by Shanna Bell
He dropped his hand. “There’s only one way for you to be freed from the dogs snapping at your heels.” He would’ve taken out Morelli for free, as he had history with that piece of scum, but he didn’t tell her that.
“And what’s that?”
“You know the life. Don’t act like you don’t know how this is going to end. If you don’t belong to a man with power, you will belong to a lot of men with power.”
He let those words sink in, his gaze making clear what he meant to say.
Carmen turned chalk white as she started to get his drift. Then she took a deep breath. “If you’re proposing what I think you’re proposing in exchange for your protection, that’s never going to happen. I'm not having sex with you.”
“Who said anything about sex?”
She snorted. “You can wipe that innocent look from your face. Sadly, I do know the life. I know that if a man offers you his protection, there’s always a price. So, tell me, Vincenzo, what’s the catch? What is it that you want?"
I want to heal you.
But do to that, he first had to break her.
“The catch is that you will give me three IOUs.”
She blinked. “What?”
“I owe yous,” he repeated. “Three times you’ll do as I say, no questions asked. You will also move in with me until the Morelli and Keegan situation is resolved.”
Her hands clenched and, for a second, he thought she would deck him. Part of him wished she would. He wasn’t sure how he would react the second their skin touched. Would he be able to hold himself back? Doubtful. Would he grab her wrist and press her up against the wall? A more likely scenario.
“Never! I will never give you that kind of power over my body.”
He cocked a brow. “Who said anything about your body? My proposal is simple. For me to protect you, you will live with me and Sy. Your whip already met him the other day.” He probably should’ve mentioned that last part before, but she already looked ready to bolt. “I’m saying I’ll protect you if you promise me three I owe yous. As far as sex is concerned, I’m not going to touch you unless you initiate it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He stepped closer. So close that he could see the little flecks of gold in her hazel eyes and the slight tremble of her luscious body when he nearly touched her.
“It means that I won’t fuck you unless you ask me to. The second you do, all bets are off.”
“Too late,” she whispered. “I asked you for that years ago and you declined. Then another man took with violence what I wanted to give to you freely.”
Her words were like bullets grazing his skin. Something dark and volatile entered his mind. He wanted to dig Franco from the grave and kill him all over again.
“Living with me and Sy won’t be easy. We’ll push you.”
“Push me into granting you three wishes,” she joked, but he could see the fear in her eyes. “Just out of curiosity, when exactly will you put these wishes into play?”
“Whenever I want. However I want.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you. Me being your slave? Catering to your every whim? You are no different than Franco.”
Hearing his name mentioned in the same sentence as that lowlife made him see red. She was lucky she hadn’t yet agreed to his proposal. Otherwise, she’d been tied up with a gag ball in her mouth, taking at least ten whips.
Trying to convince her he was nothing like Franco was useless. From an early age, Carmen’s brain was hotwired to believe she was merely a pawn in the lives of powerful men. Words were meaningless to her, but he could show her.
“I’ve told you my conditions. Take it or leave it.”
She took a step back. “I will leave it, just as you once left me."
He ignored that jab. Instead, he started to tell her what would happen to her when either Morelli or Keegan would get their hands on her. Every little, gory detail. He drew a colorful map, and the more he explained of what she already knew, the paler she grew.
He felt like a bastard for scaring the shit out of her, but it was something that needed to be done. The only reason she had been able to hold on to the casinos so far was because she was Gio Detta’s sister-in-law. There weren’t many men who dared to take on their family. But, as ever, things changed in San Fran’s underground belly. And even though they were no longer in the old family business, Detta Enterprises still had a few fingers in the pot in some gray areas. Areas they needed to stay a player in order to protect their business interests, but that came with lurkers on the prowl. Every now and then, those lurkers turned into enemies, ready to pounce on them. War was brewing, and if Carmen didn’t watch her back, she was going to get caught in the middle of it.
After he’d finished his story of horrors, she took another step away from him. She was always doing that, it seemed.
“I will never belong to any man again, let alone to two. And I will never ask for your help again. There’s another way to get out of this mess. I’m sure of it.”
She wasn’t listening. Her stupid pride and distrust in him were going to get her killed.
“Yeah? How you gonna fix this, Carmen? Tell me. I’m just dying to find out. You couldn’t fix the dead body in my club, could you?” She cringed when he mentioned that little tidbit he was planning to have a chat about later. “You can’t handle the casino situation all by yourself either. What’s it gonna take for you to admit that? If it weren’t for Gio, you would have already lost the casinos. And guess what? Either Morelli or Keegan would have taken you with it. Carmen Caruso, prized possession and their new whore.”
He’d gone too far. He knew it. But sometimes it took being an asshole to help an innocent. She needed a reality check. Stat.
“You bastard. You filthy, not going to put my life in your hands again, bastard.”
With those parting words, she all but ran away from him. Guess he should consider himself lucky she didn’t carry her whip.
***
Vince watched the sway of Carmen’s ass from above as she left the building. Her feet hit the pavement as if her skirt was on fire. Hell, he’d love to put her panties on fire. He also wasn’t the only one. Whether she wanted to be or not, she was on Sy’s radar now.
