Standing from my desk, I grab my cell and cringe when I see the address. I know exactly where Tadhg is, and if there’s a problem there, then we have big fucking issues. Walking into the bar, I decide to bring one of my brothers with me, just in case.
“Shaughan, you’re with me, we have something to check on,” I announce.
He looks up from wiping down the bar and gives me a lopsided grin. I shake my head and continue toward my car. Once I unlock it, I slip inside of the driver’s seat and press the button to start it.
Shaughan flops into the passenger side. “You know, if I made more money, I could maybe have a kick-ass ride like you do, brother,” he says as I ease onto the street.
“If you didn’t spend all your money on expensive watches, shoes, and bitches, then you probably could have a ride like mine,” I chuckle.
He snorts. “Yeah, probably. Although, I think I’m done with bitches for a while,” he shrugs. I don’t say anything. Shaughan will tell me, it’s obvious to me now that he had something to say earlier in my office, but he decided to focus on me instead. “I’m marrying Keanna,” he admits.
“But?”
He rolls his head around on his shoulders before he speaks. “But, she’s not Irish. Fuck, she’s an innocent. Has no fucking clue what I do for a living,” he mumbles.
“You better wife her up, then tell her.” I chuckle.
He turns to me, but I’m driving so I keep my gaze locked on the windshield. “You think? That would be cool?”
“She might not think so, but if she’s what you want. Take her,” I offer. “You’ve been dicking her around long enough I think.”
He coughs, hiding his chuckle. “You should take your own advice, brother,” he points out.
Shaking my head, I pull up to the house and shift the car into park. “She knows what I am. Maybe not who I am exactly, but she knows I’m in the organization. It’s who she is that’s my problem, not who I am,” I admit.
Shaughan’s eyes widen and he lifts his chin before he swings the car door open. “Venture to guess, brother, that you’re making more of an issue out of whatever you’ve decided her flaws are than needs to be made. Don’t ignore what could be something. Especially if she makes you smile.”
Shaughan doesn’t say anything else. I watch as he climbs out of my car and starts to jog toward our destination. He’s not wrong, but neither is he right. Giovanna is not black, nor is she white, my Giovanna is fucking gray.
I follow behind him, trying to push Giovanna and whatever the fuck we are, out of my head. Tadhg is waiting on the front porch smoking a cigarette as we walk up. His eyes meet mine and he shakes his head once. “Fuckers,” he grumbles.
“Care to enlighten me as to what the fuck is going on?” I ask as my greeting.
He lifts his chin to Shaughan, and then his gray eyes meet mine and he shakes his head again. “Came to grab product to give to my crews. Walked into a fucking massacre,” he explains as he stubs out his smoke.
He walks to the front door, turns the handle, and walks inside. Shaughan’s behind him, and me bringing up the rear. The house is bare bones, no furniture except a big screen TV and card tables lined up with metal chairs.
This is packaging.
These men are part of our crew, lower level beginners to the organization—more boys than men. They’re all face down on the table, a bullet in the back of each of their heads. All ten of them. Tadhg is right, it’s a fucking massacre.
“Where’s the product?” I ask as my eyes dart around the room.
“It’s all gone. We had a full shipment arrive yesterday,” he states.
Shaughan says it before I can. “Fucking fuck,” he shouts. “Where’s security?”
“More dead bodies piled up in the backyard,” Tadhg announces.
“Christ,” I hiss.
All that product, fucking gone. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in dope, gone. This house doesn’t have surveillance because it has full-time security that lives here. Turning toward the hall, I make my way into the security guard’s bedroom.
The door is locked, so I kick it open. Inside, there is an unmade bed, and his shit is strewn all over the place. From first glance, it looks like it was ransacked. However, walking into the space deeper, I realize that not only was this fuck a slob, but his shit is gone. Most of his clothes aren’t in the open drawers, a few pieces litter the floor but not an entire wardrobe’s worth, and the closet is practically empty.
