Seeking Vengeance: Possessive Mafia Romance (Hunting - Mafia Romance Book 1)

by Eden Summers

  He finger-combs my hair, his touch perfectly gentle for such a strong man, as I lay cuddled around his waist.

  He makes sure I still have access to money to get home. That I have ID stored in my cell to be able to board a flight. He treats me like a treasure as my heart becomes full and my eyes grow heavy.

  Sleep is inevitable. The adrenaline and alcohol knock my feet out from beneath me, and all I want is a nap. I just expected him to still be here when I woke.

  Instead, the only thing left behind is a note on the coffee table in a now empty suite.

  Amore mio,

  I couldn’t wake you for two reasons:

  1. It seemed sacrilegious when you sleep like an angel.

  2. I didn’t want to give you closure by saying goodbye.

  This isn’t the end for us, even though I assume you’ve told yourself it would be. We will see each other again. I’ll make sure of it.

  M.

  I’m sucker punched by the intense level of desperation and heartache that overwhelm me once I realize he’s gone.

  His presence lingers in the bedroom. His delicious scent clings to the sheets. And even after I leave his suite, I can’t release myself from the hold he has on me.

  I cancel the last remaining night on my reservation and return home to a place that doesn’t feel the same as it had when I left.

  I’m not the same.

  The tingle in my chest inspired by Matthew’s existence stays with me. I can still smell him. Can still feel the brush of his lips against mine.

  But when Stella and Tobias come home Friday night, I put the infatuation to the back of my mind and dedicate the time to my daughter.

  I thrive in our moments alone, because thanks to my brother, I only get to see her one weekend a month.

  We watch movies and talk about boys. We eat popcorn, give each other mani-pedis, and make up for the distance usually placed between us.

  As much as I hate her living in Chicago, it has become clear she’s flourishing with the independence.

  Maybe I am, too.

  She didn’t even notice the swelling on my cheek, the bruising now hidden beneath numerous compacted layers of foundation.

  We spend two wonderful days together, made all the better by the sordid text messages Matthew sends me on the regular. He’s become my dirty little secret. A treasure for me and me alone.

  Each silenced vibration of my cell chips away at my resolve to keep things casual. I grow empowered by his determination, loving the way my confidence builds with his attention.

  Our monthly family lunch on Sunday at Cole’s house feels different, too. Usually I have a sense of underlying heartache whenever I’m surrounded by the perfect pigeon pairs. Everyone has a partner to rely on. Cole has Anissa. Then there’s Hunt and Sarah, Keira and Decker, as well as Luca and Penny.

  This time, there’s no pain or jealousy.

  I can’t even wipe the subtle smile from my face as we all hug in greeting.

  It feels like Matthew is here with me. Or maybe could be in the future.

  I spend the meal daydreaming about what my perfect world would look like. How Matthew would take the seat by my side at upcoming dinners. How he’d understand who I was and where I came from without judgment or anger.

  I deliberately skip past the introduction phase in my mind, knowing the first few months would be filled with paranoia and interrogation from Cole. But what came afterward would be bliss.

  We’d cuddle on the sofa, unashamed of any public display of affection. We’d have each other’s backs. And for once, I’d be the one to make everyone jealous because my relationship was enviable, not fake and devoid of emotion.

  It isn’t until Stella and Tobias leave the dinner table to escape into the backyard that my daydreaming stops.

  Everyone else’s hype and excitement over having the kids home disappears as if it were a facade. Keira, Penny, Sarah, and Anissa fall quiet. Cole, Hunter, Decker, and Luca’s conversation becomes stilted, their responses turning sharp and gruff.

  I missed the cause of the transition while in my imaginary state.

  Something that must have been important.

  I glance at each of them as I nibble on a bread stick, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end when more than one of them meet my gaze before quickly glancing away.

  This is about me.

  The tension seeping into the air is somehow my doing.

  I discard the half-eaten bread stick onto my plate and pat the corner of my mouth with a cloth napkin. “I’ll pack the dishwasher.”

