Mick Sinatra: No Love. No Peace. (The Mick Sinatra Series Book 9)

by Mallory Monroe

  But Roz didn’t panic like that. Mick had once told her that he would kick her ass if she panicked in the face of a crisis. “Fight,” he told her. “Use your instincts and fight for your motherfucking life!” And it was her instincts that told her to get away from that door as soon as she began running toward it.

  But just as her instincts were telling her to change direction, the delivery man’s instincts were telling him to kick her door open. And he did. He kicked it open with just one kick.

  Mick ran out of the stairwell and onto the top floor just as the delivery man kicked open Roz’s office door. His heart sank. And he knew he had no time to waste. He stooped into a defensive pose, to make sure his aim was certain, and got ready to fire.

  But Roz was already ready. As soon as the delivery man entered her office shooting wildly at the chair that was now turned backwards toward the window, as if he just knew she was still in that chair lounging behind her desk, Roz stepped out of the adjacent bathroom with her gun locked and loaded and firing too. She shot the delivery man once from the side, which surprised and then staggered him, and she kept on firing. She wasn’t one of those females who would shoot once and drop the gun in nervous fright, as if the gun was her enemy. She kept walking toward that man firing repeatedly. He was her enemy, and she’d be damned if he was getting out of this alive to torment her or her family again. She shot him until he was so down, and so dead, that even his bullet-riddled body stopped jerking from the impact of the wounds. She didn’t empty her gun; Mick taught her better than that. But she came close.

  Mick, stunned and relieved that the shooter had been taken out, ran into the office. When he saw that Roz was okay and the delivery man was dead, he had to lean against the doorjamb just to stabilize his pounding heart.

  And when Roz saw Mick, she did as she often did and relied on his strength rather than just her own. The main reason was because her nerves were now catching up to her bold actions, and she needed his reassuring presence. All she could think to do was make her way to Mick. She had to get to Mick!

  When she got to him, they stood there and stared at each other momentarily, as if they both understood the gravity of the situation and the boldness it took for somebody to even think about assassinating Mick’s wife.

  They also understood just how close a call it really was. So close that Roz could see something remarkable. She saw terror in Mick’s big, green eyes: terror that he almost lost her; terror that he almost failed her. And that look broke her heart. Because she knew her husband. She knew he would blame himself for all of it, and hate himself because of it.

  But when he opened his big, muscular arms, she couldn’t help it. She still relied on his towering strength. Because she knew, even at his weakest moment, he was the strongest man alive.

  She fell into his arms, and held him tight.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The twins were fast asleep, thank God, Gloria thought, as she peeped into the nursery. The nannies were on duty; they were in a corner talking amongst themselves, but it wasn’t a normal day and even they had to know that. They had been ushered to the safe room earlier, for one thing, before Teddy gave them the all-clear. But also because her dad’s favorite driver and bodyguard, Deuce McCurry, was in the nursery, too. And he was the one in charge. He was in his sixties now, much older than he was when Gloria was a little girl and thought he was just the nicest of all of her father’s men. Now he was an aging warrior that her father already said wasn’t going anywhere. Deuce was a member of the family, Mick had told them all, and it was every one of their responsibilities to make sure, should something happen to Mick, that Deuce was always taken care of. Gloria intended to make certain that he was, just as her father would have wanted. Which was the main reason, she knew, that he once placed her in a high position at S.I.: Mick thought he could count on Gloria.

  But now she was fighting to get that position, and his respect, back, she thought as she smiled at Deuce and nodded. He smiled and nodded back, and she closed the door. The worse thing about what happened with Will Flannigan that caused her to lose her position in the first place, wasn’t the violent aftermath, but the fact that she had let her father down. And her father, she knew very well, held grudges. He would let you back in, but only after you proved yourself all over again.

