Passion. Adventure. There were actually several other things, but I didn’t say that out loud. It had been ingrained in us early on in life that our only real responsibility within the family was to marry a respectable man whom my father could profit from in some way. He and my mother had very old-school values, and even as children my sisters and I were meant to be seen and not heard. We were expected to follow our mother’s example, learning how to scrub kitchen cabinets and fold laundry, and have a hot dinner on the table when our father came home from a long day at work. It was something I resisted from the very beginning, which only got me in trouble. As twins, the difference in treatment between Andrew and me was painfully obvious, and I wanted nothing more than to spend my days playing in the backyard and getting muddy with him. Instead, I was holed up in the house learning how to scrub the inside of the oven or put on the perfect dinner party. Vince and Andrew were immersed in every aspect of my father’s business, whereas my sisters and I weren’t even allowed to ask questions about it. It was a miracle in itself that my dad had agreed to let me go to law school. Women didn’t need education to be useful in his mind. In fact, sometimes too much education was a hindrance. I guess that’s where my resentment for this lifestyle began. My dreams revolved more around traveling the world, visiting little villages, and immersing myself in their cultures. As cliched as it was, I wanted to find myself before finding someone to spend the rest of my life with. I felt like I was still picking up the pieces of who I was before I lost my brother, and that was hard for anyone in my family to grasp. I wanted to be a whole person again before I really started considering marriage or what came next for me.
Of course, Angie didn’t understand this. She had bought into the antiquated stereotype from the beginning. She found a good, wholesome guy my parents approved of in Mike, moved two streets away from our childhood home, and started popping out kids almost immediately. She’d never questioned it, wanted more, or strayed from the plan in the slightest, even when we were children. All she wanted to do was be a wife and mother, and while I respected her choice, it was the exact opposite of how I felt. I had certainly taken my share of detours from that path, and so had Bella. No one was nearly as concerned with Bella, though, because she was engaged to an oil heir from Miami. When my father met him, all he saw was the potential business opportunity, and at that point, nothing else was important. Personally, I felt like Bella was trapped. She was also just trying to appease my father, and I doubted she actually had any feelings for Max. I thought she was trapped, but we both knew if Max went away, so would his family’s partnership with my father.
“I don’t need someone to take care of me, Angie. Look, I appreciate you setting up the date, but I’m not going to settle for someone just because everyone in this family thinks I need to get married. No offense, but that’s not the kind of life I want.”
Angie scowled, obviously having taken offense to my statement. “You say that now, Ava, but someday you’re going to realize you’re making a big mistake by passing all of these men up. You’re going to wake up alone, and wish you’d listened to us.”
“Okay, I’m going inside,” I said, standing up and grabbing my things. I wasn’t going to win this battle. That I had learned long ago.
Angie shrugged, then took my spot on the chair. “Dad wants to see you in his office.”
My stomach lurched. Fantastic. Did he somehow know about last night? That was the last thing I wanted to deal with right now.
I slipped a cover-up on and patted down the hallway to my father’s office.
I knocked softly and heard him grunt on the other side. The door was heavy as I pushed it open and entered the office. It was dimly lit and smelled like a mix of pine and cigar smoke. My father sat stoically behind the desk, glasses on, staring intently at a paper in his hands—as intimidating as ever.
“You wanted to see me, Daddy?” I mustered up the sweetest voice I could manage. Despite the animosity between us, all I ever wanted was for him to be proud of me. Nothing ever seemed to be good enough, even more so in the last few months. He was a hardened businessman, and his world didn’t have much room in it for children—especially wayward daughters.
“Ava,” He sighed, looking up at me. “You didn’t come home last night.”
I bit my lip, holding in a sharp breath. I’m not sure why I thought I could get away with this to begin with. I was an adult, it wasn’t like he could ground me, but it still didn’t make this any easier. Standing in front of my angry father was every bit as terrifying as a twenty-three-year-old as it had been as a nine-year-old.
“Ava!” my dad snapped sternly, expecting an answer even though he hadn’t asked me anything specifically.
“No, I didn’t,” I said quickly. “I stayed at a friend’s house and . . .”
“You better think twice before you lie to me, Ava.” He glared at me. “You’re an adult and are capable of making your own decisions, but at least stand by them enough to tell me the truth.”
I let out a slow sigh, contemplating my next move. I had two choices here: I could tell him the truth or I could continue to try to lie my way out of this. Neither seemed like a fantastic idea.
“Your mother and I are concerned. Things were better for a while, but I’m starting to see glimpses of who you were after we lost Andrew, and I’ll be damned if we go down that road again.” He narrowed his eyes at me. It was a dark memory for all of us. Losing Andrew was like losing the other half of my heart, and for weeks I was so swallowed up with grief and blame that I couldn’t even function. Eventually, I found the best way to deal with it that I could at the time: by drowning whatever I was feeling in alcohol and drugs and partying, so that I couldn’t remember why I was depressed to begin with. It was a slippery slope and even though it made me feel better temporarily, I quickly found myself in the throes of addiction. I had been drug-free for a few months now, but it had been a long and nasty road, and I had to fight like hell to get here. I still had a lot of work to do, but I was getting there, and his lack of faith in me stung.
