by Eden Rose
Keep Me
Eden Rose
Book Two:
The Lucky Family Series
Author's Note:
Hello, thank you for reading!
This series is important to me because I got to implement my two favorite topics: tall dark and dangerous men and forbidden love.
This series is set to give a full and complete story over three full novels. The subject matter is adult and could be more violent but this is a love story.
It is not my intention to criminalize nor demonize anyone apart of the underworld.
This is completely fictional and any relationship to a person (dead or living) is completely coincidental.
Smooches,
Eden Rose
I own all rights to these stories ©2014
Dedication:
To my friends and family for loving and supporting me to always wave my freak flag high. I love you all.
Prologue
Well, she has really stepped in it this time and there is no saving her. My ex-wife... she just knows how to piss people off and no matter how many free passes she gets, Savannah always lands on their radar.
Dice won't let her step out on me and that is exactly what they think she did while talking with him. How many times have I told her that she should just leave him and be done with this? Too many times! If I didn't know any better, I would say she has a death wish.
I took her in to our old penthouse. I was the one who walked her to work. I was the one who heard her crying herself to sleep. It was me! I didn't need to do any of that but I felt nostalgic and wondered if we could hook up a few times.
And what did that ungrateful bitch do? Nothing! She didn't even look at me most of the time. She was living with me for free and didn't even act as though she were appreciative of the amount I sacrificed.
I am done trying to save her. If it is not one thing, its another and she keeps doing it. I hope she realizes that while she is trying to be all tough and mighty, she is showing her vulnerability and making Pop weak.
Christ on a cracker here! Ever since she has started hooking up with that Lucky guy, she has had a contract on her head and people blame that on me. Trust me, there is no way that I want to see Savannah around town with Moretti.
And that jewelry he gave her? The Savannah I know would think it was too much! And it was. That canary diamond alone was a hot little number and I wanted to hawk it so I could get a return on my investment.
I just want this bitch to leave. I am so tired of people reporting back to me what she is doing and who she made angry this time.
Savannah won't be safe. There is no saving her and the attempts on her life will keep coming until they succeed. Moretti can't save her and neither can I. She is as good as dead.
Chapter One
I never would have thought that a one night stand with a man that I never met before would turn into all of this. In the two or so months that I have known Vincent, my best friend got married to his friend and I got divorced. Don't get me wrong, I was extremely happy for Anne and Ronnie. But the drama that fills both her and my relationships all started because they (Vincent and Ronnie) are affiliated with the mafia. Affiliated is the wrong word, they are very much a part of the mafia.
My connection to Vincent Moretti, a man who in such a short amount of time has made me feel so strongly for him, has led me to my current predicament.
Millstone, a rival mafia family member, has insisted on trying to teach me a lesson. This lesson that was being taught was to not be with Vincent anymore. My ex-husband, Joel, is part of the Dice family which is what Millstone is affiliated with. Vincent and Ronnie are apart of the Lucky family and here I am... Well that is the cliff-notes version.
Never did I ask for any of this. Who in their right minds think to themselves: let's sleep and fall in love with a dangerous man and see how long it takes to be killed! I sure as hell didn't.
This room is dark and dank with very little light. However, I am wondering if the lack of light could be the result of my eyes being puffy from crying. I am certain that I haven't stopped crying since I was shoved in the car. Crying is pointless because in the end it doesn't help me. Sure, I feel a little better by letting my frustration out in anyway possible but it's embarrassing.
From the voice I can deduce that it is Millstone: "This stupid bitch will get what she deserves!" He slapped my face again and I wished I could cover my head but my hands were still being held.
There was pain everywhere. My head. My stomach. My back. My legs. My arms. Everything.
When people say that they have an outer body experience, I totally have experienced this. I let my mind float away but left my shell of a body laying there. My shell was having its dress unzipped in the back and then someone else took my shoes off. I must have tried to kick those hands away, because someone grabbed my ankles and squeezed. Those same hands trailed up my legs until their fingers dug into my thighs so sharply, that I felt each finger.
I have heard before that detachment is a form of protecting oneself. Maybe that is what I am feeling. The feelings are so conflicting that I don't even know what I am feeling. Numb? Maybe that is what it is. If I am numb then that means that I can't sense what is happening and whether or not I am feeling pain.
Maybe numb isn't even right. I am still feeling the afflictions of each and every one of those unwanted hands on my body. However, it is weird, I knew the hits were happening but its almost as if I didn't know they were happening. The oxymoron isn't lost on me.
Those fingers that were biting into the flesh of my thighs, moved up to grip my hips. I felt my hips lightly rise off the couch and angled them so they were up. "This is what I am talking about! She was such a flip flopper and now look who's not here! Pop! He is such a dumb ass to risk an agreement for some slut! This bitch doesn't deserve to be given a pass." The hands on my hips then dropped me back on the couch. I then felt someone hit my face while they flipped me over yet again.