  When Gloria made her way back up front into the living room and saw Joey standing at the window, in his gold chains and baggy pants, she knew he was a prime example of making a comeback. He had disappointed their father no end, too. Even more so than Gloria had. But slowly, brick by brick, he built that relationship back. It would never be as strong as Mick’s relationship with Teddy, and she knew Joey knew that. But it was solid again. Gloria wanted her solid back too.

  “What has commanded your attention?” she asked Joey as she entered the room.

  “I just got word,” Joey said, “that Mom and Dad are coming in.”

  “Oh, good,” Gloria said anxiously, and hurried to the big, bay window, too.

  Outside, they could see their big brother Teddy at the gate, with walkie talkie in hand, as he seemed to be directing their arrival.

  “So much security around this place,” Gloria said as she looked at the increased security guards around the grounds of her father’s estate. “It looks like Fort Knox.”

  “Fort Knox my ass,” Joey said. “Even the White House ain’t got this much security.”

  Gloria looked at her brother. Of all of Mick’s children, he was the one who had that unusual, didn’t-quite-fit-in look. Unlike Joey and Teddy, whose mothers were white, Gloria was the only one of Mick’s grown children to have a black mother. But even she looked more like Mick than Joey did. Even the twins, whose mother was Roz and were therefore biracial too, looked more like Mick than Joey did. And Gloria knew that fact alone caused a lot of Joey’s rebelliousness and insecurities. But he was coming around in a big way. He was her shining example of what it took to get back into Mick’s good graces.

  “There they are,” Joey said and Gloria looked, too, as the security gate opened and a convoy of vehicles, led by Mick’s Ferrari, drove through. Or, sped through, as was his way.

  Teddy ordered the gate shut back, and then made his way up the long driveway to where his father’s car parked. Although Valets were waiting to open the door for Roz, it was Mick who got out, hurried around, and opened the door himself.

  Joey shook his head. “He never treated any of our mothers like that,” he said.

  Gloria agreed. “Not even near it,” she responded. “I know he loved my mom, and still does,” she added. “But this is different.”

  Joey couldn’t even claim Mick loved his mother the way he loved Gloria’s mother and Teddy’s mother. It was more like he tolerated Joey’s mom. And then, when his mother tried to kill Roz, and Roz had to take her out, that only sealed her fate in Mick’s eyes. “He doesn’t even care that his men see him all affectionate with Roz.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” said Gloria. “He might open a car door for her, or place his hand on her, something like that. But I wouldn’t say he’s overly affectionate toward her in public. He’s not.”

  “But he treats her better than he’s ever treated us, in public and in private,” Joey said.

  Gloria looked at her younger brother. “You’ve got to get over that shit, Joey,” she said. “That’s in the past. That’s over. We move forward.”

  “I know,” Joey said, realizing he still harbored too much bitterness. “I was just saying.”

  Gloria wanted to tell him to stop saying, but the door opened, and Mick and Roz, and Teddy, walked in.

  After Roz spent time with the twins, showered and put on her bathrobe, and then made her way back downstairs, they all relaxed in the living room. Everybody except Mick. He was on the phone from the moment he arrived, barking out orders and getting intel. And now he was pacing the floor, still on the phone.

  Roz was on the couch, with her feet beneath her butt, sipping tea and watching him.
Teddy, who sat in the chair, and Gloria and Joey, who sat beside Roz, sandwiching her in, were watching him too. They all knew, because they knew him, that Mick was fighting as hard as he could to contain his rage. He was losing the battle. Nobody was surprised as his temper slowly began to rise. But when he finally let loose, it still felt like an earthquake had hit.

  “Who the fuck do you think you’re dealing with?!” Mick suddenly screamed into the phone. The veins in his neck looked as if they wanted to pop out. “They came for my wife, motherfucker! They came for my daughter. Those fuckers came for me and my sons. If you think for one second I’m going to let them get away with that shit, you’ve lost your fucking mind! Now you listen to me and you listen good. You get your ass to my house, and you bring every last one of your motherfucking crew, or I’ll track you down like the slime you are and strangle the life out of every last one of your motherfucking asses! Do you hear me?”

