Claudia continued to sit in her rigid silence, only her fingers bunching and unbunching around the crumpled bit of tissue Elise had forced into her hand over an hour ago. She hadn’t used it. Her careful applied layer of eyeliner, mascara, and eyeshadow remained perfectly in place and there wasn’t a tear in sight.
“Roman loves Gio,” Claudia said for the hundredth time. “He would never do anything to disrespect him, or the clan.”
Elise nodded. “I know, darling.”
“What do I tell the kids?” Her voice hitched on those words.
“You will tell them that that there was an accident, but everything is going to be fine.”
Claudia sniffled “What about the ... the body? We need to have a funeral...”
Elise squeezed Claudia’s fingers. “You know that’s not always possible, but I will ask.”
Neither spoke as Elise pulled out her phone. She texted someone.
Giovanni, Cora assumed.
There was silence while everyone waited for a response. No one even touched the tea. Claudia remained tucked into the corner of the settee, one balled fist mashed against her stomach, watching the phone as if waiting for a death verdict.
The chirp made them jump. All eyes shot to the phone in Elise’s hands and they watched as she pulled up the message. There was a fraught five seconds of nothing, but even her mother couldn’t keep the barely inconspicuous twitch from her face.
“What?” Claudia choked out.
Rather than answer, Elise tucked the phone away, but that simple gesture said everything. Cora could see it in her mother’s eyes — Roman Endrizzi’s body would not be available for burial.
“Oh!”
Claudia’s strangled little gasp had Elise reaching for her hands again, her expression sympathetic, but firm.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” she told the other woman gently. “We’re going to pack a few things and get you and the children to stay with some family for a little while.”
Just like that, Claudia was out of the herd.
She and her children would be set up somewhere far from the city, away from the clan, and left to fend for themselves. All connections would be severed and they would be warned to keep their mouths shut if they wanted to continue existing at all.
Her father never hurt women or children, but a threat was a threat and would need to be eliminated quickly.
It was a cold, heartless existence, one Cora would never have chosen for herself. For all the good her father did, there was still so much darkness that surrounded him, so much death. No one would ever believe that her father was a kind, generous man. The moment they heard his name, people either fell to their knees in fear or ran in the opposite direction. That was the reason Elise had insisted Cora keep her maiden name. A pure blessing in Cora’s mind. Having a crime boss for a father didn’t exactly motivate the other kids to line up to be her friend.
“Cora love.” Elise was watching her when Cora looked up. Her mother’s gaze was gentle and understanding even as she beckoned her over with a subtle motion of her chin. “It’s time for us to leave.”
Cora went, careful to take the long way around the sofa.
She wondered if she needed to say something to Claudia. But Elise grasped her firmly by the elbow and maneuvered her quickly through the maze of halls to the front doors.
“Should we be leaving her alone right now?” Cora asked at least as they descended the front porch.
Elise glanced at the voluminous estate with its ivory columns and French windows, and sighed. “There’s nothing we can do for her now.”
“So, what happened?”
Elise waited until they were back in the car and rolling down the block before she answered, “Your father caught him taking clan money. That’s all I know.”
“Roman?” The disbelief was impossible to conceal. “He’s been part of the clan for ... what? Thirty-five years?”
“Money does things, it changes people.” Elise smoothed a delicate hand over her skirt. “Are you still hungry?”
She wasn’t. Maybe it was half the omelet she’d had earlier, or the stress of what they were leaving behind, but all she wanted was her bed.
“It’s all right.” Elise took Cora’s cold hand into both of her warm, soft ones. “It’s never easy. There are things you can change and things you cannot. Either way, you can’t stop living. Understand?”
Cora nodded. “I just ... how does Dad do it?”
Elise sighed and squeezed Cora’s fingers. “Because it must be done. We all have our roles to play and we must always be strong. For him. He needs us.”
It was the same motivational pep talk she’d been given since she was a kid. But it didn’t change the situation.
“Is Dad okay?”
Elise turned forward, jaw tense. She stared out the window with a firm determination of someone reluctant to talk about it.
But she swallowed once and replied, “No, he’s not.”
Chapter Sixteen
James had just swiped his signature on the hundredth shipping form when Cora stumbled into his quarters. Nicholas had texted him twenty minutes before to let him know they were on their way, but he hadn’t mentioned the drawn, ashen texture of her face or the threat of tears glinting in her eyes.
“Cora?”
Without answering him, she shuffled to his cot and dropped onto it, shoes, coat, and all. The sheets were drawn over her head like a child escaping a nightmare.
“I told him to take me home,” came her muffled voice.
He didn’t bother pointing out that Nicholas had brought her home, just not the one she was used to yet.
He set his pen down on the papers and swiveled his chair to face her.
“What happened?”
There was a long stretch of silence from the lump on his bed. But he could just make out the rise and fall of her back.
“Why did you make me do that?”
She didn’t need to elaborate. He’d heard the whole thing through the tiny microchip in her bracelet. The replacement for the one he’d placed in her pocket the night before. A more permanent one.
