by J. L. Beck
Her admission makes my chest tighten, and I lean into her, kissing the edge of her mouth, trying to soothe some of the fear away. “I won’t be alone. Soo will be with me, and we have his very well-trained security team along for the ride. Everything will be fine.”
If her arguments weren’t a demonstration of how much she cares, I would punish her for it. But how can I, when her fears reflect my own?
“I want to believe you, but…”
I shake my head and grasp her chin with two fingers, wanting her to see and hear my words fully. “Shhh, let’s spend the rest of the evening in bed together.”
A lustful haze swallows up the fear previously reflecting in the pools of her brown eyes. And there’s no place I would rather be. I can only hope that everything goes as planned.
When my alarm goes off a few hours later, I give Celia a quick kiss, casting her naked body in a sweeping glance. My cock is already hardening again, remembering all the things I did to her body a few hours ago. I barely shake the lustful haze and draw to climb back into bed away and get dressed before heading downstairs to meet Soo.
“I’d say good morning, but I’m not sure you even slept,” Soo says on a yawn, like, he too, didn’t sleep—for a completely different reason.
If he was anyone else, I might slug him in the face, but there is no one like Soo. My best friend and confidant.
I smirk. “I slept perfectly fine, thank you for asking.”
We climb into the blacked-out SUV and head across town toward the industrial park. It’s only a short ride to the meeting location Bianci requested. We arrive a few minutes early and sit in the SUV, waiting for the mysterious Bianci to make his appearance known.
The man who shows up just seconds from being late is not at all what I expect. We exit our SUV at the same time he exits his. The man is tall and lanky with black hair, and his clothes are more suited to a college gamer than an international criminal.
He approaches Soo and me alone. We chose to meet at an abandoned parking lot at the edge of town, and I wonder for his sanity that he would come out here by himself.
“So, you are the ones giving everyone trouble? I’m excited to meet you,” he says, holding his hand out for us to shake.
Soo and I share a look between us, then shake the man’s hand. Because we are both at a loss for words, I let Soo take the lead on this one.
“We want you to join us in our plan to remove Ricci as head of the five families.”
Bianci cocks his head to the side as he studies us. “Why should I do that? And please, don’t mistake it as a threat. I’m genuinely curious about what you will say.”
It’s my turn. “Because Ricci has lost his touch. Also, I just really want to kill him. Without going into a family saga, just know it’s warranted.”
A smile plays on Bianci’s mouth. “Well, it just so happens that I don’t support Ricci in his power, and I’ve been hunting my own way to remove him from the city’s criminal throne. It looks like you boys have already gotten started, though. I’m an only child, and when my father’s territory fell to me, Ricci hasn’t exactly approved of how I shifted my father’s business to the digital age. In fact, I think it’s time all the old guard takes a back seat and lets their children reform the five families into a modern era.”
Soo speaks up. “We need some kind of assurance that you’re serious about your commitment. Otherwise, you could just be talking out of your ass and playing us while you run back to Ricci to report.”
He nods and shucks a backpack off his shoulders I hadn’t even noticed. The security team goes for their guns, but Soo waves them off as the man digs a laptop from his bag.
“While conducting my own search into Ricci’s affairs, I found an interesting little corner of the world.” He types while holding the bottom of his laptop one-handed.
Then he spins the computer to face us and highlights a portion of text on what looks like a darknet chat room.
“I’m not sure if you are aware, but there weren’t always five families. At one point, we were six. And that sixth family ruled the other five. Until they were murdered several years ago. I was away at school most of my life, so I didn’t get a crash course in this world until my father passed. However, I think that this little tidbit of information about the murder of this family might be enough to ignite the other leaders into helping your cause.”
I share another look with Soo and close the laptop, handing it back toward Bianci. While disclosing information about my identity might earn me a measure of trust from this man, it would also mean going back on a promise I made to myself a long time ago. I’m a Diavolo. When I took the name and built my empire, I vowed to never look back. At least not until my family’s lives are avenged. What right do I have to that name with their killer still roaming free?
He waves me off. “No, you keep it. The information about that chat server is on there, maybe you can find something interesting there that I missed, or at the very least, it might give you some more context.”
When he slips his backpack on again, he gives us an expectant look. “Are we done here?”
“Yes, thank you.” I shake his hand, and so does Soo. Then he walks away like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
I wait until we’re both back in the car before I bring him up. “Did he seem all there to you?”
Soo starts the car, and we pull away, heading back toward the house. “He seems interesting. Also, I think he knows more than he shared with us. If he has access to all of the five family networks, he might know a lot of secrets. Which makes him an excellent ally.”
As usual, Soo isn’t wrong.
The city passes around me in a blur, but my mind is back in that house the day I watched the light leave my mother’s eyes.
“Are you ever going to tell Celia about who you really are?” Soo asks.
I turn to look at my friend. “She knows who I am. I’m a Diavolo, and now so is she.”
He doesn’t bring it up again, and I’m grateful. Dwelling on the past doesn’t ensure the future.
