by Bethany-Kris
Now he was just punishing himself, clearly. Anyone with any sense would not be asking those kinds of questions, certainly not when they didn’t have any business to be asking. Especially now that he knew about the … engagement.
“About three months,” Cody answered, scrolling through his phone.
“No, I mean a couple, kid. Not engaged.”
Cody set down his phone. “Like I said, about three months.”
Gio’s brow furrowed. Three months? Sure, he had seen fast love like that with Jordyn and Lucian, but Gio was sure they were a special case. “So after my brother’s wedding was when they met?”
“They met shortly before. The engagement came after.”
“Huh.”
At least that got Gio out of some trouble, for now.
Cody shrugged. “Business, you know.”
Realization dawned on Gio. Business. No wonder Kim was unhappy at Franco’s side. There wasn’t an ounce of love between the two, and there probably hadn’t ever been. The engagement was business. The marriage nothing more than an arrangement.
Kim agreed to it.
Why?
Good God. Gio felt sick. He’d only been in Vegas for two weeks and already he wanted to get the hell out as fast as he could.
• • •
Cody wasn’t so bad. The kid was young, close to Gio’s own age, so he had a bit of growing room yet to get where he needed to be. Franco had introduced him earlier as a friend of his, which meant he was still an unmade man. Gio couldn’t understand why Nunz hadn’t given his son the button yet. Being the son of a Don, it was almost a given right. Gio had his button at seventeen—the youngest out of all his brothers to take the Omertà.
It sucked Cody was Nunz’s son, as Gio thought the guy would be the kind of understudy one of his brothers would probably take under their wing to train for la famiglia. It was clear he wanted to be in with the family.
Gio looked over the ten-by-eight color photographs one more time. Cars of the highest luxury that only the rich could afford stared back up at him. Each photo had a sticky note added to the bottom left corner. It listed all the details of the car and location.
“How many are in secured garages?” Gio asked.
“Of this batch?” Cody shrugged. “Ten … twelve if the owners are out of town. They won’t be for the next run, though.”
Gio nodded. He was actually kind of impressed with the plan if he were honest. It was dangerous, to be sure. If done correctly and spread out over a period of time, Cody was looking at a fair flow of cash from stealing the high-end cars and chopping them down to ship out.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the kind of business Antony Marcello would want to get his hands dirtied up in. There was a hell of a lot of work involved with a great deal of men. Antony preferred to work with as little people as necessary when it came to mingling business with other families, and he liked shit simple.
This was anything but simple.
Nonetheless, Gio was reminded of why he was in Vegas in the first damn place. Antony was sure something unpleasant was about to go down in the Sorrento family and he didn’t want it to send a backlash on their family in the future. Scouting out the exporting of the stolen luxury vehicles was just a front. He needed to keep that front up so no one wondered why he was still hanging around if the Marcellos weren’t interested in playing.
“It’s very Gone in Sixty Seconds,” Gio said, chuckling.
Cody rolled his eyes. “Sure, sure. Ever steal a vehicle of this kind of caliber and get out clean? It’s not as easy as they made it look.”
“I don’t doubt it … and yes, I have.”
“Really?”
“Sure. Whenever my father gets asked why he keeps his fleet of vehicles in storage now, all he does is point to me.” Gio smirked, adding, “It was like a game for me to get it done without a set of keys. Really pissed him off, though.”
Gio flipped through the pictures again, stopping at a bright orange Lamborghini. It was a horrible fucking color for the car. Gio tapped a finger on the picture. “This one, I’ll do. Just to see if I still got the touch.”
Cody laughed. “Take it.”
“So, Franco’s running this show, right?”
“Mostly. Maximo gets his dues, but he’s keeping out of it. Something about Franco needing to stand on his own legs and stop using Max’s for support. You didn’t hear that from me, though.”
“Yeah, got it,” Gio muttered. “What about your father?”
“He gets his from me,” Cody said, not going into any further detail.
