by Madison Faye
Gino scowls, but I just smile.
“I mean, that's kinda your thing, right?” My grin widens. This is dangerous fucking territory, egging Gino on like this. But it's the one play I can see.
“You know, guys mouths and dicks?”
Gino’s face goes red.
“You and Tony here ever…you know,” I shrug. “I'm not judging you know. I think you guys would make a really cute coup—”
I turn my head just in time, catching Gino’s gun across the side of my head instead of it breaking my teeth. I grunt, groaning as I hear Quinn scream and I can feel the warm trickle of blood flow down my face.
“Fuck, Gino, do these other guys even know about—”
“You shut your fuckin’ mouth!”
The gun presses into my skull, and I freeze.
“Give us a minute, won’t you fellas?” he says quietly.
“Boss, I don’t think that’s such a good—”
“I said give us a minute, you dumb prick!” he roars at the guy. The men nod quickly.
“Sure thing, boss.”
“You too, Tony.”
Tony eyes me a second before he turns back to his boss, nodding slowly. “You got it, Gino.”
They all turn and leave the room, shutting the door behind them. And then it's just me, Quinn, and Gino.
“Guess she’s got a bigger mouth that I thought.”
I growl under my breath as he turns to look at her. “That it, honey? All the money and the pretty things you could ever ask for and you go and run your damn mouth anyways.”
“She didn’t,” I spit. “I just figured it out.”
Gino smiles. “Nah, nice try, but you’re no Sherlock Holmes. She told you.” He shrugs. “That’s fair. You know, all fair in love and war.” He smiles again. “Is that it, by the way? You love her?” He spits.
“Fuck you.”
He chuckles. “And there’s our answer. Good,” he says. “It just means it’s going to be even more fun when I make you watch me hurt her.”
He turns towards Quinn, and I roar, lunging from the chair. The bind hold me tight, but this time, without Tony holding the back of it, the whole thing goes crashing to the ground, with me still tied to it. I grunt as I hit the floor on my side. Gino laughs as he turns.
“Got a nice view there, kid? Good. You know I might take the gag off her so you can really hear it when I make her scream.”
“Touch her and I swear to God I’ll kill you.”
He chuckles. “You know, this is what I get for hiring another Ford kid.”
Something freezes inside of me. What?
Gino grins slowly, letting the corners of his mouth curl wickedly.
“Shit, did you not know? Yeah, you ain’t the first member of your family I’ve done business with you know.” He shrugs. “Your sister worked for me. Once.”
A cold, icy dagger starts to slide through my chest.
“Such a pretty girl too. Man, you know she begged me for that movie job.”
Something snaps inside of me, and I roar, lashing and kicking against the binds, even if its useless.
“Yeah, that was me, you dumb prick. There’s great money in porn, you know. Publicly, I gave him shit for it to distance myself. But my nephew Nico’s new studio was going be a fucking license to print money.” He looks me right in the eye.
“I’m the one who gave your sister that job, kid. I’m the one who filmed her acting like a whore for money. And you know what? If she hadn’t offed herself, I’d have made a bunch of money offa her.”
I’m screaming. Roaring, kicking and thrashing at the binds that hold me. My eyes move to Quinn, watching the tears run down her cheeks as Gino chuckles and turns towards her.
“You could say I’m the reason your sister is dead, kid. But maybe the actual semantics are up for discussion. But for Quinn here, though?” He turns and smiles at me as I rage on the floor. “No for her, I’m definitely going to be the reason she’s dead.”
He cocks the gun, turns back to her, and starts to raise it up.
And suddenly, something snaps.
The whole room goes into slow motion. My muscles strain, and strain — the ropes cutting into my arms until suddenly, they break. The chair splinters to pieces, bits of rope and wood still tied to my wrists as I lunge from the floor. Gino turns, his face white and a scream caught in his throat as I hit him like a fucking freight train. He goes flying, slamming into the wall and sending the gun cluttering to the floor with me crashing right into him.
He does scream then, wailing as I sink a fist into his face again and again before letting him sink to the ground. I grab the gun and whirl, lurching towards Quinn and yanking the gag from her mouth.
I kiss her before we even say anything, both of us gasping into each other’s lips as I yank at the ropes tying her undone. I pull them them free and gently lift her up onto her feet.
“You okay?”
She nods, swallowing, and when I see that fierce look on her face, I know she is. Fuck this girl is strong.
My hand tightens on the gun, and slowly, I turn back towards Gino Moretti.
“Wait, Roman—”
The gun raises in my hand, my fingers slips across the trigger. I think of Deliah. I think of Quinn. I think of all the other people this piece of shit has hurt and destroyed over the years.
“I should kill you.”
“I’ll pay you whatever you want!” he snivels, holding his hands up, shaking. A wet spot appears on his linen pants as he pisses himself.
“Anything, kid just—”
The door explodes behind us, crashing in, and suddenly all hell breaks loose. The room swarms with men screaming with guns drawn — men with blue and gold jackets with the letters “FBI” on them.
