Fractured Breaths

by Zoey Derrick

  Another laugh comes through the phone. “Believe me when I tell you that I’ve combed through every report, every file, every scrap of reporting and scrape of evidence and there is absolutely nothing in there about where he got his tip from.”

  “If you asked him, as his superior, would he tell you?” Liam counters.

  “Fuck no. He’s hell bent on maintaining he found that shit on his own. Not even to me.” There is a brief pause, “why are you asking me this shit?”

  “Because, Declan, he didn’t find it. That shit was handed to him on a silver platter.”

  “No kidding, but who?”

  I shake my head vehemently, indicating I don’t want him to tell his friend. “That was the point, Dec. You’re not supposed to know; you don’t know and I’m not going to tell you.”

  “Yeah, alright. Regardless, McMurray covered his tracks pretty well when it came to that damn thing. Whoever told him has a secret safer than Fort Knox. Hell, I’d be surprised if McMurray even remembers where he got the intel,” Declan shares.

  I give Liam a small smile of satisfaction and gratitude. Knowing this information makes me feel more secure.

  “Good, thanks man.”

  “Aye, no problem. Listen, you planning on coming up anytime soon?”

  Liam takes the phone off speaker. “Maybe. The schedule’s pretty up in the air right now. I’ll keep you posted.”

  I don’t hear Declan’s response, but Liam’s demeanor changes and he looks at me. “Aye, she’s safe.”

  Liam leans onto the counter and the phone is loud enough for me to hear Declan. “How do you know? You’re back in Nashville, aren’t you?”

  “Aye, but Declan?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Let’s just say I have inside information.” He winks at me.

  “Yeah, whatever. You need anything, call me.”

  Liam stands up. “Aye, come down sometime. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

  I miss Declan’s response, but Liam gives me another wink. “No, lad, she’s not mine.”

  Declan says something to Liam that evokes a smile and he replies, “Alright. I’ll let Bryan know….okay…later.” Liam ends the call, looks to me and says, “Feel better now?”

  I shrug. “A little. You can’t fault me for being paranoid.”

  “No, that I most certainly can’t do, but I assure you, if there is any mention of Livia Fazio from Vito Ricci or any of his cohorts, we’ll know about it.”

  “I want to see him.”

  “Who?” Liam asks with a crease in his brow.

  “Vito.”

  “Why in the hell would you want to do that?” Liam’s shock is evident.

  “Or rather, I want to stand in front of him when they put the needle in his arm. I want him to see me and realize as he’s about to die that I’m the reason his world fell apart.”

  “Who’s world?” Bryan says as he comes back into the room.

  “Vito,” Liam answers.

  “What about his world falling apart?”

  “I just told Liam I would like to be standing in front of Vito when they put the needle in his arm, so that just before his lights go out, he’ll realize it was me who brought him down,” I explain to Bryan. He looks confused. I swallow and elaborate, “I didn’t know it at the time, because he never shared that he was undercover.” I give Liam a pointed look. “But after he showed at the house and earned Fat Tony’s trust, he started taking me to ‘appointments’ but those appointments weren’t normal appointments. There was usually an undercover agent who wanted information from me. At first I was reluctant to give it up, but eventually I realized it was my chance to get out of my situation. I started giving them some information about the house I lived in, who lived there, how many girls were there, things like that.” I sigh. “In hindsight, I gave them the information they needed to raid the house.”

  “Among other things,” Liam adds. “The only difference was I was usually in the room next door listening and watching. I was able to fill in some of the blanks.”

  I stare blankly at Liam, still trying to wrap my head around the fact he was one of them. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

  He gives me a resigned smile. “I was supposed to. It was going to be me who questioned you after the fact, but I was otherwise indisposed.”

  “I know, I just…I guess a part of me would have been a little more open, more forthcoming and, I don’t know, maybe things would have turned out differently if you’d been there.” The regret is evident in my voice.

  Bryan wraps his arms around me and holds me gently to his chest. My back to his front. I feel warmth unlike anything I’ve ever felt before and it brings me comfort. “I guess in a way, I knew,” I add.

  “How so?” Bryan asks.

  “Because he was different toward me, toward all the girls. Fat Tony and his goons treated us like trash, but he didn’t. He had respect for us, he treated us kindly. Almost as if he felt guilty.” I look again at Liam and my statement is confirmed by the sorrow in his features.

  “My guilt had more to do with you than those other girls. I didn’t know who they were or even where they came from, but you…” His eyes well with tears. “You’re my best friend’s daughter.” He looks away from me. “I knew when they found his body that it was Ricci’s work. The investigation team didn’t want to believe it, but I knew and more importantly, I knew with Mercutio gone, Ricci had gotten his hands on you. The longer you stayed gone, the more I knew. I was supposed to be pulled from the Ricci project but I made them keep me in. Finding you was my driving motivation for getting into Vito’s inner circle. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to do it.”

  He looks off into space, remembering something I can only imagine. “A little over a year after his death, I’d heard some of the guys talking about the cop job. It killed me to keep my emotions in check they talked about how the cops had given up ever finding out who killed him. But that wasn’t what gutted me. When they started talking about his ‘smoking hot’ daughter, I broke their noses.” He flexes his right fist, remembering the crunch of their faces under his knuckles. “I got what information out of them that I could and that was when I learned you were still alive, but neither one of them knew where you were.” He turns back to us. Bryan gently strokes his thumbs in slow circles along my arms, giving me comfort as we listen to Liam’s tale. “I’d pissed Ricci off with my stunt, but neither one of them were willing to tell Ricci why I busted their noses. I told Ricci they were being idiots, so I set them straight. It was what got me deeper into the Ricci sanctum. After that, I kept my eyes and ears open for any signs of you, any acknowledgement from Ricci about your whereabouts. But, like most things with Ricci, you were never mentioned.”

