by Rye Hart
He slammed into me as his body pinned me to the wall. I gripped tightly to his shirt, his neck muffling my moans. Electricity shot through my veins and the fire in my legs curled my toes. His tightly-wound curls ground into my clit, causing my legs to jump with each thrust he delivered against my body.
“Julia. You’ll never know what you do to me.”
I licked his pulse point before I reached for his earlobe. I nibbled on it as a growl rumbled from his lips. He pounded into me, thrusting his cock deeper as my body opened up for him. His hand cupped my clothed breast, tugging at my nipple, raising it to a tightened peak. Even with the barriers still between us. I could smell him. Smell us. The scent was no longer lonely as it swirled around my head. This was what I had been missing. This connection with him. This deep, tethered, emotional outlet that only Romeo had been able to give me.
My head fell back against the wall and his lips attached to my neck. He buried his face into my tits and lifted me higher, fucking me until I had to bite down on my lip to keep myself quiet. My hands fisted his hair and his cock throbbed inside me. I could feel him struggling. Stuttering. Shaking against me as his body neared its end. His hand fell from the wall and slipped between my drenched pussy folds, finding my pulsing clit before he pressed his fingers onto me.
And that simple movement sent me over the edge.
“Romeo,” I said as my pleasure choked my voice. “Romeo, yes. I— you—”
My pussy clamped down around his cock, and he poured himself into me. He slammed into me one last time, his fingers circling my clit. He rode me through my orgasm as my pussy greedily milked him for everything he could give me as my arousal dripped down his thighs. Our lips locked together in a sloppy kiss, our tongues colliding and undulating. He raked his tongue along the roof of my mouth, and I shivered, my body going limp against his.
Our foreheads fell together, and he pinned me closer to the wall. He slid his cock out from between my legs, but not once did he allow me to fall. He gently lowered me to my feet and handed me something to clean myself up with.
And I knew that, deep down, that gentleman I’d fallen in love with was still there.
I quickly reached for my panties. The fog of the good old days lifted from my head, and I was pulled back into reality. I hadn’t even asked him yet. The one question I’d met him for in the first place.
“Romeo?”
“Mhm?”
“Please tell me you had nothing to do with the shooting at the docks.”
I looked over and him and watched as he stuffed himself back into his pants. I straightened myself up and fluffed my hair, trying to organize myself up as best as I could. I heard his zipper zip and his belt buckle, then I watched him stuff his shirt into the band of his pants.
But he didn’t answer my question.
“Romeo?” I asked.
“I told you it would take time to undo the things my father did.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” I said. “My bodyguard thinks you had something to do with it. Please tell me he’s wrong.”
His eyes met mine, filled with clouded lust and a stoic sense of sorrow. I blinked my eyes to keep tears from welling in them as feelings of remorse and regret filled my stomach. What the hell had I been thinking? How had I given into a man like him? Was reminiscing about better times all it took for me now? Was I that lonely and pathetic?
“Oh, Romeo,” I said, disappointment thick in my voice.
I couldn’t believe it. Enrico had been right after all. I shook my head, then headed for the bathroom door.
But Romeo’s hand came down onto my arm.
“Don’t,” I said as I pulled away from him.
I stumbled down the short hallway to the main bathroom door.
“Julia—”
“Don’t you dare,” I said.
I was hoping he could convince me he had nothing to do with it. Prove Enrico wrong for the first time so I could believe he was the same man I’d always thought him to be. But he wasn’t. He was a murderer, just like his father.
And I wasn’t going to let Matteo be around a man like that.
“I won’t see you again,” I said.
“Julia, it isn’t what you think.”
“It isn’t? Then look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t kill those men,” I demanded.”
I watched him clench his jaw, and I couldn’t unlock that damn bathroom door fast enough.
“Julia—”
“No. You did enough talking. You talked me out of my fucking panties for the second and last time, Romeo. I will not see you again and you will not know your son. There is no way in hell I’m going to let you around the most precious thing in this world.”
“That boy needs—”
“To be protected!” I exclaimed. “And that’s exactly what I’m doing. If you come after him, you better be ready for the fight of your life. And I’ll gladly put a bullet in anyone who crosses my path and thinks they can take that boy away from me and hand him over to the likes of you.”
Then I threw the door open and stormed through the coffee shop without another word said. I grabbed my purse from the table we’d been sitting at and stormed out of the shop. I forced my tears to remain unshed as I crossed the street and hopped into my car.
Then I sped off, my tires squealing against the pavement.
I felt like I was going to be sick, and I needed a fucking shower.
CHAPTER 11
ROMEO
I listened as her footsteps scurried down the hallway. Far away from me as I stood in the women’s bathroom of that coffee shop. I stepped out of the room and watched her grab her belongings and storm out of the shop. She was running across the street. She couldn’t get away fast enough.
Fuck.
