Dealer and his Bestowed Bride (The Rossi Family Mafia Book 2)

by Avery Hawkes

  I quickly put the dress on, then sat impatiently on my bed trying to come up with a game plan. It looked like Rob might come to trust me again and if that was true, I could be in a good position to get some information about his drug ring.

  However, that would take time and after the shootout at the club, it looked like the Neapolitan Mafia was in short supply of it.

  Finally, the door opened once more. This time, instead of Rob, a woman entered my room. She was a cute, young woman who wore a white apron over a longer dress.

  "Breakfast is served," she said cheerfully.

  Without so much as a word to her, I followed the woman down the stairs and toward the kitchen.

  Once more, I was amazed by the layout of the space. It seemed like no expense had been spared in creating the best dining experience.

  Rob sat at a small breakfast table and stood as soon as I entered the room. Another woman in a similar outfit to the other maid was serving him an espresso.

  "Good morning," Rob said, his arms stretched out to give me a hug. I allowed him to do so, even if it made me want to gag. The man was acting as though everything was alright, despite the fact that I had been taken by gunpoint from my husband the night before.

  "Please," he said, "sit."

  I did as he said, sitting across from my ex. As soon as my butt hit the chair, I had a glass of orange juice and an espresso placed in front of me. I grabbed the thin sugar packet that accompanied the coffee and poured it into the brown liquid, stirring it with a small spoon.

  "I know that these past hours have been hard on you," Robert said, taking a bite of an egg that had been placed in front of him.

  I nodded, taking a sip of my overly-sweetened coffee. Even so, it wasn't much to my taste.

  "There's information I need from you, for me to be able to trust you in my home."

  I knew that it was coming. Rob wanted everything I knew and would stop at nothing to get it. When I had worked along side him in the Mafia, he had been the most ruthless person I had ever seen.

  "Alright," I said, softly.

  "What were you hired for?" He leaned into the table, his dark eyes intensely set on me. This was a sink or swim moment. If he felt like I was lying in any way, he would probably switch methods of interrogation. Breakfast with coffee could easily become a basement with pliers.

  "I thought it was going to be a quick job. The Rossi family hired me to stage some sort of test. Frank wanted to know how Luca worked under pressure, how aware of his surrounding he was, etc. I was offered a lot of money to do so."

  I placed my empty espresso cup down on the white platter. "B-but … what they really wanted was to force me into a marriage against my will."

  As I said the words, I realized how true they were. Yes, I enjoyed Luca's company, but his family had forced me into a relationship that I hadn't even wanted. In some ways, it was just as disgusting as Rob and his delightful breakfast. Why was I so alright with Luca and my arrangement? Why wasn't I angry at the Mafia like Rob was?

  The questions flashed through my mind and threw me off. I was telling Rob one side of the truth, without realizing how I really felt about it. Perhaps, I hadn't come face-to-face with the reality of my life.

  If I wasn't Rob's slave, I was a slave to the Mafia. If I wasn't a slave to the Mafia, I was chained by my own shortcomings. My chest tightened and I had difficultly keeping back tears. This time, they weren’t faked.

  "Let me get this straight," Rob said. "The Mafia forced you into a relationship with Luca Rossi?"

  I nodded in reply, fiddling with my thumbs under the table. I couldn’t say anything without bursting into tears in that moment. It was difficult to breathe, but I forced myself to do it. Rob seemed to notice my distress.

  "So when he said you were married, Luca really meant that they gave you to him, like some plaything?"

  It was true and I hated to hear it. However, as I looked back at our encounters, had they really been anything other than something you'd do with a sex doll? I hadn't thought about it before. All of the sex that Luca and I had was consensual, but it also was no more than casual encounters.

  For some reason, perhaps naively, I thought there was more to us.

  Rob was getting to me. I was emotionally exhausted from the blood and horror I had experienced while working for the Mafia.

  "Oh Piper," Rob said. "I'm so sorry they did that to you."