What Gio didn’t understand, was how Franco and Nunz Abella came together to put something like this into motion, or why Franco would want to at all. The Sorrentos had more than enough men, clout, and money to do the scheme on their own. They certainly didn’t need a little fish—or better yet, snake—like Nunz mucking his hands up into it. It just didn’t make sense.
Antony was right. Something was up.
Gio wondered briefly if the marriage arrangement had something to do with it but knew better than to ask. He already questioned Cody enough on the topic. He didn’t want to raise suspicions about his interest.
“All right, I need to get back to my hotel. It’s been a long fucking day and I need a smoke.”
“Don’t I know it,” Cody agreed.
Not really, Gio thought.
Gio slid the photo of the Lamborghini out of the rest, folded it up, and shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans. Tomorrow he’d skip across the city and check out the car. Better to be prepared.
“Where’s Franco?” Gio asked, knowing he needed to be respectful and say goodbye, even if the other man wouldn’t give a shit if he did.
“Either upstairs in his office or pestering the shit out of my sister,” Cody replied.
Gio pulled out his cell phone and asked Cody for a safe number to use when he needed to contact him. Cody rattled off a number and Gio texted the contact to his phone to be added to the rest later. “I’ll give you a call when I need directions to get the car to the right place, yeah?”
“Sounds good.”
Gio left in search of Franco. It wasn’t long before he found him still in the kitchen with Kim. Gio had been quick to excuse himself from the table after he was done eating, and like the other men who ate her food, thanked her for the meal as he should.
Neither Franco nor Kim noticed Gio standing outside the kitchen’s entrance. The obvious tension between the two inside kept Gio from stepping in further.
“And what the hell is this, anyway?” Franco asked, waving a hand up and down in Kim’s direction. “I thought I made it clear, Kimberlynn. You look like a mess. This is not how I expect you to be when you come into my home.”
Gio felt something painful stick in his throat. Kim was anything but a mess. She looked her age in skinny jeans and a Henley shirt. Young and beautiful.
“Yes, you made it perfectly clear that I need to look like a doll, Franco. I get it, all right. It’s Friday, and I spent all day at school and half of that was in study group. Give me a break.”
Franco reached out and snagged a lock of Kim’s loose waves. A hot ball of jealousy swirled in Gio’s midsection at the sight. The way Franco pulled on Kim’s hair almost seemed playful, except she flinched at the gesture.
“I want this hair of yours done up in something, not down like you don’t give a damn. Make sure that’s corrected the next time I see you. Got it?” Franco demanded.
Kim’s eyes hardened. “Yeah, I got it.”
“And about this study group …”
“You need to give that up,” Kim said, her tone turning sharp. “I worked hard to get into the mathematics program. The other classes were dropped, just like you wanted. I am not dropping this, too.”
Franco released the strand of Kim’s hair he held, arms folding over his chest. “No?”
“No.”
“Then you need to find a different study group, immediately.”
“Why, Franco? This group has the best students in the program.”
“It’s not like you’re going to be using anything you learn,” Franco replied. “All that money you took out of trust from your mother’s insurance is a fucking waste, now. Figure out something else to keep you entertained during the day.”
Kim scoffed. “Like what, cooking your food or start a fucking scrapbooking club?”
“You said it not me, Kimberlynn.”
Gio didn’t like where their conversation was going at all. He knew better than to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t move away. Maybe it was the way Kim’s earlier annoyance at Franco had melted into this awful look of defeat. As if the guy was just beating her down without even putting a hand on her.
It was a damn shame. This girl … this crazy, beautiful girl who was the first person to really make Gio feel like he was alive in a long time, looked crushed. Pain thumped with the beats of his heart. The sight was sickening.
“How about this,” Franco said, sneering, “… you can drop out of the study group or I’ll drop someone out of it for you.”
Kim took a step back. “Excuse me?”
