Gio: The DelGado Trilogy (An Enemies to Lovers Romance)

by Natalia Lourose

  Heart broken.

  Is that what I want?

  “Okay.” I whisper.

  “Okay.” He repeats.

  “One more thing…Will you tell me what we’re doing?”

  He flashes a cocky grin. “Nope. You just follow my lead and don’t ask questions when we’re there, okay? We’re on a lime limit. Your one job is to go through the vent, what you’ve been practicing and then to the front door to open it. The vent will drop you ten feet from the door. You do this in under a minute.” He exhales. “And then we take the rest from there. After that all you have to do is get out and get in the car with us. Then you’re free.”

  “Who are you robbing?” I ask.

  He smiles again. “What makes you think it’s a robbery?”

  “Tony looked like he was about to cut open a safe with that thing he had.”

  He chuckles, the sound booms through the car. “Don’t worry about it.”

  He navigates the car into my apartment’s parking lot. “I have something for you.” He reaches into the back seat and pulls a bag forward. “For this weekend, you’ll want it.”

  “Thanks.” I take the bag and exit his car, leaving Gio and whatever semblance of a relationship we had behind.

  I open the bag as soon as I get into my apartment. Inside is a leather jacket. It’s soft, not as soft as the worn leather of his jacket, but equally as nice. I pull a shoebox from the bag next. Inside are a pair of matching leather combat boots.

  With these, I will definitely look the part.

  Gio is already in the warehouse going over the plan with the guys when I finally arrive.

  He sent one of his soldiers to collect me, apparently I’m no longer worthy of rides in the Porsche.

  Then again, we did agree to part ways after tonight.

  I’m sick in my stomach, it’s a mixture of nerves. Nerves because I have no idea what I’m getting into tonight, but also nerves because in a few hours I will never see him again.

  I told him that was what I wanted, so why do I feel so sick over it?

  He looks handsome, as always, in tight fitted black jeans, black boots, and his own signature leather jacket. I’m overwhelmed with the desire to run my hands over the leather. I know it's feeling by heart. Soft, worn out in areas, there's a snag by the zipper.

  He stops when he sees me, his chocolate eyes find mine. We look similar in all black, me in my new jacket and boots with a tight pair of black leggings that I can move easily in. I pulled my hair into a half bun, so the bottom layers could flow easily. I even put on foundation and mascara along with my normal chapstick. I would deny it to my grave that I had dressed up for him, but the way his eyes lingered over me sent chills down my spine.

  At least I’ll look good in his last memory of me.

  I had to pump myself up in the mirror for nearly an hour before I was ready to go. Not just because I was going to see him, but also because I know we’re about to do something wrong. One time. I told myself. One time to do something wrong. Something really bad, and then I’ll never do it again.

  I’m bargaining with myself. If I do a bad thing for a good reason, it’s okay. Right? That’s what I keep telling myself. Good people do bad things for good reasons.

  I shook most of the car ride. That’s how I know that I have to let him go. I can’t dream about him, admire his good looks, or drool over his body - no, all of that has to be done. If I want to be a good person, then I need to let this fantasy of Gio changing for me go.

  Men don’t change for women, I know this.

  Still, every time my eyes linger on Gio, I want him. I want him to whisper sweet nothings in my ear while he strokes my pussy…

  Stop - this is a dangerous road to go down.

  He leaves the table he’s standing over with the guys to move closer to me. “You look good.” He gives me a cocky grin.

  “Thanks,” I mutter.

  “Come on.” He places his large hand on the small of my back and leads me to the table with them.

  Spread out on the table is a large diagram, the floor plan of the building we’re robbing, I assume. There are four red circles on it. Gio jabs a finger at one near the center. “This is the vent on the roof. You’re gonna climb up the ladder over here,” He points to the side of the diagram. “Frankie will climb up with you and keep a lookout from there. Once you start, Frankie is going to start the stopwatch.” He looks at the team. “We have six minutes and thirty seconds from the time Annie steps into that vent, understood?” The guys nod. “Everything has to move fast, no mistakes. Got it?”

