Joker’s Wild: Vegas Underground, book 5

by Rose, Renee

  The kid, too, looks traumatized. He has a death grip on his mother’s neck, face tucked in like he doesn’t want to see any of what’s going on.

  Good Cop comes back and addresses Desiree. “All right, I have confirmation of your story. Police records in Cook County show you have full custody of Jasper and the father abducted him from you. You are free to take him home.”

  “Thank you.” Desiree glances in my direction without quite looking at me. “What about him?”

  “He’s free to go, too.”

  “Are you nuts?” Bad Cop snarls.

  Good Cop holds his hand out to me and I shake it, relieved that for once, my family and my name won me a favor instead of lost it for me.

  My dad did some things right.

  He operated by a code of ethics, just outside the law. He made his own law.

  But this isn’t a win, by any means. Desiree turns and walks out the door without ever meeting my eye and I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that we’re over.

  Chapter 14

  Desiree

  I sleep in the back of Junior’s car, Jasper curled up in my lap. It’s not a peaceful sleep, it’s the kind I choose when I can’t deal with my thoughts and just need to escape them. I should be overjoyed at having Jasper back.

  I am overjoyed.

  Or I’m sure I will be tomorrow. But right now, it’s all too much emotion mixed together.

  I wake up when we get into the city, as if my body was awake and knew where I was the whole time. It’s late—almost two in the morning. Jasper’s sweet face rests against my chest, his breath easy and soft.

  “Junior, I need you to take me to my home,” I tell him.

  Jasper stirs and I rub the back of his head like I did when he was a baby.

  “Yeah.” That’s all he says. The distance between us is an ocean. We haven’t spoken the entire ride home.

  He takes me to my apartment and opens up the door, reaching for Jasper and pulling him out and into his arms as I climb out.

  My urge to snatch my baby back is strong, even though I know Junior means him no harm. Maybe it’s more that he seems too good a this. Too fatherly. Too familiar.

  As if he knows it, he hands him to me the second I get out and reaches in for the plastic bag of Jasper’s stuff I collected from Abe’s place.

  “Junior.” My voice sounds strangled and unnatural. “I really appreciate what you did for me—getting Jasper back. It means everything to me.” I swallow down the lump in my throat. Tears sting my eyes. “But I just need to be home with him now. So this is goodbye.”

  Junior’s face is the same stony mask he’s worn since Indianapolis. It doesn’t change. He just nods and walks me up to the building. Takes my keys and opens the door, then leads the way up the stairs to my place and opens that door, too. He sets Jasper’s things inside the door, but doesn’t cross the threshold.

  And then he pulls the door shut.

  No touch or word. No goodbye.

  Nothing.

  It’s just... over.

  I don’t know what I wanted, but I’m suddenly sobbing—heartbroken over the choice I made.

  But it was the right one.

  The only one I could make.

  My world—raising my beautiful little boy—it can’t mix with Junior’s world. Not ever again.

  Jasper will probably be forever scarred by what he saw back there. He will never forget the night I came for him and my “boyfriend” nearly killed his father.

  If I want to raise my son right, I have to walk away from the powerful allure of Junior Tacone. Even if he is my personal hero.

  I carry Jasper into my room and lay him on my bed.

  My baby’s back. That should be enough.

  That should definitely be enough.

  I’m sure eventually this emptiness, this queasy panic bubbling up inside me will go away.

  * * *

  Junior

  Letting Desiree go feels like taking my face to a grater. My entire body revolts. Every mile I drive away from her sends me into a deeper panic.

  But I can’t go back. I won’t try to convince her to be with me.

  It’s wrong.

  As much as I want to go back there, load her and the boy up and tell them they’re moving in with me, end of story, I can’t.

  She needs me out of her life.

  After the way I behaved in front of her child, I can’t blame her. I would never allow my own child to see such a thing.

  And just like that, the pain of losing Mia is so fresh again, it surges to the surface, mingles with the ache of leaving Desiree. Desiree and Jasper.

