by Nicole Banks
His gaze traveled along her body, fully taking her in now that she wasn’t making him wish he was the pole she just had her hands and body all over. She seemed short, even with the heels on. Her legs were strong, and she had ink on her ribs and a half a sleeve on her right forearm. Her hair was long, and now that the lights were back on, he could see he was right in his assessment. Her hair was grey, making it look like smoke, which seemed fitting for the fire she just set across the stage.
Otto stepped closer, holding out his hand for her. She didn’t hesitate and took his hand as he helped her step off the stage and onto the main floor they were all standing on. As soon she was on the same footing as him, she had to crane her neck up to look directly at him—she barely cleared his shoulder.
“Otto.” He gripped her hand in a firm handshake and she nodded.
“Is that short for something?” Her voice was rich, reminding him of honey, and he wanted to know if she tasted just as sweet.
“It’s short for Othello, but no one calls me that. Otto or O is fine.”
He still held her hand—it was probably borderline creepy at this point—but she didn’t pull away. In fact, she seemed just as wrapped up in him as he was in her. Her grip on his hand remained steady and her dark eyes held his. They were both locked in a silent tug of war. They seemed all too aware of the physical hold they had on one another, and they both silently dared the other to do something about it.
“This is my brother.” He could hear Gia’s smirk as she continued to speak. “He’s co-owner.” Gia chuckled beside him, and he knew he wasn’t going to hear the end of this.
Otto wasn’t behaving like himself. He was indifferent to new people—women, men, threats. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, he just knew people had a way of not being themselves in the beginning. There was always something else lurking—good or bad—in the background. You just needed to be patient enough for the truth to come out. He learned that from his ex, which was more of a reason for him to pump the breaks on the sinful thoughts he was having of Ivy. She would show her true colors eventually, and good or bad he didn’t have time to worry about being burned by her because within seconds he had a feeling he had the potential to fall in deep with her or want to kill her.
He hopped it wasn’t the latter.
“If you need anything and I’m not available, you can always find him,” Gia tacked on. It was a lie. Otto stayed in the shadows when it came to Tres. He’d been the buffer between Bruno and Gia. She ran the day-to-day business—keeping the employees paid, safe, and happy—while he ran interference so she wouldn’t have to deal with Bruno. Otto knew what type of man Bruno was and he wanted to make sure Gia was as far away from him as possible.
“Good to know,” Ivy murmured as she took her time taking him in. He wanted to know every thought running through her mind at that instant. He wanted to know if she was imagining what his tongue would feel like pressed against her lips.
She hummed in the back of her throat like she heard the thought that crossed his mind. Her face flushed before she cleared her throat. “Um, I have those papers you wanted me to sign. They’re in my bag back in the locker room.” Ivy’s eyes sparked with humor as she glanced down at their still intertwined hands. “I can get them now, if that’s okay with you?” The question wasn’t for his sister but for him.
He liked the way one corner of her mouth slightly pulled up into a smirk, letting him know she was teasing him. She had plump lips that begged him to smear her lipstick.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be, O?” Smoke clapped him on his shoulder again, harder than necessary. He wanted to rip the bastard’s arm off, but Otto knew he needed to get out of whatever was going on between him and Ivy if he was going to make his meeting on time.
Otto reluctantly let go of Ivy’s hand and took a step back. As soon as he was breathing in air other than her perfume, his mind shifted back to business. He looked down at his watch, cursing when he realized he was going to have to break a few speed limits to get to the meeting on time. He looked over at Ivy once more, committing her face to memory. He wanted to know what secrets hid behind her eyes and wondered if he would like what he saw when she finally exposed her true self.
“It was nice to meet you, Ivy.” He liked the way her name tasted on his lips; just like he knew he’d enjoy how the rest of her would taste. “Like my sister said, you need anything, I’m always available.” A small part of him hoped she would seek him out, even if she didn’t need anything related to working at Tres.
Ivy’s lips pulled back into a full smile, and it caused his lungs to seize in his chest. He fought to breathe as her beauty knocked him on his ass.
Maybe poison is too tame for the death she’ll give me.
“Sounds good,” she murmured. Her gaze lingered on him for a second, and he almost hated that she had to go, but she needed to if he was ever going to get his feet to move out of Tres Bella.
“It was nice to meet you, O.” Ivy turned on her heels and walked back toward the locker rooms.
It wasn’t until she was completely out of eyeshot that Otto’s surroundings finally came back in full view. It was like he’d been blindfolded by her and her absence removed it. His senses seemed to come back online too. The lighting in the club was now too bright for him, and he blinked a few times till his eyes adjusted.
Otto flinched when he heard Smoke’s annoying laughter in his ears. “Half a g says you about to break your own stupid rule, O. I give it a week before you tryin’ to blow her back out in the locker rooms. Maybe sooner if she goin’ to be dancin’ like that for you. I bet you she’s good in the sack.”
Smoke tacked on that last bit for a reaction. Otto didn’t give Smoke the satisfaction. But when he heard his sister laugh alongside Smoke, Otto flinched a little. She didn’t even attempt to defend his ironclad restraint when it came to the rules he set in place for his life. His sister knew him better than most, and while she should have been able to deny Smoke’s claim, she couldn’t because he couldn’t.
