by Soraya Naomi
Luca shuts the door.
On the outside, I’m calm. But on the inside, my emotions are raging because I don’t know Cam’s location or how many of Peter’s men are walking around in this club at the moment.
“I’m not interested in buying your women. We have our own women working here.”
“Fat Sal purchased his women from us,” he points out. “You’re in a different world now, Italian.”
The mood changes instantly with that warning, and his cold blue eyes hold mine as he reaches inside his jacket for his gun and cocks it.
Without flinching, I reply, “I don’t care. You and I have no business with each other. I’d tread lightly if I were you.”
Peter’s disadvantage is that he has a regular handgun without a silencer, and I know he won’t shoot and risk the shot being heard inside the club. Luca and I, on the other hand, have gotten new weapons from Wade with built-in silencers; these aren’t even available on the market. But it gives me the advantage that I can, and will, shoot when necessary – even inside this club.
All three men have strategically gone to different corners of my office, making it impossible to easily shoot more than two. However, I’m quick on the draw, and Luca and I can communicate without words.
“So what should I tell my boss?” Peter asks smugly, thinking he’s overpowered us with one extra man and the barrel of his gun pointed at my heart as he stalks toward me. “I won’t leave without a suitable answer.”
I wait until he’s right in front of me, and the split second he glances at his partner, I slam the gun from his grip and punch his nose, causing him to stagger backward. Bending down, I snatch my piece from its holster and shoot the other man in the chest as Luca jumps on the third, hooking his arm around his neck from behind and grabbing his Smith & Wesson.
“Fucker!” Peter yells.
My target is on the floor, clutching his bloodied nose, so I bend down and take the knife from my ankle holster.
Hauling Peter up, I round my other arm around his neck and bring the tip of the blade close to his eye. “You made a big mistake coming to my world, Ukrainian.”
Luca’s restraining the other blond, who’s breathing harshly and shooting daggers at me, with his gun against the man’s temple.
Now that we have these guys under control, I need to assess the situation. “How many men did you bring with you?”
Peter’s chest heaves, but he stops struggling against me when I scrape the blade across his eyelashes.
“Ah...Six men.”
“Where are the other three?”
“Downstairs. Sex club,” Peter replies.
“Why did your boss send you?”
“We want your business but don’t want your people in our club until we’ve established a business relationship.”
“Who was in your club?” I feign ignorance, already knowing that Rosalia, Fallon, and Cam are the catalysts of this.
“The lady. Miss Guillermo.”
“Who do you think she is?” I ask.
“They say she’s your wife.”
“Who’s they?”
“Yakiv.”
So, even outside the Syndicate, it’s already well known that Cam’s mine, which makes her an even more coveted woman. One, because powerful men always want what other powerful men have, and I have her love and devotion. Two, because it’s known that she’s my most prized possession, or else they wouldn’t think she’s my wife.
Luca presses the barrel of his gun harder into the temple of his captive. “How did you get inside with your weapon? Past my security?”
“Your host at the back entrance; we know him,” he confesses.
Luca clenches his jaw, his aggravated manner mirroring mine.
I offer Peter a choice, “You wanted to know what you should tell your boss? You may choose. One of you delivers the message to him. You or him.”
“Him,” Peter chooses.
Luca grins at me, anticipating my next move, so he clicks the safety but doesn’t pull the trigger yet.
“Oh, Peter,” I say theatrically, pressing the blade against his throat, “because you made that selfish choice, I’m going to choose you.” I slice his throat and step back, letting the body slouch to the floor.
The last captive struggles against Luca. “Don’t push your luck. I’ll kill you just as easily.” He chokes him forcefully for several long seconds to get his point across.
I pull my dress shirt free and bend down to pick up my gun from the floor, sticking it in the back waistband of my slacks, hidden underneath the fabric of my shirt, and address the last man, “Tell Yakiv Medlov that he can find their bodies in Lake Forest. Tell him that if he wants to talk to me, he can request a meet.” Then I calmly right my collar. “We’re not uncivilized men. Come, Luca. We’re going downstairs.”
Luca pushes our captive out, and we rush down the stairs to get to the hallway leading to the back entrance. On the way, I see my main guard, who confirms that there have been no incidents in the dance or sex club.
Once inside the hall, I walk to the elevator, but the doors open before I have a chance to press the button, and my pounding heart settles when I’m confronted with an unharmed Cam and a guard who’s restraining a man who I’m guessing is a Ukrainian.
“Adriano, this is one of them. Two other men were inside the club. They’ve been caught as well,” Cam explains as she gets out of the elevator.
“Luca and I have the other three. I only kept this one alive.” I motion to Luca’s captive. “There were six in total.” I wrap an arm around Cam, pressing a hard kiss on top of her head, and I instruct the guard, “Kill him and the other two Ukrainians you found in the club, and then have a few soldiers clean up the bodies. And ensure the door is locked to this hallway. Don’t allow anyone else to enter.”
Without losing any time, Cam, Luca, the Ukrainian captive, and I move toward the back entrance where the host is, the leak.
“You’re fired!” Luca snarls, one hand holding on to his captive while pointing his gun at the young man whose eyes widen in terror.