  “Yeah, boss.” They all agree.

  I stay silent. My stomach feels like it’s going to revolt.

  “Annie,” Gio prods. “Got it?’

  “Yeah,” I mutter. “I just need-” I feel it suddenly then, the urge to vomit. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me to the bathroom at the back of the warehouse.

  “Jesus!” I heard Tony, or Frank maybe, yell.

  I unload everything.

  It’s official, I am not made for this life.

  “Hey,” Gio enters the bathroom and kneels next to me. He rubs a hand on my back in a soothing motion. “You okay?”

  I grab some toilet paper to wipe my mouth off. “Yeah,” I mumble.

  “You nervous?” he asks, his face showing concern.

  “I guess.” I inhale deeply and exhale trying to calm my nerves. I’ve been nauseated the past week, I just need for this to be over.

  “In and out,” Gio tells me. “And then you’re done.”

  Yeah. In and out, I can do this.

  The last time a man told me a job was in and out flashes through my head.

  Yeah, that worked out well for me.

  We’re a sea of black.

  Dressed in black from head to toe and seated in the black Escalade. There are five of us plus a driver who I don’t know. One of Gio’s men probably. He’s young, and Gio has already told him twice to stay in the car and not to move and inch until he says so.

  I’m sweating beneath my black ensemble. I’m afraid I’m going to throw up again in the back of this car. I don’t even know who it belongs to.

  “Wear these.” Gio tosses a pair of black gloves and black pantyhose to me.

  I hold them confused. “What?”

  “Over your head.” Charlie answers pointing to the pantyhose. “Can’t make out your face in those and you’ll still be able to see.”

  Huh.

  The idea of stretching the pantyhose over my head makes this all too real.

  “Put this in first, though.” Charlie tells me, handing me a small device that looks like an earbud. “So we can talk to each other.” He gives me a small smile.

  I look at the objects in my hands. Earbud, pantyhose, gloves. This is too much.

  “Breath.” Gio instructs, sensing my panic. “Can’t have you freaking out in there.”

  I inhale slowly and then release all the air.

  I can do this.

  In and out.

  I can do this.

  The large building comes into view. It’s dark out, but I can make out the cream colored brick and the large sign that’s back-lit on the front of the building. Pearce & Co. The name sounds familiar to me, but I can’t place it. I know I’ve heard it before…

  “Park up front, close to the building.” Gio instructs the driver.

  “Can everyone hear me?” Charlie asks, testing out the ear devices. We all nod in agreement.

  “Okay,” Gio addresses the group. “We need to be quick. Annie, if you get stuck, just talk to us, okay?”

  I nod sheepishly.

  I can do this.

  We depart the Escalade and Frank leads me to the side of the building where there's an emergency ladder that leads to the roof. He looks over his shoulder, keeping watch of our surroundings.

  I feel like I should be crawling or sneaking, but the guys walk normally. Maybe I’ve watched too many spy movies. I feel grateful for the leather jacket at le
ast, it makes me look and feel tougher than I actually am.

  I imagine myself as a badass. A woman who takes no shit and gets what she wants. That’s who completes this job, not me. I’m completely detached.

  Frank helps me remove the cover to the vent, showing me the obstacle I’ve been training for. He gives me a small smile, his attempt at being nice. He’s trying, but I don’t imagine he understands social skills very well. I return the smile anyway. I’m not about to slight the man who enjoys beating people up for sport.

  He takes his spot at the corner of the building so he has a good view and hovers a finger over the stopwatch. “Whenever you’re ready.” He tells me. Though I know he means, go now because there's no time for me to sit here and pump myself up.

  This is it.

  Now or never.

  “Let’s go.” I reply with the most confidence I can muster and crawl into the vent.

