by Kali Brixton
Slowly, his color begins to return little by little and he takes bigger sips through the straw I’m holding for him. When he can eventually hold his head up without it drooping, I decide to get rid of the restraints.
“Sir, I’m going to release you now. Do you understand?” He weakly nods and I get to work, starting at his ankles, then working on his wrists. While I’m undoing his last wrist restraint, I hear him inhale deeply. The close proximities of his body to mine makes me flush as he draws another deep breath.
Looking for the new waste can Zeus brought in, I grab it, ready for round two, but his words cut me to the quick.
“You smell...just like her.” His words are a harsh whisper over what’s going to be a hellaciously sore throat to deal with tomorrow.
Taking a deep breath myself, I dare to broach the subject. “Like who?” I ask, because I’m obviously a glutton for punishment, and brace for the barbs to prick my heart once more.
He straightens his head up and looks deep into my eyes. “Like my Evergreen.”
The barbs I had prepared for aren’t barbs at all—they’re daggers.
A war rages inside of me. Part of me longed to hear those words years ago before he decimated my heart. Part of me wants to break him for breaking me. And a small part wants to keep questioning because I know I’ll lay awake at night, wondering what his answers would've been.
I try to keep my voice level. “If she’s yours, then why are you here?” At a strip club, drinking your sorrows away when you willingly pushed her out of your life for greener pastures? I can’t ask the last part because it’s too revealing, but what I wouldn’t give to know.
“Kieran.” Well, that in and of itself is usually the root of nearly any problem when it comes to him making stupid decisions.
Satisfied, I turn away to toss the now drier rag in the trash, but his voice stops me dead in my tracks.
“I can’t…I can’t have her.” His words puzzle and perplex me because even drunk, the bastard can’t tell the fucking truth.
Yeah. Like he couldn’t have me when I gave myself to him—heart, body, and soul. “I guess some things aren’t meant to be.” My cold tone’s in direct opposition to the treatment he just received from me. Hurt, betrayal. That’s all I feel now when I look at him, when I hear his empty words. I grab my phone and text Zeus to come and help him because if I stay any longer, this deep-seated rage is going to bubble over and blow my cover here at the club.
He doesn’t deserve my secrets, nor my hurt. So he gets no more this evening from me. “Our security will come and help you get home safely.”
“She’s…” he pauses as he looks at me, still trying to see through the layers. “Home. My home.”
Zeus knocks on the door and I let him in, taking one last glance at the man I thought I knew. “Have a good night, sir.”
My home is all Luca says.
Shutting the door to my room, I lean the back of my head against it and close my eyes. Why does it have to feel like this? You try to break the strings but are too afraid to because it feels like they’re all that hold you together at times.
A love like this isn’t a balm, it’s a disease. A sore that keeps recurring in the most painful places.
He’s a fixture in my life that no matter how much I try to distance myself from him, he still finds a way to work his way back in—even in places he shouldn’t have access to. But when I turn my head and catch sight of Lia coming from God knows where, I have a feeling I know who’s to blame for him being here in the one place I thought even he couldn’t invade.
Even though it’s been over a year and a half, the memories of that night still haunt me. No matter how much I try to beat it out of my system and into my opponent or the punching bag, it’s a gangrene that I can’t stop from spreading. Although standing here drenched in sweat after a great workout session at the gym, I feel like a little bit of it has been purged, even if it’s only temporary. After all, I still have details to iron out with him about Rory, which is what really matters. And instead of running away like a coward, I’m going to have to grin and bear the pain of being around him for her—for her and for Lia.
Eden and I had already worn ourselves out, my mood somewhat lifted when we got the call that Lia and Addison were on their way from work. The girls met up with us to do a few rounds, but there’s something off with Addy.
“Addy,” I chance asking her as she tears into the bag I hold steady for her. “Everything okay?”
“Fucking CEOs” was all she’d say, laying a hard right cross into it. She and her boss Ethan must’ve butted heads yet again. Unbeknownst to Ethan, they shared a past, but she’s the only one who knows it, which makes for some heated sparring sessions with her when he’s being a dick at work.
I can’t help laughing at her because I understand being so damn frustrated with the whole lot of them. “You said it, honey.” I take a swing into the bag she’s been pummeling tonight. “Fucking men, period.”
25
Luca
Lia’s soles are going to wear a hole in the rug if she doesn’t quit pacing. But I get it. She’s no doubt as nervous as I am. “What do you think she wants?”
Skyla Redmond is due here any minute, and I don’t have the slightest clue why she wants to talk to us both together. Landry took Aliana to Everleigh’s apartment until our discussion with Skyla is over. Rory came to spend the night with Ev so Greta could go to some doctor’s appointments today and tomorrow, which means while those four are watching some Disney princess movies and pigging out on junk food, we’re sweating bullets over here in my sister’s apartment.
Lia plops beside me on the couch. “I still can’t believe he’s gone.”
“Yeah.” Even though his funeral’s tomorrow, something tells me Giacomo’s not done fucking with both our lives, even if it’s from the great beyond “Nolie?”
Her blue eyes meet mine, fear clouding them.
