by Amy Starling
Chapter 18 - Ceci
Alec unlocked the door and showed me in. I felt better when he locked it behind us, but knew that was just a false sense of security.
“We don't have much time. Now that Lucas realizes he's been made, he's going to lose it.” He rinsed his bloody arm under the sink. “There's no telling what the man will do. He's unpredictable. Dangerous.”
“Then why did you tell him everything you knew? He wouldn't have tried to shoot us, at least.”
“I had to put a stop to this. He's gone too far. I knew he was a traitorous bastard, but earlier tonight, I saw him selling those drugs to the head of the Giseppi family.”
I dug through my trash bag of clothes Alec had packed for me near the start of this adventure. Thank goodness he'd brought me some sensible outfits, socks, and a good pair of tennis shoes. I had a feeling I was going to need them soon – probably for running when even more people started shooting at us.
“And you say my dad was part of that? Are you sure?”
“I got video of the conversation if you need proof.” He patted his wounds dry with a towel. “Evidently, Tommy Giseppi has some sort of bizarre illness for which treatment is hard to come by. The lab your father worked for was one of the few places in the world where an experimental drug for it was being made.”
“Seems too coincidental, then, that dad just happened to need a big loan. Now I'm wondering if he was coerced into borrowing the money, somehow, because Lucas knew he couldn't pay it back. Then he'd have free reign to blackmail him for the medicine.”
Alec was quiet for a while as he applied bandages to his cuts. Then he cried out loudly. I jumped, thinking he'd hurt himself, and dropped the neat stack of clothing I was holding.
“It makes sense now,” he said excitedly. “I've got a feeling he was, indeed, 'forced' into this mess. Did you know the Giseppis own the local racetrack?”
“No, I had no idea.” I took his other arm. “Oh, there's a piece of glass stuck in here.”
“You'll get it out, won't you? I trust you.”
Our eyes met as I reached for the tweezers in my first-aid kit. Alec might have been a gangster, but I trusted him too.
I wished I had the courage to say so.
“The first night I ever met Roger, he was going on about some guy who'd drugged a specific horse. It sounded like he'd known the guy for a while. He was so certain this horse would win him a big score.”
“But that never happened.”
“Can you imagine why not? That horse trainer was one of the Giseppis. He knew Roger because he was always gambling at the track. They probably had some discussions about what he did for work – which is how they found out he had access to that drug at the lab.”
I held his arm steady and gingerly plucked the sliver of glass from his bicep. He winced but didn't complain.
“At that time, Roger had also been borrowing money from my family. Lucas was working with the Giseppis. You see where this is going?”
“They lied to him about the horse so he'd borrow a ton and be in serious debt to the Ciarellos. Holding that over his head, Lucas was easily able to blackmail him into stealing the drug for Tommy. If he refused, obviously, something terrible would happen to him and his family.”
He nodded and twitched a little as I patted his cuts with the antiseptic.
“Yes, but I believe he was giving the medicine to Lucas well before that race. That last race was about one month ago. Lucas intended it to be a big one, probably because he knew your dad was going to get caught sooner or later. That's why, earlier, he told Tommy he had more than the usual amount of the drug.”
“A month,” I murmured. “That's around the time dad got fired and had to take that job at the grocery store. It makes sense now.”
Although it was so crazy that I wished it weren't true. How would mom ever believe this? Should I even bother telling her?
From the looks of things, their marriage probably wouldn't survive this regardless. Dad with his gambling debts; mom cheating on him with a gangster for God knows how long...
Thinking about it made me recall Alec's offer at the club.
“Now that we've taken care of that, how about that hot shower?” Alec smiled wearily. “I sure could use it. Every muscle in my body aches after pulling that getaway stunt.”
“Are you sure we have time?”
“We haven't much, but I say we should enjoy every moment we've got while we can.”
I went to his weapon room as he started the water and dimmed the lights. After what just happened, the guns didn't scare me as much anymore. Instead, I saw them not as instruments of death, but as tools that might one day save our lives.
“Coming, Ceci?”
I followed his voice to the bathroom. He stood there, naked and hard, waiting for me.
“Hope this doesn't offend you,” he said jokingly, pointing to his cock. “But one thought of undressing you, and I just can't help myself.”
“Offend me?” I shivered as he slid the nightie off my shoulders. “I'm flattered someone as sexy as you thinks I'm even attractive.”
He unlatched my bra with a flick of his fingers. I shimmied out of my underwear as fast as I could get the annoying garment off.
“I think you're the most gorgeous woman I ever met. That's why I kissed you that first night – because if I didn't find out what your lips felt like, I thought I'd go crazy.”
He pulled the shower curtain back for me and kindly let me stand under the hot water first. When he stepped in after, I was helpless to stare. It wasn't just his hot body that drew my eye, though. It was the dozens of scars and marks that covered him.
“Bullet got me there,” he said when he saw me gaping at a round, purple spot that could have been a bruise on his thigh. “Comes with the territory. So if anyone should be self-conscious about their body, it ought to be me.”
