by Rina Kent
"Can I help you?" I speak up loudly when I'm near enough for the sound to reach him. The guy smirks and I give him a wary look, crossing my arms and coming to a stop in front of his car.
"Perhaps," he says with a smooth Italian accent. "I'm looking for Jasper."
"I don't know where he is." I raise an eyebrow. Even if I did, I wasn't going to tell this guy. "Anything else?"
He takes his hands out of the pockets of his expensive suit and approaches me with long, confident steps. He grabs me by the chin, surprising me when he pulls me closer. "You think you're all that because you're the dog's flavor of the month? He doesn't give a shit about you, little nurse."
I slap his hand away and the bastard laughs at me as I stumble back. He didn't grab me hard, but humiliation still sears my skin where his fingers rested on it. "Get the hell away from me."
"I have every right to be here. I'm not trespassing – this is public property. Now let's clear a few things up, you and me."
He approaches me again and I shrink back, immediately hating myself for being weaker than him. I want to smash his face in for scaring me, but I know I'm helpless, and given the guy's background, I wouldn't be surprised if he was carrying a gun somewhere.
I swallow and glare at him as he continues his calm, cool speech.
"You're nothing to him," he says. "He doesn't do love, or feelings, or relationships. The sooner you realize that, the better. And I'd encourage you to make it as soon as you can, little nurse. The man's got work to do and he has no use for some sad little bitch hanging around him waiting for a glimmer of his affection."
How dare he speak to me that way?
I don’t care if he’s connected to the mafia, but I won’t be disrespected by him or anyone else.
“Is that why he’s always with me?” I lift my chin. “Are you perhaps jealous?”
“You fucking bitch –” he lunges at me and before I can retreat or run, someone pulls him away from me.
I watch in horror as Jasper backs the guy up against his own car and slams him down on the hood.
In a split second, three guards get out of the car I'd presumed was empty, all pointing guns at Jas' head.
He punches Lucio anyway.
“Stop it.” I tremble, calling his name over and over again to shift his attention before he gets himself killed.
But Jas is blind and deaf to everything. All he sees is the red mist in front of his eyes, descending and blurring his vision until all he wants to do is fucking kill.
"Jas, please!" I cry out again, screaming when one of the guards points their gun at me.
Jasper retreats back at the threat, his eyes still glimmering with tension.
Lucio motions with a hand for the guards to aim away, and they do. The man picks himself up, chuckling as a trickle of blood runs down his chin. He wipes it off before buttoning his blazer.
"That was the last time you disrespect me," Lucio tells Jas calmly. "You might have thought yourself a master, but once a dog, always a dog. You’ll pay for this."
He gets in the car and slams the door, while the guards do the same. The vehicle speeds off while I try to catch my breath and Jas stares after them with distaste.
"Where did you come from?" I demand once we're alone. "Are you following me again?"
He doesn't answer. Just looks over at me, gives me a onceover as if to make sure I'm in one piece, then turns on his heel and walks away.
"Jas!" I call out after him, but he there’s no reply.
I watch his retreating back until he disappears around the corner.
I just know we'll both end up in trouble.
29
Jasper
My head spins with a thousand scenarios as I make my way back to my apartment.
After I left my little Petal’s side, I’ve been running a background check on the locations she’s been in for her whole life. I did that before, but I didn’t have the current information back then.
Her moves have been strategic even though she didn’t know it. Sarah always played her magic in the background, making sure my little Petal changed foster homes fast enough to not trigger any type of familiarity. It’s not a coincidence she didn’t keep any friends from the system, she was thrown out every so often, she went completely solo as soon as she was legal.
From what I gathered, she never crossed paths with Lucio or Paolo. She did work as a waitress in one of the restaurants owned by the Costas in college, but it was only part-time, and she didn’t stand out at all.
Thank fuck.
Now that Sarah’s gone, Lucio can run an extensive background check on her and might come out with crumbs that will lead him to Petal’s doorstep.
The only solution I have that won’t end with me killing her or with Lucio finishing me, is to come up with a ploy.
If I kill someone and frame him as Joseph Costa, Lucio will stay down.
The downside is that I can’t keep her, not when her mere existence is a ticking bomb. The Costas are old-fashioned and won’t let a woman rule, but Paolo can easily marry her off to one of his most trusted men and continue his legacy.
My fist clenches at the thought. There’s no way any other motherfucker is claiming her as long as I live.
Perhaps I can hide her somewhere, keep her on the side and –
I run a hand through my hair. Lucio and everyone in the Costa organization knows I don’t keep women, I don’t fucking hide them either, so the moment I do that, their interest will naturally pique, and it’ll put her in danger.
Anyone who has a beef against me –and there’s many of them– will use her to threaten me. Worse, Paolo and the older servants might recognize her if she looks like her mother.
My head is still buzzing with chaotic thoughts when I open the door to my apartment. The moment I close it behind me, I notice the chair has been moved a bit to the right. It’s fleeting and could’ve been a play of my imagination, but it fucking isn’t.