“If there’s anything you should tell me about your visits to see Giacomo in prison—anything at all that you think might be important, I need to know right now.”
She bites her lip and sits there for a moment, contemplating as she rubs the back of her arms. “Luca, I need to ask you something first before I answer that question...and I need an honest answer.”
I furrow my brow. “What is it?”
The couch rebounds as she resumes her pacing, rubbing her forehead. “Have you noticed anyone following you around lately?”
The hairs on the back of my head stand up. “What do you mean following me around?”
“When I went to see Giacomo, I ran into Skyla Redmond and Octavian Delgado.”
“The DEA agent?”
Her stride comes to a halt. “You know him?”
My head shakes back and forth. “I’ve heard Kieran talking about him before, is all. Did he speak to you?”
“A little…” I wait for her to continue as she struggles to get out the next words. “He made it sound like you and Giacomo might’ve been involved in something together.”
The fuck? “Like what?”
“He didn’t say, but it sounded serious.” Her hands twist around each other.
As she passes by the couch again, I reach out and grab her arm to get her to stop pacing. “Lia, I swear to you—I wasn’t involved in anything regarding Giacomo. I don’t know why Delgado assumes I was.”
She takes the chair beside the couch now, her eyes getting teary. “I believe Giacomo was about to turn on Antonio.”
Shit. That’s...shit. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”
A tear slips down her rosy cheek, which she wipes away quickly. “Why didn’t you tell me Mom’s sick?”
I grimace as there’s been a lot of secrets I’ve kept from her myself. Reaching for her hand, I take it and gently squeeze as I cradle it in mine. Just like when she was a little girl and needed her big brother to chase away the monsters under her bed. “When we reconnected with you, she didn’t want it to seem like her illnes
s was the only reason we wanted back in your life.”
She wipes away a few more tears. “Or to find out you’re marrying Gia to pay for the experimental treatments?” My lips part in surprise as her watery laugh breaks loose. “Yeah, he told me. I guess I didn’t know what to think, Luca. You were out of my life for such a long time. We’re very different people than we were all those years ago, and I didn’t know if I could trust you or not.”
We sit there for a few minutes in silence as I absorb the blowback of my failures as a brother. I royally messed up with Lia. And the least I can do is come clean about a couple of things. “The morning after Aliana’s baptism, when you caught me at Ev’s apartment, I stayed there to talk to her about a few things. One of those things was about you.”
Dark eyebrows pinch together. “Me?”
Exhaling, I nod, knowing she’s going to go through the roof. “Kieran had informed me that Giacomo was very chatty with his cellmate about how much he messed up with you and there was some talk that he might flip on Antonio and a few others.”
The dots connect, and her face grows blood red. “Why the hell did you not tell me this?” she roars as she pops out of her seat, stomping to the door.
Before the door opens, I grab her and flip her over my shoulder. Her curses pelt me every step of the way as she beats against my back. Damn, she’s a lot stronger than I remember. Her fist flies when I plop her down, anger seething from her. I catch the fist and block her blows as she tries to get the upper hand. “Let me up, you lying asshole. I need to talk with her.”
I pin her arms to where she can’t throw a haymaker to my face or my sack. “Lia, you cannot tell Ev I told you this.”
She squirms in my hold, neither of us giving in. “Luca, I have a family to think about!”
“That’s why I talked to her. Neither one of us wanted you to be fearful all the time, given what happened last year.” The fight in her stills as she withdraws her fists. We both catch our breaths for a moment as I wipe down my face, trying to think of what to say.
“Why is it that no one can trust me to take care of myself?” She crosses her arms tightly. If this wasn’t such a tense moment, I’d tease her about huffing up and letting that Italian blood boil over.
Chancing a black eye, I squat down in front of her until her eye-level perspective is higher than mine. “Don’t get mad at her, Nolie. I asked her to keep it quiet until we knew more. She talked to the RISE owners about upping security in case something were to happen.”
“Wait. She talked to the owners?” Surprise flits across her face. “So you know who they are?”
I shake my head back and forth. “She wouldn’t give me their names but made it sound like they’d go along with it if they knew it would keep you safe.”
“I can’t believe they’d go behind my back like this…” she says, clicking her tongue against her teeth.
My eyes raise to the ceiling. “You’re honestly going to sit there and be mad at all these people,”—I drop my gaze back to her—“For loving you enough to remove that extra worry off your shoulders? I mean, I get that I’m still earning your trust, but you’re going to sit there and tell me you honestly don’t trust them or their intentions? That you don’t believe Ev would do something like this because she’d rather protect you than see you scared all the time when there wasn’t anything concrete to go on?”
Her mouth tightens as she mulls over my words. “No. That’s exactly something she’d do. They all would.”
“Then if you need to get pissed at someone, take it out on me. Not her. Not them,” I implore, hoping that she’ll judge the situation for what it is, not what she thinks it looks like. “I mean, haven’t you ever kept a secret to protect someone you care about before? To spare them worry or pain?”
Her gaze searches mine. “You know I have.”
“Then you understand.”