Entranced, I traced my fingers over the old scar. The flesh there was rougher, leathery almost. He flinched instinctively when I touched it, but quickly relaxed when he knew I wouldn't hurt him.
“You'll never give this up, will you? The fighting. The killing.”
“That's the only life I know, Ceci. I won't abandon my family.” He massaged my back with warm, soapy hands. “And if you were a Ciarello, know that I'd never abandon you, either.”
“What is that supposed to mean? You talked about marrying me at the club but –”
“Yeah, that's the way out I was talking about.” The excitement in his voice was palpable. “We've got a code, see. Whoever marries into the family is protected like she's one of us. My father wouldn't be able to hurt you then. He might still hound your dad for the money, but that's about the worst of it.”
“But you'd have to get married to do it.” I swallowed hard. “To me.”
“That's right.”
His touch felt so good that it was hard to think clearly. Alec may have been a violent mobster, but he certainly wasn't selfish about dishing out pleasure in spades.
“You do understand how serious it is, I hope. You shouldn't just marry someone for convenience.”
“I think getting hitched to save your life is a pretty fair deal. Trust me, I wouldn't be that terrible of a husband.”
His easy-going attitude all of a sudden bothered me. He was clearly a playboy, used to having whichever woman he liked, and probably had no intentions of settling down before he met me.
“It's moving a bit fast,” I said. “Usually, first comes love and then that comes after.”
“We're running on short time. And besides, whoever said there wasn't love?”
I turned to him and found him with the most curious expression on his face. It was the sort of look that made me shake with nervousness thought I wasn't sure why.
“The other night, when you talked about love and commitment and babies, I must admit it threw me for a loop.” He ran his fingers through his shaggy hair. “Those things had never been atop my priority list, for reasons you might imagi
ne.”
“You're confusing me.”
“Hey, I'm confused too. But it's a good thing, I think. Whenever I'm around you, the world isn't such a dark place anymore. I don't ever wanna lose that.”
I let him rinse me with a washcloth while I thought. Dad either needed the money, which wasn't going to just fall out of the sky, or we'd have to come up with something else.
Leo's demands that I work for Lucas would never fly. Given that he'd tried to shoot us, I was pretty certain that meant I had been fired.
If marrying Alec was all I had to do to end this nightmare, then I'd be a fool not to agree. Still, something bothered me.
“You're a great man, but you're a criminal. You kill people,” I said quietly. “I'm not sure that's something I can ever let go of.”
“And you don't have to. If you really want, after my father gives the all-clear and wipes Roger's debt, you're free to leave.”
I almost started to cry for reasons not even I knew. “I couldn't just leave,” I protested. “This is marriage you're talking about. That would be horrible.”
He cradled me in his arms. Nobody had ever made me feel so loved with such a simple hug.
“You do care about me, don't you, Ceci?”
“Of course I do.”
He kissed me, and those hungry kisses turned into him screwing me from behind pressed up against the shower wall. There in that dark, steamy shower, I gave myself to him completely and didn't look back.
“I want you to be my wife,” he growled in my ear. “Say you will be. Tell me yes.”
“Y-yes,” I groaned as his words made me come. “Oh God, please... Don't...”
He'd always said that I belonged to him, that I was his. I thought he was being crazy.
Turned out he was right.
And in the next moment, when he gasped and came inside me, filling me with every drop of his seed, I realized that he was mine, too.
Time to admit the truth to the world.
I'd fallen in love hard with a mobster, and I never wanted it to end.
Chapter 19 - Alec
Dad watched the video for maybe the tenth time since I'd given it to him. No matter what it showed, he just couldn't seem to believe the truth.
His ashtray was overflowing with cigars, and the purple rings beneath his eyes said he hadn't slept much in the past three days.
“I thought it was crazy,” he muttered as the video came to an end. “When Miss Trenton came here to tell me what he'd been planning. Figured she was making it up to save her own hide.”
Sam and Larry stood behind me, talking crap about Lucas.
“I always suspected him, the fat bastard,” Sam said. “He's been seeming real sketchy to me lately.”
“Me too. Always lots of excuses why he can't do a job for the family.” Larry shook his head. “I thought he was just being a lazy sack of crap, but this?”
I could have rubbed it in. Could have yelled at dad for even considering Lucas to be his next in command.
But when I fantasized about Ceci, I didn't feel like being angry anymore. She calmed me, kept me sane, better than any drug in the world ever could.
Dad's stoic expression turned into a bitter scowl. He pushed his chair across the room and punched the wall, his giant fist easily tearing a hole clean through it.
“I want him gone. Take care of him first, then figure out what the Giseppis are up to before it's too late.”
“Dad,” I said softly, leaning over his desk. “Lucas is missing. Last I saw of him was at the club, when he tried to blow my head off.”
“Yeah,” Larry added. “Nobody's seen him in days. One of our guys reported they thought they spotted his car leaving town, but that's all.”
I didn't like his disappearance one bit. It meant that he was hiding, planning something, probably revenge on the family for ruining his schemes.
That put Ceci in serious danger. Thank God that when I demanded she stay with me at night so I could look out for her, she had the sense to agree.