  I push to my feet, preparing to cut and run. Nothing good can come from this vibe.

  “Sit,” Cole grates. “We’ve got things to discuss.”

  My stomach grows heavy. “Like what?” I reach for my sister’s cutlery to my right, pretending I’m immune to the tension.

  Anissa pastes on a friendly smile. “How have you been handling life without Stella?”

  “I’m doing well.” I fight a frown. It’s no secret my brother’s wife and I have had our share of trials over the years. We don’t do feelings, which is why it’s strange for her to ask. “Obviously, it’s tough. But I’m handling it.”

  “You’re glowing,” Penny adds. “Have you met someone?”

  My hand pauses in the middle of reaching for the dirty serving spoons. I’m caught at what to say and know it seems entirely forced when I chuckle a few seconds later. “I guess my new skincare regime is working. I have late-night online tutorials to thank for that.”

  “It’s definitely working,” she adds. “I’ve never seen you like this.”

  My heart pangs. Guilt follows.

  She’s never seen me like this because I’ve never felt like this. Not even while married.

  “Is this new skincare regime the reason you cancelled your credit card?” Cole raises a taunting brow. “Have you been making purchases from a disreputable company? Were you scammed?”

  He’s playing with me. Mocking. The worst part is, nobody attempts to save me from his underlying recrimination. They all sit and stare, waiting for answers.

  “I lost my purse.” I hold my brother’s gaze. “It’s not a big deal.”

  “When you were out of town?” Keira asks.

  “Yes,” I grate. “While I was out of town.”

  I keep staring at Cole as his eyes narrow, the authority in his gaze raising my apprehension. I know this look. I know what comes along with it, too.

  “You’ve met someone.” Keira pushes from her chair and grabs my dirtied plate topped with cutlery. “That much is obvious. You walked in here with a bounce in your step and this subtle giddy smile.” She starts for the kitchen. “I don’t know what I’ve done to be blocked from the happiness in your life, Lay, but it hurts that you didn’t share this with me.”

  I don’t deny her observation.

  I keep staring at my brother as crockery clutters into the sink. He’s angry, but not like my sister. The tightening in his jaw lets me know he’s positively fuming.

  “What, Cole?” I sigh. “You told me months ago that it was time to move on. Are you retracting your approval now that you’ve seen me happy for once?”

  “So it’s true?” He leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his suit-clad chest. “You’ve met a man?”

  I raise my chin, unwilling to voice a response.

  Despite daydreaming about romance, I didn’t let myself truly believe there was a possibility of a relationship until now. Until the moment when my brother could destroy it for me.

  “Is he the one who hit you?” he seethes.

  All eyes remain on me, the weight of their scrutiny making me nauseous.

  “No.” I square my shoulders, raise my chin, and bite back an emotional response. I can’t win this battle unless I focus. “He didn’t hit me.”

  “Then who did?”

  “I fell.” I use all the conviction I have to continue holding his stare. “I tripped on the sidewalk and stumbled into a b
rick wall. It’s no big deal.”

  Cole shoves aggressively from the table, the legs of his chair screeching across the tile. “Don’t fucking lie to me.” He leans forward, placing clenched fists on either side of his dinner plate.

  I don’t react. Don’t move. One badly timed blink and he’ll dig in his heels, demanding to know everything. Not only about Matthew, but about where we met, and why I was there.

  He can’t learn about Denver. If he finds out he’ll put a stop to my plans, then I’ll never be able to make amends or prove my loyalty to him.

  “Cole,” Anissa warns. “Calm down.”

  His nostrils flare as he glares. “Who is he? Tell me his name.”

  My heart lodges in my throat. “It wasn’t him.”

  “Bullshit.”

  I swallow, caught between wanting to scream and needing to crumple. “You think I’d be walking around with the giddy smile Keira mentioned if the man I was interested in hit me?”