“Craig is his name, right? Or, that’s what I hear.”
“Craig is a friend, Franco.”
“A friend you went out to have coffee with two days in a row this week.”
“He was helping me with differential equations for a worksheet I needed to create!”
“Lower your goddamn voice,” Franco growled. “If you want to act like some spoiled little bitch anywhere else, feel free. In this house, you’re going to behave like you know you need to. It’s pretty simple. You get out of the group or I’ll remove him. And by remove, I certainly don’t mean give him an option to see you in class the next day. Do you understand me, Kimberlynn?”
Gio couldn’t watch anymore. Stepping back into the shadows of the hallway out of view from the kitchen, he sighed heavily. What in the hell was he going to do now? Knowing what he did, Gio was disturbed.
“I’ll drop the study group,” he heard Kim hiss. “But, you can go straight to hell.”
“No thanks, sweetheart. I get enough heat right where I’m standing. Don’t forget, Lucas and Ben are never too far behind. See you tomorrow night.”
Gio didn’t move from his spot against the wall when Kim came storming out of the kitchen with her messenger bag in hand. She didn’t spot him straightaway, but when she did, her footsteps stumbled in their track. Kim wouldn’t meet his stare.
Look at me, Gio pleaded in his mind.
She was so much better than the man in the kitchen; worth more than the suffocating actions stripping her down to nothing but moving parts and a smile. Why hadn’t anyone told her that?
Kim’s gaze lifted. The hardness she stared at Franco with was gone. A rebellious, angry glimmer took its place. Clearly Franco hadn’t taken every bit of Kim away just yet. There were parts of her still fighting to stay.
Gio wanted to ask if she was okay, but he didn’t get the chance. Just as fast as she looked at him, she was walking right on past. He waited until the front door slammed closed before he made his trek into the kitchen to face Franco.
Franco was leaning over the countertop, shaking his head. No doubt, the guy was pissed. Gio knew that look. He was grateful Kim had left when she did because, by the looks of it, Franco wasn’t about to take much more.
“I’m heading out,” Gio said.
“Was the food good for you?” Franco asked, his demeanor changing in an instant.
“Perfect. Kim’s a good cook.”
“Mmm. Tell her if you want something done differently. I won’t mind.”
Gio raised a brow. “My mother told me once that no smart man should tell a woman what to do in her kitchen, and if I did want something different, I was to get up and do it myself.”
“My fiancée isn’t your mother.”
“Good thing.”
Franco didn’t seem to notice Gio’s remark. “Fucking women. They’re like horses, just need to be broken. And that one … she’s this close to snapping.”
Gio hit his limit with that comment. Definitely way too sober for this shit.
• • •
Gio pulled his rental car to a stop at the entrance steps to what he assumed was Kim’s dorm. Screeching tires echoed in the dark parking lot. Leaning over the seat, Gio pushed the passenger door open. A shocked Kim stood only inches away.
“Get in, Tesoro.”
Kim stared inside the car. Fear and uncertainty flickered in her stare. “What?”
“Get in the car. Hurry up.”
“I can’t—”
“If you’re worried about those two idiots Franco has following you, they took a detour into the Starbucks around the corner. Knowing the way it takes forever to get through a drive-thru, we’ve got about three minutes before they catch back up. Get in the damn car, Kim.”
The grip she had on her messenger bag tightened. Kim glanced around the parking lot, shifting from one foot to the other like she couldn’t make up her mind. Gio didn’t have time for her inner battles.
“Either get in or step back, Tesoro.”
Kim’s gaze narrowed as she surveyed him under the car’s roof light. “Are you high? Because that’s the only reason I could use to explain why you’re asking me to get in your car right now.”
“Not yet, but I plan on getting that way fast,” Gio answered.
Honesty was the best policy, after all.
Gio shrugged, adding, “Thought you might know somewhere to party.”
“Me?” Kim asked, a little too innocently.
