Ciao Bella

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  * * * *

  Chord gave Vince a nudge as Slane, Lucky, and Bella were talking with some of their friends. “What was up with all those questions earlier?” Chord asked him.

  Vince kept his eyes on Bella. Lucky and Slane had her right between them, both touching her as they talked with friends. She looked shy, and uncomfortable with all the male attention. His gut clenched and he wondered what her part in all of this illegal stuff was, and if she was even involved.

  “We’ll talk about it later tonight, after we escort Bella home.”

  “How fucking serious is it?” Chord asked.

  “I don’t know,” Vince told him.

  Chord looked instantly angry and on guard. “We’re all into her, you realize that? As damn young and shy as she seems, she got us all.”

  Vince looked away a moment, and then he turned to face Chord. “I know she does. I kissed her, I felt her in my arms, and I want more, but, Chord, she is connected to the case we’re investigating.” Chord’s eyes widened, and he looked ready to stand up, to ask questions.

  “Later. Tonight, after we follow her home, we’ll discuss what we’re going to do and how we’re going to approach this with her.”

  “Fuck,” Chord whispered and then looked back at Bella and watched Lucky caress her thigh as Slane brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. She was absolutely gorgeous and perfect, but they could wind up being the ones to put her and her family behind bars if they were guilty of the crimes he and the team were investigating.

  * * * *

  “Slane, please,” she said to him as he held her in his arms and kissed her neck. She had made out with all of them. Felt their hands on her body, their dominant, sexy capabilities, and she didn’t want to leave them. She knew she couldn’t stay with them. Couldn’t not go home and not face the reality of what lay ahead tomorrow.

  Slane squeezed her ass with one hand as he leaned back against the SUV his brothers all gathered around her outside of her home. She didn’t even care if her parents or brothers were watching from the windows. She was so angry with them, upset that they would keep secrets, and ultimately be helping to transport illegal guns and drugs for Costano and Feluppe.

  “Grrr,” he growled against her neck and ear and reluctantly released her. She ran her palm up and down his hard chest and stared at him.

  “This is going to be so fucking difficult. We aren’t used to this at all, and I can see us losing our patience here.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked as she fixed her skirt and then crossed her arms in front of her chest.

  “He means having to drop you off at your parents’ house instead of bring you home to make love to you,” Chord said and he stepped up behind her, caressed her hair, and she uncrossed her arms, let them hang by her sides as she closed her eyes and absorbed his touch, his hold on her. He kissed her neck, and she turned in his arms and tilted her head up toward him. He lowered down to kiss her, and the make out session continued. When she started to pull back, suddenly thinking that this wasn’t even a date, that there were four of them and they were older men, experienced men, she had to stop.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, with his hand on her hip as she took a few unsteady breaths. She stepped to the side and looked at the four of them surrounding her by their SUV on her driveway.

  “I get the feeling that you expect a lot more than I’m ready to give. Tonight has been a complete surprise, and I enjoyed it despite how much I thought I should resist it.”

  “Resist it why, and what do you mean expect more?” Lucky asked.

  She gently bit her lower lip and then licked it as she took in the sight of them. She was out of her mind.

  “It wasn’t a date, and I did way more with you guys than I ever did on any date in my life.”

  “That’s not a bad thing. You just let things happen, we all did and enjoyed one another’s company,” Lucky told her.

  “We plan on doing this again. On seeing you again, and if it’s a date we need to make you feel less vulnerable or fearful, then we’ll do that,” Slane added.

  “Sunday, you plan on us picking you up either here or at the restaurant,” Chord said to her.

  “I have to work.”

  “When do you get off?” Vince asked.

  “I don’t know. I don’t really have set hours. It’s a family business. Listen, uhm, we should just slow things down, ya know?” she said and started to backstep, but Slane took her hand. She looked up into his hazel eyes, that crew cut brown hair, and all those muscles and she felt aroused again.

  “Don’t panic. We’ll take things slow and we’ll stop in. We all exchanged numbers, so we’ll touch base on a time to pick you up.” She nodded and then looked at all of them.

  “Good night and thank you for tonight.”

  “Good night,” they each said and then she went to her door, glanced back at them as they started to get into the SUV. That made her want to chuckle and freak out some more. There wasn’t one man dropping her off, not one man who kissed her, and swept her off her feet, but four. Four men she learned were in their late thirties, Chord being the oldest at thirty-nine. God, she didn’t want to come across as immature, or inexperienced with men so experienced, yet when she was with them she felt comfortable. They seemed attracted to her in the same way despite her age. As she entered the living room she saw her mother resting on the couch. She sat up.

  “Are you okay?” her mother asked her with concern. She shrugged her shoulders.

  “Oh God, did they try something? Were they aggressive?” she asked and Bella chuckled as she walked closer and then sat down on the couch next to her mother. She shook her head, held her gaze, and just blurted out her emotions.

  “They were incredible. I like them all so much. I’ve never felt like this about one man, and now there are four, and they are older, Mamma. Chord is thirty-nine.”

