“Soon enough. Besides, she’s just a hinderance to our contract, our plans. You need to look at the bigger picture, Arlo, and not think about your cock as much. Wynter knows what she’s doing, she’ll always satisfy you.”
He announces all of this as if he’s not talking about his daughter, but rather a vessel. Isn’t that exactly what I thought of her as, too?
Fuck.
All of this is so fucked up.
Gavino steps between us. “How about you start explaining to me, why you thought you would take any of this into your own hands?” he asks.
Vino is all business right now and I kind of feel sorry for this man and his daughter. Much like Harvey, who is currently lying in a pool of his own blood, neither of them will ever make it out of this apartment alive.
My fingers twitch with the desire to pull the trigger, to kill this piece of shit and my wife. She may be partially innocent because she is clearly insane, another notch on the reasoning for annulment, but she can’t be allowed out in the world again.
She’s fucking insane.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ELENORA
I feel like someone is watching me. It’s not sexy or exhilarating though, it’s frightening. I look over to Massimo, who has been extremely quiet since I came out of the bathroom, obviously thoroughly fucked by Arlo. I should feel terrible about allowing him inside of me, I should feel incredibly guilty, but instead, I just feel sad.
Pinching my eyes closed, I inhale a deep breath before I release it. I hate myself for falling in love with the asshole. I despise myself for not asking more questions and demanding answers when I absolutely knew something wasn’t right.
My stomach rolls and I lift my hand to my mouth. “Oh, fuck,” Massimo shouts as he quickly navigates his SUV to the side of the road.
He makes it just in time for me to throw open the door, lean out and puke all over the shoulder of the interstate.
“Merda, are you okay?” Massimo asks once I’ve finished heaving.
I use my fingers to wipe the disgusting upchuck from my face and sit up. Massimo shoves a napkin that he produced from thin air at me, I’m so grateful, I could kiss him. Except I won’t, because I’m sure my breath is disgusting as shit right now.
Shakily, I wipe my face, expecting him to go back into traffic, but he doesn’t. Instead, he watches me with the blinking of his hazard lights being the only noise in the cab.
“I knowingly had sex with a married man, with no protection, in a bathroom at a nightclub,” I whisper, assuming it’s my guilt that’s made me sick.
Massimo chuckles. “I’ve done worse, bella. Don’t sweat it, besides you already know that in my world, you’ve done nothing wrong.”
Turning my head, I look over at him. “I’m not from your world though, Massimo. In mine, it’s really, really, wrong.”
He nods. “I know. But please, don’t punish yourself too hard, bella. You fell in love with someone you thought was available. I think the fact that you fell for him, I think that is fucking beautiful.”
“Why?” I whisper.
Massimo’s eyes search my face, then dip to my lips before he brings his gaze back up to mine. “The women from our world, the ones that are usually forced to marry. They don’t tend to fall in love with us. Maybe, eventually, after there are children, they’ll feel something…” His words trail off and they’re not the first time that I’ve heard them.
An extreme wave of sadness washes over me. I don’t like that people live this way, that Arlo is one of them or that I feel sorry for the cheating asshole. I shouldn’t. I should feel angry. I should hate him with every fiber of my being.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I whisper.
Massimo snorts, turning back to face the windshield and I hold my breath as he eases back into traffic.
“I’m sure that you don’t, bella.”
“Why do you say that?” I ask.
He hums, wasting a few moments, making me sweat before he finally speaks. “If you feel sorry for him, then it will make it that much easier to take him back, to forgive him, when all you want to do is hate him. You’ve been taught your entire life that you should hate a man who cheats.”
“Why do you make so much sense. You know I really hate that,” I snap.
He chuckles as his phone rings. I watch as he fumbles around, eventually answering it and as much as I want to lecture him on the law and not to talk on the phone and drive without being hands-free, I’m too caught up in my own shit, in my own drama. In the disaster that is my personal life.
“Okay. Yeah. Taking her now. We’re on the way anyway.” There’s a moment of silence and I think that Massimo is not on the phone. Instead, I hear him chuckle and then he says. “Then hurry up, faccia di merda.”
He ends the call, tossing the phone into the cup holder between us. “What did you say, at the end?” I ask.
Massimo grins, turning to me for just a moment before he focuses back toward the road. “I called him an assface.” He shrugs.
My lips part in surprise. “Who?” I demand.
“Arlo.”
Unable to stop myself, I throw my head back in laughter. I can’t keep from letting it escape and then it turns into a fit of giggles. Massimo joins me until eventually our laughter dies. Leaning my head back against the seat, I look over to him.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
“For?”
“Taking me out tonight, when I really didn’t want to go. Making me dance, when I really didn’t want to dance and for being a friend.”
“The F-word,” he mutters, though his lips are smiling.
“The F-word,” I whisper in return.
He reaches over, wrapping his hand around my knee and squeezing. “I’ve always hated that F-word, love the other one, but hated that one…”
“Until?”
“Until you, bella. You’re special, you know that? Whatever is meant to happen, will happen, but allow yourself to forgive. The world can be ugly, and forgiveness can be beautiful, even when it’s terrifying.”