  "It's okay," I whispered.

  "No, it's not," Rod replied. "When I broke off from the Mafia, they tried to do horrible things to me. I want to destroy Frank and his little empire."

  "They're strong. They have more resources than you could imagine." I said.

  "Look at me," he laughed out loud and waved his hands around, pointing to his fancy mansion. "In the past five months, I've built my very own drug operation from the ground up. The Mafia hasn't been able to do that since the prohibition."

  A servant walked over to me and placed a plate in front of me. Eggs, fresh fruit, bread and cheese. It was a lovely little display of food but I didn't want to eat it. I thought if I put anything in my stomach, I'd throw up.

  Instead, I grabbed my fork and started organizing the food on my plate so Rob wouldn't notice I wasn't eating. Maybe I gave him too much credit, since he kept yapping on about himself. It might not be too hard to get information out of him after all.

  "I wish I could have seen Frank's face when I stole his men out from under him." His grin was huge, so happy with himself.

  "I'm sure it was a sight to see," I commented.

  He sighed and leaned back in his chair, running his finger through his wavy hair. "I'm so happy to have you back Piper. I missed you so much."

  "Me too," I lied.

  "I promise you, I will kill every single one of those bastards for what they did to us."

  I nodded and cleared my throat. In a different situation, this breakfast would have been lovely, even with Rob talking at me. But all the man could talk about was revenge and killing, he really knew how to make a girl feel welcome.

  "And I know just where to start," Rob went on. I turned my head to look at him and when we locked eyes, I felt myself grow weaker by the second. Those dark, black holes where his soul should have lived were empty. His lips curled up into a smile that made me want to throw up.

  "W-where are you going to start?" I asked, he had been waiting for me to ask a question, to say something.

  He grinned a large, cheshire cat grin when I said it.

  "I'm going to start with your 'husband'. Don’t worry, I won’t kill him quickly ... his death will be slow and painful. But by the time I’m done with him, I’ll have his head on a pike."

  All of the color left my body and I about dropped my fork. I didn't know why I was surprised; Luca had directly challenged the bastard.

  Rob stood up, placing his white napkin down on his plate with finality.

  "Luca Rossi is a dead man."

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Luca

  Beep. Beep. Beep.

  My memory was blurry. I remembered the crash-then bursts of sound and color as I moved in and out of consciousness.

  I remembered clutching my chest and trying to sit up, but stopped by a team of strong hands. White hands, smelling of alcohol and plastic. White light blinded me.

  Was this what it was like to die?

  "Piper-" I groaned.

  I could hear people murmuring around me, coming in and out of the room. Rustling of sheets. Hushed tones that mixed with the steady beeping of a heart-rate monitor. The scratching of a pen against paper and the casual laughs that echoed down a hallway.

  Finally, my eyes fluttered open.

  The lights were low, but they still hurt my eyes. I blinked, trying to get used to the visual input. When they had finally adjusted, I was able to look at my surroundings.

  I was in a hospital and there was no way of knowing how long I had been out. Immediately, I remembered the car chase, the crash, and the fact that Piper was ou
t there with Robert. Before I could do anything about that, I heard someone clear their throat in the room.

  I glanced over to see Mr. Armento standing in the corner.

  I grumbled at the middle-aged man. He had dark circles under his eyes and his horn rimmed glasses were slightly off-kilter.

  Turning, I realized where the pain was in my body. They had pumped me full of drugs, I was well aware, but that hadn't stopped the searing pain that hit my side and arm as I moved. Upon a quick glance down, I realized that my left arm was in a sling and gave a sigh of relief. At least it wasn't in a cast.

  "They say it's a miracle that you left that crash with so few injuries." Mr. Armento said, standing from his chair and walking over to the bed.

  I winced as I tried to adjust myself. "Did they give me a morphine drip?"

  "Your injuries weren't severe enough for that, Mr. Rossi."

  "I thought you were supposed to be in the states, I said.