Running my hand through my hair, I groaned. I loved being with her. I cared for her more than she could imagine. More than I could comprehend. It was just like before. Being buried inside of her ignited those feelings I’d felt all those years ago. Feelings I knew had never fully vanished. I wanted all of her. I wanted our family to be together. Sitting with her and reliving the past, then taking her against the wall of that bathroom? It pulled deeper feelings from me. Feelings of forever I’d never experienced with any other person in my life.
I needed Julia.
I wanted to raise our family with her.
But she was right. If we were going to do that successfully, then I had to find a way out from underneath the burden of my family’s shadows. It was no place for a six-year-old boy. And I’d never be the father Matteo would need me to be if I was gunning down people my father did dirty dealings with. I had to find a way to divest myself completely of the shady dealings he roped us into. And I would have to find a way to do it diplomatically.
I strode down the hallway and slapped a hundred-dollar bill onto the table. My tip for the man keeping his fucking mouth shut. I walked outside and felt the hot sun on my face, allowing it to drip down my body. It reminded me of her. The heat of the sun reminded me of the heat of Julia’s body. It’s warming presence reminded me of the touch of her skin against mine. I was angry. Seething with fury.
But not at Julia.
I knew she was right. She was protecting our son, and I could never be angry with that. It was her job as his mother to make sure he was safe, secure, fed, clothed, and loved. And I had no doubt she was doing that. She was a wonderful mother. I was angry at my father. Angry at him for sacrificing the state of our family to run this corrupt fucking organization. Angry at him for making me feel as if I was the only one who could take the throne as opposed to Antony sitting on it. Angry at myself for thinking that killing those gun runners for the right reasons somehow justified the fact that I’d murdered someone.
I got into my car and headed to my office. I didn’t want to go home, and I needed time to think. I parked the car and walked into the building my father had established a decade ago, and I flung the door open.
I found two of my lie
utenants standing there waiting for me.
“What?” I asked.
“We called,” James said.
“And I didn’t pick up. So the fuck what?” I asked.
“It’s important,” Donald said.
“Spit it out, then get out,” I said.
“We need to know what your next move is so we can orchestrate properly, sir,” James said.
“Next move for what?”
“For the guns.”
“There are no guns,” I said. “We didn’t need them, so someone else can have them.”
“With all due respect, sir. We did need those guns,” Donald said.
“For what?” I asked. “You’ve got one on your hip and one at your ankle. James has one around his back and two at his ankles. Why do you need more guns?”
“They aren’t for us. They’re for our arsenal.”
“And why do we need an arsenal?” I asked. “If we were doing legitimate business with the people of this city, we wouldn't have to point guns at their heads to get them to pay up.”
I tossed my jacket over my leather chair as the two men stared at me.
“Is there anything else?” I asked.
“With all due—”
“Cut the shit and the formalities. Talk to me like men. What’s the issue?” I asked.
“You’re growing soft,” James said.
My eyes panned over to the stout man as he cocked his head.
“You said to be blunt.”
“We like the way your father did business,” Donald said. “He was strong. Articulate. He knew what he wanted, and he had no issues going after it.”
“And I know what I want, so I’m going after it. That isn’t the real issue. The issue here is that you wanted this arsenal to gun down whoever got in your way because you’re power hungry like the rest of the men that worked for my father. So let me tell you something. The Martine family owns half this fucking city. Our renters? They pay us. And when they have issues, they look to us for guidance and help. My father’s been bleeding them dry for decades in exchange for promising them cleaner streets. But all my father did was gun down men he thought were guilty. While employing the men who were actually guilty of the crimes.
James and Donald looked at one another before nodding their heads.
“The fuck was that?” I asked.
“People respect us because they fear us. Your father understood that concept,” Donald said.
“And now my father’s dead,” I said.
“There’s no reason to change the status quo. Everyone’s used to our presence.”
“So then why do you need the guns if they’re used to your presence?” I asked.
“You’re too soft,” James said. “You want to run a legitimate business, but you’ve had criminals working for you for damn near a year. So if you can’t run this operation the way your father saw fit, then maybe you need to step aside and let someone else take over.”
“Someone that will do it like it needs to be done,” Donald said.
“What? Like you?” I asked.
The man rolled his shoulders back making my vision drip red. That was what this was about. These two goons who had worked with my father since he first took over felt they were entitled to sit in his fucking seat now that he was dead. I slowly walked around my desk, my fists balled at my sides. I locked eyes with Donald and he faltered, taking a step back when he saw the anger behind my stare.
I reached out and fisted the man’s shirt and brought his piggish face to mine.
“You don’t like the fact that I’m trying to clean up my family’s act?” I asked.
“Sir, that isn’t what—”
“If you really wanted to live by my father’s rules, then you would know that the one thing he hated more than cowardice was a man that backtracked on his word. A man who didn’t own up to the opinion he had,” I said.
“Mr. Martine, what Donald was trying to say—”
“Silence!”
Donald’s eyes squeezed shut, and he turned his head away from me. I released him from my grasp, and he rolled his shoulders and smoothed down his jacket. I felt anger rushing through my veins as I closed my eyes. I felt myself on the outskirts of uncontrollable rage. I had to keep my promise. I had to clean up this family’s act. I had to change, and for the better, so I could be with Julia.