  Because, yes, I care about that boy, too. He’s part of Desiree. He’s her entire world. I would do anything for him, same as her.

  I drive home and drown myself in a bottle of Scotch.

  Let her go.

  I have to let her go.

  Even if it kills me.

  * * *

  “You ever coming out of this office?” Gio pokes his head in my den, where I’ve been sitting for the past seventy-two hours.

  I can’t seem to move.

  Or speak.

  Or do anything.

  Paolo called, he’s chasing down a lead on Vlad, and he asked me what to do if he finds him. It turns out the guy was in Russia when the meet at Milano went down, so I don’t know if Ivan was operating on his own or not. Vlad only just turned up back in town to find his entire operation shut down by me.

  The order should be, “kill him.”

  It’s seems pretty plain, right? Vlad sent his men to kill me, so now that I’ve killed his men, I should hunt him down and kill him.

  Except I can’t seem to give the order.

  Desiree wouldn’t like it.

  Hell, I don’t even like it. I have no proof that Vlad gave the order. And I have no evidence that Vlad is coming after me, though logic says he would. I should be prepared for an attack. I should go on the offensive and take him out.

  But I don’t want to.

  I don’t actually want to do anything.

  “Have you eaten? Or slept?” Gio asks. He left my house the day I drove to Indianapolis—his recovery nearly complete. Now he’s stopped in without an invite. And without knocking.

  Or maybe he knocked and I just ignored it.

  “You sure as hell haven’t showered.” Gio wrinkles his nose.

  I want to pull an old Junior and be an asshole so he’ll leave, but it’s hard for me to be a dick to him. I just keep remembering how it felt to think he might die. Or maybe I just don’t want to be that guy anymore.

  “You ever think about getting out of the business?” I ask Gio.

  “What?” He walks into my office and drops into a chair across from the desk.

  “Like Nico and Stefano. Ever want to leave? Or hope they’ll need you over there?”

  Gio’s quiet long enough that I know the answer.

  “Why do you stay?”

  Gio shrugs. “I’m not going to fucking leave you here to run shit on your own. That’s not fair.”

  I’m floored.

  One of my brothers is concerned about being fair to me? The biggest dick in the family? All I’ve ever done is thrown my weight around and demand their absolute loyalty and obedience. There’s a hierarchy here, and I make sure they follow it.

  My throat closes.

  “And someone has to be here to run shit.” I say flatly, although it’s really a question. Is there any chance we could close up shop?

  Hang our hats up and retire? Or move onto something better—whatever the hell that may be?

  Gio considers me for another long moment. “Is that true?”

  “Pops thinks so.”

  “Yeah.” Gio fiddles with his Rolex. “But what for? He’s gonna want to kick it on a beach with Ma when he gets out. He’s not going to want this business back.”

  “It’s his legacy.”

  “The Bellissimo is his fucking legacy. His money, his business—our fucking business
—started that. Yeah, Nico was smart. Nico leveraged it right. Hit it big. But we can all hang our names on that project. Because we’re the ones who risked our fucking lives from the time we were old enough to curl our fingers into a fist to earn that money. We gave up our fucking souls for that money.” There’s bitterness in Gio’s voice.

  The same bitterness I feel. The kind that’s mingled in with intense loyalty, so it turns inward in shame and crushing darkness.

  Would I wish my fate on my own brothers? Have them stay in this business just so I’m not alone?

  Hell, no.

  I almost lost Gio over this stupid Cosa Nostra.

  “Let’s end it.” My throat goes dry as soon as I say it. Shame washes over me. But bigger than the shame, the fear I’m betraying my father, comes relief.

  So much relief.

  “Yeah?” Gio sounds as shocked as I feel.

  “Yeah. Unless Paolo disagrees. We make this unanimous.”

  Gio cracks a grin. “I thought this wasn’t a fucking democracy.” He throws the refrain I used to always use back at me.