My dress was fully unzipped, and someone is now in the process of ripping the straps over my arms. The cold air hit and made my nipples tighten with a vengeance through my bra. Shivers racked my body and my teeth began to chatter together as my dress ripped slightly due to the assault of being ripped past my chest to my waist.
In all actuality, I always pictured myself to fight in these situations. Be a bad ass chick that is depicted in movies where girls kick ass. I keep expecting a jolt of energy to come processing through me. However, I am completely helpless and feel utterly alone.
And that is not a feeling I relish.
My mind floated away to some place nice and fuzzy. The time when Vincent proposed to me on the beach is what I was reliving. The smell of the salty air and the sounds of the waves... everything was so magical. That euphoric feeling of hearing Vincent say I love you is almost like a fairy tale. I loved when he kissed me after he proposed. It was almost as if Vincent wanted to somehow combine ourselves through our mouths.
"You stupid son of a bitch!" Someone yelled as they burst through the door. I was really hoping it was Vincent, however I couldn't let him see my shell like this. He would have surely killed everyone in the room. "Get the fuck away from her, you rat bastard!" Whoever was yelling, pushed all of the hands that were on me away.
As my mind floated back down to my shell, I heard a gun shot. The shot sounded like a firecracker that has been lit and set off in rapid procession. There is a silence that fell in the room. I didn't want to open my eyes. What if I were shot? What if the person who rescued me was shot as well?
"Moretti! You shot him!" I heard Joel yelling at Vincent. When did Joel get here? Has he been here the whole time? "He's not breathing! You kille
d him!"
"He had been warned!" Vincent came to my side and rubbed my back. "Please turn around. I need to make sure you are okay," I turned towards the voice. His voice sounds like an angel. Even though we are not currently together... I missed him.
* Vincent
I heard the familiar cocking of a handgun as soon as I am standing outside of the door. I would know that sound anywhere. The part that freaked me out the most is that I know there is a huge possibility that the love of my fucking life is on the other side of the door.
Many people have died because of me. It was my hand that cocked that handgun and it was my hand that aimed it. My hand that pulled the trigger with the barrel of my gun right in their face. I have been ordered to kill members of my blood family during family events. I once killed a man while he was leaving a restaurant with his wife.
That is a day I won't ever forget. I received an order when I first was made from the capo who asked me to track down Sylvester Adiarnos. Luck was on my side and not his when I seen him at the same restaurant that Mary and I were eating in, but wasn't being shared with Adiarnos. I followed him out of the restaurant and left Mary at the table. By the time my target walked to the end of the sidewalk, I had my aim and shot him. This was my first public assassination in broad daylight.
With the lives of thirty-eight men that I have taken away (it has been a rough time since Savannah moved out so the number has changed by a few), I have never felt this anxious or out of control. I held my own gun in my hand and made sure to load it while I drove here, and cocked it. Whatever was happening on the other side of the door, I will be ready.
Just please, don't let her be dead. I wouldn't survive it.
I kicked open the door and heard the sound of the wood splinter has it hit someone. Who gave a flying fuck over who it was. It was their fault for not anticipating my arrival. Did these bastards only think about what was happening right now that they didn't think I would be coming?
The scene was painted as if it were my deepest and darkest nightmares. My Savannah laid out on the couch and that asshole had her underwear in his hands. I suppose it is a good thing that the item of clothing is still on her body because I am hoping that it means she wasn't violated.
If she were violated, not only will everyone in this room suffer, but I will find their family members and kill them. The members in this room, I will make them watch me kill their family members and let them know that the reason they were being killed was because a man put their hands on my woman.
Every single person in this place is going to die.
*Savannah
"Seriously, Moretti! I wouldn't have let him actually go through with any of this!" Joel called as I turned around.
Vincent took my face in his hands and I could have sworn that he were sobbing since a few tear drops splashed against my flesh. "I am so sorry, Savannah! Please, tell me you are okay! Please, baby, speak to me!" He begged me as he touched over the spots that I were hit at. Vincent turned away so he wouldn't be yelling in my face and said: "Joel! You dirty ass bastard! I didn't have you come get her so she could be almost raped and or shot! You are so lucky that I am having her stuff being moved out of your hell hole right now!" Vincent showered me with kisses all over my face and held me tightly against him. He placed his face in my own neck space and breathed. "I am so sorry. I got you, baby. Everything is going to be fine. Baby doll, please open your eyes," his voice was full of solicitousness and this broke me.
I moved my chin and let out a deep breath as my eyes stung from being hit. Joel was talking to Vincent as I opened my eyes. I didn't know that I was crying until I felt the stream of tears down my face. "Vin... you are here," I mumbled as I opened my eyes all the way.