  “Oh my goodness, that is a lot older, Bella. Perhaps it’s just the idea that they were soldiers, have all those muscles, and I’m sure they were very experienced in their handling of you.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Bella asked.

  “It’s not an insult. You’re young, very beautiful, and older men have always found you attractive and sexy, especially with your body, your maturity and classy way you carry yourself. You don’t have experience handling men like that. I just don’t know if I like the idea of four at once.”

  “Like I ever considered anything like this? We know it exists, we have friends who are in ménage relationships, customers who come to the restaurant, and people living right here in Warriorville. It isn’t shocking. What is shocking is that it happened to me. I like them so much, that if I was a different person, had more experience, I wouldn’t be here talking to you right now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I would be with them.”

  She could hear her brothers and father talking, and once again she thought about the warehouse and about Feluppe and about the agents. What would Chord and the others think if they knew her father and brothers were involved with something illegal? What if the agents weren’t being honest and they arrested her too despite the fact that she did nothing wrong? She was in a mess here.

  “There you are. Why did you go out with them? What are you thinking?” her father asked her. She wasn’t surprised.

  “I wanted to and they’re very nice. It was a fun night despite how the day was,” she said to him.

  “I don’t think it’s wise. In fact, I was thinking about how hard you work, and all the things you’ve been doing around the restaurant and not really being able to have time for yourself. How about I send you on that spa retreat? Some of the customers have been raving about it.”

  “A spa retreat? What the hell is going on?” she asked.

  “Just do it, Bella. Now isn’t the time to get involved with anyone,” Ricardo said to her, but he wouldn’t look her in the eyes.

  “Does this have anything to do with the packa
ges I picked up at that warehouse today?” she asked them.

  “What?” Frederick asked. She stared at them.

  “Are you all involved besides Uncle Antonio?”

  “Involved in what? What are you talking about, Bella?” Cordero asked.

  “Whatever illegal shipments of product Uncle Antonio is shipping through his trucking delivery company as well as our truck we use. Were the boxes left behind done on purpose so there was room for whatever items you all needed to have the driver deliver them to?” she asked.

  “How do you know about Uncle Antonio and the trucks?” her father asked her.

  She stared at them. “When I went to the warehouse to get them, there were men there.”

  “Men?” her father asked with concern.

  “Feluppe Garcia was there with some other men.”

  They widened their eyes and their concern was obvious as they started to all talk at once. “What do you mean Feluppe was there?” her father asked.

  “He saw you and spoke to you? Why didn’t you tell us immediately?” Frederick asked.

  “Listen, I was pretty shaken up, and then to learn that my uncle was working for him, and then all of you as well, and I was pretty pissed off.”

  “We aren’t working for him or for Uncle Antonio.” Cordero raised his voice.

  “That son of a bitch used our trucks without us knowing. That’s why Costano and Feluppe are coming to restaurant tomorrow. They believe they have a hold on us still and now with this information, the use of our truck, who would believe we were innocent? Those bastards are going to ruin it all. They will cause us to go under and wind up in prison.” Her father carried on.

  “What do you mean Costano is coming to the restaurant?” she asked.

  “You have to leave this weekend. You can’t be around here when he shows up.”

  “Why not? Why can’t you tell him you had nothing to do with any deliveries? That it was Uncle Antonio? Costano has no pull or power here. We can go to the sheriff and the friends we’ve made can help.”

  “No. Absolutely not. You don’t understand what kind of man Costano is. What him and Feluppe want,” her father told her.

  She knew what kind of men they were and she knew they were interested in her.

  “You will leave in the morning. Cordero will make the arrangements,” her father ordered.

  She knew she had to be there when Costano came, and she had to find out what his plans were so she could tell the agents and save her family.

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “You don’t understand. They want you, Bella. They wanted you back in New York. They threatened to take you, to make you theirs—it was part of why I gave up the restaurant and left there to start over. They are like leeches. They suck everything out of you. Take all you have and make it theirs, or destroy it. I need to protect you.”

  “They can’t do that. They can’t force me to do anything they ask.”

  “You don’t know what they are capable of.” Her father raised his voice at her.

  “I’m not leaving. We will handle it together. If you haven’t helped them and you’ve done nothing wrong, then we’ll be fine. It isn’t like he is going to come here and take me away. He’s coming here for a reason, so what is it?” She asked.

  They were silent.

  “For crying out loud! Obviously I know what is going on, and I’m right here with all of you so tell me, why he is coming to Warriorville?”

  “We don’t know. All we know is that Uncle Antonio started to work for this guy Trevor Vasto. From what we gathered after talking to Antonio is that Trevor works for some big shot from New York. A guy who is into some heavy things, but he subs out small businesses like this. His name is Luther Valderez, and their entire family has connections to a lot of illegal businesses. Including some associated with Costano and Feluppe. From what Uncle Antonio told us when we questioned him today, this trucking route has been expanding to various towns across the United States. When Trevor told Costano about the men he had running shipments in this area, of course he recognized the name, Puchenzi, and Warriorville. So now we believe he’s going to try to do what he did in Brooklyn, and put the pressure on dad, on all of us by forcing us to continue allowing the use of our truck and also the use of the restaurant to meet up with other big shots or whomever while they conduct business,” Cordero explained.