“Dad, I’m not—” I started, but was quickly cut off.
“You’re getting to the age where you need to become more responsible and think about getting married. You know, I have several nice men who would take care of you and be good for business.” He scratched his chin.
“You can’t seriously be suggesting an arranged marriage.” My stomach dropped. The thought made me sick. It was both antiquated and degrading.
“What I’m suggesting is that you get a hold of things yourself, or I will,” he threatened. “I won’t have you running around recklessly giving our family a bad name. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ava, you know I only want what’s best for you.” His face didn’t soften in the slightest as he made his way toward me.
“I know,” I agreed. “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”
“See to it that it doesn’t. I’m serious, Ava, I don’t want to force you into anything, but I will to keep you safe and our family name clean. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir.” I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. What a horrible way to follow such an amazing night.
“Good.” He kissed my forehead. “I’m heading to the warehouse to meet with Gio. I’ll see you at dinner tonight.”
“Gio?” I asked curiously. My father generally liked to keep the women out of the Mafia business, but I knew enough to know exactly who Gio Caponelli was. He and my father were enemies, and if my dad was meeting with him, nothing good was going on.
“Nothing for you to worry about, Ava. Shut the door on your way out.” With that, he quickly ushered me out of his office.
Bella and Angie were still sitting outside, but I didn’t feel like facing them right now. My father’s ultimatum had left a bad taste in my mouth, and all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed.
I guess if I was changing my ways, last night with Romeo was as good a night
as any to go out on.
Chapter 4
Nick
It had been over a month. Thirty-eight days. Nine hundred and twelve hours since that woman had walked out of my hotel room and simply vanished into thin air. My best men had been scouring the area for her for weeks and there was nothing. It was a trail colder than the dead of winter. Zane had brought me a few pictures to look at but none of them had been her. None of them had been my Jules.
We had scoured the surveillance cameras, but somehow she had managed to elude them all evening and we couldn’t get a single usable picture. I had been at the restaurant every night since then, hoping she might stroll through the doors once again. That had turned out to be a big fucking waste of my time too. Leo was getting irritated with my crusade, and had suggested more than once I give up on finding her and take my frustrations out on another girl. It seemed like a good enough idea in theory, but I knew it would never work. Sleeping with someone else after her would be like having water after whiskey. I knew everyone would fail in comparison to her, at least until I could taste that sweet kiss again. This girl had my number, and she was off in the wind somewhere.
All week Leo and Zane had been bugging me about a party that was happening on a yacht docked at Chelsea Piers. Apparently, they thought it was just the distraction I needed. Kyle Archer was hosting the party, and he was a pompous asshole who owned a tech company in the city that provided security at our main office. Owned was a loose term, though. His father had started the company then handed it over to his son a few years ago, and Kyle had narrowly avoided driving it into the ground. He’d been bailed out by his father multiple times, but was never a big enough man to admit it. The guy wasn’t exactly my first choice, but the security product his dad had designed was unmatched. We needed the top of the line system to keep our records as safe from hacking as possible, but working with Kyle was an unfortunate side effect. Guys like that made my blood boil. I worked for every single thing I had, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let anything slip once I got it.
This party was about the last thing I wanted to do. It was on a yacht parked at the marina, and would no doubt be overflowing with hot, desperate women and strong alcohol. At least that would help with clearing my mind. Not being able to find Jules was only the tip of the iceberg. There were all kinds of issues at the warehouse, the biggest being the bastard who was shorting our shipments. It turned out he was working with a Russian organization that was making its way into the city, and his main focus had been trying to discredit both us and the Morettis to our biggest accounts. I’d spent the afternoon tracking him down and putting a bullet between his eyes. Hits were my specialty. I was the best shot in the entire group, and it was a highly coveted skill—one I would gladly give up, though. The blood of a lot of men was on my hands, and even though each one was deserving of death, there wasn’t a more harrowing feeling in the world than watching the life drain out of someone’s eyes at your hands.
The only good thing about this meant that we could stop playing nice with the Morettis and go back to our own business. We were meeting Monday to officially end the deal, and then it would be back to business as usual.
“I can see this shitshow from here.” Leo groaned as we pulled into the parking lot of the marina. He, Zane, and I had ridden over in the limo together. Early on, we’d found it was easier to suffer through these kind of things together.
“Do you think Kyle’s dad is paying for all of this too?” Zane scoffed, climbing out and stretching his arms over this head.
“Is there anything in this guy’s life his father isn’t paying for? How long do we have to stay? I’m already ready to go home,” I said.
Leo slapped my back. “Would you relax and enjoy yourself a little bit? Let’s go find you a pretty face in a tight dress to get you out of this funk.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about.” Zane agreed, no doubt thinking that if I found someone else to occupy my time, I’d take him off of this wild goose chase he was on trying to track down my mystery girl.
“Let’s just see how the night goes, okay?” I conceded, not convinced.