“You seem like you know a lot about the subject,” I point out.
He nods, then he gets a faraway look in his eyes. “I do, Lenora. Trust me when I say, that I do. I don’t know that we would have ever ended up together. But she was taken from this world far too young. I was angry with her and didn’t have the opportunity to forgive her for leaving me, which she should have. She was in the right, but it didn’t matter, because I never was able to tell her.”
“I’m sorry, Massimo. Do you think that if she knew your true heart, that she already knew you forgave her?”
He shakes his head once, then guides the car toward the exit to my place. Luca and Chloe are going to Luca’s place tonight since it’s closer to the club. They offered to let me stay with them, but I think they really need some time without the depressing third-wheel in tow.
“Maybe, bella,” Massimo whispers after a few silent moments.
We don’t say anything else and I’m kind of relieved when the SUV pulls up to my apartment building. I push the door open and turn around to tell Massimo goodnight when I notice that he’s already outside and standing by his closed door.
“Massimo?” I ask as I walk around the front of his car and tilt my head back to look into his face.
He smiles. “If you think I’m going to let you stay the night alone, you’ve lost your fucking mind. I’ll sleep on the couch, but I’m staying here tonight,” he announces.
I lick my lips, wondering if this is such a good idea. His eyes flick down to my mouth, then he shakes his head a couple of times and takes a step back from me.
“Time for bed, Lenora,” he murmurs.
“Massimo?”
“F-word, bella. You got sick, you’re tired and tomorrow all that inventory that you overnighted is going to be at the shop. We have a busy little day ahead of us.”
“You’re going to help me?” I ask with a frown. His lips twitch and he
dips his chin in an affirmative nod. “You’re going to help me unpack, hang up panties, bras, and extremely sexy lingerie?” I ask, arching a brow.
“I mean, I’ve only ever taken it off and thrown it on the floor before, but I think I can manage hanging it up for you, Lenora.” He winks.
With a laugh, I shake my head and together we make our way into the building. I think about this man next to me. He’s had heartaches that I can tell weigh heavily on him. He’s helping me when I’m sure that he has a million other more important things to do.
I think, not for the first time, how it would be so much easier to fall in love with him, rather than having had fallen for Arlo.
ARLO
“Well, I certainly didn’t see that coming,” Gavino mutters once we’ve secured the senator and his daughter in separate holding rooms at our warehouse.
Luciana has been taken home and is probably tucked into her bed safe and sound by now. My phone call to Massimo was difficult to make, but I needed to know that he would stay with Lenora, that he would protect her.
My next call is to our Button Man, Renzo.
“I didn’t either, but we need to get a game plan together,” I say as I thumb through my phone to find Renzo’s contact information.
“Honestly, I don’t think he hired anyone to come after Lenora. I think it was a bluff. What I want to know is why Wynter is the way that she is.”
“Because she’s crazy?” I ask, arching a brow as I lift my gaze from my phone to him.
Gavino snorts. “We’re all crazy, cugino. That woman is unhinged. There is a reason for it, I have no doubt about that.”
“Does it matter though?” I ask. “Are we going to let them go if we find out the reason?”
Gavino, shoves his hands in his pockets, the move odd. He always seems assured in his decision, but this is different. He seems conflicted. I know without a doubt that if this woman is released tonight, she will go to unheard of lengths to get rid of Lenora, possibly me as well. I can’t risk losing Lenora, I can’t risk her being taken from this earth because of me.
I won’t fucking allow it.
“Just curious, Arlo,” he murmurs.
“We need to know who Senator McClain was working with and how he thought to even tell us that he’d hired a hit on Lenora. Something isn’t adding up with any of it. Why is he so insistent to work with us? I know why we wanted him, but why does he want us so damn bad?”
Gavino nods his head, his eyes trained on the warehouse behind me. His brain is working overtime, but he’s not allowing me in on the process. Typically, I don’t mind, but this situation directly involves me and the woman that I love—it involves our future.
“Let’s break him,” I suggest.
“Are you sure you want to play with him, Arlo? I thought torture wasn’t your style. Besides, you may not like what you find out.”
Slipping a cigarette between my lips, I bring my lighter up and strike it, lighting it. Gavino is watching me as I take a drag from my smoke. Lifting my chin, I take a step toward the warehouse.
“I’m sure, Vino. I want to start my life with Lenora, sooner, rather than later. I want whatever this is to be done with by tonight. Let’s get this done.”
“You love her,” Gavino states.
Taking another drag, my lips twitch into a smirk. “Call me weak like my old man, but yeah, I do. I’ll work to protect her until the day that I die, and that includes torture and murder.”
Gavino lifts his hand, running his fingers through his hair. “You are not weak, Arlo. You never were and you never will be. You are like your father in many ways, but one of them is not weak temperament. You just didn’t have the drive to be the Boss until this girl came into your life. Now you do, and maybe I should feel threatened, but instead, I feel proud to have you as my Underboss.”
“Are you two fuckers going to kiss and jack each other off now?” a voice asks.
Slowly, Gavino and I both turn in the direction of the voice. I blink, unsure if I’m truly seeing who I’m seeing standing in front of me.
