Mafia Scars (The Accidental Mafia Queen Book 2)

by Khardine Gray

  It really was too much. All in one day, I saw my father, learned of my mother’s betrayal, found out why this Tag person wanted me dead, and that my father was the keeper of rare diamonds that were so rare Luc thought they were a myth. When did my life turn into some Indiana Jones film?

  He sighed and released the grip he had on my arm, allowing me to leave.

  I went for the back exit through the kitchen. That took me out onto the grounds of the mansion.

  I hadn’t seen the whole of Luc’s place yet, but I imagined it would be similar to this, what we had here.

  What I used to have.

  I dashed through the garden and into the little gazebo with the garden swing. I used to come out here to think when I was little.

  I’d spend hours out here just going over dance routines and steps. Other things too.

  Here I was again.

  It looked the same. I sunk down onto the hard wood of the swing and kicked the ground behind to spark some momentum.

  Resting my head against the long brown, entwined vines, I began to think.

  The only decision here that was right was the one that worked best.

  I couldn’t bear the fact of Luc going to prison. So, the right way was their way.

  No cops and feds? We take it in hand.

  That was why we were here.

  Here in Chicago.

  To do things their way. I closed my eyes and took it all in. My body grew heavier, and I could have drifted off to sleep right here. My old college professor said once that mental stress could drain you in a way that made you feel like you’d just run a marathon.

  That was how I felt now. As if I’d been running around non-stop on the longest marathon. Body fully engrossed in it, as was my mind.

  What I had to do was accept things for what they were. That was the hurdle I had to jump over.

  This wasn’t about being a criminal or not.

  Back then, when everything had come to a head and I’d found out the truth about my father, he was doing what he thought was best to protect me. There was no way that I was condoning his behavior, but his way had worked for a long time. It bought years of the freedom I’d sought.

  It would have continued to keep me from here, until someone spoke and unleashed a secret that put a target on my back.

  What I needed to do now was push my worries and concerns to the back of my mind.

  Just to sort out this mess. Then I could pick up all the pieces later.

  I could deal with my inner demons later.

  After all, my father was sick, and who knew how long he had left.

  Did I want to spend the rest of his days pushing against him, hating him and this way of life?

  No… it wasn’t in me.

  I thought of Luc too. He’d said days ago that he did what he had to do, whether it was right or wrong. We’d been talking about how Sinclaire always did the right thing.

  I’d thought at the time that the two men were so different. Now their differences were truly sinking in.

  Neither was bad, but they came from different worlds.

  They had different ways of doing things that protected the ones they loved.

  I shouldn’t have said what I said to Luc.

  About changing.

  It was wrong of me to bring up an intimate conversation like that, that held so much meaning for us.

  It didn’t matter what I believed. He’d looked hurt.

  The shuffling of footsteps forced my eyes open, and I turned in an instant.

  I couldn’t be blamed if the last few days had made me slightly jumpy.

  However, the person who approached me was the least likely person to be jumpy around.

  “Millicent,” I gasped.

  The elderly lady who’d been like the fairy godmother in Cinderella smiled, beaming at me. She held a tray of cookies and a glass of chocolate milk.

  “Welcome home, Miss Amelia.”

  The cookies were all gone, and I scooped my finger around the inside of the glass that had previously contained chocolate milk made for God himself.

  God would definitely have appreciated that. It was like ice cream blended with rich, smooth Godiva chocolate. That was the texture it had. What I called velvety goodness.

  “How about I make you some more of that later?” Millicent chuckled, placing her hand at her heart in that old habitual way that showed she was glad I enjoyed her food. “Are you… going to be here later?”

  The question, the flicker of interest in her eyes, told me that was no mere question. I had a good hunch that she was trying to ask me about Luc, and I wondered what might have been said before.

  “I think I may stay later. Yes, I’ll be here tonight.” I’d decided it as we spoke.

  We’d been out here for close to an hour catching up while I ate.

  Talking to her was refreshing like always.

  This woman had been my comfort and rock for so long. I didn’t know how it was I’d survived without her for more than a decade.

  I thought of staying to reacquaint myself with my home, with my father.

  I’d taken that first step by coming back and talking to him. I kind of wanted to see how everything else flared out.

  “That’s great. I’ll whip you up a fresh batch of everything then.” That flicker sparked in her eyes again. “I guess I figured you’d be staying with Luc. Although I’m sure your father would love having you here.” She rolled her eyes and laughed at herself. “Amelia, don’t let a lady suffer here. You know what I’m trying to ask.”

  I laughed too. “Yes, I thought that maybe I’d play it by ear where I base myself while I’m here. I’ll go to Luc’s tomorrow.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” She gave me a curt nod. “Your father told me about you two this morning.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He said that he knew you guys were together and that he was happy to die knowing you were with someone who could take care of you. Better than him.”

  I glanced down at the neat swirl of grass that cushioned our feet and rested back against the strong wicker chair.

  “Everything is so all over the place,” I breathed.

