Six Deadly Steps

by Sonya Jesus

  My brows arc at is choice of words. To him, that’s kind of what I am. “Tell me what you want, then… and—“

  “I have plenty of hookers at Unita to be anything I want,” he cuts me off. “I need you to tell me what you want.”

  I tell him the truth because he will never believe it. “I want a life that doesn’t involve the Mafia.”

  He laughs in short bursts, at each interruption he checks to see if I’m serious. When I don’t offer evidence to the contrary, he smirks. “Bella… you’ll never escape the Mafia. It’s part of who you are. Who I am.”

  I’m leaving. And I don’t care if I have to start a war to escape.

  “Is that why you cheated on me? Who was it?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Oh, it fucking matters!” An incredulous laugh follows his comment. “You cheated on me.” My mouth opens, but he holds a finger over my mouth. “Not the same.”

  Because he’s a man.

  He removes his finger from my lips. “You want me to forgive you?”

  “I want to go to Unita with you…. Tonight.”

  The most important thing about my plan revolves around one final time with Tony, indulging in his fetish. There’s a part of the club where you can watch people have sex. After the Glass Box and the Tree House, Tony took me there, but I couldn’t.

  He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, getting off of me. “Why?”

  Because I need something to blackmail him with. “Remember the last time you took me to Unita? You wanted to watch me have sex with someone else.”

  “I wanted someone to watch us have sex. It’s different.”

  “Is it?”

  He rubs his forehead and sits on the edge of the bed. “Where is this coming from?”

  “In the pool, when I was trying not to have a full-blown panic attack, Beppe mentioned you being at the pool with another woman.”

  Tony’s eyes peer into mine, gauging my reaction. “You know I go there to explore. Is that why you fucked some guy when I trusted you and left you alone in New York?”

  He’s not going to let the identity go. I ignore his question and shoot him one of my own. “Did you explore with the woman?”

  “Yes. Until Vinnie called.” He rubs his eyebrow and adjusts himself, adopting a different attitude.

  No longer turned on, or amused by the situation, he rounds back to the same fucking question. “Isabella, I want the name of the guy.”

  “I don’t know his name.” Another lie.

  “Bullshit.”

  I roll my eyes. “Does his name matter?”

  “I like to watch people fucking, Bells. I don’t particularly enjoy people fucking what’s mine.”

  Mine. I hate the term. Possession, ownership, claim—all of those were added to my hate list. Boys, who used to hate playing with dolls, all of a sudden, can’t stop. The bigger and deadlier, the more they like to pretend.

  “In case you forgot, I don’t come with a bill of sale.”

  “It’s cute that you think that.” He grabs my hand and holds it up, rotating the diamond with his finger. “I hear you take this off.”

  I had for Luca. “To shower.”

  “Right.” He nods his head in agreement, but his tone suggests otherwise. “I’ve got to go, but this conversation isn’t over.”

  “What about Unita?”

  “Stop!” He drops my hand and steps back. “You made it very clear you weren’t interested, and Beppe had you put in the Glass Box, remember? I’d prefer to choose my fun, not let old guys ogle my wife.”

  He did more than that. “Did that bother you?” I ask with a raised brow. “You like Glass Boxes and what can be done in there.”

  “My Glass Boxes are different now. More evolved.” He grabs one of his hoodies from my closet and puts it on. “You aren’t going to Unita.”

  “Why not? Are you afraid of my father?”

  Tony laughs and grabs a piece of my damp hair, threading it between his thumb and forefinger. “You make it very tempting. But no.”

  “No?” That I didn’t expect. “You’ve wanted me to join you at Unita for years, and I finally want to go, and you don’t want me to?” I have to turn things around. “Is there a reason?”

  He chokes on his own saliva. His hand cups my thigh and hoists me up to a standing position. “Your father wouldn’t approve.”

  “So? Sneak me in.”

  “How the fuck do I sneak you in? Everyone knows you around here.”

  “No one will be expecting me there. I can dress up.”

  “Bells, the voyeur space needs to be an exchange. Anyone who is in the room with us will recognize you. Maybe after we get married, then your father won’t care about your image as much. But not tonight.”

  Shit. Without this, I won’t be able to get the evidence I need to get Tony to back down. He likes to be pegged, and he likes people to watch him be pegged.

  It isn’t my thing. But I just needed a picture of it being his thing. Mob bosses aren’t exactly the most open-minded people. “Maybe I’ll find someone else to take me then.”

  He smirks. “You do that. Call up the guy from Charlotte’s wedding. Let him know I’m looking for him.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “I can just get it from Charlotte.”

  Tony’s never threatened Pix before. “Are you threatening her?”

  “No, I’m threatening any other guy you think of fucking.” He runs his fingers over my shoulders. “The name, by tonight.” No room for arguing. “Get dressed. Vinnie is waiting for you to fix your phone.”

  Chapter Eight

  Exploring The Hex

  Isabella Santini

  I haven’t used this door in years, and it’s a risk using it, but I need evidence. My father is old-school Catholic, close-minded, and only passive about certain things when he doesn’t have to deal with it. I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to get in to Unita without a male escort, but calling Luca would be extremely risky.