Being immaculate about details, I notice the things others don’t pay attention to.
I reach for my knife just in time as someone attacks me from the side. It’s pitch-black so I don’t see them, but I feel their movements in the dark like they’re cloaked in it.
My knife slashes at his arm the moment he punches me. I’m about to slash him again when another blow comes from my other side and another from the front.
Fuck.
I focus on the first man and stab him in the chest. The other one kicks me in the chin and I nearly lose balance. I grunt as I get to my feet and punch the one about to hit me in the stomach.
Although I try to hold on, it doesn’t take them long to gang up on me. Three to one is not only unfair, but it’s fucking exhausting. Instead of focusing on three at once, I keep slashing and re-slashing the other one until he drops to the fucking ground.
For every one of my hits, I get punched and kicked. No weapons, which means this is a warning, not an actual attack to kill me.
Lucio.
I knew he’d make me pay for that punch, but I never thought it’d be this fast.
My rib aches with the last shove of shoes against my chest. I groan as I stab the knife on the ground and use it to stand up.
“Paolo found his son,” Marco’s voice echoes in the darkness as I rise to my feet, panting. “Either kill him before he brings him to the general meeting, or we’ll come back to finish the job.”
“I’m so looking forward to fucking up your face,” Stephan snarls.
They grab their injured henchman and drag him out of the apartment, leaving a trail of dark blood in their wake. Marco stops at the entrance and throws over his shoulder, “Lucio sends his regards for the last fucking time.”
I slide to the ground, my back against the wall and the knife lying by my side. Reaching into my pocket, I wince, as I retrieve a cigarette and light it, absorbing the nicotine.
My breaths come hard and unhinged as I think about the words those fuckers said.
Paolo found his
son.
He couldn’t have. She’s been well hidden for twenty years, and as a boy for most of her childhood, so no one could’ve figured it out.
Unless Paolo Costa knows about the boy disguise. Didn’t Georgie say her mother started dressing her as a boy after her father ordered to hide her?
Change of plan. Leaving my little Petal alone is out of the fucking question. The Costa family will eat her alive before spitting her out.
Paolo is no different than Lucio. He didn’t care for her for twenty years and when it’s about his legacy, he converted back to his old selfish ways and dragged her to a war she didn’t need in her life.
She was supposed to stay hidden until her last fucking days.
A shadow spills from the still-open door. I grab my knife and get to my feet, hiding in the dark. I kill the cigarette on the ground, ruining the wood.
If Stephan and Marco returned, I’m going to fucking murder one of them. Let it be a war announcement on Lucio.
“You’re slow,” a slightly Italian accented voice muses as he strides inside. I pounce on him the second his foot steps in.
He pushes me against the wall with a gun to my chest.
Fuck.
I continue pointing the knife at his throat, anyway. If he shoots, I still have the fraction of second to cut him.
He steps back, letting the gun dangle from his forefinger as he puts both hands up. “I’m not here to kill you.”
“Enzo.” I step back, hitting the light switch.
“Jasper,” he echoes.
I eye the businessman closely. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Enzo Morelli is one of the Costas biggest partners, they handle their shipments from Sicily and back. They’re the business arm of the Costa empire and since most of it is legit, I have absolutely no contact whatsoever with that side.
I’ve met Enzo countless times at banquets Lucio had me attend, but we kept contact to a minimum. Besides, Enzo is an office man, and I never once saw him carry a gun. He always jokes that they aren’t for him. What’s the fuck with his sharp reflexes just now?
“Is that a way to greet an old friend?” he asks.
“We’re not old friends.”
“We share Costa love, yes?”
He readjusts his tie. Enzo is always in sharp elegant suits that complement his whole Italian upbringing. His dark hair is styled back and his shoes are Italian, Sicilian, locally made as he likes to brag.
His eyes are weird, they have heterochromia so you never know if they will change to green or gray.
“We share nothing, Enzo.” I point at the door. “Get the fuck out of my place.”
“I would argue that.”
I twirl the knife in my hand, “If you have a point, reach it because I have no time for you.”
“You have time to be beaten up by Lucio, Yes?”
“Your point, Enzo.”
He steps closer and I tighten my hold around the knife without pointing it at him.
Enzo stops a few steps away from me, the hand with the gun lying by his side and the other in his pocket. “You’re not a dog, Jasper. Stop living like one.”
“What?”
“Lucio Costa didn’t save you, just like he didn’t save me.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He retrieves his hand from his pocket and passes me a business card. “Join me if you want to find out.”
“Pass.”
He places the card in my jacket pocket. “I believe you know what I mean deep down, Jasper… or wait, that’s not exactly your name.”
My grip on the knife doesn’t loosen as he brushes by me, stepping on the thug’s blood without a care in the world.
“I’ll be waiting for your call.”
Well, he’ll be waiting for a long time.
Enzo is the last thing I need right now.