“Who was security on this house? His body out there anywhere?” I call out to Tadhg.
I hear his footsteps disappear outside, but I can feel my brother’s presence at my back. “Fuck, our own man turned traitor. I’m so fucking sick of traitors,” he growls.
“No fuckin’ shit,” I say.
Less than five minutes later, Tadhg appears and the look on his face, it tells me everything that I need to know. The security guard for the house is gone. The dope is gone. Everybody is dead. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what the fuck is going on, however, the next mission is to find out why.
“Get me his information. I want his name, his family’s information, everything you can get on the fuck,” I demand.
Tadhg lifts his chin. “What about the product, boss?” he asks, his voice quiet and concerned.
I run my hand through my hair, letting out a breath. I don’t have any more product coming in, and I still have to take the money that this would have yielded to tribute with the Russians. No matter what, I’m under their umbrella. They don’t give a fuck that a man of mine turned, they want their money. Fucking hell.
I have enough in my off-shore account to cover it all and not even put a dent in it, but transferring money around brings up red flags to the Feds. Cash is best in my world, in our world. I need to think about this. My men need money to feed their families, which means I need to get product in their hands.
“Clean this mess up today, and I’ll have something for you tomorrow,” I stall.
Tadhg lifts his chin and murmurs a, yes boss, before he turns and jogs away. I can hear him on the phone a few seconds later calling for a cleanup crew. “What are you going to do?” Shaughan asks.
I shake my head, looking around the messy as fuck room. “I’m going to find this piece of shit, but before that, I’m going to call Timofei and ask for more product.”
“You going to tell him what happened?”
I shrug. “Not sure yet,” I admit.
Shaughan doesn’t say anything. I can sense his unspoken words though—I should. I should tell Timofei what’s happened. I will, eventually, too. However, I want to find this fuck. I want to rip him to fucking pieces for daring to go behind my back and rip me off, and I don’t want anybody to stop me. Not that I think Timofei would try and stop me. I do think he’d try to get in on the action, and for whatever reason, I want this fucker all to myself.
“Think on it, let me know, I’ll get the name of this guy. Send it to Mannix and see if he can get some info,” Shaughan offers.
I lift my chin to him in agreement and he turns, leaving me alone in the room. I feel the adrenaline flowing through my system, and I know that I need to release it. I could go work out, go for a run, however, that’s not what I want right now. Taking my phone from my pocket, I send a text.
BE THERE IN THIRTY. BE READY FOR ME.
I don’t shove my phone back into my pocket yet. I stare at the sent message and wait until she responds.
GIOVANNA: I’ll be waiting.
I grin. Dropping my phone in my slacks pocket, I turn away from the room and head toward Shaughan. He’s typing something into his phone as he talks to Tadhg. The front door opens, and I recognize my cleanup crew as they walk through. None of them looks surprised by the sight in front of them. They’ve seen more dead bodies than they can probably count by this point.
Shaughan jogs toward me, slipping his own phone in his pants pocket as he does. “I got his name, so there’s a start,” he says.
“Let’s go,” I grunt.
We leave the house and I point the car toward the bar. I speed through the city streets while Shaughan talks to Mannix on the phone the entire time. When I pull up in front of the bar, he hangs up and looks at me in confusion when he notices that I don’t turn the car off.
“You coming in?” he asks.
Shaking my head once, I don’t look at him when I answer, afraid that he’ll see the truth written all over my face. “I’ll be back later. My phone will be on, call me if you get any new info,” I order.
The car door opens, but he doesn’t close it, he leans in and only then do I turn to face him. “Whoever she is. Say hello,” he laughs, then closes the car door. I flip him off before I punch the gas and head toward Giovanna.
CHAPTER EIGHT
GIOVANNA
I frown when I look around. My condo isn’t exactly the way I would want it to receive a guest. However, there’s nothing that I can do about that right now. I only have thirty minutes until he’s here, or should I say before he comes back.
