Adriano & Cam

by Soraya Naomi

  My respect for James grows daily. How he handles his family and his men with thorough supremacy. His family is genuinely interested in me, and their guidance is empowering. I can feel it building in my nerves that grow with self-confidence. Their lifestyle is lavish, and so far, James has deposited ridiculous amounts of money into a new bank account that was set up for me.

  While my life seems to have shifted in a positive direction overnight, that feeling of guilt still crops up. James has been avoiding my questions about Fat Sal and Santino, and I’m unsure about what to do.

  Adriano and I cross paths for the first time in seven days at the headquarters while I’m in James’s office pressuring him for information about Fat Sal. I’ve accompanied James to the Syndicate house because Fallon’s at work at the community center, and since I overheard James mention that he had a meeting with Luca and Adriano, I’m also hoping to run into him, of course. I’m adapting well to my instant life change, but Adriano stays in my thoughts. He still has a death grip on my heart, and I’ve failed to let him go.

  I go to the strip club while James is making a call. The club is quiet with some men I don’t know, but the girls I do recognize. They ignore me and just send me dirty looks.

  I can’t wait for them to find out that I’m James’s daughter.

  My fingers trace the smooth bar top just as Damian walks out of one of the private rooms with a girl behind him. He freezes when he sees me, and I check down the hall through the open door to make sure no one’s following me.

  Damian comes up to me. “Cam.”

  I nod toward the girl. “Having fun?”

  Uneasy, he stands before me. “I’m sorry about telling Adriano.”

  “You should be. I’m in the doghouse.” I’m furious he told Adriano. Before he utters another empty apology, I wave him off. “Go to your girl.”

  I retreat toward the west side of the house where James’s office door is open again. Tightening the straps of my salmon wrap around dress, I take an encouraging breath.

  “Camilla.” He’s never gotten used to calling me Cam, saying the Italian shortened version is Milla. He calls me Camilla with a thick Italian accent, and I like it.

  “Sit.”

  “No, thanks. James, I was actually wondering what you did with the microchip?”

  What happened to the chip Fat Sal implanted? Sal was supposed to contact me – I don’t know how – but I haven’t heard a thing. I also have my personal bodyguard with me, who hasn’t detected any irregularities.

  “It’s in my desk drawer. Why?” The chair creaks under his shifting weight.

  “I was wondering what the status is? What are you planning to do with Santino? And Sal? I’d like to know.”

  “Why? Are you going to fight with us?” A familiar deep voice laced with ridicule interrupts from behind me.

  I swirl around to see Luca and Adriano strolling in. Luca kisses my cheek, and I glare at Adriano, who’s smiling while he gives me a once-over and lingers at my cleavage. A hurricane of sexual tension simmers around us, and I’m positive a blush is creeping up. A ray of sunlight lands on his white dress shirt, and I can clearly make out the hard planes of his chest and the shadow of the intricately gorgeous compass tattoo on his left side. I prefer Adriano’s teasing over being ignored anytime, but I need to finish this with James.

  “Fight? So you have a plan already?” I speak to James.

  He narrows his eyes slightly, but I note it. “No.”

  “Then what did Adriano mean?” I fire back.

  “Adriano,” Adriano emphasizes, coming next to me, “meant to tease you. Why are you so adamant about helping Santino?”

  I inch sideways, guaranteeing we aren’t touching, and Luca moves to the window behind James.

  “I’ve told you why. James, please tell me.” I rub a hand over my forehead.

  “You are not telling us everything.” James backs Adriano.

  “Why? Because he says so?” I jerk my head to Adriano to bait him, without success. “He doesn’t know me at all.”

  Adriano regards me with amusement dancing behind his facade. But I see his fist constricting for a split second and meet his gaze with a raised brow.

  I hurry on, switching subjects. “I want to help too.”

  “What?!” Six hard eyes focus directly on me.

  “I can help you with Sal...If you help me with Santino,” I reply evenly.