  “So why can’t we go to the police? Everything he is going to try and do is illegal. Maybe if we go to them, to like the state police—”

  “You mean the guys you went out with? No, Bella. They can’t know about this. First of all do you really want them to get involved, to possibly get hurt or killed?” Frederick asked.

  “Of course not, but we don’t know what they’re capable of or the connections they have because of the military. Maybe they can find out if there’s an investigation already going on.”

  “No, because if there is and we look like we ratted Costano out, he will kill us all,” Ricardo told her.

  “Please, Bella, listen to me, and disappear this weekend. We’ll deal with Costano and Feluppe,” her father said to her.

  “But Feluppe warned me about being at the restaurant. He expects me to be there.”

  “What did he do? Did he touch you? Hurt you or threaten you?” Frederick asked.

  “He just scared me, that’s all. I wasn’t expecting to see him there. I wasn’t prepared because he said that you guys and Uncle Antonio were working for him.”

  “That bastard. You see? This is what they do. They squeeze their way into your lives, your family, your business, and they destroy it,” her father said.

  “We will protect her, Dad. Maybe it is best that she sticks around tomorrow and we can see what they want. Explain that we aren’t involved and we don’t want to be,” Ricardo said to him. Their father shook his head.

  “I caused this. From day one so many years ago back in New York. When he came into my restaurant and acted so friendly, then came more and more and things began to happen,” her father said.

  “What things? How did this all start?” she asked. He looked at their mother who had tears in her eyes.

  “First small stuff, like having trouble makers coming into the restaurant and being rowdy. They usually came when Costano and Feluppe were there. Of course they had men intervene and give warnings. It was his first show of control. Like he would ensure no trouble makers would dare disturb the patrons. Then we had some deliveries tampered with and one truck robbed. Costano took care of things. Put a protection over the place. From there on out it led to more. To me paying him for protection as we were threatened. I look back now and know that he was the one setting me up, having people make the threats and then even attacking us.”

  “Attacking you?” She looked at her brothers who looked upset.

  “You were in college finishing up your last year when Mom and I were heading out of the restaurant after closing up. A couple of guys demanded money and they attacked. We were scared and shaken up, and then Costano and Feluppe come in that week after hearing about what happened, and we learn about these guys who had been robbing other places and looking for trouble wound up beaten to near death. Costano said that was him, and it was to ensure our safety. That as long as he was welcome and respected in our place then he would protect us. He pulled us deeper and deeper and soon they had meetings there, and you were done with college and then finished your internship, and when he laid eyes on you I knew he would go after you next.”

  “But he didn’t though. He was always polite and asked me about things, but he didn’t try to touch me or ask me out.”

  “And he wouldn’t yet. No, the man likes to build up trust, and he knew you were young at twenty-two, but then I think he became a bit obsessed with you, especially with how little you dated,” Cordero said to her.

  “I was dating Mikey for a few weeks until he broke up with me after I went away for the weekend. So it wasn’t like I never dated,” she said to them.
<
br />   “That was so weird how he broke things off with you when the two of you were so in tune to one another and definitely liked each other so much. I always thought it was Costano who threatened Mikey and made him break things off,” Frederick said to her.

  “Are you serious? Why would you think that?”

  “Because he asked you about him, and when Mikey came to the restaurant Costano was a prick. Plus Mikey, whenever we saw him anywhere, he tried to avoid us and he looked scared. Not exactly like a guy who just decided he no longer had feelings for a woman.”

  “So you think Costano wants to force your hand again and maybe make a move on me?” she asked.

  Her brothers, father, and mother all looked at her. “What do you think?” her father asked, and Bella wasn’t sure what she was going to do if Costano did try something, but she wasn’t running away for the weekend. She was going to see this through. Tell the agents about this Valderez and Trevor guy and get her family out of trouble once and for all. It seemed to her that she was all the hope they had left to not lose their restaurant and spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

  Chapter 4

  “I don’t believe this. I really don’t fucking believe this,” Lucky said to Vince, Chord, and Slane as they gathered more information and now were conducting surveillance at Ciao Bella’s. “We are going to have to talk to her later on. Right now, I suggest none of us go inside but instead just keep Gordon and Century in there relaying whatever it is they see or pick up on. In the interim it isn’t looking good for Bella and her family,” Vince said and Chord was breathing through his nostrils.

  “I just don’t think they’re involved. Not Bella, there’s no way. She’s fucking twenty-four years old, And I’m not going to assume anything until I talk to her and get the truth,” Chord stated.

  “I agree with Chord. Not only have the four of us never wanted the same woman or to make a commitment to one, but we’ve never been wrong about our instincts and reading through people. She’s not involved,” Lucky added.