He stayed all night last night, and this morning was, dare I say, the best morning I’ve ever had in my entire life. I wasn’t expecting him again so soon. I’m glad that I’ve at least showered, but my house isn’t perfect.
Wearing nothing but a short, floral silk robe, I quickly straighten my bed. Then I hurry to the kitchen and put my breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. I am rinsing out a glass in the sink when I feel a hand wrap around my waist. I jump from the touch and drop the glass.
“Vanna, A rùnsearc, it’s only me,” Aidan chuckles behind me.
I place my hand on my heart for a moment, then turn the water off before turning around in his arms. He braces his hands on the sink at my hips and tilts his chin down, his blue eyes staring straight into mine.
“I didn’t hear you come in,” I breathe.
His lips form a smirk, then he lowers his head slightly and brushes them against my own. I let out a sigh as his tongue gently caresses the seam of my mouth. Parting, I open for him, and I’m rewarded when his tongue slips inside of me.
One of his hands leaves its place on the counter and tugs on the sash of my robe. It opens, exposing just the center of my body. His warm hand presses against my belly and I can’t help the shiver that rolls through me.
Without so much as a word, he leans down slightly, wrapping his fingers around my upper thighs and picks me up. I place my hands on his shoulders for stability as he turns around and deposits my ass onto the kitchen island countertop.
“Is everything okay?” I ask him. His blue eyes look me over and his hands slip my robe free from my arms. I watch as he gathers it in his hand and tosses it to the floor.
“It will be once I’m buried inside of you,” he states.
I watch as he unbuckles his suit pants, dropping them and his underwear to the floor. He doesn’t attempt to take off his shirt as he wraps his hand around his hard, thick cock and guides it toward my center. I lean back on my elbows, inhaling deeply as he pushes inside of me.
I’m not wet enough for him to ease in without resistance. I suck in a breath, feeling my center burn a little as he stretches me. I still ache from the rough sex we had a few nights ago, and not being wet enough right now would normally be uncomfortable, but right now it’s almost intolerable.
“Fuck, you feel good, Vanna. You always feel good,” he rasps.
He gently slips from me before sliding back inside and I gasp. Aidan wraps his fingers around the inside of my thighs and spreads me farther apart. I can feel myself getting wetter with each stroke of his cock. Letting my head fall back, I moan. Aidan’s lips wrap around my nipple and his teeth lightly graze the hardened bud before he bites down and sucks.
“So good,” he groans against my breast.
I arch closer to him, enjoying the way his mouth feels on my skin. In fact, his mouth feels good anywhere it touches. I can feel his lips turn into a smile as he kisses over to my other breast. He sucks as much of my breast into his mouth as he can and bites down. My thighs shake, my body shakes, and it takes every single part of me to keep my elbows from dropping out from beneath me and falling onto the countertop.
A sob rips through me as Aidan’s hips move faster, and his thrusts become harder, his pelvis grinding against my clit on every single down stroke. His teeth sink farther into the skin at my breast and I arch closer, enjoying the sweet pain he’s delivering to me. It’s almost too much, and yet at the same time, it’s not quite enough.
His fingers at my thighs grip me harder, just as he lifts his head from my breasts and his eyes survey my body. “You’ll be bruised,” he growls, his gaze connected to my tits. I can feel them bounce with each slam of his hips.
“Good,” I moan. “Give me more, Aidan,” I demand. I’ve never demanded, not ever. Most clients that like that sort of thing request a Domme, of which I am not.
Aidan doesn’t falter at my request. He gives me more. His hard thrusts turning punishing, and his head dips to take my breast back into his mouth. I feel the first wave of my climax hit as soon as his teeth clamp down around my breast. Arching, my eyes slide closed as my thighs begin to shake. I feel my pussy pulse around him, attempting to keep his dick from leaving me.
He rips his mouth from my breast and begins to chant, “Fuck, fuck, Vanna, shit.” His cock grows and then twitches inside of me as he plants himself deep and stills. I relax my elbows, gently lying my back against the countertop, and let out a sigh as I attempt to even my breathing while he slowly eases in and out of me.