As clean as Otto’s track record was to not mix business and pleasure, he knew it was only a matter of time before he slipped up and gave in to his desire to have her—at least once. He’d only need one time to know if she tasted as good as she looked, even though he had a feeling the second he got her beneath him, she was going to blow his world apart.
OTTO MADE IT TO LITTLE Italy with time to spare, though the look Sofia gave him told him otherwise. He was on time, but to her icy glare, he was late. They went over a few particulars, like a haphazard plan in case things went south tonight. Dom reminded Sofia who would be at the table and made sure she knew exactly where their territories fell in with her own and the Council’s.
“Let’s go, boys.” Sofia smirked as she led them toward Bocca Felice.
As soon as they got to the door, they asked for the house special. It was code to let them know who they were and what they were there for. Two men in jeans and black muscle T-shirts appeared behind the reception area and escorted them through the busy restaurant. They made their way through the kitchen area and were led through a secret doorway that gave way to an enclosed room.
Anytime Otto had been in Bocca Felice it had been to eat, but those times had been few and far between because it was always packed. He knew the place was among the few neutral territories among the families but never knew they held meetings here. Seeing the amount of patrons dining in Bocca Felice gave Otto a false sense of security. It was hard to kill three people when there was a restaurant full of witnesses.
A woman stepped out of the room to the door all three of them had stopped at. She kept her gaze to the floor as she moved around the two additional men who had been guarding the door. At first glance, she looked like Ivy with darker hair. His body hummed in recognition, and he moved before he thought better of it, blocking her path. He knew logically this woman couldn’t be Ivy, but he couldn’t control his response to her.
She bumped into him, and it forced her to
look up at him. He sucked in a sharp breath as he was hit with the same reaction he had the first time he and Ivy locked eyes. This felt a little different, though; where Ivy was all teasing and tempting, the woman before him looked skittish and scared.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled as she nervously looked behind her.
Otto stepped aside. “It’s okay,” he murmured to her retreating form. It was such an odd reaction, not only for a complete stranger but also because she looked so much like Ivy. He’d known of the woman all of two seconds, and one dance had his dick calling the shots.
He turned back around, facing Sofia and Dom. Sofia didn’t have to utter a word with her icy glare cutting him in half. He was distracted by a pretty face. It was one of the concerns she had about a bunch of men sit at her table. She thought men were prisoners to their dicks, and he just showed her she was right.
Otto gave her a slight nod, letting her know his head was in the game—at least for now. He pushed Ivy and her look-alike to the back of his mind as they were stripped of their weapons and phones and checked for any wires and bugs. When they were finally let into the room, the families were already seated at the table with only one seat vacant, which was left for Sofia. Otto did a quick scan of the room, cursing under his breath as he counted the amount of men each head of the respective families brought with them. He looked for another exit out of the room and came up empty.
It was going to be a long night.
He felt Sofia’s hand on his chest, and he looked down at her to see a smirk on her face. “You’re nervous. I didn’t think you had any real emotion if it didn’t involve your sisters. Though that woman outside seemed to get an interesting reaction out of you. Careful, Otto, I can’t have one of my best soldiers following his dick instead of his head.”
“I learned that lesson a long time ago, Sofia. Trust me when I tell you, we’re good.” The one and only time he had real feelings for someone, she ended up in bed with Nico—the same man keeping his younger sister safe and out of Bruno’s sleazy hands.
He handed this woman the world, wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and she turned around and gave everything Otto wanted from her to someone else. Nico hadn’t known about their relationship when their affair started, but when he found out, he didn’t stop seeing her, and Otto went after him. His ex and Nico were the reason Otto had gotten into bed with Bruno in the first place. Bruno saved his ass from Nico, and it had cost him and his sister their freedom.
While Sofia had turned out to be a better boss so far, Otto wasn’t keen on repeating any past mistakes when it came to women, no matter how intrigued he was with them. He kept them for one night, maybe two, and kept it moving. It never extended past a first name exchange and what was or wasn’t okay when they fucked. It kept his heart safe and his life out of any more danger.
Otto leaned in. “How about we worry less about my love life and more about the men who want your head hung on their walls?”
She dropped her hand and rolled her eyes. “Relax, O. They can’t outright kill me here.”
Otto’s voice dipped lower. “As much as I hope those patrons in the dining area are our saving grace, I’m sure those men don’t give a shit. You’re not a boss to them, even with your last name. They can kill you, and if they won’t, there’s enough of them here to make you beg for death.”
Sofia chuckled under her breath. “I didn’t know you cared so much. Don’t worry about it, Otto. I’ve been in tighter situations and came out with only a few bumps and bruises.” Her eyes held a sinister look, like she was almost hoping they’d try something tonight. “Besides, I’m not one to beg.”
Otto shook his head; the more time he spent with her, the crazier she seemed to him. He was worried that underneath all her plans and calculations, she actually had no self-preservation. Sofia was a live-and-die-by-the gun type, which made her step into situations like this with zero fear—thinking she was untouchable.
And maybe she was.