When we return to the house, he heads off with the laptop, leaving me to go find Celia. I smile, thinking about stripping her of whatever lacy thing she’s wearing as I bound up the stairs. She’s sitting on our bed again when I enter.
She looks up as I close the door. “How did it go?”
I strip off my jacket and my shirt, tossing them in the closet. “It went better than I expected.”
“But?” she prompts.
I shake my head and climb up beside her on the bed so I can draw her into my arms. “But nothing. He was already on board with our plan when we arrived. It seems he’s been trying to find a way to restructure the five families for some time.”
I don’t tell her about what he said regarding the sixth family. It’s not important yet. I’m not that boy anymore.
“You seem like you want to say more but aren’t sure how.”
I shake my head, even though she can’t see it, and kiss the top of hers. “No, I’m fine, I’m just thinking. He gave us some good information, and now we need to figure out how to use it to our advantage. That’s half the job.”
“Are you sur—”
“Celia, drop it.” My tone is clipped, but I don’t regret it.
She stiffens in my arms and pulls away. Her distance only makes me angrier. I push off the bed and head out of the room toward my office. At the very least, I can get some work done while I consider Bianci.
When I settle in my chair and dig my phone out of my pocket, I find a text message from an unknown number. On the screen is an image of an email sent from what has to be a dummy account. The body of the email makes me stop breathing for a moment.
The text is from Bianci, and it says that Ricci knows the plan is in motion and is already fortifying for future events.
It wasn’t as if I thought we’d get to the endgame of this thing unscathed. Nor did I expect Ricci to stay ignorant of my plan. However, I wish I had more time. At the
very least, more time to help Celia come to terms with what is about to happen. She may say she wants to pull that trigger, but there’s nothing that can prepare you for taking a life for the first time. I don’t want that stain on her soul, and I know the moment I take it from her, she’s going to hate me.
She’ll get over it, eventually. But I know the soft kisses and midnight whispers will disappear at the same time. And if she ever trusts me again, I’ll still have ruined the best thing in my life.
Is it worth it to lose her just to take down Ricci? Some time ago, my revenge was the only thing driving me, the only thing getting me out of bed in the morning. And now, it’s Celia’s smile that drags me up from the nightmares. It’s touching her cheek and smelling her hair after she washes it.
All the gentle, non-sexual intimacy we’ve built over the last month or so will be tainted by her father’s death. Marred by it, and I don’t know if I can allow it.
Either way, I lose. If I kill him myself, she will cut me out of her heart. If she kills him, then she’ll regret it for the rest of her life.
24
Celia
I’ve taken to listening to the hand radio that Nic gave me before his first meeting. Sort of the way hobbyists listen to police scanners. The security team chatters on the radios all day, and I get some good gossip. It’s how I learned which of the security guards has a crush on Sarah. And exactly how I will convince her to make me a cheesecake later.
I’m smiling into my book as I devise my plan. The library is quiet, and no one usually bothers me here except Nic. It’s getting late in the day, and I’m surprised he hasn’t hunted me down yet.
Things have been a little strained lately, between us stressing about each other’s safety and the eventuality of what comes next.
Voices cut through the radio, and I try to focus as they talk over each other. It’s a jumbled mess until one of the senior guards orders everyone to shut up and listen.
I can make out his gruff voice despite the static. “All men in position. Team one after Lucas, be advised, he’s likely already lost to the enemy. Soo and Nic are hunting him now. Fucking idiot waltzed into a trap.”
No. Maybe this is a training exercise? I sit upright from where I have been lying on the couch and race out of the room.
Nic isn’t in his office or the bedroom. And I don’t need to look further because, in my heart, I know neither he nor Soo are in the house.
Anger flashes through me. I throw open the closet door, find a pair of jeans, boots, and a jacket. Even as I curse him, I’m thinking about how upset Nic will be when he arrives home and doesn’t find me here.
Yeah, almost exactly how I’m feeling right now. Why wouldn’t he tell me he was leaving? No. I know the answer to this—because of what I’m about to do. And what I’ll do next to stop my father from killing the last of the family I have left.
If my father took Lucas, there is only one place they will go, and there’s no way Nic or Soo will know about it.
I sit on the edge of the bed and listen hard to the radio, trying to make out any more details. The voices sound mostly the same through the static, but I don’t hear Nic’s voice at all amongst the chaos.
Betrayal is a strange beast. If he finds my father, he’ll surely kill him. Even though he promised me I could be the one to end my father’s miserable life. I can’t fault him for wanting to save his brother, my brother, but I also hate the thought that he can disregard a promise made to me so easily. Not that I believed for one second he meant to keep his word when the time comes. I’ve just always had hope that I can convince him in the moment.
So far, they aren’t having any luck at my family’s mansion; the guards think it’s been mostly deserted—only a few staff members and my mother remain. Once they finish looking through the house and the garage, where will they turn? And how much time does Lucas have before my father gets bored with waiting on Nic to show up to save him? My father is a smart man, and no doubt, took Lucas to lure Nic into making a move before he’s ready.