  “No!” Adriano’s objection amazes everyone.

  “Can we talk alone, James?” I request, not wanting Adriano to get his say and veto my proposal right off the bat.

  “Camilla,” James placates. “They stay. This concerns Syndicate business. I’ll not ask my underboss and first Capo to leave. And I agree with my Capo.”

  I want to smack Adriano’s smug grin off his face. “Hear me out, please.”

  “As long as I don’t know what exactly his reason was for helping you, I’m not risking any of my men’s lives.” James redirects the conversation back on subject and holds out his palm, giving me the chance to speak.

  “I know the way inside the underground club. It’s a maze of passageways that are all interconnected. If you can get me in, I’ll have a chance to get Santino out with the help of one of your members. When Santino’s out, he’ll help us to bring Fat Sal down.”

  “I don’t need Santino’s help in bringing Sal down,” James answers dryly.

  Hesitantly, I challenge, “Are you sure?”

  I’ve listened to and absorbed everything around me persistently this last week, and I particularly remember Adriano mentioning that Sal must have some important connections that provide him with the latest technological widgets that aren’t on the market yet. And I’ll use any information to my advantage.

  “Santino knows the ins and outs of Fat Sal’s organization,” I say. “Don’t you want to know what an insider has on that organization both before you destroy Sal and before you bring down Club 7? If so, then you’ll need a high ranking insider.”

  “Are you Michael Corleone now?” Adriano states with a chuckle.

  The corner of Luca’s mouth tilts up, and I see James smiling too.

  “No,” I reply, irked that Adriano’s smartass comments are deterring them.

  “Did Santino ever drug you, Cam?” Luca asks me.

  I sigh in defeat. Who am I kidding? It occurs to me that they already know and are probably just testing me. And therefore, they haven’t done anything with the situation. When we were sorting through my papers yesterday, James said to always read between the lines during meetings. Quickly reevaluating my position, I decide to be straightforward. Give them total disclosure, hoping my truthfulness will gain their trust. And I’ll make sure Santino gets out alive, or else the guilt will consume me.

  “Yes,” I answer honestly.

  “Does he have...feelings for you that might cause him to make rash decisions?” James asks.

  “It’s possible. He helped me because there was an attraction.”

  From the corner of my eye, I see Adriano’s jaw clenching.

  James grins broadly. “You did well, Camilla. Relax. When you open up to us and always share the truth, we’ll aid you with the extent of our power. But never lie. I won’t lift a finger then. Understand?”

  “Yes, I understand.”

  “Good. Now I want to talk to my men in private, and you have to be patient, Camilla. It takes time and planning for us to decide on a course of action. I’m not making any promises until we’ve assessed the circumstances. Since Santino’s a liability, I’m not keen on breaking him out.”

  I avoid Adriano’s triumphant face.

  “But I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, as my daughter, and will discuss this with my men. And when I have new information, I’ll inform you,” James dismisses me with a kind, yet dominant, tone.

  I make sure to graze my fingers across Adriano’s hand in a featherlight caress as I turn to leave, and he shivers noticeably.

  Don’t taunt me. I�
��ll taunt you back. You and I are not finished.

  With my confidence growing, so is my optimism that one day he’ll forgive me my indiscretion with Damian.

  I close the door behind me, and they’re quiet, so I walk away, letting them hear my receding footsteps. Then I tiptoe back.

  “What’s going on? Why are you involving her in the Syndicate?” Adriano speaks first.

  “She’s already involved and rather stubborn. She’s also a fast learner and tough,” James answers.

  “Where is this going? Are you seriously contemplating her offer?” I hear Luca ask.

  “Yes. She’s shown interest in what we do, and she’s very perceptive, I noticed. She gets my guidance without my having to spell it out,” James replies.

  I smile at his awe-filled tone.

  “Reminds me of someone else I took under my wing.”

  “You cannot compare us,” Adriano retorts. “She’s your daughter and a...”

  “Woman? If she was my son, no one would see it as a problem.”

