The Tempted Series: Collectors Edition

by Janine Infante Bosco

  “I know you thought Rico was a good guy,” my father began taking a seat beside me; he brushed away the contents of the envelope Mikey had poured onto the coffee table and picked up the newspaper. “You seemed happy enough, so I tried to turn off my gut feeling telling myself I was just being an overprotective father but I should’ve known better. My experiences in life have trained me to see through a person’s exterior to see passed the facade that they want you to see and uncover the grit of who they truly are. I turned my cheek because I didn’t want to lose you like I’ve lost Adrianna,” he said softly. “I failed you because I was too much of a coward.”

  I shook my head putting my hand on his arm.

  “No Daddy, it’s my fault. I should’ve seen through his charms and realized he was just like any other guy who has toyed with me to gain something from you,” I laughed sarcastically. “It’s a vicious cycle that I can’t escape. The shitty thing is I really cared about him at one point. I really thought he was different. I guess the jokes on me.”

  “Nikki…,”

  My eyes found his, and I saw the struggle in them, he was keeping something from me. He was trying to protect me from something. His hands toyed with the newspaper in his lap.

  “What is it?” I asked. “There is something you’re not telling me it’s written all over your face,” I chanced a glance at Jimmy who was staring down at the floor. “Dad?”

  He took a deep breath, his gaze fixated on the newspaper. What was with that fucking paper? I snatched it from his hands forcing him to tear his attention from it and focus it on me. I don’t know what made me look down at the paper, but I did the headline causing me to gasp.

  “The Night The Music Died."

  Beneath the bold headline was a photo of Temptations the perimeter wrapped in yellow crime scene tape and there was an inset picture of Rico in the right-hand corner. I diverted my eyes to the fine print below his picture not believing my own eyes.

  “New York’s hottest disc jockey dead at 24. The young man well known for turning tables and mixing beats was discovered cutting drugs and peddling them in reputed mob boss Victor Pastore’s night club.”

  I dropped the newspaper and looked at my father.

  “Rico’s dead?” I choked. I hated myself for the tears that welled in my eyes. I shouldn’t have cared I should’ve been mad, I should hate him, but I felt none of that. I did care and so I let the tears fall cursing myself as they did. I told myself it was okay to cry it was okay to grieve the man I had called my boyfriend because I hadn’t yet had a chance to process him as the enemy. He was just the guy who used to tell me he loved me. The guy I once thought I was going to spend my whole life with. I mourned the Rico I had known and loved he may not have been real and it may have all been an act, but it was the only reality I had truly known. Until now.

  My father wrapped his arms around me bringing my head to his chest, caressing my hair as I cried. I tried not to ever harp on the things my dad did for a living. It was none of my business, but at that moment, I couldn’t help but wonder if the man comforting me over the loss of Rico was the one who had actually murdered him. The thought that Rico’s blood was on my own father’s hands appalled me. It wasn’t rational, and I had to remind myself that Rico was a bad guy that he was probably using me to get to my father. Rico never felt a goddamn thing for me that didn’t mean I wanted him dead. I definitely didn’t like the idea of my father being responsible for his death. I was torn between the right and wrong society set and the right and wrong the mob lived.

  I pushed away from my father rising to my feet, wiping at my cheeks with the backs of my hands.

  “Did you, do it?” I asked, knowing I was disobeying a covert rule in asking my father to admit if he committed murder. You learn something as the daughter of a mob boss something drummed into your head from a very tender young age. Admit nothing. People legitimately connected to the mafia never proclaimed they were and they sure as hell didn’t confess to any of their crimes.

  I stared at my father, his face concealing any emotion or reaction to my question. He sat there like a fucking statue. He didn’t have to respond verbally to my question in order for him to answer it. His body language was all the response I needed to know that he had in fact killed Rico. I had lived twenty-one years surmising what my father was capable, but always hoping that someone else had executed his crimes, but right there in that moment, I learned the ugly truth.

  I shook my head in disgust. It wasn’t just learning what he was capable of, I conceded it was also knowing that the life he chose made us all susceptible to his crimes that we all suffered being a part of his lifestyle. My sister and I now had to drop our lives and go into hiding because my father couldn’t be a nine-to-five guy and instead had chosen to be a thug.

  “You really are a monster,” I whispered grimly.

  My father remained mute and perfectly still granting me no reaction at all. I couldn’t stand to look at him anymore and escaped to the bedroom, slamming the door behind me leaving my father to battle his conscience that’s providing he had one at all.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I was leaning against Victor’s black Escalade when the door opened, forcing me to glance up as Victor and Jimmy emerged from the cabin. I groaned when I saw them walking towards me realizing that I couldn’t escape them anymore and now I had to actually deal with the pile of shit he unloaded on me.

  “You should be getting a move on soon,” Victor said, shoving both his hands into his pockets. “Try not to make too many stops the risk of you being found won’t be so bad once you are at Gina’s,” he tilted his chin towards the cabin. “Just have patience with Nikki she’s going to be difficult.”