  I can’t quite smile back, but I try. “It is now.”

  “And then what?” Gio asks as he gets up.

  I shrug, heaviness descending back on my shoulders. “I have no fucking idea.”

  “No. Then you go get the girl. “That’s what this is about, right?”

  My chest constricts painfully. Not a second has gone by since I drove away from Desiree that I haven’t thought about her. Wondered how she’s doing. What it’s like being reunited with her little boy. Whether she’s carrying my child right now.

  I shake my head slowly.

  “Junior. Don’t fuck this up. Or if you already did, then you’d better unfuck it. That girl made you happy. You’d better do whatever it takes to figure it out.”

  I stare at Gio, not daring to listen to his advice. “But what if my happiness comes at the expense of hers?”

  Gio winces a bit as he stands, his hand covering the wound. “Make sure it doesn’t.” He leaves me with that nugget and a wave.

  Make sure it doesn’t. Can I?

  What would it take to ensure Desiree’s happiness? Quitting the business—I’m doing that.

  Divorcing Marne—that’s long overdue. I pick up the phone and dial my lawyer to draw up the papers. I’ll give her half of everything. She’ll be better off than she ever was married or separated from me.

  * * *

  Desiree

  Junior Tacone is stalking me.

  It’s been three weeks since he dropped me off at my apartment. Three weeks of getting to know my son again, loving him, playing with him, soaking up every second with him. And working my three twelve hour shifts that end at 7:00 p.m.

  And every night when I walk out to my car, Junior’s black Maserati is parked somewhere in the vicinity. The first night I pretended I didn’t see him. I fully expected him to get out and corner me against my car, but he didn’t. Nothing happened. I got in my car and drove off, checking in the rear view mirror to see if he followed.

  He didn’t.

  The second night I marched over to his car. “What are you doing here?” I demanded when he rolled down the window.

  “Just making sure you get to your car safely. I don’t like you walking out here alone at night.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “Yeah, I did have trouble in this lot one time.” I watched his jaw tighten, expression turn foreboding. “Oh wait, they were your guys, weren’t they?”

  He leaned back in his seat. “Well, your ex may show up anytime. I’m not here to interfere in your life. I’m just making sure you have back up if you need it.”

  I stared at him, stunned. Well, if he wanted to play bodyguard, I’d let him. I figured he’d get tired of it soon. Or he’d renege on his promise not to interfere.

  But neither of those things have happened yet.

  And now I know for certain I’m carrying his baby. I had a blood test today at the hospital.

  When Junior finds out, he’s going to put his claim on me, just like he’s kept his claim on his wife. I have no delusions that he’ll stay detached or removed.

  And like his wife, I’m not sure I have the resources or the guts to fend him off.

  I ignore him as I walk by, like I do every night he’s here. And like those nights, he makes no attempt to talk to me or attract my attention.

  I get in my car and drive away, fighting the urge to turn around to drive back. Tell him about the baby.

  His baby.

  Our baby.

  If he keeps stalking me like this, he’ll find out soon enough. And I doubt I’ll be strong enough to keep him away when that happens.

  And that thought should be frightening, not reassuring.

  Chapter 15

  Desiree

  Another wave of nausea hits me and I heave my breakfast into the toilet.

  Thirteen weeks.

  Hopefully by the end of next week I’ll be past the morning sickness phase.

  “Mommy, you okay?” My sweet Jasper asks from the doorway.

  “Yep,” I say brightly, splashing water on my face and rinsing my mouth out.

  “You need someone here to take care of you.”

  I turn, surprised by this observation. “You’re here, aren’t you?”

  “I mean a man. Where’s your boyfriend?”

  I go still. “What boyfriend?”

  “The man who came with you when you got me from Daddy’s.” It’s the first time Jasper’s mentioned Junior. I’m sure I screwed up as a mother, but I never addressed what happened that night. I felt too emotional about breaking up with Junior and I guess I didn’t know what to say to Jasper to take away the trauma of what he saw.