  Apparently, the man on the other end of the call heard Mick loud and clear because Mick settled back down. And then he ended the call.

  But then, when his family thought the storm had passed, he threw his phone across the room with a force that caused it to shatter, like glass on impact, against the wall. He had several other phones, because he knew his temper, but that wasn’t the point. Although Roz had seen him this unhinged, none of his children ever had. Mick usually kept his cool in tough spots. His children were floored. Especially Gloria, who leaned against her stepmother.

  Mick, however, kept his back to his family. He didn’t turn their way. He ran his hands across his face, leaned his head back, and then left the room.

  Teddy was shocked, and perplexed. “Dad?” he called after his father. “Dad?” But Mick headed upstairs without looking back.

  Everybody looked at Roz. Roz looked at Teddy. “What?” she asked him.

  “What are we supposed to do?” Teddy asked. “What’s the plan? They do a triple hit on us, and he goes upstairs? What kind of shit is that, Roz?”

  “Real shit,” Roz said with her own level of anger. “That’s what kind! For you, this is all about revenge. We’ve got to get them back, rah rah rah. Let’s get them back! For your father, it’s all about him. And more specifically, his failure. One shot this way, or one shot that way, and his children, and his wife, could have been killed. Excuse him,” Roz said, “if he takes that personally. And when a man like your father takes something personally, he isn’t interested in sharing his plans with you, me, or anybody else. He’s not interested in revenge either. He’s interested in annihilation. And that’s not something you talk about.”

  Teddy exhaled. He understood what Roz was saying.

  Roz stood up. “What you need to be doing,” she said to Teddy, “is finding out if you have any more turncoats in the organization. That’s what he expects you to be doing. Not standing around here complaining about what he needs to do!” Then Roz headed upstairs too.

  Joey and Gloria looked at Teddy. Teddy opened his suit coat and placed his hands on his hips, the way they saw their father do many times; the way they knew Teddy was subconsciously emulating. “Where’s the crew?” Teddy asked Joey.

  “They’re at their posts like Dad ordered them.”

  “Call them in.”

  “Here?”

  “Here,” Teddy said. “Roz is right. We’ve got to make sure there are no more leaks.”

  Joey nodded. “I’m on it,” he said, as he pulled out his cellphone.

  Then Teddy looked at Gloria. They were halfsiblings who were closer than blood siblings. “Stop worrying,” she said to him, as she knew him too well. “Dad will get us out of this.”

  “Whatever this is,” Teddy responded.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Roz made it upstairs, to the master bedroom, but Mick wasn’t in the bedroom. But she knew her husband. She headed for the terrace off from the bedroom.

  Mick was reclined on the lounger. Roz could tell he was still in his feelings, because he sat still as a brick. But she also knew she had to tread very lightly. In this state, if she said one wrong word, Mick would go off on her, too.

  Roz walked over to the bannister, and looked out over the acreage that surrounded their beautiful estate. To say that security was tight around the estate would be like saying a billionaire had money. Security was ultra-tight. Then Roz looked at Mick. Although he was quiet and looked calm as a cucumber, she could tell he was still shaken.

  She walked over to him, and sat, straddling the bottom of the lounger, facing him. “There’s absolutely nothing you could have done, Mick,” she said.

  “Bullshit,” Mick responded.

  “You don’t even know who was responsible! Teddy Stefani? Dead Teddy? Come on now!”

  “You could have been killed,” Mick said, and then looked at her. When their eyes met, Roz saw more fear than anger in his eyes. “You could have been killed,” he said again. “It was a matter of inches, and you would have been killed. And Gloria and my sons?” Mick shook his head. “I can’t play this inches shit with my family. That’s why I worked my entire life to make certain every fucker alive understood that Mick the Tick didn’t play that shit. But these punks out here are acting as if I’m some fucking novice like they are. You should have seen the fuckers they sent to take me out at that meeting. A bunch of fucking amateurs! Even my two lieutenants who were turncoats were the two least senior lieutenants I had. It’s as if somebody’s trying to humiliate me. They’re trying to make a big-ass point.”