There was a distinct chill in the air, signaling the coming of fall. It wouldn’t be long before the snow would come and parties like this would be history. There was no harm in enjoying it while I still could. The yacht was already overflowing with people when we boarded, and we had to squirm our way through to even find the bar. Kyle intercepted us nearly at the door with that stupid, sly grin on his face.
“Gentleman!” he greeted us, shaking Leo’s hand first. “Glad you could join us. There are some private tables in the back, a little quieter than this mess out here. I’ll be sure they set one up for you.” He winked like he was doing us some grand favor.
Play nice, Nick, I reminded myself. “Good to see you, Kyle. The boat’s amazing.”
“Isn’t it? The yacht’s perfect for landing some of my bigger clients, you guys should invest in one. I could give you the number of my supplier.” His voice hinged on the word yacht, as if he had been offended I called the damn thing a boat.
“We have a few,” Leo boasted. “We just don’t normally have clients out on them.”
Unless they’re dead and we’re taking them out to sea to ditch the body.
“Enjoy yourselves and I’ll catch up with you later.” Kyle slithered into the crowd. That guy gave me the creeps. It seemed he was always up to something, and it was rarely ever good.
“I say we take him up on that private table offer. I don’t feel like playing sardines all night with a bunch of drunk hipsters.” Zane groaned, eyeing the room.
“I’ll lead the way,” he said, and then pushed a pathway through the crowd until we eventually reached the back of the boat. It wasn’t necessarily quiet, but it was slightly more bearable than the front.
As promised, Kyle had had a table set up with our name and a bottle of Grey Goose on top of it.
“Of course the motherfucker would give us the cheap shit.” Leo laughed and picked the bottle up.
“I’m going to get a real drink,” I said.
Zane and Leo settled themselves at the table and I started my trek to the bar. I wanted to scope the place out myself anyway, and see what exactly I was dealing with. There had to be someone here who could get my mind off of her, but the prospects weren’t promising. The place was crawling with girls, but most of them I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. Bleach blonds with caked on makeup and that annoying high-pitched voice girls get when they’re drunk weren’t exactly my type. This was going to be a little more difficult than I had originally thought. Story of my damn life lately.
It took a while, but I finally shoved my way to the bar, which was just as busy as everywhere else. I stood a little ways back, trying to see where I could fit in and grab the bartender’s attention. I wasn’t about to wait around all night.
As I waited, a woman standing a few people in front of me caught my attention. She had her back to me, but she looked pleasant enough. The gold dress she wore did justice to every inch of her long, lean body. It looked like it was painted on. Brown curls were tied up loosely at the nape of her neck. The way she leaned against the bar, popping that round ass out, ignited a twitch in my pants that hadn’t happened for weeks. Maybe this would work out after all.
I made my way closer, positioning myself so I would be the first thing she saw when she turned around.
“See you later, Ava,” the bartender yelled over the noise after he handed her a couple of drinks. Ava’s a sexy name, I could be into that.
“Bye, Rick!” she called over her shoulder as she spun on her heel. She wasn’t watching where she was going and stumbled right into me, sending the drinks she was carrying sloshing over their rims as I dodged out of the way.
“Oh my gosh, I am so—” she began to say, looking up at me. The second our eyes met she stopped suddenly.
I let out a sharp laugh. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
<
br /> Ava
“Come on,” Bella said, slipping her arm underneath mine and leading me to the side of the yacht parked in the marina. I was already second-guessing my decision to join her. Bella’s fiancé’s friend was having a party, and since Max couldn’t be here himself, Bella had taken it upon herself to make an appearance. She didn’t want to go alone, of course, so she dragged me along. “This is going to be fun, I promise.”
Fun was the last thing this was going to be. A hundred drunk sweaty people crammed on a boat that could sink any minute was not exactly my idea of fun. But I indulged her, mostly because she had listened to me bitch and moan the last few weeks about my mystery man. As hard as I tried, I hadn’t been able to get him off my mind, and this was her last ditch attempt at helping me out.
This place was a nightmare. The air was heavy with the stench of sweaty bodies and alcohol, and the music was so loud I could feel my eardrums pulsating. “How long do we have to stay here again?”
“Give me a break. You had nothing better to do tonight than sit around and mope, so why don’t you enjoy yourself for a change? Kyle set us up at a table in a great spot, and it’s free alcohol all night. There will even be appetizers.”
“Right, because free alcohol is the exactly what I need. Dad will shoot me if I come stumbling in drunk tonight.” The thought of it made me shudder. He was a Mafia Don, so shooting me wasn’t entirely out of the question. And honestly, it sounded better than the arranged marriage alternative he had thrown out last month. I hadn’t been able to get his threats out of my head since that day, and had been on my very best behavior since then. I wasn’t about to give him a reason to marry me off.
Bella couldn’t quite comprehend what I was trying to say. “Avs, I think you’re being a little dramatic. Dad wouldn’t marry you off just because you’re enjoying yourself. You’re young, this is the kind of thing you should be doing! I’m sure Dad’s forgotten all about it.” I let out a sharp laugh. “Besides, you’re out with me. He knows I’ll watch over you, so it’s fine.” She waved me off. “Go get us some drinks.”
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