  "Yes, I am supposed to be in the states," he replied, taking his glasses off to clean them with a small piece of fabric. "Funny, I got a call from Mr. Franco telling me to come and take you away before you catch the entirety of Italy on fire."

  A groan escaped me, annoyed about the entire debacle. "They took Piper," I said.

  "I am fully aware of that, but it is not our problem anymore."

  Anger flared up inside of me. "She’s my wife!"

  Mr. Armento seemed surprised at my outburst, finally looking at me properly in the hospital bed. However, after a few moments, he focused once more on his glasses. "It seems as though the Mafia admitted it made a mistake by marrying you two. The annulment has been set into motion. As soon as you're cleared here, we will take you back to the states before you make this mess worse."

  "She's still out there, you son of a bitch," I said through gritted teeth. "I'm not stepping a foot out of Italy until she's safe."

  "I wasn't asking politely," Mr. Armento said, placing his glasses back on his face. "This was an order from your father."

  I turned away on the bed, I couldn't stand to look at the man's smug expression any longer. How could he be alright with Piper being kidnapped? How could my Father justify taking me away from my wife?

  "Don't worry Mr. Rossi, Mr. Franco informed me that he has as many men as he can spare looking for Piper."

  "How long have they been looking?" I asked. "How many of them are out there? Are there any leads?"

  Mr. Armento pursed his lips, "Again, they are working as hard as they can. The best way to help her now, is for you to heal up and go home."

  "So that's it? Robert's out there somewhere still? What about getting him out of the way?"

  "Sadly, the Napoli Mafia's intentions have been revealed. There's no use in trying to disguise Robert's death as anything other than murder. We have people better suited than you for that sort of work" Mr. Armento turned around and stepped toward the door. "Enough talk. You need to rest so we can get you out of here before Mr. Franco changes his mind. You should be thanking me, Luca, he wanted a bullet in your brain."

  With that, Armento stepped out of the hospital room. Soon after, a nurse hurried in to check on me. She asked me to do a few reflex tests, but I didn't pay attention to her.

  Piper was out there and from the way Armento had held himself, it didn't seem like anyone was looking for her. Why care about one young woman when you possibly had a war on your hands? To them, she was collateral damage.

  There had to be some way I could get in contact with her or—

  I blinked as the nurse flashed light into my eyes. "Excuse me," I said.

  The nurse turned the light off and raised her eyebrows. "Si?"

  "Did you happen to pick up any of the things on my person? A cell phone, maybe?"

  "I can tell you that we found cocaine in your pocket," she said in a slightly annoyed tone. "Thank the Lord you had that in there so we knew what you had in your system."

  I chuckled, I had forgotten about that small baggy. "Old habits die hard, I guess." I said. "Could you at least check to see if my phone was recovered?"

  The woman rolled her eyes and stood up straight, placing the light into the pocket of her bright pink shirt. With a curt nod, she left to look at my things.

  There was no time to wait for a nurse, especially one who thought I was a nuisance. From what I knew about Robert, he was bad news, especially for Piper.

  "Damn it!" I looked down at all the wires coming off of me and the stupid sling that held my arm. I was trapped in a horrible prison of a hospital.

  "You're lucky," the nurse's voice called out from the door. She walked over to my cot with a cardboard box that she was rifling through. "This is what we found on you at the crash."

  I glanced in the box. They had taken the cocaine, which was fine. I didn't need it anymore anyway. There in the box was my wallet, hotel key, and my phone. She set the box on my lap.

  "Grazie," I said with a grin, grabbing the phone out of it with my good arm.

  "Preggo," she replied, giving me the sort of disapproving look your mother would give you.

  After she left the room, leaving me alone, I turned my phone on and flipped through it. There were a few messages, five from Franco and one message from Piper. I stared at the screen. Not long ago, she had sent my phone a map location.

  It wasn’t far from Florence either. If they were still there, it probably wouldn’t take thirty minutes by car.