  “And the point is?” Roz asked.

  “That I’m done,” Mick said. “That I’ve lost it.”

  “Or,” Roz said, deciding to say what Mick can’t bring himself to say. “They’ve reached the conclusion that because you love your family, you’re weak.”

  Mick frowned. It was a truth he had been avoiding, but one he knew was really the nail on the head. “Right,” he said.

  “Which is bullshit in and of itself,” Roz said. “You, Mick the Tick, weak? Give me a fucking break! On their best day, they can’t hold a candle to you.”

  “They aren’t trying to,” Mick said. “That’s the problem. They don’t give a fuck about their own reps. They just want to take mine down.”

  “That’s the part I don’t understand. Why would they want to do that? What could possibly be in it for them? Other than the fact that they took out Mick Sinatra. But if they don’t care about their reputations, why should they care about that?”

  Mick nodded. “Right,” he said. “None of this shit makes sense.”

  Roz could hear the anguish in his voice. Mick hated ambiguity. He preferred to know the target, and kill the target. But the target was moving and shifting and he didn’t know where to begin. And all of this shit about a dead man pulling the strings? Roz knew he was in a bad place.

  She therefore knew she had to get him away from that place.

  She began inching her butt further up on the lounger, and placed his legs over her thighs. Then she unzipped his pants. When she pulled it out, it was so asleep that Roz was surprised. She’d never seen it quite this deflated. And although it was still big and thick, she had her work cut out for her.

  But she apparently didn’t know Mick as well as she thought. She only had to touch it, and lick it, before it came back to life. By the time she had her mouth on it, and was sucking the head, it was fully aroused. By the time she put it in her mouth, and went all the way down on him in twisting strokes nobody knew how to do to him but Roz, he was on the verge of cum.

  He was so close to cumming that he had to pull her up along the length of his body, tear the seat of her panties, and put it inside of her least he ejaculated all over their clothing. And when he entered her, and shoved deeper inside of her, that urgency found a home, and rested there.

  Mick lifted Roz’s blouse and began sucking her breasts as his dick stroked inside of her. Roz sat in a straight-up position and moved her body along his shaft as if she was riding a mechanical bull in some bar somewhere. But this wa
s private. Because of the high rail, none of the employees who worked the grounds were able to see what they were doing. But even if they could, neither one of them cared. Because it felt too good, and was too needed, for them to worry if their help approved. They didn’t give a fuck who approved. They just fucked.

  And Mick fucked Roz hard. He loved how his penis felt inside of her. He couldn’t get enough of this lady on an ordinary day, when this was an extraordinary day. He continued to suck her breasts as he made long loving love to his wife. And, at least for a moment, forgot his failures.

  And as a testament to the extraordinariness of the day, Mick uncharacteristically came before Roz came. And he came hard. So hard that it made him spill longer than usual. And then she was cumming, too.

  When they were poured out, Mick pulled Roz into his arms. She was still sitting, straddle-like, on his lap, as he held her tight. They nearly fell asleep holding onto each other.

  Until Teddy awakened them with news that the enemy had arrived.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  But when Ted walked in, and saw that his father was inside of his stepmother, and that she was half-dressed, he stepped back into the bedroom and knocked on the French door.

  Mick was the first to hear the knocks, and he slowly slid out of his Roz and pulled down her bra and blouse. When he was zipped up, and she was completely covered, Mick yelled for whomever to come out. Teddy came out as if he was coming out for the first time.

  “What you got?” Mick asked him.

  “Santo’s crew is outside of our gate, Pop.” Teddy said this as if it was an amazing turn of events. Roz was surprised too.

  But Mick wasn’t. He patted Roz to get up. She did, and he rose to his feet.