Be with my son.
Be with the family I’d created.
“Told you he wouldn’t do anything,” Donald said.
And my eyes snapped open at his words.
In an instant, I whipped around and brought my fist into his face. He fell back into the wall, and I lunged at him, my teeth bared and my eyes wide. I pummeled him until I finally came to my senses and tossed him onto the floor.
James fell to his side and helped him up, and I watched as blood dripped from Donald’s mouth onto his suit.
“Get the fuck out,” I said as I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket. “Because if you can’t support me, then you can go find someone else to work for.”
Then the two men stumbled out of my office without another word uttered.
I clenched my jaw as I cleaned the blood off my hand. Fuck. I couldn’t believe I’d lost control like that. How the hell was I supposed to be the man and the father Julia and Matteo needed if I couldn't even control my fucking temper? The longer I sat in my father’s chair, the more I was turning into him. Into the angry, tyrannical man I’d known him to be in his later years. I threw the handkerchief against the wall and let it fall to the floor.
I walked over to my chair and sat down, then put my face in my hands.
I was losing my family. I took two steps forward only to be thrown right back to the beginning. I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes to keep myself rooted in reality. I didn’t see a way out of this. I couldn't continue beating people into submission and putting bullets between people’s eyes, but my father had brainwashed all of them. Into loyalty. Into subservience. Into running the streets with fear instead of legitimate business practices. And if I fired everyone, they would seek out employment elsewhere and divulge secrets that could cost me my entire family.
But if I kept them, I had to find a way to control them.
And violence was all these people knew.
I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes again. I conjured Julia’s sweet face. Her dazzling eyes and her beautiful hair and her perfectly-packaged body that shivered against mine. I could still feel her lips against my neck. Her hands rushing to my hair. Her legs locked around me and her lips begging me for more. Her hands were so small, they fit into the palms of mine. And her fingers were delicate. Soft. Warm.
They made the giant in me melt every time she ran them up my neck.
My priority was my family. But which family? The family that had raised me? Expected me to take this seat? Looked to me for guidance and advice? Or the family I’d created?
Where was my loyalty supposed to lie?
I thought it was with both. I dreamed it could be with both. But the deeper I got into everything, the more I felt forced to choose. Like I felt forced to choose when I was a teenager. Julia had been ripped from me by her father, but now her father was dead. Nothing was standing in the way of me whisking us away and never looking back.
Except that my family would hunt me down and kill me if I ever left this seat. If I ever gave it up to anyone who didn’t deserve it.
I’d made them a promise, and I couldn’t go back on it. But I’d also made myself a promise. From the moment I figured out Matteo existed, I promised to be the man he needed. The father he needed. The father I never had. I promised Julia I wanted peace with the families and to somehow merge all of us, but I was getting buried underneath promises and words that clashed more than they meshed.
I needed to find a way out of this with both of my families intact. And that was going to take a fucking miracle.
CHAPTER 12
JULIA
I stomped into Uncle
Stefano’s house and charged up to my room. I didn’t even bother shutting the damn door behind me. I took the steps two-by-two and raced straight for Matteo’s room.
I needed to be around him.
I opened his door and saw him sleeping in his bed and tears welled in my eyes. He even looked like his father when he slept. His disgusting father who was turning into nothing more than his grandfather he would never know.
I closed Matteo’s door and whipped around on my heels, making my way to my own room.
I was shaking. Trembling. It was hard to breathe. Hard to think. I couldn't believe I’d had sex with Romeo again. He’d lied straight to my face. Told me he wanted peace before dodging my question about the gun runners. He was guilty. I knew he was. His lack of an answer told me everything I needed to know.
Romeo was responsible for those killings.
“Julia.”
“Get the fuck out, Enrico.”
I heard my bedroom door shut before he made his way toward me.
“Get out,” I said breathlessly.
“What happened?” Enrico asked.
I grimaced as images flashed through my mind. How I begged him for more. How I pulled him closer to me. How my lips swelled against Romeo’s and how his cock filled me so perfectly. We fit together like puzzle pieces. Two parts of a whole that were made to be together. But he was shrouded in darkness, and I couldn't see his jagged edges. Every time I got close enough to see the boy I left behind, something would snag me.
Make me bleed.
“You were right,” I said breathlessly. “Romeo did it.”
I felt Enrico’s hand come down onto my back, and I flinched. I pressed my head into the wall and tried to hold back most of my tears. I didn’t want to feel this weak any longer. I didn't want to become that woman again. That meek, mild, tender-hearted woman who wanted to see the best in everyone. I had to see people for what they were. I had a son I needed to protect, and it required me to always see through the bullshit.
But I wanted so desperately to believe Romeo. Maybe I should have let him explain.
“Tigers can rarely change their stripes, Julia.”
“That wasn’t the Romeo I remembered,” I said.