by Jade Kuzma
“It’s nothing,” I said as I took my own bite of food.
It was so quiet in the dining room that I could hear the both of us chewing and swallowing. I looked off to the side and stared at the wall. I could still feel my father’s eyes on me.
“University is out for the summer,” he said. “ You must be really excited about that.”
I scoffed at his comment and shook my head.
“You don’t have to pretend like you care about my studies,” I said.
“Nonsense. I didn’t get to where I am now without learning a thing or two.”
“What are you talking about?” I said with a laugh. “You dropped out of high school!”
My father chuckled softly at me, his eyes still on me.
“I still had to learn,” he said. “We all learn in our own way. Some of us go to school. Others learn somewhere else.”
“I guess…” I sighed.
“Your mother would be proud of you.”
“It…”
I paused for a second. My father raised an eyebrow at me as he chewed on his bite of food.
“It what?” he said.
“It would’ve meant a lot to her,” I said. “To see that I’m doing well in school. I know that. But I’m not doing this just for her. I’m not doing this just for you, either. I’m doing this for me, too.”
“I know you are. You’re a Palazzo. There’s nothing that you’re not capable of.”
“Then why exactly do you want me marrying this guy exactly?”
“Ah! There it is.”
“There what is?”
“And you said there was nothing on your mind…”
My father smirked at me. I couldn’t help but smile back at him even though I wasn’t in the best mood. I had to keep reminding myself to maintain my composure. I was doing a shitty job of hiding my feelings though.
“You know why I want you to do it,” he said as he cut at the steak in front of him.
“Sure. I get it. But him. There isn’t anybody else?”
“There are others, perhaps. Burke is the best candidate for the job.”
“For the job. I never imagined marrying me would be described as a job…”
“You know I don’t mean that. Anybody taking your hand in marriage is lucky.”
I couldn’t help but think about everything wrong with the situation.
My father was a made man. It’d been that way for as long as I could remember. I didn’t think twice about him being a Mafioso. As old as he was now, I couldn’t expect him to change his ways. What was done was done. I would’ve loved him regardless of what kind of man he was.
“I remember when I would head out for work,” he said. “Some nights I would stay out so late that I wouldn’t get home until the morning. I was so exhausted. I was hungry. I was thirsty. But your mother was always there for me.”
“She stayed up waiting for you?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “She knew that I wouldn’t get home until late. I didn’t expect her to stay up. No, she was there in other ways. Dinner was always on the table waiting for me when I got home. It didn’t matter how work went. It didn’t matter that the food had gotten cold. The morning sun would start to come up and I’d enjoy my dinner just the same.”
“Mom’s cooking was always good.”
“It wasn’t just her cooking. It was knowing that she made it. She was always there for me. Always…”
My father chewed on his food in silence. His eyes were staring off into space. He was lost in the fond memories of my mother. A time so far back that I couldn’t remember it.
“Why are you telling me this?” I said.
“Because I want you to know that your mother was always there for me. She supported me. When you were born, you were the most important thing in the world to the both of us. She would do anything she could to make you happy. Now that she’s gone, that responsibility is mine.”
“I know. It’s just…”
I sighed a deep breath through my nose. I wasn’t in the mood to argue with my father. I knew what I had to do for him. That still didn’t make it sit comfortably with me.
“Burke is rich,” he said. “He’s successful. When you marry him, you’ll never have to worry about a thing.”
“I don’t have anything to worry about now,” I scoffed. “I can take care of myself.”
“You say that now but who knows what will happen in the future. Mia, I just don’t want you to struggle like your mother and I did.”
I could see his reasoning even though I wasn’t completely convinced.
“I’m getting old,” he said. “I won’t be around that much longer.”
I giggled at him.
“You’re not that old,” I said. “You’ve still got your best years ahead of you.”
“I’m your father, Mia. Don’t try to flatter me.”
“I’m not flattering you. It’s just—”
“I want you to be taken care of. Burke is the right man. He’s successful. He knows how to run a business. He’ll treat you right. And don’t you think he’s good-looking?”
The way my father smirked at me forced another giggle out of me. I shrugged and shook my head.
“He’s all right,” I said with a shrug. “He’s not exactly the kinda guy I would look twice at.”
“And I suppose you’d rather be with some hotshot model, hmm? Some well-built stud you’d find frolicking on the beach with tan skin and rippling muscles.”
“Ew… Dad… Don’t talk like that.”
“Is that not what you want?”
“No. That’s not what I want. What I want is to make my own decision. To decide who I should or shouldn’t marry. That’s what every woman wants.”
“You might not appreciate Burke but you’ll come around. It’ll only be a matter of time until you realize that you two were made for each other.”
My father returned to nonchalantly eating his food. I hadn’t gotten through to him. I guess it wasn’t surprising, since he’d convinced himself so long ago.