  “Great,” I said sarcastically, looking back at Victor. My nerves were shot the pressure of all this was just too much for a guy like me. “Vic, I think you’re making a mistake,” I admitted taking a deep breath. I had been mulling it over out here while they had been inside and the thought of being Nikki’s pretend husband the man responsible for her well-being until the storm passed well it was fucking insane.

  “How so?” he asked, but something in his eyes told me he wasn’t really paying attention to my nervous rant and was more likely just appeasing me by listening to my concerns or at least pretending to listen.

  “I don’t know you and your sidekick…,” I said, pointing my thumb over my shoulder at Jimmy who was smoking a cigarette behind me. “… are making me and Nikki disappear for a while because there are fucking madmen with guns out to get us because of our association with you. You are entrusting me to get Nikki down to Florida safe and sound and make sure that she stays safe. Am I right?”

  “Yes,” he said evenly.

  “That’s a big fucking responsibility, Vic! You’re putting her life in my hands!” I yelled realizing how desperate my voice must’ve sounded. I watched, as he looked at me expressionless. I didn’t get it. Didn’t he understand that I wasn’t capable of this shit that making me responsible for Nikki was a serious miscalculation on his behalf.

  “You don’t give yourself enough credit,” he said sincerely as he reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder. He placed his free hand on my cheek forcing my eyes to meet his. “You managed to get Nikki out of that club last night. You kept her safe. You did more for her than I did so if there is a question of who is best fit to protect my daughter the answer is you,” he dropped his hand from my shoulder and poked my chest with his finger to emphasize his words. “I trust you to take care of her.”

  I gazed at him warily, but it was hard not to believe his words when he was saying them with such conviction. The corners of his mouth lifted in a tired smile.

  “You remind me so much of your father,” he said releasing his hold on me.

  “I’m nothing like my dad. He had much bigger balls than I do,” I said rolling my shoulders. I was sure my father didn’t have a meltdown every time Victor gave him an order. Suddenly I didn’t feel like busting his balls anymore a
nd I didn’t have the energy to do so either. Victor and all the bullshit his lifestyle came with was fucking exhausting. I was whipped from last night and now I had to drive down to Florida, which would take at least twenty hours if we didn’t stop. I hated my life. Fuck that I hated Victor. He was responsible for every fucked up thing that ever went wrong in my life.

  Victor laughed slightly. “Not always.”

  “Clock’s ticking Vic,” Jimmy said impatiently as he walked around the SUV to climb into the driver’s seat.

  “Give me a minute,” he ordered, adding to Jimmy’s fury. I smirked at the asshole behind the wheel before looking back at Victor. “You and I are overdue for a talk wouldn’t you say?” he asked me his voice sounding full of regret. It was almost as if he needed to speak his mind because he wasn’t sure if he’d ever have another chance.

  I tried to think of what Victor could possibly have to say to me that I would even want to hear, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Many unanswered questions ran through my mind. I suppose I was just preoccupied with everything that had been piled on my plate since my mother’s death to dwell on my questions. Now that he mentioned it, they all came flooding back along with the resentment of not having the answers for ten years.

  “Your father wasn’t always behind this life of ours. There was a time when we were first starting out that he was apprehensive over everything we did. I was thirsty for power and to own the streets of Brooklyn and because of my greediness, I didn’t always make the right choices and I never thought about the consequences. Your father was the opposite. He knew that we were taking on a dangerous lifestyle. He knew that every single move we made would follow us for the rest of our lives. I was wild and reckless and he was calculating and determined and when you put us together we were a lethal alliance because of how well we balanced one another.”

  The anger faded away and was replaced by inquisition. Victor had my undivided attention as he brought me along for his stroll down memory lane.

  “I was a cowboy leaving a trail of destruction behind me that your father wound up cleaning up. He would warn me against half of my decisions and try to sway me to go another route. His way wasn’t wrong, it was just a patient way that could still be effective but would take longer. I didn’t have patience, so of course, I never listened to him, but eventually, he applied his own patience to his part of the job. Yes, he took orders from me, but he didn’t execute the orders in any other fashion but his own. He did things his way, and I did things my way and together we ruled a very powerful organization.”

  “How do I remind you of him?” I asked curiously. “I mean I’m not at all patient.”

  He laughed. “No you’re not, but you have the same fierce determination in your eyes as your dad did. Your father would try to talk sense into me just like you did with Nikki. Your father felt he wasn’t good enough to protect someone’s life when he was able to take one so easily.” He cocked his head to the side. “You aren’t similar in that regard, but Val would take a life without hesitation, especially if it was to save someone he cared for,” he pointed to my chest. “That son, that right there is where you are, your father’s son,” he smiled. “You don’t even realize it yet, but you will and when you do, you’ll remember we had this conversation. You will remember me telling you how passionate you are and you inherited that from your father.” Emotion clogged his throat, and he fought against it to continue.

  “I love my daughter with every fiber of my being and it’s killing me to know that she is in danger, that my enemies would use her to get to me. If I had my choice, I would pick your father to protect her. That is not an option but I am confident that you will do the job, maybe even better than your old man, after all, you are cut from the same cloth.”