Maybe whatever she’d been through in Columbia would make what the families threw at her seem like an afternoon stroll in the park. They might have been able to physically hurt her, but they couldn’t fuck with her mentally, which is where it counted for someone like Sofia.
He just hated that his and his sisters’ lives were pretty much in her hands, and the crazier her schemes the more likely they would all be at risk.
Sofia brushed passed Dom, and Otto saw the way they innocently brushed their fingers together. They did that a lot when they thought no one was looking. It was so subtle that even if the families saw it, it could have been taken as an accident. It was their way of keeping their relationship private outside of the Council. It was their kiss hello, their way of telling each other “be safe” and “I got you” without ever uttering the words.
Sofia hadn’t decided yet if she wanted to let her and Dom’s relationship be public knowledge. She didn’t want anyone bowing down to her because of Dom and the reputation he earned as an enforcer. She wanted the power and respect to be because of who she was. She was determined to stand on her own as much as she could, given who her father had been in New York and who her grandfather had been in Columbia.
Otto had to give Sofia credit for doing what she said she would. She came in here taking what belonged to her and then some. This was a man’s world, and as a female she had to cement her respect and power in blood or they’d rip it away from her. Otto had no doubt that the four heads currently sitting at the table would try and take it from her at some point, but at least with the news of her homecoming still fresh on the street, they’d be a little more hesitant to test her grit.
“Ms. Barbati, I’d say welcome home, but I can’t say it’s been a pleasure yet.” Boris Sanokova spoke from his place at the head of the table. He was flanked by two of his men. Bruno sat to his left, flanked by his own men, and to Boris’s right was the head of the Zhao family, Fan, who was also flanked by two of his men. Next to Zhao sat the head of the Garcia family, Ethan. He was the only one Otto hadn’t been too worried about. Ethan owned half of the Bronx, and considering what Sofia was after, the Barbati and Garcia organizations wouldn’t cross paths, at least not yet.
Sofia pulled out a chair and sat down. Otto and Dom stayed close to her as the tension in the room skyrocketed to an uneasy level. Otto could see all the ways this meeting was about to go wrong. There were too many egos sitting at the table that were not going to take it lying down that a woman—no matter what her creed was—had not only added extra territories to her organization but showed these men their asses.
“Gentlemen.” Sofia’s voice was like a hammer coming down on concrete. “Since I didn’t call this meeting, you mind not wasting anymore of my time and tell me why I’m here? I could guess, but you won’t like how I answer.”
“You killed Vinny without cause,” Zhao snapped. “We’re not sure how you do things from where you’re from, Ice Whore, but we have rules in place so we don’t kill each other and go to unnecessary wars.”
“I’d watch your mouth, Zhao. It’ll be mighty hard to run a territory with no tongue to keep your soldiers in line.” Sofia’s voice stayed calm, but Otto heard the warning just the same. He kept his gaze on the men who guarded each of the members and tried to calculate how quickly he’d be able to get Sofia out of here without getting shot or killed in the process.
Zhao stood up, pressing his hands on the table. “Is that a threat?” He seethed.
Dom stepped closer to Sofia, as the soldiers stepped closer to the table.
This meeting was a second away from turning into a massacre. The families were pissed. He could feel Bruno’s hard gaze burning a hole through his body. Bruno’s face was still discolored, and he wore a brace on his wrist. They were a present from the beating Sofia gave him to sign over Tres Bellas.
Otto knew the loss of the club hurt his ego more than the bones Sofia broke in his body. That club had been the only source of clout and power his father allowed him to have. T
he streets didn’t take him seriously; he was a joke. The men who sat at this table didn’t take him seriously either, unless it was a matter of the club, and he lost it—to a woman.
For men like Bruno and Boris, women were seen as inferior—pieces of property. Otto knew they were feeling the heat of Sofia’s take over the hardest.
Sofia drummed her fingers against the table, seeming unfazed by the growing animosity in the room. “Are you finished?” She let out an annoyed sigh. “And they say women are emotional.” She shook her head. “For the record, you have no proof that I killed Vinny or that he’s even dead. For all you know, he stepped down—as he should—when he heard of my return and willingly gave me what is rightfully mine. I am curious, though,” she shifted in her seat and her gaze shot to Zhao, “you talk about unnecessary wars, but you’ve been in them since before I hit puberty, and especially after my father was murdered. Did you think killing my father would solve your problems?”
“We didn’t kill him,” Zhao snapped.
“No, but you didn’t stop it either. You knew his death was going to cause a massive hole in the power split, and you all scrambled, trying to claim territories that never belonged to you.”
“You mean the way you’ve done within the first forty-eight hours of your arrival?” Boris commented in a bored tone. “Forgive me for not seeming remorseful, but you seemed to have benefited more out of all of us from your father’s untimely death and from your grandfather’s death as well, Ice Whore.”
Sofia smirked as she looked at her nails. “I see you’ve done your homework, Sanokova. You guys keep dropping that name like it’s supposed to ruffle my feathers. My guess is you’re hoping I’m stupid enough to outright attack you for your disrespect. There are other ways to make a man bleed without ever cutting his skin.”