  Hope filled me. She was still alive. While I didn’t think Rob wanted to kill her, knowing Piper she might put herself in a situation where she could be in danger.

  A sudden burst of energy rushed through me and I knew that I couldn’t spend any longer in the hospital bed. Glancing at the door, I started tearing off the wires that stuck to me. Quickly, before anyone passed, I threw my blankets off of me and turned to take my first step since after the accident.

  I winced at the pain, but it wasn’t unbearable. I knew my ribs were bruised and it felt like my arm had been dislocated and roughed up when I hit the ground.

  After a few steps, I found my bearings and took my box.

  There was one problem.

  I was naked.

  Well, I did have the backless robe that they gave everyone who came into the ER, but it wasn’t exactly the best way to escape a hospital. When I took a few steps toward the exit, trying to figure out where I could go to find some clothes, I immediately jumped back toward the beds.

  Two Mafia guards flanked my door.

  Damn it.

  I tried not to freak out. There was no going out that way, not with the men watching me like a hawk. I could try to attack them with something in the room. Perhaps there was a needle or something—

  Then it hit me.

  The hospital was an older building and there was a large window on the other side of the room. I looked back, afraid that someone would spot me checking it out, then tiptoed forward toward the window.

  My room had two beds. The other was currently empty. However, it had a privacy curtain so that two patients could share a room without looking at each other all day. I tugged on the curtain so that the nurses couldn’t see me poking around at first glance.

  When I inspected the window, I saw that it was slightly ajar to let air through. I pressed my hand against it, letting the window swing out. My head peaked over the edge to see where I was located in the building. I was on the first floor, thankfully, and there was only around a meter to get to the ground. It was all soft grass that lead to a parking lot.

  There had to be a vehicle somewhere, or maybe even a taxi that I could take.

  But then there was the problem of my clothes.

  Very carefully, I shut the window so that it was back to being only a sliver ajar, then walked back to my hospital bed. While the wires couldn’t all stick back in their original places, I placed them into the sheet that covered me until it looked about right to the untrained eye.

  “Excuse me! Gentlemen?”

  One of the guard
s popped his head into the room. “Could you let Mr. Armento know I’d like to speak with him?” I hoped he understood what I was saying because his face was stone. In any case, he turned on his heel and walked slowly down the hall.

  I thought it worked, but I was still unsure.

  After a few moments, Mr. Armento walked into my room. Instead of laying in the bed, I made it look like I was getting ready to go. I had taken off my robe and was stark naked in front of him.

  “Holy shit!” I yelled when he walked in. “Jesus, dude—close the damn door!”

  “Oh,” the very proper man turned and closed the door behind him.

  “You asked for me?”

  “Yeah, look here,” I offered him my cell phone.

  When he got close enough I took the IV stand and hit him over the head with it, sending him into the firm hospital bed.

  Mr. Armento was out like a light. I stayed perfectly still for some time, afraid the men outside would have heard our scuffle. After enough time had passed that I knew they hadn’t heard anything crazy, I ran over to the visitor’s chair and propped it against the door. That would at least save me some time.

  I made quick work of Mr. Armento’s outfit. It was a bit slim on me, but overall I looked sleek and more put-together than usual. I did wince as I wiggled my injured arm into the jacket, but otherwise it did not look like I was a patient. As I put on his clothes, I started to notice what Mr. Armento had in his pockets. Eyeglass cleaning fabric, a wallet with over 3000 Euro in it, rental car keys, and a gun. I took it all, except the little square of fabric.

  “Good luck, man,” I told the unconscious Mafioso, grabbing my possessions and placing them in my pockets before getting to the window.

  It was night again and I could see my breath as I crept through the window. As I got my legs out, I heard someone yelling from the other side of the door.

  Thud. Thud.

  The guards were trying to break through. Luckily, the chair was in the way to stop them … for now.

  I ran for it- well, as much as I could run. It was a struggled run, one where I tried to keep most of my weight on my one good side. Any pressure on my bad side made me see stars.