“Jameson left. He turned his back on the life. Handed control of everything over to his younger brother. Hell, until two days ago, I thought he was dead.”
I couldn’t make sense of what I was hearing, and I wished I’d taken more of an interest in the family business over the years. But the year after mum had died, dad had been inconsolable. He’d ranted about how the family business had led to her death. How he hated the life and wished he’d never been born into it. It took both of them from me, so I’d tried to stay as uninvolved as possible. I guessed a small part of me understood why Jameson had turned his back too. But if what Gabriel was telling me was true, then it meant, apart from the dom’s, no-one’s family held more power than Jameson’s. And he just walked away from it, and what... decided to live like some biker dude in Colorado? I rubbed at my eyes and leaned my head against the headboard. “Please. Just tell me what this means,” I said.
“It means that if Jameson comes back, claims his rightful place, and forbids Xander Caruso from even looking at you, Xander obeys or he dies.”
I understood everything then. Jameson wanted to be free and I’d been sent as some sort of trap to lure him back. No wonder he hated me.
“How did you know?” I asked.
“Know what?”
“How did you know he’d be attracted to me and we’d end up in bed together?”
“Fuck! Carina. Jordan mentioned that Jameson spoke well of you after our parents’ funerals. He and his biker friends have been running some sort of protection racket for women in trouble. I never thought you’d bloody fuck him. After meeting Xander, I thought you’d just be fucking scared and he’d want to help you.”
“Yeah. Well, all that’s gone out the window now he thinks I’m some sort of fucking honey-trap.” Or whore, I didn’t bother adding. It didn’t matter, he was right either way, even if Gabriel didn’t think we’d end up sleeping together. Without waiting for a response, I hung up and sunk into the bed. Pulling the covers over my head, I allowed my tears to flow freely.
I couldn’t tell how long I lay there before a soft knock came at the door. When I didn’t answer, it opened, and I peeked my head over the edge of the sheet, hoping for all the world to see Jameson.
“Are you staying in bed all day?” Rahat asked before plopping herself down next to me.
“Have you seen Jameson?” I asked.
She sucked in her bottom lip and nodded. “He’s been stomping around the garden for the last half an hour and looking like he’d murder the air if he could.”
I dived under the covers again, but Rahat pulled them back. “What happened? From all the noises coming from this room last night, I thought the two of you had well and truly hit it off.”
“Oh fuck,” I said. “Everything is so bloody fucked up.” After another bout of tears, I told her everything that happened.
“Ugh,” she said and pulled a disgusted face. “On the kitchen counter. I’ve just eaten breakfast there.”
“That will make up for the time you and what’s-his-name did it in my car,” I said, unable to stop the small smile from forming on my lips at the details she’d latched on to.
“Gavin. Ugh, don’t remind me, that was a huge mistake.”
“And what about Rex?”
“Rex is a cutie,” she said. “But we’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you and Jameson.”
“There is no me and Jameson.”
“Honey,” she said and stood before gathering me some clothes. “No man would get that worked up over a ‘honey-trap’ if he didn’t fall hard for the bait. Now get some clothes on and talk to him. Ninety-nine percent of all your problems, family or otherwise, come from the fact that no-one ever tells anyone else what the fuck is going on.” She pushed the clothes into my arms and left the room. “It’s time for that to change.”
Chapter Nine
Jameson
I should never have made any form of bargain with my brother. If I’d learned anything over the years, it was that family couldn’t be trusted. I guessed my brothers at Forever Midnight had made me start to forget that one simple fact. I was the elder brother, Jordan deferred to me, but I hadn’t wanted to wield that power, and instead I’d agreed to owe him one for all the help he gave in protecting Amber. I should have bypassed him and gone to the other families myself, but that would have put me exactly where I am now. The worse thing was, I’d fucking fallen for it, hook line and sinker.
Fuck!
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Carina open the back door and slowly close it behind her. She glared at me before straightening her back, lifting her chin, and walking straight towards me. So help me, I fucking loved that about her. I was easily twice her size with steam practically coming out of my nostrils, but she approached without a shred of fear showing on her perfect face.
“I spoke to Gabriel,” she said.
“And?”
If anything, she stood taller and stared into my eyes. “And... I’m sorry. I didn’t know who you were or what Gabriel and Jordan planned.”
“They just told you to do anything I asked,” I said, the words making my anger bubble to the surface again. I thought I’d found the perfect woman: strong, sexy, with intelligent, thoughtful eyes. One whose sexual appetites might mirror my own. But she’d just portrayed the woman she thought I wanted her to be.
“They told me nothing, maybe if they had this whole thing could have been avoided.” She grumbled under her breath and sucked in a gulp of air. “It’s not as if you’ve told me any-fucking-thing either.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She ran her hand over her dark hair and cleared her throat. “You turn up at the airport, looking like a fucking biker—”
“I am a fucking biker.”
“That’s bullshit. Gabriel just told me exactly who you are. You’re coming across all high and mighty like I did something to you. You were the one who told me to take my fucking clothes off... Is that your life now? You come to the rescue and pretend to protect some poor helpless woman, act like her savior, and then fuck her?”