  “He would take care of you, Mommy. He would keep us safe.”

  My heart starts to pound. “Safe from what?” My voice cracks.

  “From Daddy. Or bad stuff. I think he wants to help us.”

  “Jasper...how do you know? What makes you say that?”

  Jasper shrugs. “I just know. He’d be a good dad to me.”

  Tears leak from my eyes before I even realize I’m crying them. I have no idea what prompted Jasper to say these things.

  Jasper wraps his arms around my waist and hugs me. “It’s okay, Mommy. You don’t have to be sad any more.”

  “Aren’t you afraid of Junior? After what he did to your daddy?”

  Jasper shakes his head. “No.”

  Just no. No other explanation for his take on the situation. I still haven’t ferreted out much about Jasper’s stay with his dad. I don’t think he was mistreated, but he definitely seems relieved to be with me again. The first few weeks he kept asking me if his dad would come and take him again. I promised him he wouldn’t, although I’m not sure how I’ll keep that promise. Right now he’s in jail, and looking at up to a year in prison for taking Jasper. After that, though? Who knows what will happen.

  I draw in a shaky breath. “So you think I should let Junior be my boyfriend again?” My voice wobbles on the words. I didn’t realize how badly I wanted it until I said it out loud.

  “Definitely,” Jasper says.

  Definitely. Wow. Okay.

  * * *

  Junior

  I wait for Desiree to round the corner in the parking lot. She’s parked in her usual place, and I’m in mine—a spot across from her car.

  There’s something different about her today. Vulnerability glimmers on her face. She finds me with her gaze, as she always does, but this time she keeps looking. Keeps walking, straight toward my car. I roll down the window, but she walks past without saying anything. Then pulls open the passenger side door and climbs in.

  My entire body comes alive at being close to her again. I want to reach for her, to touch her skin, taste her lips, but I utilize the restraint I’ve been practicing these last few months. Winning Desiree back is going to take time. I had to get my life in order, prove I can be the man she needs me to be.

 
And I’m getting there.

  “Hey,” she says softly. She’s still wearing the ring I bought her. She never took it off. I try not to read too much into that.

  Fuck it, I can’t resist any longer. I reach for her hand and pick it up. “Hey,” I say back.

  “Junior...I’m pregnant.”

  I squeeze her hand, bringing it to my lips to kiss. “I know, baby.”

  Her brown eyes widen. “You knew?”

  “Yeah, doll. And believe me, it took all my willpower not to just barrel into your place, pack all your shit up and move you and Jasper in with me the second I figured it out.”

  Tears glisten in her eyes and I go rigid, not sure what they’re for. “Why didn’t you?” she croaks.

  I cradle the side of her face. “Did you want me to?”

  She shakes her head and a tear drops down her cheek. “No, not really.”

  I try to decipher that answer. “Listen, doll. I have some things to tell you.”

  “Yeah?” she lifts her wet lashes to gaze at my face.

  “My brothers and I talked and we’re shutting down the family business—retiring. No more danger. No more illegal activities. And I got divorced. It was final this week.”

  She swallows. “W-was that for me?”

  “For you. Only for you. Totally for you. Desiree, I’ve missed you so goddamn much. I want you in my life. I want to figure out how we can make it work. Because, baby, you changed me. I’m a different man than I was before you came into my house.

  “Into my heart. It’s like I was living life in black and white before I met you. And then you showed me technicolor. And since you’ve been gone—I’m not living life at all.

  “I’ve just been working to make myself worthy of you.

  “I want you to know if you let me into your life, I will never show my violent side to you or Jasper ever again. I’ll never let him see a gun. Or teach him to fight—unless you want me to. I’ll take care of you two—and the new one, of course. I have plenty of money. You don’t have to work. You can stay home with the kids, if you want. Or I’ll stay home with the kids. Because I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with myself, yet.”