  “I don’t know, Lay. Especially not when you married a man you didn’t love and watched him fuck around on you for years.”

  My face drains of warmth, all the blood seeping from my cheeks.

  He knew.

  Of course he did. It was stupid to assume otherwise.

  I guess it was even more idiotic to assume my brother would care enough to do something about my husband’s indiscretions. But it’s the humiliation that stings. They won’t understand why I ignored the existence of Benji’s mistresses. They’ll assume I have no self-respect.

  “Careful,” Luca warns. “Benji isn’t here to defend himself.”

  “This isn’t about your brother,” Cole snarls.

  My pulse increases, pounding in my throat.

  Usually I can understand Cole’s protective nature. I don’t always like it, but there has always been an understanding of why he is the way he is.

  Now is different, though. This isn’t merely protection. There’s resentment in the mix. Disgust, too. Both byproducts that stem from the bad decisions I made in the past. Decisions he refuses to stop holding against me.

  “Fine.” I speak through clenched teeth. “I was mugged. That’s why I needed to cancel the credit card. My purse was stolen and I got shoved into a wall. I’m not being abused. I haven’t made any more bad choices. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  Silence descends before the most out-of-place chuckle carries from outside as the kids remain oblivious to our argument.

  “Why didn’t you say something?” Hunter mutters. “If you’re in a position where you’re getting mugged, you need to—”

  “What?” I fix my brother’s enforcer with a scowl. “I need to do what, Hunter? Quit leaving the house? Lock myself inside? Go back to living a non-existent life just so you think I’m perfectly managed?”

  “Watch your mouth,” Cole warns.

  “No. I won’t.” I glare. “I didn’t tell you—I couldn’t tell you—because I knew how you’d react. You always fly off the handle. You’ve spied on me like I’m a goddamn traitor since Benji died.”

  “You can’t deny your track record of making smart decisions is lacking.”

  His verbal strike hacks at my confidence. “You’re never going to let me forget my mistakes, are you?”

  I never should’ve given my father information on Cole. I’d naively thought I’d been looking out for my family because, back then, my brother was a hothead who enjoyed spilling the blood of anyone who glanced sideways at him.

  There were whispers he’d start a drug war for frivolous reasons.

  For pride. Or spite. Or even arrogance.

  So I kept my father updated on his son. I gave him insight when he couldn’t seek it for himself because he’d fled the country. And I convinced Benji to do the same.

  It was for the family’s safety.

  For our future.

  Back then, I hadn’t known who my father was. What he was. I would’ve killed him myself if I’d known about the sex trafficking.

  To me, he was the same man who’d always denied me attention.

  Affection.

  Love.

  His request created the only bond I’d ever had with him. The one connection between us. So when he offered financial compensation for the information I’d already been giving freely, I didn’t see it as a bribe. It was merely a strengthening of our building relationship.

  At least, that was what I told myself until he proved otherwise.

  The thickening tension builds.

  The men at the table judge me with annoyance and disappointment. The women do the same with shame and embarrassment.

  Every second, every blink, every sigh or noise of displeasure scampers under my skin, the toxicity finding a home inside me.

  “I think we need to end this conversation before it gets out of hand.” Sarah pushes from her chair and grabs the salad bowl. “I vote that the women clear the table and the men stack the dishwasher.”

  This is far from over.

  Cole will keep hounding me. Will keep holding everything against me until I finally stand up to him.

  “I’m not done.” My eyes burn as I stare my brother down. “I’ve apologized over and over again. I’ve tried my best to make amends. I let you bug my house when you said you couldn’t trust me. I allowed your guards to follow me—to invade my home and my privacy—because that’s what you wanted, even though I despised having strange men in my home when Stella and I were at the height of our grief.”

  “And?”

  I bite my tongue, caught between crying and screaming. “And I didn’t protest when you deliberately sent Tobias to boarding school because you knew Stella would follow. She was all I had, Cole. The only thing to bring me happiness, and I let her go. All for you. I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me. But I won’t allow you to dictate my life anymore.”