“You have no idea who I am.”
“Then tell me. Tell me why you left New York and came to Colorado.”
God damn it, Carina made me feel... I don’t know what the fuck she made me feel besides confused. I let a deep breath out through my nostrils and tried to make sense of my thoughts. “I came to Colorado to escape exactly the life you lead,” I said after a moment. “The manipulation and games. I came because it’s a good place to find out what you’re made of.”
“Yeah, well I hope you’re proud of who you found. I did what I did because I wanted you. I slept with you because you are the sexiest, most intense man I’ve ever met. Why the fuck did you sleep with me?” Before I had the chance to answer she raised her hand to stop me. “You know what, none of it matters. I don’t care. It’s not as if you know me any better than I know you. Neither of us owes the other anything. Rahat and I are leaving. I’ve booked us on a flight to New York later today. You don’t have to worry, we’ll be out of your life in no time.” Without saying another word, she handed me my phone, turned, and left. So help me, I let her.
I debated going after her, of stopping her. But what would that mean? Was it a price I was willing to pay?
I watched her open the back door and enter the house, and a pang of guilt washed through me again. Carina would be handed over to Xander Caruso in New York. He would use her and spit her out, just as his father had wanted to do to her mother. The Rizzo family was a good one, but not a strong one amongst our hierarchy. When Lina, Carina’s mother, had chosen to marry Petra Rizzo instead of Manuel, he had made sure her family paid for it. Petra could do little but stand by and watch. The stress had proved too much for Lina’s weak heart, and losing Lina had proved too much for Petra.
I clenched my fists and huffed out a breath. “Fucking, damn it,” I said, but still didn’t follow after Carina. Instead, I lifted my phone and did something
I promised myself I would never do.
“I need to speak with Dom Bianchi,” I said as soon as someone answered.
“Who is this?” The voice on the other end of the line asked.
“Jameson Swash.”
Chapter Ten
Carina
After speaking to Jameson, I asked Rex if there was a phone I could use and excused myself to go upstairs and call Gabriel again when he handed me his smartphone. I might have lied in the heat of the moment when I said that Rahat and I were booked on a flight back to New York, but I would make that lie a reality now.
Gabriel sounded resolved when I spoke to him. He confirmed he would get back to me with all the arrangements and that he would see if Jordan could meet us in New York. He’d also be getting a flight out from London, but would undoubtedly arrive later than us.
“Why me?” I asked before he had a chance to end the call.
“What do you mean?”
I stopped pacing the room and perched on the end of the bed. “Xander Caruso saw me for like 5 seconds and apparently decided I was his. I get that he’s a nutjob, but it doesn’t make any sense.” Sure, I wasn’t bad to look at, but it wasn’t as though I had magical powers that made all the boys fall madly in love with me.
Gabriel took a deep breath, and I pictured the twitch he got at the corner of his eye whenever I asked him something he didn’t want to answer. After a moment, he said, “I think he saw our mum when he looked at you, even if he didn’t realize it at first.”
“And what, he had some creepy obsession with mum? She had to be twenty years older than him.”
“I think it’s more to do with the fact his dad had a creepy obsession with mum. Manuel was in competition with Dad for her hand. At the time, the power dynamic between our families was equal. The consigliere who mediated disputes decided Mum had the right to choose who she wanted to marry. She chose Dad. Manuel married someone else.”
“But that wasn’t the end of it,” I said as a rock sank into the pit of my stomach.
“No. When Manuel became second in command, the power dynamic between our families shifted. Manuel left his wife and demanded Mum leave Dad. Of course, they were having none of it, but Manuel made both their lives hard as a result. Mum couldn’t take the pressure, she wanted to stay, but worried that it would be better for the family if she left. She started drinking. You know where that led.”
Tears flooded my eyes at his words. I’d been so young, I knew Mum had been drinking a lot, but she was always happy and smiling around me. I could never have imagined what was going on underneath. And after the accident... Dad had fallen into depression and died when his heart gave out. “Why didn’t you ever tell me this before?” I asked, wiping away my tears.
“Mum’s death was an accident. Dad died of a broken heart. You didn’t need to know more than that.”
I sniffed my tears back loudly at his words as anger flared. “I had a right to know,” I said and stood before resuming my pacing of the room. “And now what, I’m supposed to be some plaything for the son of the man who destroyed our family?”
“No. Not a plaything. Xander has claimed you as his wife. A union between our families that was previously denied his father.”
“His wife! This is fucking bullshit. I’m not going to marry this guy.” I ran my hand over my head and continued pacing, my feet as fast as my muddled thoughts. “What about this mediator? This consigliere guy? Can’t we appeal to him? If mum had the right to choose, shouldn’t I be granted that same right?”
“Besides the fact that the role of consigliere has been vacant since Manuel took over from Jameson’s dad. You’re forgetting the power dynamic. Xander’s going to be the underboss, he takes commands from no-one except Dom Bianchi himself.”
“Then we appeal to Dom Bianchi,” I said and sat on the edge of the bed again.
“To override Xander. The Dom would see us six feet under for even suggesting such a thing.”