Only one person matters and it’s the slender girl across the street who begged me not to leave her alone.
Maybe, just maybe, her wish will come true.
Once and for all.
30
Jasper
I lean against the counter, my back to it and my arms crossed over my chest.
My little Petal stands at the threshold, clutching her empty cup of coffee. The fact that she’s coming for a refill means she didn’t sleep all night.
And she doesn’t intend to.
“What are you doing here?” She hides her surprise and tries to brush past me toward her coffee machine.
I clutch her by the arm, causing her to stop in front of me. My little Petal, Georgina, or Joseph, or whatever the fuck her name is, stares up at me with tears welling in her eyes.
It’s like she’s been holding on for a long time and it’s now catching up on her.
“What do you want from me, Jasper? Just what the fuck do you want? You said the fun is over, so what the hell are you doing here again? Why did you send your boss to tell me how much of a monster you are? Do you think that will magically make me hate you?”
She’s panting after her outburst, cheeks flaming and pulse rising in the blue veins beneath her translucent skin.
I remove the mug from her shaking hand and place it on the counter beside me. If she breaks that, she’ll never forgive herself – or me.
“Forget about Lucio,” I say.
She sniffles. “Aren’t you the one who sent him?”
“No.”
The fact he paid my little Petal a visit means he’s already sampling her and how to use her against me.
She can’t stay here for another fucking second.
If Lucio already put her in his sights, there’s no fucking stopping him —he’ll keep her close and kill everything she has ever held dear.
My eyes widen and my hold around her arm loosens.
You’re not a dog.
Lucio didn’t save you.
You were never a dog, Jasper. Costa has always —
The words swirl around my head like a fucking tornado.
The images of a small boy being shoved into the basement by his mother barges into my mind.
She was crying but held a finger to her mouth and told him to stay quiet. Screams echoed in the air, cries, shots.
Lots of fucking shots.
The boy’s face was ashen, pale. I watch his lips trembling and his eyes welling with tears as if I’m there with him.
He doesn’t cry, though. He can’t. He wants to come out of there and protect his mama and his little sister because that’s what his dad told him, he said it’s his duty to protect his family.
His mother shrieks as she falls back against the opening, covering him from view. Her vacant blue eyes stare at him, then out of nowhere, blood trickles down her mouth and drips on his face.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
“All done, boss.”
“Wrap it up,” the malicious very familiar voice, says. “I want this line in the newspaper tomorrow, the Vitallio family died in unfortunate shooting.”
Laughter breaks down and it’s like scratching on a board to that boy’s ears. His mother’s vacant eyes stare at him, his baby sister is no longer crying like usual. His father and nonna and the servants are all gone.
It’s only him now.
The only Vitallio with no family to protect.
“Jasper?”
“Jasper!”
A soft voice calls my name before a palm touches my face.
I grab it with my other hand and twist it back, nearly breaking it.
My little Petal shrieks and I let her go with a jerk. I’m breathing heavily, as if my lungs are about to give up on me.
Fuck! Fuck!
The boy, that boy was me. I’m the last of the Vitallio that the Costa family finished in cold blood.
Enzo and Serrano knew that. Just how many more knew I killed for the family that slaughtered mine?
“Fuck!”
“Jas… are you okay?” My little Petal’s smal
l arms wrap around my waist tentatively. It’s clear she’s scared, but instead of running away, of leaving me be with my dark thoughts, she chooses to come closer.
I wrap my arms around her waist and lower my head to hers, breathing her in, her scent and her calm.
My little Petal has always been my calm, even when we were kids.
For a few seconds, it’s peace. It’s just me, Petal and the silence surrounding us like a cocoon.
“Jas, what is it?”
“Pack your things, we’re leaving.”
She jerks away as if I hit her. “What?”
“You heard me.” There’s no way in fuck I’m leaving her in Lucio Costa’s orbit.
I’m not exactly sure where we’ll go from here, but it has to be away from Lucio’s orbit.
Petal might me a Costa heir, but she’s also my little Petal.
“I can’t just leave,” she says slowly, spooked almost. “I have a life here, I have work, friends, my cats!”
“Those don’t fucking matter.”
“Of course they do. You can’t just tell me to leave.”
“You’re a mafia princess, Pet. And do you know what they do to mafia princesses? They marry them off to be abused and impregnated. They usually die of mental illness, or in my mom’s case, a fucking bullet to the heart. Don’t make me repeat myself, pack your fucking things.”
Her lips part and she opens her mouth to say something but soon closes it then opens it again. “W-what the hell are you talking about?”
I grab her by the arm. “You’ll find out when we’re out of here.”
“No.” She wiggles free. “I’m not going with you.”
“Georgie.”
“If you make me, I’m calling the cops.”
I reach into my pocket and thrust the phone in her hand. “Do it, then.”
“W-what?”
I dial 911 for her then put it on speaker. “There you go. Tell them to come for me. Do it, Pet.”