End Game (A Dark Romance)

by Waltz, Vanessa

  “Find him, Joe. Find him and kill him.”

  As soon as Vince rounds the corner, I streak towards the exit with my gun. My lungs gratefully breathe in the crisp air. There are men fleeing everywhere, but I’m just looking for one.

  Nathan’s blond hair shines in the night. His long legs sprint down the street, heading towards his car. A murderous rage fills my limbs with energy. I lope after him aiming the gun as I run. Crack. Crack.

  Both smash into the pavement, clouds of dust bursting in the air. He turns around and sees me, and then he raises his hand. The muzzle flashes, and I dive to the side, but he’s such a horrible shot that it explodes four feet to my right. I stop, aim, and fire.

  Nathan stumbles.

  I got the fucker.

  My feet pound the pavement and just before I reach his body, a surge of hatred sears against my chest and another round explodes into his back. I kick the gun away from his hand, and it scatters down the street.

  It doesn’t satisfy me to see him bleeding on the street. I want to see his face when that last flicker of light dies from his eyes. Using one leg, I flip his body over. His face is a mask of blood as he flips over. He groans and spits out a stream of dark blood.

  “What the fuck is it with you and my sister? Does her pussy really taste that good?”

  The degrading filth coming from his mouth makes me want to use my gun to smash his teeth. Instead, I fire my gun into his thigh. Nothing fatal, but it’ll make his death more painful. He screams and screams and screams.

  “If you had shown your sister a little bit of respect, you wouldn’t be dying right now. I’m going to enjoy watching you die. Take your time. I’m in no hurry.”

  That seems to rouse him, even while blood spills from his thigh. “Fuck you. You’re nothing but a goddamn thug. A lapdog.”

  “At least I’m not dead.”

  He flinches and screams as another shot sinks into his throat. His head slams back, and his mouth makes a gurgling sound as he chokes on his blood.

  How fitting.

  I step closer, watching him clutch his throat, struggling to breathe. Fucking asshole wanted his sister to choke to death, and now he’ll get to feel what it’s like. His round eyes search and stare. I wonder what he’s looking for. I wonder what Janice thought of before she died. His red mouth gapes, his face turns blue as his eyes bloom with blood, and then they stop moving.

  * * *

  Steam spirals over the cup of coffee she holds in her hands, staring at her sister lying in the hospital bed. She hasn’t really moved in a few hours. I lean across the doorway, my heart breaking for her. Her sister will be fine, really. There wasn’t much to fix on the outside, but the damage that was done to her spirit—who knows how long that’ll take to heal?

  It’s not everyday the man you call your family tries to kill you in a badly thought out plot to take over the family business.

  A hand grabs my shoulder and I jump. Jesus Christ. It’s just Vince.

  He gives me that annoying smirk and I embrace him. A dull thud pounds through my heart as he slaps my back. I owe a lot to the guy.

  “How’s she doing?”

  “How the fuck do you think? Her own brother tried to off her,” I say in an undertone.

  A long sigh leaves his throat. “She’ll be all right. It’ll take a while, but she’ll be fine.”

  He doesn’t look so sure.

  “Jamie is at large, but we’ll get the bastard eventually.”

  I roll against the wall as the lights burn into my eyes. “Jesus Christ.”

  “Well, you can tell her that Jack wants nothing to do with the casino anymore. Not with the feds crawling all over it. So she has it back, no harm done.”

  The news gives me a sudden shock of hope, but it deflates almost immediately. I can’t imagine that the news will cheer her up at all. I don’t think she really cares about it anymore.

  “Yeah.”

  Sighing, he slaps my shoulder one last time and turns around to leave.

  “Listen, Vinny—thanks for everything.”

  He gives me a pained smile. “I was worried about you for a while.”

  “What?”

  “I didn’t know whether you’d ever come back to us.”

  I make a face, hating that he’s bringing this up again. “Yeah, well—”

  “Then you met that girl. I thought you’d lost your fucking mind over that girl, and I was right, wasn’t I?”