Well, shit.
I drop the gun and kick it away, pushing Quinn behind me as I raise my hands. Gino screams and makes a run for the door on the other side of the basement rom, but they’re on his ass in seconds, taking him to the ground.
The agents swarm me and Quinn, screaming at us to get down and jabbing guns in my face when suddenly, a voice stops them.
“Leave those two, they’re some of mine.”
Wait, what?
The FBI agents lower their guns and step away, and suddenly, Big Tony is stepping forward, a shotgun in his hand and an FBI badge around his neck.
I just start to laugh. And laugh, and I just keep laughing.
“Yeah, laugh it up, you dumb prick. You almost just torpedoed this whole fuckin’ investigation.”
Quinn’s hand tightens on mine, and I turn to pull her into me.
“Hang on,” she shakes her head. “Tony, you’ve—”
“My name is Pete, actually. Special Agent Pete Cicero.”
“Okay, but you’ve worked for Gino for like, years.”
“Six years, to be exact,” he spits. “It’s called deep cover. We’ve been building this shit against the Moretti crime family for the last ten years. We needed this last bit, and we just got it thanks to you.”
“What last bit?”
He looks me in the eyes. “About your sister, Roman.”
I tense, and he shakes his head. “My condolences, by the way. She didn’t deserve any of that. But she’s going to be the grenade that blows this asshole’s whole world wide open. We needed him on camera admitting to the porn stuff he did years back.” Tony — Pete — points to some random old light fixtures in the ceiling. “Hidden cameras,” he mutters. “With Gino admitting to the old porn stuff, we can tie him to Nico’s new studio, and tying him to that puts the whole thing under RICO laws, which lets us charge the whole fuckin’ family under conspiracy.”
Quinn squeezes my hand and I hold her tight to me.
“Your sister,” Pete shakes his head.”It’s not going to be for nothin’, Roman. She’s the reason we’re going to get all of these fuckers. The whole family and everyone who works for them.”
“Like me?” I growl.
“You?” Pet
e smiles. “Now why would I arrest my other undercover informant?”
I tense. “And her?”
“State’s witness. Also undercover informant whose name will never be unsealed.”
I breath heavily, the air whooshing out of my lungs as I hug her close to me.
“I have two friends—”
“Dylan and Gray, the attorney?” Pete sighs. “Fuck it, fine. I guess I needed a shitload of informants anyways for such a big case. Will they play ball?”
“They will if I tell them.”
“Then fine.”
The grin starts to spread across my face. “Full immunity, for all four of us. No, all six of us.”
“Six?”
“There are two girls,” Quinn says quickly. “Both were being forced to work for the Morettis.”
Pete sighs. “Fuck it fine. Immunity for all six, Jesus. You all testify against the Morettis under protected statements and you’re in the clear.”
“Done.”
I hold out my hand, and Pete shakes it.
“Smart man. Look we’ll be in touch.” He glares at me. Make sure I can be in touch, by the way. But for now, I gotta go deal with this piece of shit.” He nods at Gino on the far side of the room, weeping as they clip handcuffs on him.
Pete starts to walk away, but suddenly, he turns.
“One more thing.”
“Yeah?”
“You wouldn’t know the whereabouts of a Joey Luco character would you?”
“Afraid not.”
Pete rolls his eyes. “Jesus fuck I hope you’re not an aspiring poker player. Fuck it, I don’t want to know anyways.”
“Smart man.”
He chuckles “Listen, I’m gonna have them bring you both out in cuffs, for your own protection considering who might be watching. But the car will bring you wherever you need to go. Just remember to be in fucking touch.”
Special Agent Pete nods at both of us before he walks away.
True to his word, they lead us out in handcuffs. But once we’re in the back of the black suv, and the cuffs come off, we’re both all over each other.
I growl as I kiss her, my hands holding her so tight as I pull her into my lap. Her legs spread around me, and she moans into my lips as she opens hers for my tongue. The agent in the driver’s seat coughs, but I pay him no mind as I kiss the woman I love with everything I have.
“I love you,” she whispers into my lips.
“And I love you too, always,” I growl.
The agent coughs again. “Uh, where to?”
I grin, raising a brow at Quinn.
“Highway 15, about ten miles east of here.”
The guy frowns into the rearview mirror. “Seriously?”
“There’s a turn-off. I left my bike there.”
“You want me to drop you off in the desert?”
“Yep.”
I look into Quinn’s eyes and grin. “How does Mexico sound?”
She smiles as she kisses me softly.
“I thought agent Pete said to be in touch.”
“I will be, but not until I take you away from all of this. I’m picturing a beach, some tequila, no clothes, you and me?”
“Thats funny,” she purrs. “I was picturing the exact same thing.”
Flashing lights and swarming cops and FBI agents cover the parking lot of The Venetian as we pull away, And I keep her right there in my lap, kissing her the whole way out to the desert.
Kissing her like she’s mine.
Kissing her like she’s my forever.