She'd returned to her schooling and her position at the hospital. Made me nervous, but she missed it so badly that I couldn't possibly tell her not to. Doubtful Lucas would try anything in broad daylight, but...
“Have Nico track him down. Ain't that his job?”
“He's already been trying, but if Lucas is fleeing across the country as we speak, it's gonna take a while. That's a lot of ground to cover.”
The other guys wandered outside, talking about what they were going to do soon as Lucas showed his ugly face. I stayed behind. Dad knew what it meant.
“You got something else on your mind, son?”
“Yeah. It's about the Trenton debt.”
He sighed. “I told you a hundred times what my answer was.”
“Yeah, but you also told Ceci if she found proof of what Lucas was doing, you would let them off the hook.”
“Technically, she didn't find nothing. You did.”
I knew he'd pull this bullshit. Here I had maybe just saved him from certain death and uncovered the biggest traitor this family had ever seen, and what was my reward?
“Part of this isn't even Roger's fault. He was manipulated into borrowing all that money, solely for Lucas's gain.”
Dad stared out the window, watching the cars fly by on the highway.
“This is about respect and honor more than money. You realize that.”
Time to pull out my trump card. Oh man, was I seriously going to do this?
It had been so easy to “propose” to Ceci that night. I said the words with my hands on her naked body, and they just felt so right.
I had a serious case of the jitters now, but shoved that aside.
“If it's honor you're worried about, then I have something important to tell you.”
He did not turn around. Somehow, he seemed to know what I'd say before I said it.
“I'm going to marry Ceci.”
It was obvious what I meant by that. Now I had him stuck, and he knew it.
“No, you're not.”
“Oh? Didn't know you had the authority to tell me who I can't marry. I'm a grown man, if you've forgotten.”
His lips lifted into a grin. “You're a clever kid, I'll admit that much. However, I can't allow you to do something so utterly stupid.”
“How is it stupid? She'll be one of us and under Ciarello protection. If that means you can't hurt her, then that's what I'm gonna do.”
He got this weird look on his face, a look I rarely saw on him. He turned from me, but not fast enough to hide the tears welling in his eyes.
“I always wanted you to settle down and marry, you know. You're getting older, and those flings of yours won't be around forever. You need a woman who can support you while you run the family.”
Immediately, I thought of mom. She had indeed supported dad through thick and thin, and look what happened to her because of it.
I felt sick when the horrible thought hit me. Mom died for the man she loved, all because of the enemies he'd made.
By marrying Ceci, what if I only put her in even more danger?
“You see, son, I want you to marry for love. Not because you feel you have to.”
“How do you know I don't love her?”
He scoffed. “You don't have a clue what love is. You've spent your youth partying and screwing every available woman in Summerset. I doubt you grasp the reality of what it means to be a good husband.”
“No, maybe I don't yet. But I want to learn – with her.” I swallowed to stop the lump in my throat. “I've never met a woman as special as her. So if she'll give me the chance, then I –”
The door flew open, and Sam practically fell inside the office, hunched over and breathing hard.
“Boss,” he gasped. “Alec! You... You have to see this.”
He thrust a cell phone at me. The image on it made my heart stop and turned my blood to ice.
It was a photo of Ceci as she walked through the college parking lot in her scr
ubs, dated today. The crosshairs of a rifle met across her chest.
The message attached said, “You ruined me. Now it's my turn.”
I dropped the phone and bolted from the office, then the house, and into my car. Lucas had Ceci in his sights. He was taunting me. Punishing me for screwing him over.
The despair I felt when I knew I could lose her was like a lead blanket I couldn't shake off.
“Lucas, you fucker,” I screamed. “Don't do this. Don't you touch her.”
I dialed her on my phone, but hers rolled right over to voicemail every single time.
The college loomed over the next hill. I was almost there.
I only hoped that I wasn't too late.
Chapter 20 - Ceci
“He kidnapped you?”
Emily slurped her soda and stared at me with disbelief. We were eating lunch together in the courtyard, as we did whenever our messy schedules allowed. It sure did feel good to be back on campus.
“Yeah, can you believe it? It's been quite an adventure, that's for sure.” I laughed. “But it's not over yet. My dad got himself into huge trouble with the mob. How am I supposed to forgive him for that?”
She shrugged as she thoughtfully chewed her fries. “Well, think of it this way: if he hadn't screwed up, you and Alec never would have, uh...” She grinned and wiggled her eyebrows.
I shoved her with a playful growl. Still, she was probably right. That night at the club, when I discovered who Alec really was, I'd promised never to have anything to do with him.
But then he stole me off the street and gave me the most satisfying sex I'd had in my life. Maybe he was bad news, but I was so glad I gave him a chance.
“I knew something fishy was going on, though. Your dad showed up here all flustered one morning, stammering like he'd overdosed on something. He told some of your professors you'd gone out of the country. It was obvious bullshit.”
“Aw, were you worried about me?”
“Of course I was.” She pretended to be upset I had asked. “I thought you'd gotten into trouble, or worse. I kept wondering if I'd hear about them finding your dead body on the news.”
“Alec would never have hurt me. In fact, he took such good care of me, it felt like a vacation.”