Kade is standing in front of us. Kade who has been a point of contention since the events from a few months ago. One of his women fucked with our product, cut it with some bad shit and could have cost us our reputation and sales.
Thankfully, the Savage Beat MC caught it before any product was sold on the streets. He’s being secretly monitored until we feel as though we can trust him, which will probably be never.
“What are you doing here?” Gavino asks, his voice harsh.
Kade’s face breaks into an easy smile, since he’s been on the outs with Gavino after everything that happened, I don’t understand how his smile could even be so easy.
“You have a senator in your midst and I’m going to need to take him with me,” he informs.
Gavino takes a step toward him, suddenly the air around us is crackling. This has suddenly become so much bigger than even he or I realized. When McClain told us that he set things in motion to get rid of Lenora, to ensure that he was still part of the famiglia at least by marriage, we didn’t truly understand why it was so important. We still don’t, but this shit has just gotten a bit deeper.
“You’re going to need to talk, Kade,” Gavino warns.
Kade smirks. “Let’s just say, this operation is small potatoes to who McClain ultimately answers to. Give him to me, whatever contract you have with him will still continue on as planned. However, once he leaves here, you’re never to contact him again.”
“I need a lot more than that shit you just attempted to shovel me,” Gavino growls, his patience disappearing by the second.
Kade lifts a brow, obviously not worried about Vino losing what little patience he has. He’s stupid as fuck and has already been on thin ice with the man, this could sabotage the entire rocky relationship.
I continue smoking my cigarette as if I couldn’t be bothered with their shit. In reality, I really want to fucking know, but Kade isn’t going to spill. Backing away from the two of them bickering like nonnas, I head toward the warehouse.
Slipping inside, I quietly close the door behind me and make my way toward the senator who is hanging from a hook in the middle of the room, by a rope that has his hands tied together.
“Tell me something, Senator,” I call out.
His head lifts and his bottom lip trembles.
“What?” he croaks.
“I have Kade outside, who I assume flew here from Texas when he discovered that we had you. I don’t know how he discovered it, I assume you’ve been in contact with him, and often, especially since he’s all hot to take you back with him.”
McClain licks his lips as his eyes round with what I can only describe as fear. He doesn’t say a word, but I watch as his eyes flick from the door to me, then back and forth a few more times.
“Talk, now. I can’t save you once he’s in here, once you’re in his grasp. What the fuck have you done?” I demand.
“Not me,” he breathes. “Wynter.”
“What did she do?” I growl.
He shakes his head a couple of times, then inhales a deep breath before he lets it out in a whoosh.
“She promised things that she can’t deliver. I see it now, but the people that she made those promises to, they won’t understand.”
“What promises? Who?” I demand.
He opens his mouth to tell me. When he does, his eyes widen and I hear a noise, then watch as the blood spatters on the wall that his back is facing. My eyes lift to his forehead and I wince at the small bullet entrance point that stares back at me.
Skating my gaze down to his eyes, I see that he’s gone. His entire body hangs loosely from the hook, his shoulders awkward as his body becomes completely limp as the life drains from him.
I don’t bother turning around, if whoever shot him wants me dead, I’d already be dead. I know that they used a silencer, that they only took one shot and they didn’t miss.
Whoever killed him has impeccable aim, and
whoever he is, he’s gone. This room feels completely empty, now. The warehouse door opens, I hear Gavino’s curse as Kade roars in anger. Turning to face them, I shake my head once.
“It wasn’t me. I was trying to get information out of him. I don’t know which direction the bullet came from, just that the gun had a silencer attached,” I state.
“Fuck. Well, I might as well off myself right next to him,” Kade groans.
“You need to tell me what the fuck is going on,” Gavino demands.
Kade lifts his hand, running his fingers through his hair before he tugs at the ends. He looks maniacal, unhinged, he looks terrified. If I thought he looked scared when we, and the Savage Beasts, found out about his whore tampering with the product, I didn’t know what scared looked like.
“It doesn’t matter, let’s just spin his death so that nothing is pointed at us.”
Gavino laughs, his body shaking. “It will never come back on me, Kade. This is the easy part, planting his body where I need it to be. Spinning the story that I feed to the media. The police are in my pocket, this shit is nothing. I am however, supremely interested in what you need to tell me and why you’re trying to get out of saying anything about it at all.”
“They’re probably listening,” he rasps.
“I don’t care. Tell me,” Gavino demands.
“The Columbians,” he whispers. His eyes are wide and he steps to the side. “I won’t say anything else, I can’t. That’s all I can say. Let’s just say, you don’t want to fuck them over and this, bringing him to them, was my way to keep them on my good side.”
“What happens now?” I ask, tossing my cigarette to the ground.
Kade looks to McClain’s dead body, then shifts his gaze back to Gavino. He inhales deeply, before letting it out. “I don’t know. All I know is that he had a deal with them.”
“As do you? You aren’t getting product from them, so what exactly are you getting?” I ask.
Kade gulps, his eyes widen. “He is getting his product from them,” Gavino states. “There’s something more though, isn’t there?”
Becoming his Mistress: A Zanetti Famiglia Novel Page 21