“I had a tough morning,” he grunts, releasing my thighs and leaning over me.
My eyes flutter open and I look into his handsome face. He was only away from me for a few hours, and I missed him. Reaching up I cup his cheek, feeling his stubble beneath my hand. “I’m sorry, Caro,” I whisper.
He leans against my touch for a brief moment and I feel my heart burst with happiness. I’m falling for him, completely and totally falling for him. He turns his head and places a sweet kiss on the palm of my hand, which sends electric currents throughout my entire body.
“You make it better,” he murmurs against my palm.
Slowly, he eases out of me, and I watch as he tugs his pants up, adjusting himself, and his suit before he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. Sitting up, I watch as his thumb works against his screen, he frowns slightly and then he closes it down and shoves it back in his pocket again.
“I don’t know when I’ll see you again,” he states, looking and sounding distracted.
Reaching for his tie, I tug him closer to me. I let my lips graze the underside of his jaw, ignoring his cum that’s leaking out of me and onto the counter. I’ll disinfect the entire kitchen after he’s gone. Right now, it’s not what’s important.
“You’ll see me when you’ll see me. I’ll be waiting,” I smile, trailing my lips down his neck, stopping just at the collar of his shirt.
He lifts his hand, burying it in the back of my hair, then tugging my head back. His blue eyes look directly into mine, but I can’t read his expression at all. I have zero idea what he’s thinking, or what he’s going to say. His eyes search mine for a beat and then he turns and walks out of the kitchen. Without a word, I hear the door slam closed and the deadbolt lock into place.
I sit in my spot, unmoving, and stare at the path he used to walk away from me. Something settles deep in my belly, something ugly and twisted, something full of dread. He’s gone and I’m not sure if, or when, he’ll be back.
AIDAN
Leaving Giovanna hurts far more than it should. Seeing her spread out on that counter, her tits marked from my teeth, her body loose and sated from my cock. Something snapped inside of me. I cannot have her. Fucking her, marking her, giving her an endearment.
I’m making a big fucking mistake.
My brothers think they are giving me sound advice when they say to take a chance with her, but they don’t know the truth. They don’t know what she is.
Timofei’s words about her being a fallen princess ring in my head again, but I shake them off. It doesn’t matter what else she is, first and foremost, she’s a fucking hooker.
Driving back to the bar, I decide that I can no longer accept this distraction that is Giovanna. I need to focus on the trouble within my crews, and also on my children. What I don’t need to focus on is getting my dick wet day in and day out.
Once I’m parked in front of the bar, I grab my phone and pull up Moriz’s number. “Mr. O’Neil,” he murmurs.
Clearing my throat, I speak, and with every single word my stomach twists more and more. “I’ve decided to end my relations with Ms. Giovanna. I have the condo key, where would you like me to deliver it?”
“Was she unsatisfactory, sir? If you wouldn’t mind telling me what exactly you would like, I can find a better match for you,” he offers.
My stomach doesn’t just twist, it drops. Giovanna being unsatisfactory, never. She took everything I gave her, even when I hurt her, and never once complained. Today, she actually demanded more. She’s perfect, in every way that a woman could be perfect, that is Giovanna.
“It isn’t her, Moriz. It’s me. The arrangement is just not going to work out.”
He hums but doesn’t say anything else. “Keep the key, sir. I’ll have to change the locks when I move Ms. Giovanna out of the condo, anyway,” he announces.
“Move her?” I bark, far too loudly.
He coughs once before he speaks. “Yes, sir. She was kept there for your benefit. Seeing how you no longer desire her, she’ll be moved into the brothel with the other women. Have a good day. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need something,” he says, hurrying off the phone.
The call ends and I let my phone fall through my fingers onto my lap.
Staring out through my windshield, I wonder what exactly have I done?
GIOVANNA
Bought by the Badman Page 7