  I’m in no mood for his shit. Acid bubbles in my throat. “Vince—”

  He laughs. “Relax, goddamn it. We all lose our minds over these fucking broads.”

  * * *

  The tension in her jaw is so tight that I’m afraid she’s going to crack her teeth. Once she’s in her apartment, she heads straight for the kitchen. I follow her uncertainly. She’s been through so much shit tonight—more than any normal person could handle. So far she hasn’t cried. She hasn’t lost it.

  But she needs to.

  Bending over, she grabs something—a garbage bag from the kitchen. The silence in the apartment is deafening. She grabs both ends and violently shakes the bag, opening it. I’ve no clue what she’s up to. And then a high-pitched gasp leaves her mouth as she lunges at something—a picture frame. I get a glimpse of her father’s face before she throws it into the bag. She moves through the apartment, gathering every portrait of her family—every photo of her brother. The glass shatters in the bag and I hang nearby. I don’t know what to do. I’ve never dealt with anything like this.

  Tears stream down her face as photo after photo crashes into the bag. Her shoulders heave and my chest feels like it’s caving in. I can’t stand watching her cry.

  “Marisa…Marisa.”

  Her lip quivers and she tightens her fists around the garbage bag, and then suddenly she lets out a scream. She hurls it against the floor, smashes it against the wall with all her strength. The tinkling sound of broken glass is swallowed by her screams of rage.

  Jesus.

  Finally, she stops, red-face and arms shaking.

  I’m almost afraid to approach her.

  “All my life I’ve tried to be there for my family. I stayed even though I hated my brother. I didn’t choose this family. It wasn’t fair that I was stuck with a brother like that. My dad…” her voice chokes. “He didn’t help me. He threw me to the fucking wolves—”

  “He probably thought that only you could deal with all this shit—with the families. He wanted to get out, that’s why he talked to the feds. There wasn’t enough time to explain it to you.”

  She looks at me like she wants to believe it. “I don’t know.”

  Cautiously, I take her hands in mine, forcing her to let go of the bag. “Let it go, hon. You’ve spent a lifetime trying to please everyone but yourself. It’s time to let them go.”

  “What about—what about the FBI?”

  “They won’t find any evidence against you. You’ll have to pay the penalties, and that’s it. You’re free.”

  She wraps her arms around my middle as her face presses into my neck. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  The fear from last night rises inside me once more, when I thought we were all going to die. Her arms squeeze the breath from my lungs and I hug her back, never wanting to let go.

  MARISA

  There’s a small post-it note on my nightstand. I figure it’s a note from Joe, telling me where he’s gone, but instead I read a cryptic message:

  I’ll be back when you finish. Your first clue: the place where Aladdin finds Genie’s lamp. - Joe

  I roll my eyes as a reluctant smile spreads over my face. He does this all the time—prepares these little games while I’m home and he’s out doing something for Jack. A ball of nervousness burns in my chest. It makes me worry when he’s out. Sometimes he comes back with blood on his shirt or swollen knuckles, and I worry. I worry that he might not come back.

  So he makes me these games at night while I’m asleep, and then I wa
ke up to a note and the treasure hunt begins. At least it distracts me from worrying.

  I have no idea what to make of the first clue. Aladdin found the lamp in a giant, treasure-filled cave in the desert, which was shaped into a lion’s head.

  I move the handcuffs from the floor into the nightstand, my face heating when I think about how he fucked me last night. Six months later, he still gives me the most incredible, most amazing—

  The jewelry box!

  The black jewelry box I have sitting on my vanity has to be where he hid the next one. Sure enough, there’s another note hidden among my necklaces coiled in the box.

  Hey, gorgeous! Good job on finding your first clue. ;) Next one: The enchanted object that a furry guy uses to spy on his love.

  My mind draws a blank. I clutch the note to myself, moving around the apartment to look at the purse sitting on the counter, the vase with the long-stemmed roses.

  Roses.

  Furry guy.

  Beauty and the Beast?