“Because you need to know how it’s done.”
“I don’t want to know!” she snapped. “I’ve gone twenty-five years without knowing, without being that person who destroys a family.”
James sighed. “You didn’t destroy them.”
“You weren’t there.” A thread of emotion wavered in her voice. “You didn’t see Claudia’s face. She looked so betrayed.”
“Do you think your mom enjoys it?”
She went quiet, yet her silence carried more weight than any words she could have spoken. “No.”
“We all have to do things we don’t want,” he murmured.
He pushed to his feet and went to her. One finger hooked into the top of the sheets and he dragged them off her face. Cora peered up at him, looking oddly small and fragile cocooned in his bed. Her hair was dark streaks across the pillow, a contrast against the pallor of her cheeks. But it was the pain in her eyes that gutted him. It blazed with a ferocity that consumed all her light.
He drew in a deep breath. “You don’t have to worry about making too many home visits. I won’t be killing a lot of people, and most of my men are single.”
It started slow, a flicker that spread until all her teeth were flashing in a brilliant smile.
“Not a lot, huh?” she teased.
“A few,” he confirmed.
Cora chuckled. “It’s good to have achievable goals.”
He hummed quietly as he lowered himself down next to her hip. The frame creaked with the added weight and she rolled slightly into his side when the mattress dipped.
“Speaking of achievable goals...”
He kissed her, sweeping his tongue into her mouth and savoring her. But the sweet taste of her release was no longer coating her lips. It had faded so it was only her coating his tongue.
He’d never been so disappointed.
&n
bsp; “I couldn’t,” she panted, breathless when he lifted his head. “There wasn’t a chance ... Claudia—”
He kissed her hard, pressing her into the mattress. His fingers undid the buttons on her coat.
“I’ve been looking forward to tasting you all morning,” he told her, voice gruff.
“I’m sorry.” She helped him liberate her of the bulky fabric. “I couldn’t exactly say, sorry my dad was forced to kill your husband, Claudia, but I have to use your bathroom.”
James paused. His head came up.
“You think someone forced the great Giovanni De Marco to kill her husband?”
She was still breathing hard, but the passion in her eyes was replaced with confusion. “Roman stole from him. He had no choice.”
James straightened. “And raping a sixteen year old girl, I guess there was no choice in that either.”
Cora scrambled upright. “There’s no excuse for that, but—”
“But she had it coming?”
Anger sparked behind her tightly pursed lips. “Don’t put disgusting words in my mouth, James. I would never say that.”
“But your dad’s the victim, right? Because, technically, since my dad couldn’t pay yours, he basically stole from him, too.” He shoved to his feet and moved away from her. “Taking my sister I guess was fair trade.”
“My father isn’t a monster!” She shoved back the blankets and threw herself off the bed. “He would never have hurt your sister.”
“No, he had his men do it for him. Eight of them.”
What color that had begun to leak into her cheeks dissipated.
“My father wouldn’t have done that. He wouldn’t. I don’t care what you think you know.”
“Stop defending him!” His molars creaked beneath the force of his tightly clenched jaw. “You know what kind of man he is. You know what he’s capable of, and yet you stand there defending him. What’s the matter with you?”
“Because I know him,” she shot back. “Because I do know the things he’s capable of, and that’s not one of them.”
“Then you’re blind, and stupid.”
“You’re stupid!”
She grabbed her coat and shoved past him towards the door.
He grabbed her before she could reach it.
“We’re not finished.”
She whirled and slapped his hand off her arm. Her eyes blazed like green flames.
“Oh, we are so finished,” she seethed. “I won’t stand here and listen to you put my family down, especially without a lick of proof.”
“The only man my father owed money to, was yours.”
“That doesn’t mean shit!” Her balled fists trembled at her sides.
“There was a note, Cora.” His anger dissolved into annoyance. “They took her as payment.”
Her bottom lip trembled, but her gaze remained unflinching. “That doesn’t mean my father did it.”
“He’s the boss. No one does anything without his okay.”
She didn’t seem to have a response to that. She stood before him, ramrod straight and determined, but her mouth remained firmly shut.
It should have been enough.
Silencing her should have sang through him with a resignation echo of triumph. But it left him cold and empty inside. The hurt in her eyes had him averting his own, unable to stomach the bitter self-loathing that plowed into him.
“I’m going home,” she whispered.
He didn’t stop her when she left.
He wouldn’t know what to say even if he had. He couldn’t apologize. He wouldn’t. That really left nothing else.
Off his desk, he picked up his phone and texted Nicholas to take her wherever she wanted to go. But no sooner had he dropped the device back down with a clatter when it chirped and lit up with a return message.
“Dinner tonight at her parent’s. Says she’ll meet you there.”
James snatched up his phone and punched in his answer, “No, we’re going together.”
“She says no.”
“Oh for fuck sakes.” James muttered out loud to himself. On the phone, he typed, “Don’t fucking move.”