We were alone in the spacious dining room. My father had enough money to afford a fancy mansion in the city that was far away from where all of the common folk lived. Being away at school almost made me forget about how successful my father was. Seeing him here in front of me now reminded me of what the most important thing in my life was.
“What about you?” I said.
My father swallowed his bite of food and raised an eyebrow at me.
“You and mom. Did you two love each other right from the start? Or did you get together because you thought it was a good business arrangement?”
“I never intended on getting married.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “Are you serious? You mean you didn’t love mom—”
“I didn’t intend on getting into a relationship at all. When I met your mother, I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. I tried to walk away but I couldn’t. It didn’t help that she persisted.”
“Persisted?”
“She knew that I only had eyes for her. My life isn’t kind to loved ones. Your mother didn’t care. She just kept pushing and eventually, I had to follow my heart.”
“Then you admit that you didn’t choose to fall in love. It just happened.”
“I can admit that. But it was also the right decision for the both of us, business or otherwise.”
“How convenient…”
I sighed a soft breath through my nose. My father kept his eyes on me as he kept working away at his steak. There was no point in trying to reason with him any further.
“All right,” I said. “I’ll go along with this for now.”
“The sooner you go along with it, the better off we’ll be.”
“What’s this about me going to Ivory with him?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“He’s not much for conversation. He seems to be preoccupied with business, whatever that is…”
“There’s business for him to
tend to in Ivory.”
“Ivory’s a small town down south in the middle of nowhere. Burke is already rich and successful. What business could a man like him possibly have in a city like Ivory?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss the details of his business dealings.”
“Oh… Right…”
I knew better than to keep questioning him. When it came to my father’s line of work, I kept my head down and ignored it. I didn’t want to hear about all of the things he’d done to get where he was now even though it’d been right in front of me my entire life. Apparently, Burke was getting involved in the same kind of business.
“He has business in Ivory,” I said. “Why do I have to go with him?”
“You’re finished with school for the semester. You have nothing to do.”
“I could get a part-time job—”
“You’ll be married soon. This would be the perfect time for you to go on a vacation and get to know him better. It’s a good opportunity to get accustomed to your relationship. The sooner you get started—”
“The better off I’ll be. Yeah, yeah…”
My father had an answer for everything and he knew it. He looked at me from across the table with a sly little smirk on his face. I took a bite of food to hide my grin.
I had to hand it to him. He’d somehow convinced me that it was a good idea for an arranged engagement to a man I barely knew that I wasn’t even much attracted to.
“Your mother would agree with me,” he said.
“How can you say that? How can you be so sure?”
“Because your mother always wanted what’s best for you.”
“And is marrying Burke what’s best for me?”
“It is.”
He said it without hesitating. I was resigned to the fact that I couldn’t get out of this. It didn’t matter that he was forcing me to do it. He knew that I cared about him just the same as he cared for me. And if doing this would make him happy, I had to do it.
“All right,” I said. “It looks like I’m spending some time with Burke.”
“You’re not married yet but consider it a honeymoon. I’m sure you’ll have the time of your life down there.”
My father washed down his food with a big gulp of red wine. Seeing the satisfied smile on his face was enough to make me forget about anything that might have been troubling me. I somehow convinced myself that this was something to look forward to.
“I can’t wait to get to Ivory…”
Chapter 3
ROMAN
I zipped my kutte up and looked at my reflection in the mirror. My fingers ran over the stitching on the right side of my chest. The fabric was worn but damn if that shit didn’t feel like it was brand new.
Here we go again…
I tried not to get too sentimental about it. It was just something that I had to do for the next few days. I laughed to myself when I thought about how fucking dramatic I was making it.
I stepped out of the bathroom and into the dimly-lit bar. There weren’t many patrons inside but none of them paid any attention to me. The only one who noticed me was the man who dragged me on the road trip from the big city back down to Ivory.
“It looks good on you.”
Sebastian leaned up next to the bar with that smirk on his lips. He gulped down a shot of whiskey then dropped the glass on the counter.
“Yeah, well, I never wore the patch because it looked good on me,” I said. “I’m just doing it because you told me to. You gonna tell me what the fuck is going on now?”
“Why? You in a hurry?”
“Stop dicking me around, asshole.”
“All right, all right.”
He got a laugh out of himself but all I could do was roll my eyes.
I left the big city last night and rode down to Ivory with Sebastian. I found a hotel to get situated in for the evening. I spent the entire day wondering when Sebastian was gonna let me in on his little plan. It wasn’t until the sun started to go down that he finally had the decency to contact me again.
“We’ve got a meeting,” he said. “With our client.”
“Our client wants to meet in a place like this?”
I looked around the dirty bar. Nobody seemed to care that I didn’t think much of the patrons.
“You saw where I was working at? You brought me all the way back to Ivory just to meet in a place like this?”