  I shake my head, laughing as I enter the bathroom and rifle through my dresser. There’s a note attached to the handheld mirror.

  Hello again, hotness. I have to say, those marks on your neck make you look pretty damn sexy. But, anyway, on to the next clue: That annoying bird hates what?

  My forehead creases. Annoying bird. How many annoying birds can there be? I can only think of Iago, in Disney’s Aladdin. And he hated crackers.

  Laughing at that, I walk into the kitchen and find a box of saltine crackers, with another note inside.

  The game goes on and on, for nearly half an hour. He’s never put this much effort into a game. Every note has a sweet message that makes my heart melt a little bit, and I tuck them all into my pocket. I’ll want to remember this.

  Congrats! That was your last clue! Come into the office to claim your prize.

  Curious, I tuck the note inside my pocket and scurry around the corner, now positively beaming. In my office, I see my man dressed to the nines. Joe stands in an impeccable black suit, his hair groomed perfectly, his shirt ironed without a single crease in sight, his shoes shined, his chin shaved to that stubbly length that I love.

  And he holds out a box.

  A small, black one.

  Oh my God.

  He opens it and a ring sparkles in the light. My throat closes suddenly when he drops to one knee and plucks the ring from the box. The smile on his face trembles a little bit. He’s confident, but not sure. Not completely.

  “I love you, Marisa and I want you to be mine forever. Will you—?”

  “Yes,” I burst out, crying. “Yes, goddamn it.”

  His face cracks into a wide smile as he takes my hand, slowly slipping the ring onto my finger. Oh my God. Oh my God.

  “I can’t—I can’t believe it.”

  He stands up to catch me in his arms, and I hold my hand out as if it belongs to an alien.

  “Believe it, sweetheart,” he says huskily.

  He hugs me so tightly that I feel my ribs cracking. I’m so happy that it wouldn’t matter if I died right now.

  I’d have everything I want.

  Then my eyes pass over a small detail. A small photo sitting on my desk that escaped my purge reminds me of the man I once admired. My dad.

  “What’s wrong?” The confidence in his voice shakes slightly.

  “I love you and I’m excited for our future, I just—I don’t want it to be—I don’t want any part of what you do for a living.” I look at his face, which looks worried. “I gave up too much of myself for my family. I won’t do it again.”

  He smiles. “Babe, I don’t want you to be a part of it. You won’t ever be involved.”

  Soft fingers curl around my jaw. “I mean it. The only reason you were involved is because we had business with the casino. That’s over for good. I promise.”

  My eyes burn as he kisses me, and then he pulls away, frowning.

  “I made reservations at a place with our friends and family, you know, if you said yes. Maybe I should cancel it.”

  “What?” My voice echoes loudly. “No, I want to go!” I lift my face and press my lips against his, loving the way my skin heats when he brushes the hair from my neck. He stuns me with a deep kiss, until my back touches the wall.

  “Well, then,” he says, smiling. “Let’s get you ready.”

  * * *

  A smattering of applause greets us when we approach the table reserved for us. Everyone’s there—all of Joe’s friends and work associates and their wives, even Jack, who still gives me a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. The few friends I have, cousins, and even my mother made an appearance, but I only have eyes for my little sister.

  My face burns as they cheer for us and I turn into Joe’s arms, laughing at him. “That’s a lot of people.”

  He rubs my back, beaming at them all. “C’mon. Let’s say hello.”

  I grip his hand like a vice and he winces as he leads me to the table. Jack bows his head to me. “Congratulations, Joey. You too, hon.”

  I smile thinly. I haven’t forgotten how after I sold Worlds Casino, Jack demanded a cut. I gave him enough to cover my Dad’s debts, and then I made it quite clear that if he wanted more, he’d have to go through my lawyer. I could have kept the casino beyond his reach, but I just didn’t want to do it anymore. All it did was remind me of my dad’s legacy, of how corrupt he let it become. I didn’t want any part of it.

  Vincent leans over the table and shakes my hand. “I’m happy for you guys.”