  It takes effort to keep myself from sliding straight down, but I practice the way Charlie taught me. Using my boots to control my speed and lowering myself down. The vent is just like the one I practiced in, except maybe a little more stable. I always felt like Charlie’s replica was about to break or tip over. This feels solid.

  I keep going. “Almost there.” I say to the guys. I get to the angle, and take a deep inhale and release all the air. I reach forward and shimmy myself through. Just like we practiced. I feel relieved, that’s the hardest part.

  I keep crawling. I should pass two openings and then the third will be my exit. When I get to the third one I look though it and can see what looks to be a lobby. I pull the tiny screwdriver from my pocket that Gio had given me and get to work unscrewing the cover. It pops off and falls straight down.

  “Shit,” I grumbled.

  “Don’t worry about it.” I hear Gio say in my ear.

  I inhale deeply and lower my legs through the hole. Hanging from the ceiling, my legs are still several feet away from the ground. This part was never practiced. Charlie would just say “And then you jump.” And I would pretend to jump and we would high five and start over. It’s not so much of a jump now as it is a fall. I take another deep breath and let myself drop.

  My feet hit the ground, one of them landing on the discarded vent cover causing my ankle to bend and pain to shoot up my calf. An arrangement of swear words escapes my lips.

  “Annie?” I hear Gio in my ears. “What happened.”

  The pain is bad, radiating up my leg. I try to push myself up but putting weight on my ankle is agonizing. “Um,” I whimper, “I think I broke my ankle.”

  “Annie,” Gio says calmly. “I need you to get to the door, okay? Open the door and we can get you out.”

  Logically I know I have to open the door, but it hurts and I don’t want to.

  “Yeah,” I mutter, “Okay.”

  I push myself up the best I can and drag my ankle along as I limp to the door. “Code?” I ask.

  Charlie rattles off the numbers as I punch them into the panel. A beep signals and the alarm is off. I unlock and open the door.

  Charlie and Tony rush past me. “We’re behind.” I hear Frank say through the earbud.

  Gio looks over me, accessing. “Sit here.” He finally says, helping me lean against the door. “We need to do this fast.” He instructs, and then he’s racing away from me.

  I’m distracted.

  It’s a dangerous thing to be distracted when you only have six and a half minutes to complete a job. And I have to complete this job.

  Not only because I want the money, though that helps.

  I want the fucking revenge.

  I want to ruin Robert Pearce and his son. I want to take everything they own. Here’s the thing about robberies, most places are insured so the person who is robbed never actually loses much. Maybe a little bit of time, maybe some therapy is needed. If they have insurance, all of their merchandise is covered. This is a fact I remind myself of often, I’m not really hurting people.

  Except for today.

  Because I know that in that safe, that Tony will slice through like butter, is something that is not insured.

  I had a lot of time to learn about Robert Pearce after his son nearly raped my sister. Here’s the thing when you have a lot of money, you can get away with almost everything. The Pearces have a lot of wealth, but so do we. Robert Pearce however, has more cops on his payroll - that's the difference. That’s what keeps his son out of jail, scot free.

  I’m going to make him regret having this case swept under the rug.

  The Pearces appear to live above board. They claim to sell ethical jewelry at multiple price points. On the outside they look clean and perfect, but most of his diamonds come at the cost of blood.

  It took a lot of digging to learn his dirty little secrets, but I did. According to my source there is a perfect pink diamond worth thirty-two million dollars. A diamond that was stolen and traveled through multiple hands to make its way to Providence, RI.

  A diamond that is not insured. You can’t insure something you don’t technically own.

  Pearce is a stupid fuck. He bragged about the diamond, flaunted it around town. And now, I’m going to take it from him. Just to prove a point.

  No one is untouchable.

  “I’m in.” Charlie’s voice comes through my ear. He’s clearing the footage from the security cameras. He’ll replace it with a loop from earlier in the night so it looks like nothing happened at all. Obviously in the morning they’ll realize something happened when they check the vault and find it empty, but no one will know who did it.I can’t let this job fail, even as I abandon a limping Annie at the entrance.