“The guy doesn’t wanna draw any attention to himself. He needed a place where we could have some privacy.”
“This is a good place… And just exactly who is this man? He got a name?”
“Arthur Burke. You ever heard of him?”
“Maybe. Name sounds familiar. I’ve been locked up for four years though, so I heard a lot of names in the joint.”
“He’s a businessman.”
Sebastian made quotation marks with his fingers to emphasize his point.
“A businessman,” I said. “I thought you said that this wasn’t illegal.”
“Burke’s business might be but not ours. What we’re doing is perfectly, 100-percent, on the level. Just like I said.”
“And what are we doing?”
“Burke’s not from around Ivory. He needs protection.”
“Protection?” I said, raising an eyebrow. “If Burke is any kinda businessman, he should already have protection.”
“It doesn’t hurt to have a little more. Especially from a couple of guys who know Ivory. And if there’s anybody, who knows Ivory, he’s got ‘em right here.”
I knew Sebastian wasn’t lying about everything he said to me. He was always honest with me. And up to this point, everything made some sense. If Burke was the kind of man Seabass made him seem like, then he could probably afford to pay each of us a hundred large.
“All right,” I said. “Let me see if I got this straight…”
The bartender poured Sebastian and I a couple of shots. I downed it quick to help clear my head a little.
“…Burke’s an out-of-towner who wants some local protection. He got in touch with you and now you and I are gonna be responsible for making sure that nobody fucks with him.”
“That’s right.”
“And what does this have to do with it?”
I pointed at the patch on my chest.
“Does he know the vests aren’t bulletproof?” I said. “It doesn’t make the protection more legit because I’m wearing a patch.”
“But it does,” Seabass replied.
“This should be interesting…”
“People see that Burke has protection from an MC, it makes him seem a little more legitimate in the eyes of the locals. You know that the clubs run this town. Everybody respects an MC.”
“They respect other MCs. The Reapers. The Cobras. I’m sure some others have popped up while I was locked up. I don’t think they respect a club that…”
I hesitated for a second. I looked down at the patch on my chest and a flood of memories washed over me.
Stop being a bitch…
I didn’t allow myself to get caught up in shit that happened in the past and forgot about it before I could wallow in my own misery.
“…The Devils don’t exist anymore,” I said. “There are no Devils. There’s no club.”
“Maybe,” Seabass said. “But for this week, the Devils will have to be around. Why? Does it make you so uncomfortable to wear that kutte?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“It doesn’t matter. For a hundred grand, I’m sure you’d shovel horse shit for a week. Is this any worse?”
Seabass gave me a half-smirk. I couldn’t help but laugh back at him.
“Where is this motherfucker?” I said.
“He said he’d be here at seven…”
I looked up at the clock on the wall. It was a minute before seven. As soon as I noticed it, the entrance to the tiny little bar opened up. Seabass and I both turned to see someone walking in.
“…Right on time,” Seba
stian said. “A true businessman.”
I followed Sebastian through the bar to a booth in the corner. The man who just walked in sauntered toward us.
There was something about the motherfucker that made it clear that he wasn’t from around here. It wasn’t even the expensive suit or the overpriced watch that shined even underneath the darkness of the bar. It wasn’t his polished shoes or his dark hair that was slicked back into a ponytail. It wasn’t even the way he puffed his chest out or the sneer on his pale face. The motherfucker seemed to have an aura about him and it wasn’t the cologne that was somehow stronger than the stink of the bar.
“Sebastian Cain,” the man said as he held his hand out. “It’s good to see you again.”
His voice was a little nasally but I didn’t hold it against him.
“Arthur Burke,” Sebastian said. “I want you to meet my associate, Roman Rock.”
“Associate?” I said.
I raised an eyebrow at Seabass. He didn’t say anything, instead turning to Burke. Burke chuckled to himself and took a seat across from us.
“Rock,” he said to me. “It’s a pleasure to have a couple of legitimate club members in front of me.”
He held his hand up, a confident smile appearing on his face.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I know that you two are the only members of your club. When Cain here mentioned that he had just the right man for the job, I told him that’s exactly what I’m looking for.
“You see, my business is somewhat sensitive. The two of you might hear some things while providing me with your services. If any of that information were to leak, it wouldn’t be good for my business.”
“It won’t leak,” Seabass said.
“I know it won’t. Because if it does, I’ll know exactly who’s responsible for it.”
I nodded in a bit of appreciation for his shrewdness. Burke might have looked like a weasel but he was smart.
“All right,” I said. “What exactly do you need us to do?”
“I’ll be in Ivory for four nights. I have several meetings scheduled. I’ll have my own personal security but I’ll need your services to make sure that nothing happens to me.”
He pointed right at Sebastian. Sebastian shrugged with some indifference.
“I don’t expect you’ll be trying to get yourself into trouble,” Sebastian said.