  “Me too,” says his wife. “You guys are so cute together.” She gives me a friendly smile. “Welcome to the family.”

  The family. Not just Joe’s family, but the Vittorio family, too. I’ve accepted it because it’s a part of him. I never got to choose my own family, but I’m choosing this one. I choose him.

  I thank her and move along the table, accepting congratulations from everyone. It makes my head spin. Then my sister gets up from the table and wraps her arms around me, and then to my surprise, Joe.

  He returns her embrace with a look of slight shock, and to my astonishment Jessica bursts into tears.

  “I never really thanked you for saving my life.”

  Joe whispers reassuring words into her ear and she cries in earnest. I love him for how sweet he is with my sister. He’s patient with her in a way that I never was. Sometimes, he looks at us with such a pained expression. He misses her. Janice.

  “I love you both. I’m really happy for you.”

  He beams at her and she finally detaches herself from Joe’s neck to sit down at the table with her face buried in her hands.

  Poor Jessica. She never really recovered from the fire. I lean forward and grab her hand, and she looks up. “I’m so sorry for everything. I was always—I was such a b—brat!”

  I laugh at that. “Jess, you’ll be my maid of honor?”

  She lunges at me and wraps her arms around my neck, now positively howling.

  Thoughts of another man inevitably creep into my head when she finally calms down and we eat food. It’s right there, between us, and yet we never talk about it. Him.

  I can’t even think of his name. His name is like the whisper of a dark spell—or a curse. Like Voldemort in Harry Potter. Too evil to say out loud.

  That’s what it feels like, anyway.

  Joe looks at me from across the table with a sympathetic smile. He lets me rant and rave about it. Often, he’d hold me at night when all I could do was cry about my brother.

  But the truth is, Jessica and I are better than ever. Without him, we’re happier. We’re thriving. It’s like he’s been poisoning me all these years, slipping it into my coffee, and now that he’s gone, I’m free. I’m happy.

  Across the table, I see Joe laughing hard at a joke Vince said down the table. His bright eyes momentarily catch mine, and I feel lighter. He looks just like the man in the photograph, the ones that he proudly displays all over our home. Suddenly, he gives me a wink and I’m filled wi
th that hot, giddy feeling. He mouths something to me: Love you, babe.

  Me too.

  # # #

  High Stakes (Vittorio Crime Family #1)

  There are a million reasons why I should stay away from Vincent Cesare.

  This was supposed to be temporary. I was supposed to deal for his illegal card games and get some quick cash. That was it. I wasn’t supposed to fall for him.

  Little by little, I see the monster grinning at me through the cracks in his pretty suit. He won't tell me what he does, and I'm not sure I want to know. The darkness in his eyes terrifies me. He's seduced me into his web of lies with his charm, and now I'm trapped in his life. He's taken control over me without me even realizing...or resisting.

  I'm in way over my head.

  He promised that nothing would ever happen to me. The Vittorio family wants me dead and there's only one person I can turn to. But what scares me is what I'll have to do.

  I'll need to become his.

  Double Blind (Vittorio Crime Family #2)

  I’m in so deep that I can’t see the way out.

  The boss of the Rizzo family needs me. I need to get closer to Carmine Lucchesi, a captain in his family. I need to steal information from him. He’s a sweet man, but underneath there’s something damaged, something deranged.

  The boss wants me to leave Vincent, the man I love. End the engagement. I'm with Carmine until he says so. Until I get what he needs.

  Or he’ll kill Vincent. He’ll kill my mother, and Vincent’s mother, and everyone I've ever cared about.

  I don’t have a choice. I need to end it with him, even though I love him. Even though it just might kill me.

  Author’s note: This book concludes Vince and Adriana’s story, but more novels will follow that take place in the same world!

  If you enjoyed this story, please remember to leave a review on Amazon! You might enjoy these other works by Vanessa Waltz:

  Break (Billionaire New Adult Romance)

  What if a handsome man offered you thousands to pretend to be his girlfriend? And what if you started to believe the lie?