He remembered Sy’s words after his encounter with Carmen.
“She’s drawn first blood and is gonna pay for it, one way or the other.”
For a second there, a knot had formed in his stomach. A whipping was a major trigger with his friend. Carmen was lucky Sy hadn’t gone full berserker on her because when Sy snapped, there was no holding him. He went just as crazy as his brother, Viking, who loved to bring a hammer to a gunfight.
Carmen had barely left when Gio returned. He could see the worry lines in Gio’s face from across the hall. His brother knew exactly what was coming. He probably thought it was a bad time to be having a baby. His enemies would love his vulnerability, but they didn’t know his brother as he did. Having another person to protect, a tiny one at that, would only make Gio more fierce.
“Was that Carmen I just saw leave?”
“Yeah. She was here for help, and I took care of it.”
“Really? Since when?” His brother never minced his words. “You’ve never taken a woman seriously before.”
Why start now? The unspoken words hung between them.
Of course, he could have told his brother the truth. That he owed Carmen, and would do anything to right the wrong he did over a decade ago. Except, that would only lead to more questions. Still, it irked him that his brother thought so little of him concerning Carmen.
He thought back on the way Gio had reacted when he told him he was serious about sharing a woman with Sy. Gio told him he didn't understand it but he’d support him, no matter what. Then he’d called him a kinky motherfucker. He’d given him his support back then. Now, he needed his brother’s trust.
“You’re not the only one who knows how to protect and provide, big brother,” he gritted t
hrough his teeth.
The surprise on his brother’s face was almost comical. Him using their dead father’s mantra for the first time ever obviously had the effect he was hoping for.
“So, it’s like that?” Gio asked.
Yeah, it was, whether Carmen wanted it or not. The woman needed a keeper or two.
She just didn’t know it yet.
CHAPTER 5
CARMEN
Carmen practically jumped inside the first cab that stopped for her. She couldn’t get away from Detta Tower fast enough.
Become ours.
Vince’s outrageous words chimed in her head. Never again would she shackle herself to a man, let alone two. She was done playing the good, little, obedient wife.
Come to us freely and we’ll protect you.
There had to be another way. She just needed a clear head. Somewhere to sit down and think quietly. What she also needed was a friend. Someone who wasn’t her sister, who would go and kick Vince’s ass for suggesting to her what he did.
She also had to sort out the mess of the dead guy and the eerie note…
It took her just one phone call and a thirty-minute ride to meet her friend Tess at the Farmer’s Market. The market at the Ferry Building was her favorite, catering to a big selection of fresh produce. Some people turned to alcohol, gambling, or binge-eating when they were sad and depressed. For her, it had always been cooking and baking.
She paid the cab driver and checked her bag for pepper spray. It was something she did obsessively ever since the threats. It was a paltry defense if someone were to shoot her, but it was better than nothing. Raul called again, sounding worried, as he always did nowadays. It took some convincing to have him not follow after her. This was something she needed to do on her own. Besides, she still had a solid ten hours before either Morelli or Keegan would make good on their threat.
The lusciously filled food stalls and the scent of wood-fired pizza wafted her way, making her salivate.
It would take at least half an hour before Tess would arrive. Strolling around the food stalls brought back fond memories of her nonna. Sometimes she wished she was a little girl again, when her biggest concern of the day was to choose what she wanted her nonna to bake for her.
She ordered a cup of java at a coffee shop while waiting for Tess. Whenever she needed to get a better scope on things, she just sat in a secluded corner and pretended she was sitting at the edge of the world.
“Hi there, Car Car.” Tess gave her a hug as she put down her postman bag she always seemed to be carrying with her.
With her black gloves and strands of pink hair, Tess looked like a mash-up between an eighties punker and geek.
“Hi. It’s so good to see you. Thank you for meeting me on such short notice.”
“Anytime, for you.” Tess grabbed a menu. “I’m starving. That piece of leftover pizza this morning does not make a good breakfast. Oh! They have bumblebee pie. So, what’s up?”
“I need help,” Carmen confessed.
While she contemplated how much she wanted to tell her friend, the waitress came by to take their order.
When she left, Tess drew closer. “Since we’re here without the rest of the crew, I’m thinking you have something serious going on. Is it guy trouble?” she fake whispered.
“You’re spot on,” Carmen whispered back. “But it’s not the kind of guy trouble you’d think. I actually have four guys after me.”
Tess’ eyes widened. “How about that. Go, Carmen. Take ’em all!”
“Small problem though.” Carmen cleared her throat. “Two of them will kill me if I don’t hand either one of them over my casinos. The other two, well, that’s a bit more complex. Honestly, at least with Morelli and Keegan, I know what they’re after.” She told Tess about the twenty-four-hour deadline and Franco’s cursed legacy.
The waitress came with their order, and Tess was still in thinking mode. She took a big gulp of her drink. “So, let me get this straight. If you sell the casino to Morelli, this Irish dude, Keegan, will take a hit on you. And if you sell it to Keegan, Morelli will come after you. Why haven’t you called me before?” She sounded offended.