Abandoning his work, he grabbed his coat and went in search of the woman he was about to throttle. He clambered off the boat and marched to where the car was parked. Cora’s annoyed expression glowered at him from the backseat.
He threw himself in next to her and slammed the door shut behind him.
“Get out.”
Nicholas immediately abandoned his place behind the wheel, leaving James alone with his infuriating wife.
“Do you have you be such a fucking control freak to everyone?” Cora turned on him. “He doesn’t have to be here. You could say please and—”
“Shut up.”
Her perfect mouth formed an O before they twisted into a hard line. “Don’t tell me to—”
He grabbed the lapel of her coat and dragged her across the seat until their faces were inches apart.
“I have reached the limits of my patience with you, Ms. Harris. I am tempted to drag you out of this car, put you up on the hood, and spank you for the entire world to see.”
Color blazed up her neck and swelled in her face, making her eyes appear luminous. She sucked in a breath that rattled going down.
“Don’t you dare,” she breathed.
James narrowed his eyes.
In the time it took for her to realize her mistake, he had already dragged her from the seat, kicking and screaming. He caught her around the middle and hauled her around to the front of the car. Her wrists were caught in both hands and used to drag her forward, face down over the cold metal. He held her there with the weight of his torso draping over her back.
“What have I told you about challenging me not to do things?” he murmured into her ear. “I take those very personal.”
“I swear to god, I will kill you!” Her growl plumed white across the shiny, black surface.
“Is that another challenge, sweetheart?”
He kicked her feet apart and twisted her arms higher over her head. He caught both in one hand. The other was tucked beneath her hips.
He undid the button on her jeans.
Cora went still.
“James...”
“I told you...” he yanked down the zipper. “Shut. Up.”
Her eyes squeezed shut tight. Her body braced beneath his, possibly waiting for that first tug and the slap of wind against her bare ass. The streaks of her every exhale blew hard and shallow, mirroring the tremors he could feel running down her spine.
He hooked his thumb into the waistband. He felt her stiffen, felt her sharp intake of air.
But he didn’t undress her.
He wouldn’t.
No fucking way in hell was he going to flash his pussy to the world.
That belonged to him.
Only him.
Her punishment would have to wait until he had her alone, but since he had her there, had her at his mercy...
He slipped his fingers into the V he’d created.
Cora gasped.
Her eyelids flew open.
“You drive me fucking crazy,” he growled into her ear, his fingers delving deeper over her soft mound to peel apart her lips. “I don’t know whether to spank the shit out of you, or fuck you until neither of us can walk.”
Her answer was the push of her hips into his hand.
James fingered her clit, teasing it with little flicks that had the woman under him thrashing wildly. Hot liquid rushed from her core and trickled over his fingers. It smeared over his palm with each slow grind of his heel against her apex.
“James ... please.”
He hadn’t even had to ask, he noted with more than just a little satisfaction. He rewarded her by impaling her on two fingers. His thumb settled against her clit. It rubbed with every pump of his wrist, making her walls shudder and her muscles constrict.
She moved against him, unabashed and beautiful in her desires. Her eyes had squeeze
d closed once more, her face twisted into one of tortured agony.
The best kind.
“I’m coming...” Her strangled whimper tensed every muscle in her body as it prepared to launch itself into bliss.
James pushed her right to that very peak, that high crest before the plunge, and stopped.
He pulled out. The wind immediately leeched onto the wet, sticky mess, making his hand cold. But it was nothing compared to the woman sobbing against his car.
“No ... no, please ... please... James, don’t...”
He ignored her desperate pleas and gently lifted her onto her feet. He caught her when her knees gave and cradled her against him.
Big, tear-filled eyes lifted to his. The left side of her face burned a brighter pink from being pressed into frigid metal, but it didn’t seem to bother her nearly as much as his withdrawal had.
“Why...?”
It was like watching a kicked puppy trying to understand why she was being punished. It might have worked on a lesser man, but James was making a point.
“Prove to me you deserve it, behave, and I promise I will give you the best fucking orgasm of your life.”
That clouded over her eyes, a misty daze of euphoria. Her throat moved with her audible swallow. She licked her lips.
“I don’t think I can walk.”
Biting back his grin, James scooped her up into his arms and carted her back to the door he’d left open. He dumped her gently down into the backseat.
“I’ll pick you up at six.”
He closed the door on the glaze of passion masking her face before he forgot himself and fucked her right there on the seat. He moved to where the other man stood a good thirty feet away with his back to the car, head bent over his phone, pretending he’d gone deaf.
Nicholas looked up at him when James approached. “You’re a twisted bastard.”
Maybe not fully deaf.
James smirked. “Sometimes, it works better than a spanking.”
The other man grunted a noncommittal response before pivoting on his heels and marching back to the vehicle.
He managed to finish most of the required documents they would need to cross the Atlantic a second time — or was it a third time? Didn’t matter. Corbett wanted his guns and James’s crew wanted their money. The deed needed to be done one way or another.
Blood Script Page 26