It hadn't ended well for the men involved when they met their maker in the form of Ryker and his hatchet. If the woman ever left Murphy's protection, she'd probably meet the same fate. I didn't think Ryker had ever killed a woman, but I had no doubt he'd make an exception for the bitch who almost cost him his wife.
"Yeah?" I answered the phone when it rang, stepping closer to the door to put some distance between Sadie's class and myself. My eyes never left her, watching as she demonstrated something with her hands, swinging her body into a punch that glided slowly through the air.
"Is that anyway to speak to your employer?" Matteo teased. "Your eloquence makes me wonder if you're indisposed in a way I do not want to consider." His shudder almost resonated through the phone.
"I'm watching Sadie teach her self-defense class," I responded with a chuckle. "Did you need something or did you just call to bother me, Princess?"
He scoffed his laughter into the phone, the static making me draw the phone away from my ear. "I think that's the first time anyone has dared to call me Princess."
"So stop acting like one and get to the point," I said, my fingers tightening on the phone as Sadie encouraged Mike to grab her arm like an attacker might. How was it that it only took one platonic touch and I wanted to tear the gym apart so that no one could ever touch her again?
"Judge Ryan agreed to oversee the Garcia case against Murphy. Our connection is no secret, and Murphy will see it as the declaration it is. The Judge will not be serving in an impartial manner, given he knows of Murphy's extracurricular activities. He's going to throw the book at him and try to put him behind bars for a very, very long time. Even if he only gets him on the illegal lending, we'll be rid of him for a few years. We won't be involved in the trial, because we both know we do not involve the law in our problems. We want no record of it when we rid the world of Tiernan—"
"What's that have to do with me?"
"He's requesting a man for his daughter, Irina," Matteo said. "I can't blame him since we know Murphy likes to target women."
"Fucking shit, Matteo. Where the hell am I supposed to pull a guy from? Rafe and Calix's men have the streets, but that doesn't mean that we're entrusting any of them with our women or the kids or the money. I don't want to give him someone we don't trust 100%."
"I agree. It has to be one of ours," he sighed. "What about Bryan? Give his cash drops to Benny. He can handle that. If I have to, I'll ask Rafe to supervise him for a week or so."
I paused, considering my words. "You trust Rafe that way?"
"Yeah. I trust him with my life. Don't get me wrong, the guy's fucked in the head, but he's loyal. Besides, he wants something from me. He can't fuck me over if he wants me to help wrap a bow around sweet little Isa and deliver her to Spain." Matteo sighed, and I could just imagine him hanging his head. "Ivory will kill me if she finds out."
"Then why do it?"
"Because I know how he feels. Would you let anything get in your way of making Sadie yours? We claimed our women and gave them the benefit of staying local to be with their families because circumstances allowed it. Is him luring Isa to Spain really any different than me having Scar deliver Ivory here and not letting her go? I swapped out her birth control for shit's sake. Lino carried Samara to their wedding over his shoulder while she screamed. Ryker used the kids to control Calla. Rafe promised me he won't abuse her. That's...all I can ask of him without crossing a line. He's not a man we want as an enemy."
"She's sixteen, Matteo," I groaned.
"And he won't touch her until she's eighteen. He's compromising where she's concerned. That's a first for him."
"Fine. I'll call Bryan and let him know to coordinate the changeover with Benny," I snapped, glancing over at Sadie. Hatred was like acid in my veins, wanting better for the pretty teenager I'd seen on the street with a friend. She was younger than Elisa, for fuck's sake. My baby sister was older than the girl Rafael Ibarra wanted to take away from everything she knew.
I didn't know what he'd do with her. Only that she'd never be an innocent teen again. I hoped she'd enjoy her last years of freedom.
"I need to know you won't interfere with Rafe's plans," Matteo said.
"I won't get in his way," I said slowly, "but if he hurts her—"
"He won't," Matteo said, ending the call.