“No, you’re dead!” I correct Luca. “Unlucky for you, my wife was inside, and anyone who puts her life in danger doesn’t get to live.”
Then I grab my gun and release a bullet into his temple, reaching my boiling point on this worrisome night. A saint changes for love. A sinner kills to hold on to love. And I’m not a saint.
I face the Ukrainian. “You tell your boss not to cross me again on my own territory. If he does, I’ll retaliate in ways his communistic mind can’t even conjure.”
He nods and stands there. Alone with us, he’s petrified.
“Well, go. Run along!” I spit.
And he races out the back door of the club.
Incensed about the entire situation, I command, “Everyone who wasn’t a part of Club 7 before I took it over gets fired tonight. I don’t want anyone new inside this club until Wade and Henry have finished our security system. They were able to get inside too easily.”
“You’re right, but I need to go to Fallon. Let the Capi and soldiers handle that,” Luca advises.
“That’s fine. We’re going too.” I entwine my fingers with Cam’s. “I’ll take care of everything in the car.”
***
I throw the keys onto the kitchen bar in my loft with Cam in tow. I head to the floor-to-ceiling glass windows to watch the clouds veiling the moon.
Cam comes up behind me and rests her chin on my shoulder. “My love, talk to me. It’s been a trying night, and I want to help you. You’re wound up about everything.”
I angle my head to the side and study her. “Because this transition period is such a fucking precarious situation where I have to juggle so many balls, I can’t afford to worry about you as well. You can’t just keep running around like you’re no one of importance anymore. I’m making powerful allies, as well as enemies, and people are starting to know you’re my girlfriend, which makes you a target. You can’t go on vigilante
missions on your own. Ever.”
Rebellion flashes across her eyes, but she doesn’t contradict me. She’s been taught well. Covertly, I’m pleased, yet also turned on and fucking mad at this fearless woman. The emotions tear me up, but her love keeps me together.
“I’m scared, Cam. Your love brings me fear. When issues arise, and I don’t know where you are, it paralyzes me. I’m so scared of losing you,” I confess aloud for the first time.
The commotion of this night has subsided, and I realize that it all comes down to my never-ending love for her.
She makes a half-circle and stops before me. Her husky voice is laced with sympathy and devotion. “I understand your fear because I feel it too. But you need to trust me to defend myself.”
Tentatively, her fingers trace a relaxing path over my jaw, and I lean into her touch. “I do trust you. It’s the rest of the world I distrust.”
“Together, we’ll get through it. You need to let me do my work as a Capo though.”
“I know. It’s just that your love makes me strong and happy, but it also makes me weak. And I can’t afford to be weak as boss, Cam.”
“It doesn’t make you weak. It makes you vulnerable because you have more to lose. And you’re right. You can’t be weak. Not in front of others. But you can be in front of me. Give me your weakness, and I’ll replace it with strength.” She rubs a hand over my beard, and I press a kiss to her palm.
“How?”
“Talk to me. Let me relieve your anxiety so that you can thrive as boss. Let me help you.”
I cock my head in question.
“You need to learn to delegate more. Luca’s used to delegating to you, but you need to delegate more to Luca now. And find a good first Capo to handle the day-to-day business, along with more Capi. You need many more Capi with this expanding business. You mostly need a strong head captain like James and Luca had with you. I get James’s rule now. You and I working and living together isn’t easy. But, we must find a solution. And as much as I hate to admit it, this is a man’s world. While I’d like to offer myself as a candidate for first Capo, you need a man as a first Capo, someone with lots of experience. My assets should be used in other ways.” The corner of her lips tilt up, and I palm her neck.
“You should be Consigliere,” I tease softly.
“No. I hate all that financial stuff Carmine has to do,” she retorts.
“You’re right, Capo.” With a few comforting words, she manages to bring me back down to earth.
In this moment, I recognize that she’s not only mine, but she’s swiftly becoming the one person who knows me best. That knows my inner fear that’s intricately tied to her life.
“I know I’m right.” She smiles and steps around me again to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. After closing the door, she points the bottle to the dent in the stainless steel. “I’ve been meaning to ask you: what happened here?”
“A couple of days before we raided Club 7, when James came to take you, I threw my gun at it in anger.”
“You lost control? You rarely lose your composure,” she says disbelievingly.
“I do when it comes to you,” I reveal.
Cam rounds the bar, sets the bottle on the counter, and meets me halfway.
“I want you to know how much I need you,” I say. “I never thought that I would have what my parents have until I met you. It’s growing into something so much bigger. ”
A slow, tender smile is directed at me. “That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said. I feel it deep in my soul too. I never thought I’d be here, and I’m so happy. It’s worth every dangerous bump in the road to be with you. And honestly, we’d never be content in a normal relationship.”
“Urgh...” I mock, attempting to embrace her, but she escapes my grasp.
Moving backward toward the sofa, she plays with the hem of her tank top. “Normal, mundane...It wouldn’t fit us. A normal couple would make an appointment with their shrink to talk about your control issues right about now.”
“But,” I fill in, matching her steps, “we have a much better solution than talking to a shrink.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Take off your clothes, and I’ll tell you.”
