Like the moon crossing before the sun, Naz sucked every bit of light and hope from the room. He was a monster and my mortal enemy. He hated everything about me and was vicious enough to rip me to shreds, merely for existing.
I was utterly terrified.
When Naz turned his callous gaze my direction, my voice abandoned me alongside my courage. I stood across the room, mute and petrified in place. I had no idea what he wanted, but some innate sense inside me told me his presence at the house was wrong. There was a reason he’d insisted Primo joined him on his trip to Vegas then snuck back early. A reason during those few hours of Primo’s absence he’d found his way here. That reason was clear in the venomous smile he shot in my direction.
I tried to tell myself he wouldn’t do anything in front of Haley, but why not? She knew how violent he could be. Why hide his nature around her? But why bring her in the first place. If he’d come to kill me, there was no reason to drag her along.
Confusion and uncertainty weren’t enough to make me feel better, but they helped thaw my brain from its fear-induced lockdown. Freaking out wasn’t going to help me survive this situation. I needed to be strong. I needed use of all my faculties, and cowering behind a wall of fear would only cripple my defenses.
Impossible Odds: A Mafia Romance (The Five Families Book 4) Page 17