  “So she’s going to be in on the Syndicate?” Luca probes.

  “That’s not what I said. We’ll see how she develops, but for now, I’ll allow her to grow beside me, within the Syndicate. She’ll learn most from us three.”

  Silence ensues.

  I hurriedly tiptoe to the stairway and go down to the kitchen.

  After scrambling an egg, I put down my plate at the island just when Adriano enters.

  “Why hello, stranger,” I greet.

  “You’ve adapted quickly.” He closes the distance and takes a bite of my egg with the fork on the plate.

  “If you’d call, you’d know how I was doing.” I steal my fork back.

  “I know every second of what you’re doing,” he mutters, shuffling closer. “You and James are growing attached.”

  Lifting my chin, I say, “We are.”

  “Are you comfortable around him?”

  “Yes.” I smile, taking what he gives me, yet again. “Thankfully. Since my first thought when I met him was how handsome he was.”

  His mouth tilts down in disgust. “That’s disturbing, Cam.”

  I lift my shoulders. “I didn’t know back then that he was my father,” I defend with a grin and add, “But I didn’t find him nearly as handsome as I found you.”

  “Cam,” he whispers, tormented, as I lay a hand on his chest.

  “I miss you, Adriano. Talk to me. Everything’s out in the open now.” My other hand glides up his jaw, into his hair.

  Without warning, Adriano’s arms pull me flush against him, one palm groping my behind and the other between my shoulder blades as he nuzzles the side of my neck.

  Years of longing and desire tie us together. I caress his hair while he hugs me tightly and wedges a leg between mine.

  “Why are you ignoring me?” I ask, my lips against his wavy hair.

  His body trembles, and he utters, “Because I’m punishing you.”

  I rear back, and a disarray of emotions play behind his dark eyes.

  “But I’m starting to wonder whom I’m actually punishing,” he mumbles then grabs my wrist and hurls me around, edging forward until my stomach hits the kitchen island.

  With his heaving chest to my back, he growls into my ear, “Is this what you want?” He pushes his arousal against me, sealing me in a tight embrace.

  “Yes...” Anything except the silent treatment.

  When I turn my head and try to kiss him, he denies me and hauls my arms to my lower back. Then he roughly bends me forward over the counter top by my neck, my cheek hitting the cold surface.

  My body heats from finally having his recognizable forceful touch on me. I want his anger to seek an escape. Maybe that will allow him to give us a second chance.

  Adriano holds both wrists caged with one hand and another trails a path up the inside of my thigh, stopping right at my core. “You want me to forgive you?”

  His fingers rub me aggressively, and I moan, wriggling underneath his solid spell. His words are spoken with ominous intent, yet pleasure overrides. I can feel the tingles forming. I’m breathing noisily, steaming up the counter top, searching for release.

  But then Adriano’s hand falls away, and I whimper in dissatisfaction. He hikes up my dress over my ass and links his fingers inside my panties, tracing between my ass cheeks. Adriano has always been an ass-man. He has a strange fascination with that part of the anatomy.

  He covers my body with his, pressing his hand against my behind. “You want me to make you feel better when you couldn’t even give me yourself exclusively? When you allowed someone else inside. After you met me. After you had me.” His breath hot against my ear. “If you weren’t his daughter or I the Capo, I’d fuck your ass so hard now that you’d be too sore to even want another man near you, and you’d let me because I’m always inside you, inside your mind.”

  That’s true.

  And then in his lowest voice, he says, “You don’t deserve to come.” And he rubs the tip of his nose down my cheek.

  “You’re punishing me for Damian by acting like this?” I hiss back.

  “No. Orders are orders. And no one defies orders from the Capo crimine. Yes, we trust each other, but we are obliged to follow the code,” Adriano retorts, pushing himself off me.