  “You had a lot to process.”

  I wasn’t sure how much she knew. I doubted that my father had told her all the intricate details, but then again, maybe he did.

  “What do you know?” Best thing to do was to ask.

  “I know about your father’s business.” She brought her hands together, and discomfort tugged at her expression. “I’ve always known. I was hired to help your mom with her charity events, look after the house, and be your nanny, simply because I could be trusted. Trust is hard to come by in these parts. I know that an old friend of your father’s, or rather a rival, I suppose, is after you to get to him. I also know that the whole thing resulted from your mother’s affair with that said friend.”

  “So, you know a lot.”

  “Know a lot and regret much.”

  That held my interest. “Like what?”

  “It was me who alerted your father to your mother’s affair. I didn’t really know that she was, um… seeing your father’s friend, but I suspected it. I stirred the pot of suspicion, and it led us here.”

  I furrowed my brows. “Millicent, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I did. I should have approached your mother first. It’s just that I knew how much your father loved your mother, and I went to him when I suspected it because it hurt me to think she could do that to him.”

  I nodded. “I’m hurt too. I do know how much my father loved my mother. I saw it every day.” I’d always hoped that I could have had the love they had. It was so real I swore I could feel it whenever I was in their presence.

  It spilled over to me.

  Hearing my mother never felt what I’d seen was heartbreaking.

  “My ex-boyfriend cheated on me,” I said without thought.

  Millicent’s face filled with sorrow. “I’m so sorry, dear. Did you love
him?”

  I sighed and gave her a soft smile. “Yeah, I think so. In the beginning it was crazy, and I fell for him. But it wasn’t real.”

  “Sometimes it’s like that, but just because it changed doesn’t mean it wasn’t real. Falling for someone is different than finding true love. That’s the mistake people make sometimes. Feelings are always real. What matters is whether they can last. Forever.”

  This was what I loved about Millicent. Her wisdom, that magic I’d feel from her words. Like she really could wave her wand and grant me anything I wished. Like she could point her wand at my life and transform me into a princess whose mission it was to get to the ball and meet the prince.

  If only it were that simple.

  “How do you know the difference? Can anyone know?”

  “I think…” Her smile widened. “I think you just know. Your heart tells you.”

  “Your heart tells you?”

  “It does.”

  I believed her because my heart only started to speak to me after I met Luc.

  Chapter 14

  Luc

  The old man was beyond stubborn.

  That old saying about mules was lost on him.

  This guy was worse.

  For over an hour, I tried to convince the jerk that we needed to get the damn diamonds.

  He thought it best to leave them in the facility, because it was highly secured and nothing and no one could get to it.

  “Bullshit, Raphael. Fucking bullshit. Let me tell you again, everyone has a price. The diamonds aren’t safe where they are. Who’s to say that the people you have taking care of them won’t just hand them to Tag? Then what? He’ll come and kill Amelia.”

  “They’ve been safe there for years with a highly secure password. Not even the people who work there know what I have in that safe.”

  “Jesus Christ, Raphael, they don’t need to know. All they need to know is that you have something there with a high level of security. You don’t have such high security on anything else.”

  He frowned and seethed. “Luc, don’t test me. I know what I’m doing. You turned down the business, so if you want to work for me, we do things my way.”

  “Son of a bitch, like hell we do things your way.” I jumped up off the sofa and squared my shoulders.

  He widened his eyes and glared at me. “You heard me. If it remains hidden, it’s hidden. No one knows.”

  “Fuck you. You thought no one knew about you ratting out Tag, and look how that turned out. You lost your wife, and now you want to lose your daughter.”

  “Luc, I swear to God that if I didn’t like you so much, I’d pop a bullet in you right now for that.”

  “You know what, Raphael? I don’t give a rat’s ass if you like me or not. I would love to see you try to end me.”

  The bastard. He backed down knowing he wouldn’t be able to reach for his gun quick enough, if I was being serious.

  Not even I had the heart to take down a man who I knew was dying, and definitely not the man who was the father of the woman I wanted.

  “You’re a real hardass, you know that?” Raphael bore into me with sharp brown eyes.

  “Yes.” I stared him down.

  His eyes never left mine, and I wasn’t going to allow him to have his way on this one. Sure, he’d run his business very successfully his whole life, but we weren’t talking about real estate.

  This was about Amelia. So far, I hadn’t seen anything that made me want to agree with his ass-backwards plan.

  Someone cleared their throat by the door.

  Amelia.

  I immediately loosened up the tenseness I displayed in my shoulders.

  It was amazing. I would never be able to get over what this woman did to me. When I was with her, the world faded into black, and all I could see was her.

  Now that we were all here, I’d been thinking about how ridiculous it was for me to have thought I could marry her and take over the business.

  I had no idea that my feelings for her could surpass my desire to take over from Raphael.

  No idea. Now look at me. Standing here, ready to give Raphael a piece of my mind, and one look from her turned me into melted butter.