  Yet, he’s the only person I can trust. Once I’m clear of the house and away from the gleam of light, I drop my bag on the floor and feel around for the wig and my change of clothes. Barefoot, I walk farther into the woods, balancing my heels on my fingers and the phone in my other. I can’t turn the flashlight on, so I use the clarity of the screen to illuminate my path. Once I’m in the clearing, on the back road to Old Ridge, I follow it until I hit the backyard of the church.

  I cut through it and sneak inside. This place is vacant at this hour. The priest is home, and the woman who locks up the church only comes at midnight. I glance at my phone and check the time.

  I dial Luca.

  He answers on the first ring.

  “You missed your check-in,” he growls.

  “I know, I’m sorry. I dropped my phone in the bathtub yesterday after talking to Calgrone.”

  “Isn’t your phone waterproof?”

  “Which is why I slammed against the wall until it broke.”

  He chuckles. “It’s okay. I’m working on getting you a burner phone, so you can toss yours.”

  That’s a good idea. “How are you going to get it to me?”

  “I can have it delivered to you tomorrow. Don’t you pick up the paintings at the post office?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “How about Steele, for step three?”

  “He fell through.”

  “I figured he would.”

  “Okay…wait, where are you? I don’t hear water.”

  “I’m inside the church.”

  “What? Why? Wasn’t tonight when you were supposed to go to Unita?” He growls at the thought. “To be with Tony.”

  “He didn’t want me to go.”

  “Really?” His voice elevates on the last syllable. “Did you tell him you slept with me?”

  “Don’t be so happy about it,” I grumble. “It didn’t work. Now, he’s looking for a name to track down, and I’m not inside Unita.”

&nbs
p; “Well, why are you in the church?”

  “Because I’m going to Unita.”

  “If you could escape through the backyard, why the fuck did I just go to Seattle to get someone to break you out?”

  “I told you. Within fifteen minutes, I’ll have people looking for me. By then, I need to be away from here and close to Unita, so I can have Tony cover for me. But I need your help.”

  “What do you need me for, Bells? I don’t want to see you and Tony together.” He stops a bit. “Plus, I’m an hour away. No way I can get there in time.”

  “You don’t need to be here.” His presence would complicate things. “You still have your fake IDs, right? That’s how you’re traveling?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Can you call in and reserve a room at Unita? Tell them a woman with blonde hair, a mask, dressed in black lingerie will be joining you, and that she should wait for you there. “I recall Vinnie and Tony speaking about fruit and Unita at Cielo. “They’ll ask for a code word, and you have to tell them your favorite fruit.”

  “My favorite fruit? What kind of code word is that?”

  “One that’s always changing and not easy to figure out.” Especially Luca’s favorite fruit. Physalis.

  “Are you dressed in lingerie in the church?”

  “Not yet,” I say.

  “I don’t like this, Bells. There’s a reason why he doesn’t want you there.”

  “Exactly! I need blackmail. Tony will figure this out, Luca. And he’s not going to let me go. He’ll come looking for us, and without Beppe to put him in check, I need to be able to offer him a choice.”

  “You said he wouldn’t kill you.”

  “That all changes once Beppe’s gone, Luca. If it comes down to me or power, I need to be able to threaten him.”

  “Let you go, or you’ll send the pictures to every old-school mobster in the country? My father would have a field day with him taking it in the ass. But I can see why he likes it, there’s a lot of nerve endings there.”

  I wince at his callousness and the memories of the Tree House surface. That’s a hard no for me. I change the conversations. “It’s not about that. It will be hard to fight the rumors, even if they aren’t true.”

  Luca laughs. “I’d be more okay with this plan if the guy was actually gay. It would make this a lot easier… No one’s going to believe it. We should just kill him.”

  “No.”

  “Fine. I’ll call once we hang up.”

  I nod my head as if he can see it. “I’ll call you later when I get home.”

  “Be careful, Bells.”

  “Love you.”

  “Love you too.”

  I crouch down between two church pews and lie back on the floor to shimmy out of my jeans. Once I’m in the black nightie Pix sent me for the wedding, I put the black satin robe over it and the mask. Then use the phone to adjust and secure the luxurious headpiece. I don’t want it flying off with the breeze.

  Getting inside is easy, navigating my way around is the hard part. It doesn’t look the same. Extensive renovations have been done. The square-shaped lobby had a winding staircase in the center, and to my left, an open cigar room.

  Gone was the room where I had been put in a glass case like a doll. Older men sit around in posh, brown leather chairs, cradling a Cuban between two fingers and some upscale liquor in the other hand.

  They talk amongst themselves, probably about the cigar matron’s tits and ass, which are barely covered. A wooden accent wall, broken up by a fireplace and windows, runs along the length. A young man in a white suit pours drinks behind a mahogany bar.

  Another large room, that used to be the bar, follows the cigar room. A man with a com in his ear spots me and calls me over with a flippant flick of his hand. “Where are you supposed to be?”

  “I’m not sure,” I say.