While observing me, Cam pulls her tank top over her head, exposing her red bra. Then she hooks her thumbs into her jeans, shimmying them down along with her panties, and she steps backward again, sitting on the edge of the tall back of the couch as she unhooks her bra, flinging it to me.
I catch it in the air and press the fabric to my nose. My blood rushes south furiously.
“So”—Cam rests her hands on the sofa, right beside her hips, and lets her long, lean legs fall open, spreading them wide like a stripper, giving me a perfect view of her pussy—“now that I’m naked, tell me.”
I unbutton my slacks and take out my dick. Just seeing her naked gets me rock-hard. “I’ve waited an entire day to feel you with my cock.”
Her lips twitch into a crooked grin.
“I want my cock in your mouth again.”
She bites her plump lip seductively while I gawk at her body that’s meant to be ridden hard and deep.
“Show me how wet you are, Cam,” I groan, fisting my erection.
Her palm slides down her stomach to rub her glistening pussy, and she bows her back passionately and whimpers.
“God, I need you.” I jump forward to catch her ankle, but she’s too quick and bolts over the back of the couch to the floating staircase that leads to the open master suite.
I race after her up the steps and loop my arm around her waist when she reaches the top, lifting her off her feet. But we don’t even make it to our king-size bed in the center of the bedroom. Instead, we crash against the glass door that leads to the terrace. Cam plants her palms against it and pushes her ass against my cock while I kick off my boots and strip my slacks. I press my chest against her back and take both her wrists in one hand, holding them locked above her head. I lick the soft skin behind her ear and slide my cock between her ass cheeks. As she moans, I skim my nails down her side, making her arch magnificently, driving me mad with hunger.
Right before I reach the curve of her ass, I say, “This is for hanging up on me, Cam.” And I spank her. Twice. Hard, leaving a beautiful red mark on her smooth skin.
“Ouch!” Her bothered gaze snaps to me, but I soften her by stealing a kiss and rotating the head of my cock against her wet pussy while keeping her wrists above her head.
“Don’t do that again,” I order against her cheek, barely able to hold back from driving into her tight channel.
“I won’t.” The words are tangled around a moan.
Releasing her wrists, I rip off my dress shirt, desperate for every inch of our naked bodies to connect. Then I circle Cam to face me and shift my hand into her hair. Her nails dig into my chest, and our desire for one another explodes.
Seductively, Cam drops to her knees, raking her nails over my skin and outlining the intricate black lines of my compass rose tattoo – which has the initials of my family members – on my left side, until she reaches my cock. While capturing my gaze, she pumps the base and licks the pre-cum from the head. Then she takes me into her mouth, and my palms rest against the glass as I lean forward, rolling my hips and watching my cock disappear into her warm mouth as she sucks roughly.
“Fuck!” I grunt from the pleasure raking through my body.
I pull from her mouth after a few deep thrusts, and she looks up expectantly.
“My cock needs to be inside you. It’s going to be hard and fast,” I growl and rotate my finger as I get on my knees as well, and Cam turns, dropping forward on all fours and facing the terrace.
I can see our reflection in the glass as I nudge my cock at her pussy and drive inside with one shove, clutching her hips and thrusting in and out, feeling her flesh give.
“You’re so wet for me, Cam.”
“Hmmm.”
She pushes back against me, so
I dig my fingers into her hips and hammer inside her. My pelvis slaps against her ass while I watch her half-closed eyes in the window, but when I observe my cock sliding into her, her hot center stretched open to take all of me, I’m lost. I push Cam forward so that she rests one hand against the glass. My fingers drift up her spine and wrap into her hair, and I tug her head back, making her bow her back sexily while I take her. Putting all the exertion of my concerns into fucking Cam.
Then I secure my arm around her waist and haul her up against my chest, inching forward slightly. On our knees on the cold hardwood floor, I piston inside until my balls tighten. It’s pure, animalistic fucking.
“Ah, yes! Adriano...”
I thrust in deep while she moans and begs, fucking me back with both of her palms pressed against the glass as I nip and bite her shoulder. I entwine one of my hands with hers and guide them down to touch the place where I enter her and rub her clit until she screams and shudders against me, my nose buried in her hair. Tracing my palm up her breast, throat, and chin, I dip my finger inside her mouth and she sucks voraciously.
I can’t hold back, not for a second. I growl and come, emptying myself completely, as I feel her whole pussy clamping down on my cock like a vice. I keep grinding my cock against her, riding out a satisfying climax only she can trigger from my body.
Dropping my forehead on her shoulder, I wrap my arms around her and she rests her hand on my arm. In a tight embrace, we float back down.
“My knees hurt now,” she comments and I chuckle.
I pull out of her as we stand and swing her up into my arms, causing her to shriek. And I lay her on our bed, looking exhausted and contented.
Then I join her. “It’s been a long day. All I want is to sleep with you now.”
She rests her head on my chest and tangles our legs. “Me too.”
Staring at the ceiling while I run my fingers through her hair, I still have this nagging feeling pestering me. Scenarios of how to strengthen my new team and delegate some work form in my mind.
And with Cam tucked in my arms, I sleep peacefully.