Vincent stared at me and I looked around. I came across Millstone's body slumped over in the corner. Not moving. Its an awful thing to wish someone were dead, but given the circumstances I am hoping that karma will give me a free pass.
I heard crushing and crunching of wood as someone bounded through the door and kicked what sounded like a chair. "Joel, you better leave before he kills you too!" The voice kind of sounded like Vinny? Sammy?
Vincent put his hands underneath my back and lifted me into an embrace. "Baby doll, I am so sorry," he whispered in my hair. "Are you okay?" Vincent rubbed my back and soothed me by whispering in my ear. I closed my eyes and let my body go limp. "Baby, please. I am so sorry. I wish I were here. None of this would have happened." He held me close to him and I didn't move while he held me. "Sammy! Ronnie! Come in here!" He yelled away from my ears.
I heard shuffling coming into the room. The couch made a dent and I felt breath on my shoulder. "Oh! Shit! Is she okay? What happened to her?" Ronnie asked as he sat behind my back and lifted the zipper of my dress.
"That bastard was trying to take her clothes off! I am so glad I came when I did. Millstone also held a gun to her head! Joel held her ankles together. Rossi, why isn't she moving? Is she okay? I swear, I will flip out if she is not okay," he shook my body in his and then yelled again. "Joel! You better be far away! I can kill you!"
Joel came back into the room and now things were going to get worse. The tension raised to astronomical levels and the tense was cold. So cold that even though I felt like I were burning up, I shivered.
"I wouldn't have let them do anything to hurt her. I don't understand why you think that you are the only one that cares for her. She was my wife, for fuck's sake!" Joel sounded as if he were pleading for his life; which is very true right now, I could only assume.
I heard a loud crack shake the room and the sound made me feel sick. That cracking sound started again and I heard a grunt. I tried to push past Vincent before I threw up on him. Since he didn't let me go, I let loose of my bowels on his shirt.
Vincent gripped his hands around my arms as he held me closer to him. "Jesus! Baby, are you okay? Please, you're scaring me!"
I gained control over my revolting stomach and made a death vice with my hands on his hips. Granted, I am not feeling very well, but my fingers felt as if they were in heaven as they touched Vincent. "Please make that sound stop!" I begged as I heard the cracking sound two more times. And then I heard a shatter.
"Don't fuck with what's ours, ass!" I have never heard Ronnie sound so menacing. His voice sounded demonic and if I didn't know that he were here, there would have been no way I could have put that voice and the man together. There was one more shattering and then I heard a gun shot.
An eerie calm fell over the room and I could hear sets of heartbeats through the room.
My mouth decided to work after my brain sent panic flares to it. Yes, I am worried about my own life but I am also worried about the flesh under my fingers. I needed to make sure he were okay before I could establish anything else. "Vincent... am I shot?" I ask as I responded to the hug that verified Vincent was indeed alive. He felt so good so close to me. "Please, I need to go," I pulled away from the hug especially since memories started to flood my brain. "I need to get my stuff and check into a hotel room. Please, let me go," I begged.
I seen the baseball bat fall to the floor as Ronnie came and sat next to me. "Savannah, you can't be by yourself right now. Check into the hotel room and then Anne and I will move you into your new home," Ronnie said. If he weren't behind me right now, I would have flinched when a set of hands rubbed my shoulders.
"No!" Vincent squeezed me to his core. "You. Aren't. Going." He pulled me out of the grab and then looked at my face while scanning it. As his eyes searched my face, I felt my skin prickle and tingle. Vincent had the ability to see through me and I wasn't surprised he could still do it now.
Ronnie made a squeak of a noise and ran his bloodied hands through his hair. I didn't realize he still had blood on his hands. "Listen, Savannah... Please stay with Vincent for a little bit. He will go out of his mind if you leave him."
I didn't want to argue anymore. "Okay, please can we go to a hotel? I don't want to go home. Wait. What was Joel doing he
re? Was he here the whole time? What happened to me?" I screamed as I tried to fight to get out of the grasp. "He was here! My ex-husband who told me that he loved me, was here? Watching me get hit and he just sat there?" I shivered.
To my annoyance, I was ignored. "Your stuff has been removed and in the car outside." He picked me up by my waist. "How are you feeling?"
"I am in a lot of pain." It is true, though. The amount of pain that I am in is killing me and the tears have flooded my eyes.
I looked over the room and my eyes landed on a set from a horror movie. Blood was splattered all over the walls and on the floor. Ronnie's bat is laying across the floor and pieces of the bat are splintered and covered in blood. The five bodies that were on the floor were so beaten that I couldn't make out who they were. I whispered: "Are they dead?" I knew the answer but asked it anyway to make sure.
Ronnie was the one that answered my question. "Yes." The sound of his voice did scare me... he sounds devilish and intimidating.