This is the exact reason Nic should have let me come along. He should have said something to me. I know how my father’s fucked up mind works, and I know that no matter where my father goes, it will include a trap for those who come looking for him.
I can’t sit around and wait any longer for my father to kill Lucas, or worse, Nic, when he walks into a trap.
Nic’s office door is still open when I enter. It only takes a few seconds to hunt down some paper and a pen. Then I scribble out a note to Nic. It’s not enough, not nearly enough, to explain how I feel about him—both my love and my hate. I hover the pen over the note and pause, unsure if I should reveal everything. What if I don’t come back from this? It hurts me to think he wouldn’t know.
I add a P.S. and wince as I write it, thinking about how angry he will be when he discovers it. Luckily, I’ll be gone before that happens, and if I survive, he can punish me for it later.
I give it one last look before snatching the radio from where I’d set it on Nic’s chair and lift the secret hatch to the safe.
It takes me a minute to remember the codes he wrote down for me. Once I get it open, I dig through it to find the keys to the basement door and the car that I know will be waiting at the end.
I study the safe contents one more time, my gaze lingering on the gun there. Finally, I snatch it out, close everything again, and march down the hall. The staff is still in the house, so I need to act like everything is normal, even as my insides are tied up in intricate knots.
Security is still chattering away, giving reports, and I’m still listening, hoping to catch Nic’s voice amongst the rest.
I make it to the kitchen, and Sarah intercepts me. “Do you want me to set dinner in the dining room tonight, or do you want to take your food upstairs to eat until they get back?”
For a moment, I’m stunned, trying to organize my thoughts to give her some kind of answer, anything that will mean she remains without suspicion.
“I’ll come back for it shortly. Just need to go do something.”
I know it’s a shitty answer, but before she can question me, I bolt past her toward the hall with the basement door. The lights are already on when I descend. It takes a few seconds to find the key to open the heavy door. Inside is a tunnel. It’s rough stone and dirt floors, but there are lights built into the wall every so often, which I’m grateful for because my dumb ass didn’t think about bringing a flashlight.
I don’t know how long I walk. At some point, the radio’s signal must have been blocked because it cuts out and goes silent. When I reach the end of the tunnel, there is another locked door to get through.
Just as Nic promised, a black SUV, like his security team uses, sits beyond the door on a sort of driveway that leads out of a large tunnel, which I assume is to the main road. If I’m trapped inside the compound, I have no doubt Nic will hear about it and come to deal with me instead of his brother.
I climb into the car that is way bigger than anything I’ve ever driven and give myself a pep talk as I set the radio in the cupholder. “You’ve got this. You’ve got this. You’ve got this,” I repeat as I turn the key in the ignition.
Once I use the onboard maps to figure out where the hell the house is, I can easily map to the cabin in the woods my father ventures to at least once a month. It’s the only place that makes sense for taking a hostage.
It’s an hour’s drive to get there, and as soon as I hit the main road, the radio comes back to life. The entire drive, I’m straining my ears for Nic’s voice or news that they might have found Lucas, so I can turn around and go home.
Home.
When did Nic’s house become my home? When I created a favorite spot on the couch in the library? When I learned to stock the good brandy in the pantry, and Sarah baked goods for me?
I glance at the wedding band on my finger and guilt claws at my insides. I promised Nic I wouldn’t leave, and here I am, an hour away from our house, about to confron
t my father, to save my brother, all without backup. If I make it through this, I’m sure he’s going to take a lot more than a belt to my ass as punishment.
I pull up outside the cabin. It looks old to anyone who might drive by, but the inside has been updated to rival a five-star hotel. There is one other vehicle here, and I can’t tell if it’s my father’s or Lucas’s.
I turn the volume down on the radio, tuck it in my pocket, slip the gun into the waistband of my pants, and climb out of the SUV—no use waiting in the car when Lucas could be dead at any moment.
The door is unlocked when I test the handle, which should have been my first red flag. The next one is the way the living room is eerily silent. I spot Lucas on the floor, belly down, blood caking his face and scalp. It looks like someone beat him to high hell, and I don’t bother stopping the tears as they pour down my face.
“Lucas,” I whisper, trying to lift his head and wake him up. He’s a big guy, and I can’t carry him out of the house. Even if I could, I’d never be able to get him into the car afterward.
“Wake up, Lucas. Wake up,” I say. Of course, he doesn’t because my life isn’t that easy or lucky.
A shuffling sound behind me makes me freeze. Slowly, I turn my head to glance at what’s behind me. My gaze falls onto my father standing there watching us. When he realizes it’s me, his face turns glacial. The same look he gave me the night he told me my sister was dead.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he demands, stalking forward to snatch me up by the arm.
I jerk away but don’t get far before he drags me back into his tight, painful grip. “Answer me, girl. What are you doing here talking to this bastard?”
“What do you think I’m trying to do, Daddy? I’m trying to save him. He might be dying. Did you do this to him?”
My father narrows his eyes. “You’re with them. You’re with—”
Realization dawns, and I know my life is about to get a lot worse for the immediate future. “Are you fucking both of them? Because you should know, one of them is your brother.”