  “I’d like to cut in if I may.” She looked from me to Raphael and kept her focus on him.

  “You may.” Raphael didn’t even let up on his tone with her.

  “Well, Dad, I think that your plan is flawed.” She walked into the room, keeping her eyes on him.

  He squinted, definitely not liking what she said.

  “Flawed in what way?” he challenged.

  “There’s one thing you’re failing to take into consideration.”

  “What’s that?”

  “There’s someone working with them here too. A rat of the worst kind. Someone had to have told him that it was you who tipped off the feds that day. As long as we have to worry about such a person we have to constantly watch our backs.”

  Girl after my own heart.

  That was the next thing I was going to bring up, but it was a difficult subject.

  The people Raphael had around him were the ones he was closest to. I knew I could rule out my father and Claudius.

  There were others in his circle though, some I didn’t know about.

  They were all friends of his, some close like family. It would be an outright insult for me to even imply that one of them could have ousted him.

  “And when the rat finds out about the facility, they’ll be over there in an instant,” I added.

  “You. You aren’t helping.” Raphael pointed at me. “Is this what the two of you planned? To gang up on me?”

  “Really, Dad?” Amelia pouted, and the two of them looked at each other.

  “What do you suggest then, my dear?”

  “Bed rest or vacation. Maybe you could go to Italy and allow Luc and me to take care of things here.”

  I almost laughed. Raphael take a vacation. Unheard of.

  He laughed.

  “What’s funny?” Amelia’s face was dead-pan serious, not even a smirk.

  “You.”

  “Me? What me?” She folded her arms under her breasts, showing off a healthy amount of cleavage.

  She saw me looking at her breasts and flashed me a little smile. Looked like we were okay.

  Her comment from earlier worried me. I didn’t know what the hell to say to it because while I saw her point, I knew we couldn’t palm this off to the cops or feds.

  This was out of their league.

  “You thinking I can just take a break.”

  “Well, it looks like you can. Luc doesn’t want to lead the business, and you’re too sick. So, I’m taking charge.”

  Holy fuck.

  This was the woman I’d seen that first night when I saw her at the restaurant.

  The guys had called her boss.

  Raphael sat forward, elbows resting on his knees, mouth open.

  And me… I just looked at her.

  “Say that again.”

  “I said I’m taking charge. Luc’s idea is better. It makes sense to get the diamonds and keep them here. Get it before they get to it. They have always been one step ahead. Don’t give them the rope on this too.”

  Raphael straightened.

  “I’m not going to give anyone the password. I’ll get them myself.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “You won’t. You’ll give me the password because you trust me more than anyone. You know I don’t have a price, and no matter what, I won’t betray you.”

  It was the first time I’d ever seen Raphael stunned to silence. Goddamn, she was good.

  Better than good.

  Raphael looked at me, then returned his gaze to Amelia. “Okay, we’ll talk later.”

  Just like that, it was done.

  “What now, boss?” I asked her, lingering on the last syllable of boss. She smiled too.

  “We get the diamonds, secure them here in the vault, and draw out Tag and anyone else who’s working f
or him. Until then, we only speak to the people who need to know. We trust no one else.”

  “Got it.”

  I smiled at her, pride taking over. I loved how strong she was. Her resilience in everything. Didn’t matter what was thrown at her.

  “Got it,” Raphael said too and smirked.

  This was going to be very interesting indeed.

  “Luc, can I speak to you in private?” she asked.

  Hell yes, she could do whatever she wanted to me. In private and in public. I didn’t give a fuck, just as long as she never stopped touching me.

  “Sure.”

  She cocked her head to the side, motioning for me to come outside.

  Raphael watched me as I walked past him.

  I sensed he wanted to say something but held back.

  I followed her out into the garden, where she’d rushed off to earlier.

  “I’m going to stay here tonight,” she began.

  I stifled a groan. “You’re mad at me?”

  “No, I feel I have to.”

  “I get it. You should get reacquainted. I guess no matter how good or bad he is, he did spend the last decade trying to protect you.”

  Something flickered in her eyes. “Yeah, he did. He did what he did to keep me safe.” That warmth that I always saw when she looked at me filled her gorgeous eyes. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. This isn’t about changing.”

  “No. Is that what you wanted to see me about, boss?” I gave her a small smile.

  “Yes, and to ask for your help.”

  “Really? You think you need to ask for my help?” I chuckled.

  “Yes, it’s better to ask than to assume.”

  “You agreed with my idea, boss.”

  “Stop calling me that.” She grimaced and wrinkled her pretty nose.

  I reached out and touched her face. “You shock the hell out of me, you know that?”

  “Your plan was better. Plus, he can’t keep doing this.”

  I nodded. “So, you stepped up and took charge.”

  “I did.”

  Just looking at her was turning me on. I wished she were coming back with me now. I would take her straight to bed. Back to bed.

  I needed to speak to my father and Claudius after Raphael spoke to them today, until then I would have loved the chance to play with her.