Pulling the phone away from my ear, I tucked it into the pocket of my jeans and strolled over to watch Sadie more intently. Watching the women practice with one another and the way they interacted with Mike, it was obvious which had already been abused. Their bodies strung tight when he got too close to them, hesitance slipping into their features. I understood why Sadie seemed to try to keep it simple with only one man to help, but at some point, the women would need to practice with men. They'd have to overcome that fear to enact their training and defend themselves in the real world.
Making the note to make the suggestion to her later, I watched her try to coax the more nervous of the women into coming out of their shells a bit. She moved with a bright smile, easing nerves as she went like the ray of light she was. Her demonstrations were explained so smoothly I had no doubt she'd been teaching these classes for a long time.
My heart filled with a little more love for her, knowing that she volunteered her time to help women in need who had nowhere else to turn. She was my redemption. It was all worth it if everything in my life led me to the fire-cracker of a woman who wanted nothing more than to help others feel safe.
The most skittish of the women turned to her, shifting her weight nervously as she tried to make a fist properly. Sadie took her hand gently, untucking the girl's thumb and talking to her softly. I couldn't hear the words, but the shy woman smiled in response.
"Remember!" Sadie said suddenly as she turned to the rest of the women. "You want to break his face, not your thumb. Always keep them outside your fingers." She demonstrated, turning her attention back to the shy woman so she could kneel at her feet. She twisted her legs to plant her ankles shoulder width apart, tapping her toes until the girl watched the angle of her feet and studied them. Memorizing the position. "Knees loose and bent. This position is where your power comes from. When you strike, you use your entire body. A punch from a weak arm doesn't hold as much strength as a punch that has an entire body thrown into it. If you fight, you have to aim to incapacitate him long enough to get away. Otherwise you'll just piss him off."
Sadie touched the girl's shoulder gently as she stood, making her way around the room and correcting people as they helped one another find the right position. "I know this seems so basic, but it's really the root of your power. You have to have a good understanding of it before we move on, and we have some new girls here this week."
Nobody questioned her as she continued on with her lesson, demanding their attention like she so often did. It was impossible not to notice Sadie when you walked into a room, such was the magnetic energy that she brought with her everywhere she went. Even subdued to teach women to protect themselves, she shone like a radiant light.
A light that was all mine.
21
Sadie
After dropping Rebel off at home, Enzo had taken me for a ride on his bike. The purr of it beneath me was like a soothing strum that reminded me of Enzo himself. A beautiful machine with a beast lurking inside.
Part of me wondered what a thrill it would be to finally see that beast unleashed, but the other part of me knew that for that to happen would be horrific. We left Chicago, going outside the city limits where skyscrapers faded to rural land and rolling hills. The roads wound through the trees the further we got from the bright lights in the distance, the night sky beautiful without light pollution.
Being on the back of the bike meant I couldn't truly appreciate the stars in the sky the way I wanted to, but the feel of my arms wrapped around Enzo was enough to placate me. Stopping at the top of a hill, he parked the bike in a pull-off. He tugged the helmet off my head carefully, leaving both of them on the bike as
he took my hand and led me to a dark path between the trees.
"Is this the part where you murder me for being a pain in your ass?" I asked, rolling my eyes at the droll look he sent my way.
"I'm a Bellandi. I don't need to take you to the woods to murder you," he answered with a chuckle. The unusually dry humor regarding the nature of his employer and the business he conducted startled me enough that I choked on a laugh.
"Did you just make a murder joke, Lorenzo Vescovi?" I wheezed, bumping my hips into his side as we walked. The path was dark, only illuminated by the light shining through the canopy of trees as we made our way slowly. Leaves crunched beneath my feet, but the distinct lack of snow was prevalent in the unseasonably warm night. Bundled up in a heavy sweater and jacket with gloves on my hands, I felt toasty warm even if my cheeks caught the slight chill in the air.
"I think I did," he said, smiling brightly at me with flawless teeth that shone in the darkness.