“Is that sweetness act supposed to work on me? You forget that I’m the guy who spent hours shacked up with you in a hotel room and very little of that time was spent with us wearing clothes.”
Kim’s didn’t blink a lash at his crude attitude. “This is a bad idea.”
“You’re not an angel, Kim. I’m not asking you to be one. I just want you to get in my car and do something fun. If you think about it, you kind of owe me.”
“Blackmail?”
“Tick, tock. How much time do you think you’ve got before Franco’s idiots come pulling into this lot and see you chatting with someone in a dark car? I’d be willing to bet when he hears that, you’ll be subjected to another one of his spiels like earlier.”
Kim’s jaw clenched. Yeah, Gio hit the mark with that one.
“Get in,” Gio demanded.
“Do something fun, huh?”
“That’s all. Get you away from whatever craziness he’s put inside your head for a night. When you say it’s done, it’s over. I’ll get you back here and no one will know a thing about it.”
“They can’t see me come back, Giovanni.”
“They won’t.”
Kim tossed her messenger bag into the car and climbed in without a single look back.
Chapter Seven
Kim had no idea what she was doing. Being in Giovanni’s car was crazy. She wasn’t just playing with fire, no. She was dancing on red hot coals with bare feet.
Her entire body was hyperaware of Giovanni’s presence. She could smell him. A concoction of man, smoke, and leather. God, it was like a kick to her senses, knocking her straight into desire overdrive. She had to be careful. Risks were fine to take when the odds were on her side. Kim wasn’t sure they were with Giovanni Marcello.
“This is stupid.”
Giovanni scoffed. “You’re twenty-one. This is what you’re supposed to do. Act stupid. Be reckless. Have a little fun.”
“Sure, but probably not with a guy I fucked and definitely not when I have a fiancé.”
“Probably not,” Giovanni echoed. “Why didn’t you tell me, anyway?”
“I wasn’t engaged then. What did it matter?”
“Oh, it matters, bella. Matters the same way I need to avoid a fucking bullet to the head. You should have told me who you were and gave me the choice to save myself the trouble I’m dealing with now.”
“Trouble. Thanks for that.”
“Not you—this. I don’t know what the fuck it is with you, but I can’t get you out. I tried. You’re still there. I stay in my own head, and I like it there just fine. You knock me right out of it in a heartbeat. That’s trouble.”
Kim didn’t understand. “What do you mean, get me out?”
Gio tossed a glance her way before going back to the road. The look was anything but passive. It was filled with a heat that slammed straight into her chest, taking away the building anxiety and replacing it with something akin to excitement and want. It pooled straight down to the spot between her thighs, making her stomach twist in anticipation.
Jesus. Kim still wanted this man. It was probably the stupidest thing she ever wanted in her life, considering the position she was in. Knowing Franco’s jealous tendencies, Kim was being a complete idiot even thinking in Giovanni’s direction like she was.
“Yeah, like that,” Giovanni said under his breath.
“Excuse me?”
“That,” he repeated firmly. “That air catching in your chest and your hands clenched in your lap. Can’t look my way without thinking about it all. I know, so don’t play stupid with me, Kim. I can’t get you out, either. You should have told me who you were.”
Despite his anger, he kept his tone calm. Kim didn’t begrudge him the way he felt over her secrets. “I didn’t think it made a difference. We weren’t going to meet up again.”
“Look how goddamn well that worked out for us both.”
“Yeah, I figured that one out hours ago. Why follow Ben and Lucas to find my dorm if you don’t want anything to do with me?”
Giovanni shook his head. “I didn’t say that; I said you should have given me the choice. I never said I would have walked away.”
Just like he wasn’t running as fast as he could to get away from her now, Kim thought.
Clearly, Giovanni was the type who enjoyed taking risks. Unlike her, he didn’t seem to weigh the positives against the negatives. New York was a perfect example. He didn’t question her invitation at all; he wanted something and he took it.