I shook my head. Jameson was right to want to be away from all this crap. What I wouldn’t give right now to be free, to live a life away from all these games and manipulations, all these people who think they are entitled to tell others what to do. “Then there’s no hope,” I said.
“As the wife of the underboss, everyone will treat you with respect.”
“Except Xander Caruso,” I said and closed my eyes, wishing the world would just open up and swallow me into a black hole. “Send me the flight details as soon as you have them,” I added before Gabriel had the chance to say anything else. “I’ll see you when you get to New York.”
With that, I ended the call and looked around the room. I decided to shower and change and then get a cab to the airport, even if that meant having to wait there for hours before our flight. Better to accept my fate and get on with it than sit around wallowing, wishing Jameson was the protector of women Gabriel thought him to be. Hoping with all my heart, he’d swoop in and save me.
* * *
I steeled myself to go downstairs after the shower. Jameson had made up his mind about me and I couldn’t blame him, but there was no way I would hide upstairs like some frightened doe. I took a deep breath and opened the door onto the landing. Voices greeted me as I stepped down the stairs, but none of them belonged to Jameson. That was no surprise. He didn’t seem to say much around others.
When I pushed through the door to the kitchen, only Rahat and Rex were inside. Rex nodded his head at me and excused himself. My eyes darted outside, but Jameson was nowhere to be seen.
“He left about twenty minutes ago,” Rahat said.
“Who?” I asked, pretending nonchalance.
It didn’t work. Rahat knew me better than that. We’d been friends since we started nursery school together at 3-years-old. She walked over and put her hand around my shoulder, pulling me in for a hug.
“You okay?” she asked. Alone with Rahat, I broke down in tears and hugged her tight. “I’ll take that as a no,” she said and stroked my hair. “You up for sharing what happened when the two of you talked earlier?”
I pulled back and between sobs told her that as well as Jameson hating me, I had to go to New York and meet Xander, who was apparently now my fiancé.
“What?” Rahat almost screamed. “You are so not marrying that guy.”
“What choice do I have?” I asked and started crying again.
Rahat pulled me in for another hug. “Let’s not go to New York. I have some money saved, we could head to L.A or better yet, the Outer Hebrides. No-one will ever find us there.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Rahat on a small Scottish island. “And what would you do there?” I asked. “The population’s probably less than thirty-thousand. That’s nowhere near enough eyes fawning over you.”
She smiled. “Maybe not, but you can be damn sure every set would be. Besides, I heard they have the best internet connection in the whole of the UK. I’ll be just fine.”
I huffed out a breath and wiped my tears. “It’s a nice idea,” I said. “But no, for Gabriel’s sake, I have to marry Xander.” As I said the words, I knew just how true they were. Xander’s father had hounded our family until my mother drank herself into an early grave. I could understand the pressure she felt now. I couldn’t do that. I could see Gabriel hurt or punished for my rebellion.
“Gabriel will understand,” she said. “He can be a bit of a twat at times, but he loves you.”
“I know. And that’s why I have to do it.”
Before we had the chance to say anything more, Rex’s phone beeped in my pocket. I pulled it out and found a text with all our flight details. I held it up and showed Rahat. “We’d better call a taxi and get to the airport,” I said.
“Rex will take us,” she answered, and I felt a pang of guilt at separating them.
Chapter Eleven
Carina
Rahat was relieved when Jordan met us and took us directly to a hotel. No doubt she thought no harm could befall us in a public esta
blishment. I knew better.
“I’m not leaving Carina,” Rahat said when Jordan showed her to her room.
“Gabriel has asked me to keep you safe,” he said. “Unfortunately, for now, that also means keeping you separated.”
“Like hell it does.”
I rested my hand on her shoulder and told her I’d be fine. It was obvious I was being taken to meet Xander Caruso and the last thing I wanted was Rahat saying something inappropriate and paying with her life. “Please,” I said and squeezed her hand tight. “Stay here and stay safe. I’ll come back as soon as I can. I’ll be fine,” I added, trying to reassure myself as much as Rahat.
She pulled me in for a quick hug while scowling at Jordan.
The sound of our footsteps as we continued to wherever Jordan was taking me, pounded a rhythmic beat that echoed the thumping of my heart. Dread weighed heavy in my stomach and I wished for all the world that Jameson was with me and not his brother.
When we reached another room. Jordan stopped and nodded at his men to fall back. I gulped in a breath and stared at the door, knowing I was about to meet a very dangerous and very powerful man. The man I was set to spend the rest of my life with, however short that may be.
Jordan was about to say something, but I raised my hand to stop him and straightened my back. There was nothing he could say that could help.
“Just open the door,” I said, glancing at the keycard in his hand.
“Jameson said you had guts,” he said and smiled, while I wondered when he’d had a chance to talk to him about me.
The door swung open and without a backward glance, I stepped inside. My stomach churned, but I kept my face passive, even when Jordan pulled the door shut behind me. I glanced around the suite looking for Xander. Only the empty room with a small breakfast table with two chairs and two ornate couches facing off against each other either side of a round coffee table greeted me. I took a few steps further into the room and noted the closed double doors to both my left and right. Xander could be behind either one of them.
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