"What are we doing in the middle of nowhere if you aren't planning to murder me?" He paused when a tree branch blocked the path, swiping it back slowly to reveal a panoramic view of the city in the distant valley below.
"We're here for this," he said, pulling my hand as he stepped out of the path and to the hillside covered in grass. "It's prettier in the Spring and Summer when everything is lush and green, but I wasn't about to wait that long to bring you here." A man stood from a stump where he sat. "Thanks, Luis. Tell Rafe I owe him one small favor."
The man nodded with a crooked grin, his dark hair and Spanish features shining in the moonlight. "Smart man, specifying it will be a small favor. Rafe loves to deal in favors."
"I am aware. Matteo warned me about making a deal with the devil," Enzo admitted as the other man stepped around us. The hill dropped into a steep decline in front of us and the space to walk was narrow as we moved through it. Once it opened up, I realized why a man would be waiting for us.
A blanket was laid on the half-dead grass, pillows and another blanket folded on top of it along with a cooler presumably filled with food or drinks. "You did this?" I asked, stopping dead in my tracks.
No one had ever stopped to think to romance me. I'd always been the wild child looking for a good time, like my enjoying thrills and activity meant I couldn't enjoy the calmness of a beautiful view or the thoughtfulness of a man who considered what I might want.
"Did you think it was Luis?" he asked, a humorous grin on his face to deflect the awe I felt as I looked at him. "I'm fairly certain Rafe's men are not in the practice of setting up romantic dates without being paid to do it."
"How do you even know about this place?" I asked, flopping down on top of the blanket without ceremony. Enzo settled in beside me, his warmth immediately touching mine as he tugged the spare blanket across our laps and drew me into his side with an arm around my waist. With my head against his chest, his heart beat in tune with mine, an echo from the depths of me to him.
He sighed, and I tilted my head up to watch a sad sort of smile cross over his face. "I grew up in Chicago. Joined up with my buddy Logan after we both turned eighteen. We got our first bikes before we went off for basic, and this was where he liked to come. He liked to jump from one of those rocks to the other like an idiot desperate to break his damn leg,” he said with a chuckle, pointing to the boulders that lined the hillside. “He said the view reminded him of everything he was fighting for. Protecting those people down there from days like September 11th. Troops had been in Afghanistan for a few years before we joined up. We were already at war with Iraq" he said, dropping his head as emotion twisted his face into a grimace.
Tears flooded my eyes, sensing the coming crash of reality. Of everything Enzo had survived and seen.
Everything he'd lost.
"I wasn't as excited as he was about it. Afghanistan a few years earlier? Of course. But the Iraq War felt different, even then. Luckily when we were deployed, they sent us to Afghanistan, so my opinions about Iraq were irrelevant. I probably wouldn't have joined if Logan hadn't been determined, but I'd have followed him anywhere. He was always reckless, running into danger when everyone else ran away…” Enzo trailed off, staring at the city in the distance.
Leaning forward, I studied his profile intently. "He didn't come home, did he?"
"No,” he said, shaking his head slowly. "Some of the guys in our squad were cornered in a building. We had to shoot our way out. Our Squad Leader was shot in the leg. He couldn't walk on his own, so I was helping him out with Logan taking point. He caught a bullet in the throat. We got him to cover, but he bled out before back up made it."
I restrained the sniffle that pulled at my nose, fighting against the burn in my eyes and throat. "At least he wasn't alone."
"Yeah," Enzo said. "I guess that's all we can ever hope for really. Not to be alone when it all ends, and for the people we leave behind to know how much we loved them. His family knew, without a doubt, that he loved them more than anything."
I said nothing. I could have offered empty platitudes and words of reassurance about how he'd died fighting for something he believed in. That he'd made his family proud. But in the end, it was all irrelevant.
Gone was gone.
No matter how much we wanted to bring them back or make sense of the senseless death.