Kissing her like I’m never letting her go
…Because I’m not.
Epilogue
Quinn
Home is home. It’s funny how we cling to things like that, but sometimes, even if you think you hate it, home is where the heart is. You’d have thought that Roman and I would have gotten as far away from Vegas as we could, but the truth is, we stayed. Like I said, it’s home, and it’s hard to just leave that.
In the days after the raid on The Venetian, the entire freaking Moretti crime family was dismantled, piece by piece. Gino and all of his captains are looking at serious time, and honestly, at his age, the chances of him seeing free sunlight again are slim to none.
Good.
True to his word, Special Agent Pete Cicero kept the four us — well, the six of us — completely insulated. Dylan and Rose, Gray and Zoe, and Roman and me. We gave sealed testimony, and mine in particular was used as the missile to completely break Gino. Apparently, it got so bad that he started to try and flip on the bigger families in New York, but they shut that down real fast. And when some of his captains started getting knocked off while awaiting trial, Gino got the message and clammed up.
They contacted us, too, which I have to say was completely terrifying. Just one letter, delivered to Roman. The big New York families knew we’d been part of taking down Gino, but they wrote to thank us, since Gino had apparently been a thorn in their side for years. The letter basically said “don’t try and push this to New York, and you’re off the hook and off our radar.”
…Needless to say, that definitely works for us.
I said it before, but I never wanted money or flashy things or any bullshit like that. I was also never technically married to Gino, but when he went away, Roman’s friend Gray took a look at the contract. And apparently, since the wording was so bad, legally married or not, I was still owed half of Gino’s wealth. His money and assets were seized, of course, but Special Agent Cicero pulled some strings, and a few days into Gino’s trial, he personally delivered a check to Roman and me.
…A very, very nice check.
We’re actually not sure what to do with it either, because again, all we want and need is each other. Each other and our friends, Dylan, Rose, Gray, and Zoe. It’s more like a family at this point, and now that we’re all free from under Gino’s thumb, it’s like we can all start finally living.
Roman and I ended up buying a small house in a great little neighborhood just outside of town. It’s an easy drive back into Vegas, and also an easy one to Roman’s bike shop out on Highway 15.
…Oh, right, he and Ryker went into business together, and finally got the old garage up and running. I run the back end of things, taking care of the office and the ordering and invoicing, and those two run things out front with the garage and the shop itself. Well, currently it’s just Roman. Ryker’s been gone for a few weeks like he tends to do. Roman says it’s got something to do with his past — an old motorcycle club he used to be a part of or something, but really, it’s none of my business.
Besides, I’ve had enough drama for a while, thank you very much. And anyways, that’s a story for another time.
For now, this is ours. This life and this story is ours to tell, and ours to live. We’ve got each other, we’ve got our friends, and the future looks as smooth and as open as a desert road.
“Hey you.”
I grin as I feel him come up behind me in the office, his arms circling around me.
“You’re all sweaty and dirty,” I whisper.
“Yeah,” he growls. “But you love when I’m sweaty and dirty.”
I grin. “Very true.”
“This just came.”
I turn in his arms as he hands me a white envelope, addressed to us from Dylan and Rose. My eyes go wide.
“Holy shit is this what I think it is?”
He grins. “Looks like it.”
I tear it open, and sure enough, there’s our formal invitation to our friends’ wedding.
“Oh my God, this is going to be amazing,” I gush.
Roman grins. “A wedding, huh?”
“I can’t wait to call Rose and—”
“Something else came today too, by the way.”
I frown. “What else—”
Roman drops to his knee, and suddenly, the whole world goes still around me.
“Roman—”
“I know you’re not into flashy things, but I was hoping yo
u’d make just one exception.”
He holds out the box, and when he flips the lid open, my heart swells up in my chest at the sight of the diamond glittering in it’s placement on the silvery ring.
“I— I—”
“All you have to say is yes, angel,” he whispers.
My eyes snap to his, and the grin explodes across my face.
“Yes! Yes yes yes!”
I scream as I jump into his arms, our lips crushing together, our hearts racing, and the whole rest of our lives ready to greet us.
The End.
Keep Reading!
Hi reader, thanks so much for reading!
Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Reviews from fans always mean the world to me, so if you felt like leaving a little love on Amazon, I’d love ya for it!
If this is your first book into the Dirty Bad Things series, I hope it was a good intro! As I mentioned at the start of this book, this series can be read in any order. If you’d like to go ahead and dig into Hard Core, Dylan and Rose’s story, and Pretty Dirty, Gray and Zoe’s book, you can find sneak peeks of both of those on the following pages.
All of this and every book I write is for readers like you, and so I just want to say that your continued support means the world to me!
Happy reading!
<3,
Madison
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Sneak Peek: Hard Core
Hard Core
She’s sweet, pure, and untouched, and she’s about to lose her innocence on camera. To me.
Trust me, I’m no porn star, even if I do have the equipment of one. But when the Moretti crime family comes calling to collect on a debt I owe, they want it in trade.