“I didn’t want to get you involved. Also, you have other things on your mind. Last we spoke, you were still trying to locate your sister. I figured that would take up all your time. If I’d met my long-lost evil twin, who went AWOL on me, I’d want some answers too.”
Tess pulled a face. “We’re not twins.”
“Potato, poh-tah-to.” Both sisters were genius hackers, and had an immense sense of justice. Though, she guessed Onyx was more after revenge.
“Regardless,” Tess said, frowning. “I’m here now. You should’ve told me before. That’s what friends are for.”
True. Except Tess had a tendency to go DEFCON nuclear on someone’s ass when trying to help her friends. That was just the kind of person she was. “I know. And I love you to pieces for it, but I can’t put anyone else in danger.”
Tess lifted a finger. “Speaking of danger and dangerous people. Why exactly haven’t you asked Gio for help yet? I mean, he’s your brother-in-law after all, and one scary dude. I’m not sure how high the other two players rank on badass gangsters board, but my bet would be on Gio any time of the day.”
If only it were that simple. “I can’t risk him going to war for me. He wouldn’t have another choice with Jazzy being my sister. If he doesn’t help me, she’s crazy enough to storm into a mafia war herself.”
“That’s our Jazzy,” Tess said with a grin.
“She can’t be that Jazzy anymore. You know she’s pregnant.”
That reminder sobered Tess up quickly. “Still, if this Morelli dude hurts you, Gio will get involved regardless.” Her eyes widened as if having a light bulb moment. “Why don’t you go to Vince? He knows—”
“No! Remember when I mentioned four guys? Well, Vince is kind of the second part of those four guys. He already offered me his protection.”
Tess rolled her eyes. “Why didn’t you start with that? Vince is vicious. Even more so than Gio, in some cases. He’ll have your back.”
Oh, if only you knew…
“Vince is not an option. I don’t want anything to do with him. He had his chance and blew it.”
“He did? When was that? How… Oh…” Her eyes narrowed. “You two have history…”
Dammit. She hadn’t wanted to admit that. No one knew of her stupid teen crush. She hadn’t even told Jazzy. It was her shame to bear.
“Obviously, I’m not taking him up on his offer.”
“Why the hell not? He’s hot. Best way to get over that piece of shit of an ex is to get on a Detta horse. Trust me, I would know.”
“Tess…”
“What? Don’t give me that look. It’s only the most logical conclusion. The man wants to help you. So, let him. You know the world would be a much better place if everyone stopped beating around the bush and speak out loud. Speaking of bushes...” She rolled her eyes. “Try to joke to a man about waxing his genitalia once and you’ll—”
“I think I got the picture, really. Don’t need details.”
“What? See, this is the problem with today’s society. It’s perfectly okay for women to talk about the pain when getting waxed, but as soon as it’s about a man—”
“You are ruining my seaweed salad for me.”
Tess frowned. “What seaweed salad?”
“Exactly my point. Who would want one after the mental image you just gave me?” Before Tess could get into it—and by the excited way she looked, she was gearing up to do just that—Carmen continued. “Look, um, this casino situation actually isn’t the reason I called you. I need your help in finding someone.”
“You’ve come to the right address. I can find anyone!” Tess boasted.
She had thought about this all night. In fact, it was the single thing on her mind ever since she found Dwight’s dead body. It was a remnant of the past. Like karma telling her to right a wrong. N
o matter how she tried to forget about her past, it had caught up with her. Ever since that night, it had settled into her stomach like a ball of fire, never easing up.
“I’m looking for a little girl.”
“A girl?” Tess sounded intrigued.
“Yes, or no, not a girl. I mean, she must be a teenager by now. Maybe in her early twenties.” The girl couldn’t have been older than nine or ten at the time.
“Aha. And what’s her name?”
They called her Seven, but that wasn’t her name.
She remembered how the girl, dressed in a too-big white gown, had screamed out her name. Right up until a meaty hand had dragged her back behind iron bars.
“Marni. Her name is Marni, and that’s basically all I know about her.”
“And where did you last see this Marni?”
She scrubbed her hands over her face. “This year, it will be ten years ago. I… only saw her once, at a place she didn’t belong.” Neither of them had.
“Ah, and the plot thickens. Did Marni have any special traits? Something that made her stand out?”
“She has one blue and one green eye. Oh, and a small scar at the left side of her mouth.”
“So, she has heterochromia,” Tess said. “That’s a rare trait. It should make things easier for me. Where did you meet her?”
She’d been afraid of this kind of questioning, but Tess deserved the truth, mostly.
“I met Marni at a BDSM club where Franco took me.” Of course, back then, she hadn’t known to what kind of monsters the place catered. “Long story short, I got lost in the place, and ended up in a dungeon I wasn’t supposed to wander into.” And by “wander,” she meant practically crawling away from Franco and his sick friends who had beaten her.
“There was this girl who bumped into me. I couldn’t believe it when I saw a child in a place like that. Her eyes were frantic, and her throat was hoarse, but she screamed one thing, over and over. ‘My name is Marni. My name is Marni.’ Before I could process that, a man came up behind her, and dragged her back into a room. I tried to go after her but—” It had ended with a fist in her stomach.