  “You really cared about him, huh?” I said, looking away from him. I wanted to hate Victor for many reasons, but hearing him talk about my father it was evident that the man missed my father how could I hate him for that?

  “He was my best friend,” he swallowed.

  “My brother,” he blew out a deep breath. “I never asked him to take those bullets for me. I never made him believe that my life was worth any more than his,” he said hoarsely his voice cracking as he spoke. “I hated that he died protecting me.”

  “So did I,” I admitted swallowing against the lump that was wedged in my throat. “I hated that he chose his loyalty to you over his love for his family.” I ran my fingers through my hair taking a deep breath. I was beginning to realize that I may have misplaced my anger, putting the blame on Vic but the reality was my father made the choice that took him away from us and that was becoming too much for me to handle.

  “I needed my father Vic so did my mother, but his ties to you robbed us of him,” I shook my head disgustedly. “I want so badly to tell you to go fuck yourself. I want to turn my back on you like you turned your back on me all those years ago. My father died for you and you just wrote me and my mother off— “

  “I did nothing of the sort!” He said cutting me off desperate to set the record straight once and for all. “How do you think I knew about Maryann’s accident Michael? Did you even wonder or were you too intoxicated to care how we just showed up at your house that night?”

  I squinted at him, studying his expression. As intoxicated as I was the night of my mother’s accident, I distinctly remembered wondering how they had gotten word of her condition.

  “Your mother picked up and left with you after I begged her to stay. I pleaded with her to let me take care of the two of you. It was the least I could do for your father, but she wanted no part of me not that I blamed her,” he took a deep breath. “She was bitter and rightfully so fearing you would follow in your father’s footsteps if she kept you in Brooklyn. If she kept you around me, there was a good chance she would have been right. When she moved with you to Pennsylvania, she made me promise not to contact you or her. She cried to me that I had already taken her husband away from her that she would never let me take her son,” he shrugged his shoulders. “I couldn’t dispute facts. I had been the reason she was a widow, so I respected her wishes. I stayed away even though I knew that in my heart I was betraying your father. He would hate me knowing that I didn’t take you under my wing and be a father figure to you.”

  “I don’t know why I chose to honor Maryann’s wishes and not Val’s maybe it was guilt. Maybe deep down inside I knew that she was right, I wasn’t good enough to be around you. I should’ve stayed away, but I had always kept a watchful eye on the two of you and when I found out about Maryann’s accident, I just couldn’t stay away. For Christ’s sake, I’ve ruined my own children’s lives I had no business ruining yours too.”

  My mind was reeling from Victor’s confession over the last ten years I have harbored so much resentment for this man thinking that he had given up on me. It had never crossed my mind that he was wracked with guilt over my father’s death or that my mother had asked him to stay away. I always assumed since he was still sending her the rent from our old house that they had been in touch.

  I stared at Victor watching his eyes become glassy as he looked back at me. I probably shouldn’t have felt bad for him, but for some reason I pitied him. He wasn’t a bad guy I mean he did some pretty fucked up shit and he was a criminal, but deep down that man had a heart. He was a man who made many mistakes a man who lived with regrets a man too far gone to ever right his wrongs. He was a tortured soul.

  “I never meant for any of this to touch you, Michael.”

  Jimmy sounded the horn on the Escalade impatiently causing Victor to sigh and hold up his hand to him.

  “I have to get out of here before I compromise the two of you any more than I already have,” he said and then he shocked me by wiping away a tear that had escaped him. Victor Pastore was crying actually crying. That did something to me making my own emotions surface. “It was never my intention for you to be anything but a legit businessman,” he shook his head. “I’m sorry son.” />
  I felt raw the wounds from my father’s passing were re-opened and my mother’s death was the salt on those wounds. Victor’s words sliced through me tearing at anything that was left of me.

  “I’ll take care of Nikki,” I said hoarsely.

  “I know you will,” he said, pausing for a moment before he pulled me by my shoulder towards him wrapping his arms tightly around me. I fought to hold back the tears that stung my eyes as he patted me on the back reassuringly. We stood like that for a few moments before he pulled away.

  “I’ll be in touch,” he said turning around towards the car, pausing once he opened the passenger door. “I almost forgot,” he reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a worn envelope yellowed from its age handing it to me.

  “What’s this?” I asked, clearing my throat and taking the envelope.

  “It’s a letter your father wrote me years ago when we were just soldiers,” he said, climbing into the truck reaching for the door. He looked at me one more time before closing the door. He rolled the window down as Jimmy started the car.

  “Don’t be a cowboy,” Victor said his parting words of advice.

  I watched as Jimmy left tire marks on the muddy earth driving away from me.

  I glanced down at the envelope folded it in half and shoved it in my pocket. I took a deep breath, my head was pounding, and I was dreading the drive down to Florida. I turned around and headed towards the cabin.

  Nikki was in the shower when I walked back inside so I decided to get our shit together while I waited for her that way we could hit the road as soon as she was done. I knew we would have to stop for clothes and shit, but I was planning on driving straight through, no overnight stops. I wanted to get to Aunt Gina’s and lie low. My fucking nerves were beyond shot.