  “You won’t allow me?” He raises a brow, his livid rage crackling below the surface.

  Someone curses under their breath. Hunter or Decker. I’m not sure because I don’t drag my gaze from the severity in my brother’s eyes.

  “Yes. I won’t allow you.” I stand my ground. “Everyone at this table has made mistakes. Every single one of them. Yet, two years later, their sins are forgiven and mine seem brand new. Why is that?”

  “They’re not blood,” he snarls.

  “They’re not blood?” My voice rises without my consent, the tone filling with feminine emotion I despise as I swing an arm toward my sister in the kitchen. “Keira made mistakes, too. And don’t get me started on your wife.”

  He flashes his teeth in a snarl. “Choose your words wisely, sister.”

  “I have. For years. I’ve done everything wisely, with extreme caution, always keeping everyone here at the forefront of my mind because I want to make up for what I did. For how I allowed my own father to manipulate me. But that’s what it was, Cole—manipulation. Our father tricked me. Used me. Just like he used so many others. And yes, I know it’s still my fault. And yes, I profited from it and have to live with my decisions for the rest of my life. But what I won’t live with is you throwing it back in my face whenever the whim takes you.” I sniff to kill the tingle in my nose. “I won’t take the overbearing protectiveness anymore. I won’t play along with you thinking you can decide where I go and what I do. Or that you need to know why I cancelled my credit card or how I got a goddamn bruise on my face. What I do now is my business.”

  Cole raises his chin, slow and deliberate, the anger receding as smug superiority takes its place. Then he inclines his head as if in agreement.

  “That’s it?” I frown. “You’re not going to say anything?”

  He gives a faint shrug. “You’re doing me a favor.”

  That hurts.

  Really hurts.

  I want to hunch from the pain he slices through me, his rejection tearing open old wounds as my eyes burn like wildfire.

  “Cole,” Anissa pleads. “Don’t say something you’ll regret.” />
  “I won’t regret it, little fox.” He keeps his gaze on me as he speaks to his wife. “As far as I see it, this is perfect timing. Layla no longer wants me to know her business, and I’m more than happy for her not to know mine.”

  There’s an ominous ring in his tone. Something that alludes to a deeper meaning.

  “You see, sister, I’ve wanted nothing more than to claim retribution against those who murdered my niece’s father for years. But I held back because you begged. You fucking pleaded in the most pathetic display of weakness I’ve ever seen. So I gave you what you wanted. What you needed to move on, because I couldn’t risk you jumping further off the rails. But with this new outlook on our relationship, I guess I’m no longer burdened by your wants and needs. I can take what I’m owed. What we’re all owed.”

  I stiffen, my lungs tightening.

  He’s going to claim the retribution I’ve been trying so hard to achieve. He’s going to take the only chance I have to right my wrongs.

  I panic, wanting to backtrack but not knowing how. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m sure you’d love to know.” He looks at me with self-righteous indignation. “Unfortunately, though, it’s now clear we don’t share that kind of information.”

  16

  Layla

  “You’re not going to tell me?” My limbs quake with fury.

  “You tell me yours. I’ll tell you mine.” Cole smirks, the curve of his lips sickening in its arrogance.

  “Fuck you, you manipulative piece of shit.” I shove at my place mat, the heavy material scooting forward to topple the salt and pepper shakers. “You’re just like our father.”

  His eyes flare. I don’t stick around to take more of his toxicity. I storm for the sofa, snatching the old purse I’d found at home to tug the strap over my shoulder.

  “Layla, wait.” Keira hustles toward me from the kitchen. “Don’t go.”

  “I’m not staying.” I continue to the sliding glass doors leading outside and yank them apart, plastering on a fake smile as the gentle breeze brushes my face. “Stella, it’s time to leave, sweetheart.”

  She raises her gaze from her cell screen and snaps a glance toward Tobias sitting on the lounger beside her. “I’ll see you at the airport?”