  “Wait in here.” He swings open the large wooden door, leading me in to a room with white walls and an ugly-ass carpet with alternating brown and orange hexagonal pattern. Women, lots of women, are spread out on couches, playing cards; some in gowns, others in themed outfits, and some with fabric and beads threaded into hair in their nether regions.

  What the hell is this place?

  Careful not to touch anything, I beeline to the back of the room near the large floor-to-ceiling windows. Another guard stands near the staircase, leading to the lower level.

  A quick glance out the window shows a courtyard and more guards on the grounds. In the other building, another room with similar windows parallel to this one. Two men with pants dropped around their ankles, with dick and wrinkly knees on display.

  So, this was a viewing box, and this is what Tony meant by ‘more evolved.’

  Had they purchased the building behind this one?

  “Miss?” The guard who had asked me to wait at the door calls me over. I adjust my mask and demurely sway in his direction. “Your mister will be here shortly. You can wait in your room or here.”

  My mister? “My room?”

  “Have you not been here before?”

  I shake my head.

  He cocks his head to the side. “Fresh. I’ll be a minute.”

  “Excuse me?”

  He taps on his earpiece, indicating the comment wasn’t for me, then nods and motions for the guy at the door to step aside. “Follow me.”

  I follow him down the long, dimly lit staircase and cross the courtyard into the other building, happily noting the absence of other guards. Instead of taking a right into the building, where I assume the rooms are, he takes me down another flight of stairs to an underground.

  “Welcome to the Hex.” He opens the door to a dark hallway. The wooden wall skirt has a string of LEDs, lighting the path. “Where are you taking me?” None of this had been here before.

  “To your room.”

  We stop when three white doors come into view. My fingers brush against the walls, confirming they are black felt and not paint. The guard points to the door in front. “You’re at the core.”

  “The core?” I echo back, as his hand curls around the black hexagonal doorknob. “Today, we are trying out our new space. This is your corridor, but there are various exits in your room.”

  Great. Can I take one of them right now?

  “This is the corridor 1-6. Each of the three doors leads to a room.” He slides the door open, and holds it for me. “This is the most expensive room.”

  After stepping inside the dimly lit room, I swivel on my heel to face the broad-shouldered man, blocking my path. “Do all the rooms look like this?”

  “No, but they are all hexagon-shaped, just like this one.”

  “Thus, The Hex?” I point out as I travel the perimeter of the black room. Aside from LEDs along the floor skirt and on strips in the six corners, it’s empty, save for a large chair on the pedestal in the center. “Is that moving?”

  He smirks. “You’ll need it to view, amongst other things.”

  I press my lips together and nod. I have a mask. Maybe no one will recognize me.

  “Please remember these rooms are soundproof, so if you need anything, please hit the white button at the door. The doors will remain locked until this button is activated or your mister arrives.”

  “I’m sorry,” I ask a bit confused because I don’t see any windows. “What room is this exactly?”

  “Your mister asked for a Voyeur Room, but the owner has invested in some upgrades. Your mister’s instructions were for you to get started without him.”

  “Get started without him?”

  The guard points to the wall. Six walls. “Each of these leads to a room.”

  “Those are windows?”

  “The blinds will lift when the others are ready. This is the prime position.”

  Great.

  “When you are ready, turn the light on.”

  This is so fucked up. I fidget with my wig, which is suddenly itchy and really hot. “There used to be private ones? At least, that’s what th
e guy told me.”

  “This is private. But tonight, they are all linked.”

  This is why Tony didn’t want me to come.

  “Please hand me your phone.”

  I had a small camera on my necklace, so I gave him the phone before he left.

  At least Luca thought about how to get me down here. My plan of sneaking in would never have worked. Things are a bit more upscale then I remember them.

  I check the blinds first. They are hard, so I’m guessing it’s a partition of some sort; they come right from the roof of the room. There’s not much else in the room.

  Six little green lights light up along the border of the partitions, so I sit down on the chair and roll the kinks out of my neck, stopping when I see my reflection in the ceiling mirror.

  Did you watch in the mirror? Tony’s words flutter to the surface of my mind. This is definitely his kind of place.

  “When you’re ready, there’s a button on the side of your chair,” the guard who had just left me prompts through the intercom.

  “Are you going to listen?” I ask but get no response.

  My fingers travel over the side of the chair in search of the button. When I find it, I press down, and immediately, my room goes pitch black, and the blackout blinds lift up.

  Well, shit. As the chair rotates, my cheeks flush. Couple after couple go at it. Some with two, others with three, and then there is the one with Tony. I don’t know why my room light is off, but none of them are looking my way, so I guess they can’t see me.

  Maybe that’s what the guard meant by private.

  I slither over to the left of the rotating couch to get a better view of Tony and the two people who are with him. It doesn’t surprise me to find a woman strapped down with a dildo, but it does surprise me to see a man.

  One, I don’t recognize, standing off to the side, watching the woman and Tony.

  It feels wrong to invade his privacy like this, but he likes to be watched. So, I’m watching.

  I get off the pedestal and focus on Tony. The room is silent, so I can’t hear what’s going on their end. My fingers fly up to my necklace, checking if it’s there, before it runs along the inverted omega sign. As I move around the hexagon, recording everyone, I check if I recognized anyone. Leverage.