Her slight nod precedes a knock at the door. We look at each other, nerves flooding back. Motioning for her to stay put, I stride to the door and check the peephole. Red hair and a power suit stand waiting on the other side.
Here goes nothing.
Opening the door wide, I welcome her. “Mrs. Redmond. Come in.”
After Lia offers her something to drink, which she declines graciously, the punches start rolling out.
“I need to keep this brief,” she says, those blue orbs focused solely on me. “We’ve been closely monitoring you for the past year.”
So much for small talk. “Why?”
“Your connection to the Cervelli family.”
Of course. My engagement to Gia. The gift that keeps on giving.
“Your former brother-in-law Giacomo got his name onto several watchlists—DEA, ATF, the IRS, RICO, the FBI. You name it, he was pretty much on it.”
Lia and I exchange a glance, realizing he was dangerously dumber than we’ve thought all along. I guess arrogance earns you the shovel while stupidity digs the grave.
“When he earned his brief stay in prison, it wasn’t exactly the accommodations he was accustomed to, especially without his father watching his back anymore. So he made a call…”
I remember Lia’s and my conversation from earlier. “He ratted?”
Skyla’s lips twitch at that insinuation. “He became a source of intel, yes.”
Yelp. He ratted. “And look at what it got him. The guilt must have been too much.” Odd for someone who most likely didn’t have a conscience.
Clearing her throat, she twists slightly to the side in her seat, as if uncomfortable. “We have reason to believe his suicide was an orchestrated hit made to look like he took his own life.”
Lia gasps. “What?”
“Giacomo’s actions in the past two years landed him on a lot of people’s shit list outside of law enforcement agencies.” She gives me a pointed stare. “And there’s no better way to land yourself on one of those than to bite the hand that feeds you.”
There’s no way. “Are you saying…?”
Skyla nods solemnly. “The last two men seen around Giacomo’s cell before they found him are well-known hitmen for Antonio Cervelli. Hitmen who got pinched a few years ago and are doing hard time.” Her reddish-brown eyebrow raises. “Think about it. Someone’s willing to give up most of their lives to go to prison rather than squeal on you, then the son ends up in your prison after betraying the very person you willingly went to jail for?”
Damn. That’s cold, even for Antonio. “So, he had his own son killed for being reckless?”
She pauses for a moment, as if to think of how to phrase her next statement. “You know, what I’ve found most interesting in dealing with the Italian-American mafia as DA is how much it’s changed in the last couple of decades...” It’s strange hearing it called by its name, even though our family’s been on the fringes of it, at least for most of mine and Lia’s life. When the veneer of family and duty are stripped away, it paints a very different picture than what we’re used to seeing.
Organized crime.
“Entertainment would have you believe they’re completely untouchable because we all love a sensationalized story. But that’s not reality, Mr. Giordano and Mrs. Laurent. Yes, you still have the ones who are traditionalists and believe wholeheartedly in that code of silence, but for most, there’s no greater motivator than good ol’-fashioned greed.”
“They killed Giacomo for money?” Lia asks, a worried expression on her face. “But, why? His father had plenty of it.”
“In a way, yes. It seems the loss of future money and the power that comes with it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Drugs are not normal fanfare for the mafia, except of course for the ‘Ndrangheti. They see it as a more…primitive means of gaining wealth.”
Which makes sense because money laundering and racketeering were cleaner means of doing dirty work. It can take years to prove a trail exists if you’re dealing with more seasoned criminal masterminds, which is why most of the time, they have a patsy. But drugs are a sligh
tly different story with a variety of key players involved. “He was dealing drugs?” For someone as well connected and wealthy as Giacomo, being a drug dealer is a bit low-rung on the ladder.
“The story he told us was he was looking to expand his father’s empire because times were changing, but his father didn’t want to. So, he made some moves of his own,” Skyla shrugs.
I’m still not making the connection of why she’s here to talk with us, though. “What else did Giacomo say?”
She lowers her eyes for a moment. “I can’t disclose everything, but if he was telling the truth, there’s another person involved who Antonio has major leverage against.”
Another person? But the only other member left in the Cervelli family is...
“Gia,” my sister whispers as she brings her hand up to cup her mouth.
Holy shit. I get Antonio whacking his dimwit son, but his daughter?
“We never got all the details. All we know is, whatever Antonio has on her, it’s enough to keep her doing his bidding without complaint or regard for her own safety or freedom. Money laundering, structuring... She’s looking at some time unless she cuts a deal.”
I perch my forearms on my knees. Gia of all people? Whatever the leverage is, it’s gotta big enough to make her risk prison. But why would he throw his daughter to the wolves like that? “So…” I begin, uneasy about this conversation because I think I know where it’s heading, “What does that have to do with us?”
Skyla squares her shoulders. “We need eyes and ears to know the inner workings of the Cervelli family. Insights that a relative—or future relative—may possess.”
Hello, death. I had hoped it would’ve been awhile longer before we met. “So, you’re asking me to be an informant.”
Lia’s hand bunches in the fabric of my shirt. “Luca, you can’t do this. It’s too dangerous.”
“There’s one more thing.” And why wouldn’t there be? “We’re going to need your father’s cooperation.”