So I snuggled harder into his side, breathing in his scent and offering him the only comfort that I thought mattered in that moment. Enzo was such a physical man, wrapping my arms around him and squeezing him tightly felt like the only path to take. "I'm glad you made it home," I whispered, even as guilt consumed me for thinking it.
I was selfish enough to admit that I wouldn't have wanted Enzo to trade places with Logan. The idea of never meeting him, of never knowing him, saddened me more than I wanted to admit. Enzo couldn't die a statistic in a war he didn't believe in before I ever got to meet him.
If that made me selfish, then I'd be selfish for the rest of my days.
"I didn't bring you here to make you cry. Believe it or not," Enzo chuckled against the top of my head, making me crack a smile despite the bleak subject. "His last words to me were to live. I don't think I really did that until I met you."
"Lorenzo," I murmured, burying my face in his chest to fight back the flood of tears.
"You make me want to live, Baby Girl."
"I know the feeling," I whispered, feeling vulnerable with even that slight admission. He still terrified me, past fear that I’d ever felt before. But in the face of death and loss, risking my heart to Enzo felt like an inevitability.
He’d already worked his way beneath my skin and imprinted himself on my heart. All that remained was to see if he shattered it.
"My sisters always said that you should put the effort in when you tell a woman you love her for the first time. That you should show her you want to give her the world and leave no doubt that it isn't a throwaway statement." My heart stalled, fingers tightening around his waist. I couldn't bear to look at him, staring at the city in the distance instead.
"You don't have to do this. I don't —"
"Life is too short, Carina. We're at war with Murphy. If anybody knows how precious it is to tell people you love them while you can, it's me." His finger caught my chin, tilting my face up to meet his eye as terror must have filled mine. "I love you. I love you just the way you are. I love that you're stubborn as an ox, and I love that you aren't a perfect cookie-cutter shaped woman. You have jagged edges and cracks, but they only make me love you more."
Trying to shove down the hope surging in my chest, I felt the need to do what I did best. Deny the seriousness of the conversation and the relationship in general. I huffed a laugh. "You won't even sleep in a bed with me, Enzo."
He winced, looking sheepish for a moment before he cupped my cheek and ran his fingertips over my jaw. "I have nightmares. It's been a long time since I slept with anyone in the same room as me, but I used to get violent in my sleep back in the barracks. I've hurt people because they hesita
ted to hurt me since they know I'm not seeing them. I'm back in combat, someone I love bleeding out in my arms, but the face always changes. I want to sleep next to you more than anything, but I can't risk hurting you."
"I'm not so fragile, Enzo. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but whether you're dreaming or not, I won't hesitate to put you on your ass if you come at me. I know you well enough to know you'd rather nurse an injury than deal with the guilt of hurting me," I said sternly.
"One day we'll try it, but this thing with Murphy has me more on edge than usual. I'm dreaming more often. I just want to wait until we can hope for success rather than setting us up to fail. Can you give me that?" he asked. I snuggled back into his chest, enjoying the view as I nodded.
Knowing that he didn't avoid sleeping with me because of some lack of emotion helped, but I still couldn't bring myself to return the words just yet. He didn't acknowledge my lack of them or push me to supply something I wasn't ready for, instead turning his attention to the cooler and pulling out containers filled with food with a tender look on his face.
I wasn't naïve enough to think he'd wait for long before he started pushing, but I was grateful for the brief reprieve to gather my thoughts, regardless.
I'd never told a man I loved him, and it scared me because I felt like I'd never be the same once I did.
Going back to Indulgence for the first time after Enzo fucked me in his office made my thighs clench the moment we walked into the front doors. Dom glared as we passed through, one of his eyes swollen damn near shut and his jaw bruised a fading mottled green. I winced, suspecting it had been part of his punishment for letting me sneak out, but didn’t bother to ask. I’d never left Enzo’s side, so I knew without a doubt he hadn’t been the one to give the beating nearly a week ago.
Shielded Wrongs: A Dark Mafia Romance (Bellandi Crime Syndicate Book 4) Page 21