  I straighten, wanting to respond to him now that he’s acknowledging this thing between us, but he adds, “Don’t play games when you’re ignorant of the rules. Since everything’s out in the open now, this isn’t only about Damian. There’s something much larger at stake. You don’t understand how unsafe it is for me to entertain your seduction. I have a family to consider. I have a Capo crimine to answer to. You outrank me. I’m a Capo, and you’re a mafia princess, the boss’s daughter. James will kill me if I ruin you – again.”

  “Ruin me? We don’t live in the eighteen fifties,” I protest.

  “Welcome to the Chicago Syndicate, Cam,” are his only parting words, and I groan in frustration.

  I’m getting sick and tired of this game of his.

  In this second, I realize how insidious obsessive love is. When you suppress or restrain it, it doesn’t slowly choke to death. Quite the opposite. It seethes beneath the surface, waiting to fracture at the most inopportune moment.

  CHAPTER 20

  Adriano

  My head falls back against the kitchen door with a loud thud as I escape Cam’s presence. If I hadn’t left, I probably would’ve violated her ass right on that kitchen island where anyone could catch us. It’s impossible to keep my hands to myself when she’s within reaching distance. It’s impossible to erase her face and the contours of her provocative body from my mind. Keeping deliberate distance from Cam has proven to be harder than I’d ever imagined possible.

  After a week of forcing myself to let her rebuild her life, I’m completely baffled with how rapidly she’s gluing the pieces back together – apparently aware of how her new position as James’s daughter can offer her a bright future. But it’s also reinforcing her will to fight for us.

  I make sure to know every minute of how she’s spending her days by giving either Luca or David, her guard, the third degree.

  I saw Cam four times last week. Twice, she was leaving Luca’s penthouse and didn’t see me. I waited in my car to watch her go with David. Twice, she noticed me and tried to get my attention. Little does she know that she’s always my single object of inspection when she and I are in a room together. I study every move without her knowing.

  I smile to myself, remembering how she once called me a freaky ass stalker. If she only knew what kind of freaky stalker I’ve turned into since she’s been back.

  My lust for her doesn’t shrink. And I don’t just mean that figuratively. Whenever she’s in close proximity, my cock is on high alert. Clearly, I’m not immune to her pheromones that nourish my appetite for her.

  There’s this dominant part of me that wants to fuck her senseless, while a week ago I wanted to punish her. Yet punishing he
r for her liaison with Damian isn’t nearly as satisfying as I thought it would be. The second we’re alone, we push each other’s boundaries and are unable to withstand being drawn to one another.

  Maybe now that all the cards are on the table and she realizes how perilous it is for me to be with her when it goes against orders, she’ll rethink her approach and accept the distance – or else I’ll surrender soon too.

  Cam and I are starting to relive the cycle we were stuck in before. If one of us isn’t strong enough to fight the pull, my position and livelihood will be at stake. And I won’t allow my family to live in danger or poverty.

  As I relocate to the foyer, Luca treads down the stairs and tells me, “We’re going to Security Simplicity to update Jeffrey and hear him out about what he proposes to do. He called me to see if we could come in now.”

  I welcome the distraction eagerly, letting my blood flow back up north.

  “Let’s go.” Luca tosses his car device with the key to me when he climbs down the last step, and I catch it in the air with a swipe of my arm. “You drive. I need to answer some e-mails.”

  ***

  “The one point seven million dollars in total drug money that’s never entered this building was indeed from two shipments,” I explain the entire story to Jeffrey, who’s sitting across from Luca and me in the board room at Security Simplicity. “One shipment from two weeks ago, the one million dollars, and the other shipment for the transaction that’s supposed to take place this Saturday, providing us with seven hundred grand in cash.”

  Luca and I were updated about the first shipment by one of our other Capo’s soldiers. Apparently, the drug deal gone wrong was messaged to us via Capo John, but John’s missing, and that’s an immense issue. John would never disappear without a trace unless he’s dead or being held captive.

  Fat Sal’s our priority now. He’s stealing our money, had Cam implanted with a device, he probably has John; we think that he’s strategizing to take over the drug dealings in Chicago.