  I’m angry at myself for letting her get hurt. Maybe I pushed her too much, didn’t prepare her, missed something. I take my role as captain very seriously, I never want anything to happen to my guys, but I especially didn’t want anything to happen to her.

  I wanted her to walk away from all of this tonight.

  “I’m at the safe.” Tony shares. He’ll begin to cut through the thick metal with the burning bar. The thing is so powerful the best safes melt beneath it. The sound it makes when Tony starts reverberates through me.

  It’s a lovely sound.

  It reminds me of money.

  I break the glass on one of the display cases filled with diamond rings, bracelets, necklaces and more. I fill my sack with jewelry. These will sell for a lot, but it's chump change in comparison to the pink diamond.

  After the heist I’ll take the score to the fence I work with. He’ll get rid of all the diamonds and place a stack of cash in my hand.

  A really large stack of cash.

  The kind I like.

  "We’re clear.” Charlie gives his update first. Leaving the computer to meet Tony and I at the safe.

  “We’re in.” Tony calls.

  When we get there Tony is plucking a small pink diamond from the safe with a grin. “Here it is boys.”

  We’re all grinning ear-to-ear. There’s something about holding an item that’s not yours, that you have no right to, in the palm of your hand. Something about knowing you just fucked someone’s day.

  I take the diamond from him, putting into a new box I bought for it and sticking it in the sack.

  We grab everything in the safe that we can. Filling our bags with rare diamonds and gems. There's also about five hundred grand in cash, that will go straight into our pockets, no middle man needed.

  “Guys,” Frank’s panicked voice invades our ears. “We have a fucking problem.”

  All of our eyes meet at once. “What?” I ask.

  “Cops.”

  That one word catapults us into motion. We cinch the bags and run back to the front of the building. Annie is waiting there looking pale and clammy.

  “We don’t have enough time.” Frank shouts. He’s getting nervous, reckless.

  “Get in the car, Annie.” I instruct. I pull off my mask and gloves, shoving them into the bag and tossing it into the Escalade.

&nbs
p; Charlie and Tony help her to the car, shoving her in the back seat. Frank comes running from the ladder at the side of the building. “We gotta go now.” He says.

  “Go.” I tell them. I look at Annie, taking a second to press my hand against her cheek now that it’s uncovered. “Go, babe, I’m sorry for this.”

  “What?” Her brows narrow. “What are you talking about?”

  “Leave.” I order. “Get her out of here, I’ll distract them.”

  I slam the door to the Escalade and give the side a double tap. Without hesitation the car takes off, leaving me in the dust.

  I take a deep breath.

  The cop cars begin to invade. There are four of them that speed up to the building, nearly knocking me over. They jumped from their cars, guns in hand and pointed at me.

  Arms up. Arms always need to be up when you’re dealing with cops, they’ll take any excuse to rid you from the world.

  “Stay still!” Someone calls over the bullhorn, and I obey.

  As long as they’re here in front of me, arresting me, brutalizing me - they’re not with Annie.

  As long as Annie is safe, this will all be worth it.

  “No!” The scream that leaves my mouth is deafening.

  I don’t even recognize the girl who is screaming, fists pounding on the leather. “We’re not leaving him there! Turn around!” I shout orders like I have the authority.

  In this car, I am no one.

  Even so, I yell demands. I scream. I wail.

  Still, the car moves forward.

  The kid in the driver's seat doesn’t even lift his foot from the pedal. If anything, he speeds up.

  “Don’t listen to her.” Frank tells him.

  Frank is checking the rearview mirror and the police scanner simultaneously. He’s making sure we’re not being followed. He doesn’t give me a second look once he instructs the driver to ignore me.

  “Annie,” Charlie tries to use a soothing voice. He places a reassuring hand on my arm. He’s gentle, sweet even. “We can’t go back.” He tells me.

  “No!” I shake my head, insistent. “Go back, get him! What are you doing?”