  He lowers his head, but doesn’t stop. “I got so angry with him because you were his niece, but that didn’t matter to him. As much as Ricci claimed to be about family, he didn’t care unless you were one of his brothers or his son. Women were nothing but decorations to him. His wife was walking, talking, breathing proof of that.”

  “I didn’t even know he was married,” I add to his statement.

  Liam snorts and Bryan gently kisses the top of my head. “No one did, really. She was never allowed around business dealings and the only time anyone saw her was at a rare party for one thing or another. Hell, I only saw the woman twice and talked to her, once. I knew getting anything out of her was a waste of time because she was so devoted to Vito. She didn’t care what he did.” He sighs, “Anyway, eventually I put two and two together and assumed he’d taken you into one of his whorehouses. So, I started pressing Ricci for the other side of the business, the side no one ever talked about. That’s how I got assigned to Tony’s house. Ricci wanted me to learn how things are run and I did.”

  “I’ll say,” Bryan states. His voice vibrating his chest against my back, reminding me of the ever-present spark between us.

  “Like I did with Ricci, I earned Tony’s trust and he let me start carting th
e girls around.”

  “Did anyone else squeal?” I ask.

  Liam shakes his head. “No, most of those girls were scared out of their minds. Whether from immigration or from the things Tony and his goons made them do, I’m not sure. Once I found you, I knew you were the only hope the Bureau had at breaking up Ricci’s trafficking business. When I found you sober, alive and for all intents and purposes, healthy, I knew you would give them what they needed.”

  “I was ready to run. I was just waiting for the day I got picked up again. I wanted that out but I couldn’t go to the cops on my own. If they tracked me, I would have been killed. I had to wait for the right opportunity. This came when I thought I was going to get picked up again. What was that guy’s name?”

  “Who, lass?”

  “The one who was always in the room? O’Brien, or something like that.”

  “Yup, that was him,” Liam confirms.

  “I was scared at first, but not of being arrested.”

  “Of what then?” Bryan asks, looking at me. My eyes meet his and they’re filled with compassion and understanding.

  “Of what Fat Tony would do when I got out.” I shudder and Bryan’s arms wrap tighter around me. “Getting arrested was always nice. I’d hoped the next time it happened, I’d get sent to jail.”

  “Why?” Bryan breathes.

  “Because I’d be away from them, but somehow I always managed to avoid it.” I look at Liam. “That wouldn’t be your doing, would it?”

  He puts his hands up in defense. “No, I had no clue you’d ever gotten picked up. Trust me, if I had, you would’ve been out of there much faster.”

  I nod in understanding. “They’d run my prints and every single time, they let me go. Like they had no clue who I was. That’s the part that always hurt me the most.”

  Liam sighs, “I’d imagine Ricci was behind all of your releases.”

  “So prostituting his niece was okay, but letting her rot in jail was not?” Bryan snaps, releasing me. “God, I want to get my hands on that…”

  I grab his arm, pulling him back to me. “Ricci knew. He knew I would talk if given the chance. That’s why he never let me have one. I knew too much to be left in custody too long. I knew he killed my father. Between that and what they did to me, it was enough to put Ricci away for life. He wasn’t going to let me hang around a precinct for long.”

  Bryan cups my cheek with his hand. I lean into it, savoring the warmth and taking comfort in his touch. “Is there anything else I should know?” Bryan asks me, but he looks to Liam too.

  “I don’t think so,” Liam says.

  I look at Liam. “Thank you,” I tell him.

  “For what, lass?”

  “For helping me tell Bryan, for filling in a lot of the blanks about how and why things happened the way they did. I’ve wondered for years about a lot of this stuff. It’s nice to finally know,” I share.

  “I’m always here if you have more questions. There is one more thing I’d like to tell you about,” he adds. I nod. “I cleaned out your father’s apartment after he died. There is a storage unit in New York filled with the stuff I saved.”

  “I don’t know that there’s anything in there that I want. I’ve been without for so long,” I tell him.

  “True,” Bryan says, “But there might be some stuff in there you want. We can make a trip up there, clean it out.”

  I shake my head. “I don’t think I can go back there,” I admit.

  “Understood, but we’ll talk about it later. Okay?” Bryan asks and I nod.

  “There is one more thing,” Liam states and I look at him, puzzled. “Your father had a life insurance policy. You were listed as beneficiary. I pulled some strings after I found you and got the claim filed on your behalf.”

  I shake my head. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”

  “Understood, but the money is yours.”

  “How much?” Bryan asks and Liam looks to me for permission to share; I nod.

  “The policy was for two-hundred thousand. I imagine it’s grown some over the years.”

  My jaw falls in shock. “Two-hundred grand? Seriously?”

  “Aye, lass. Between his department insurance, accidental death coverage and his private policy, it totaled just under two-fifty when it went into the account. There’s a P.O. Box in New York where I’ve had all the statements sent to.”

  “I…” I pull in a deep breath. “I don’t even know what to say to all this,” I whisper.

  “Don’t worry about it right now, Livia,” Bryan smiles at me. “We can discuss it more later. Nothing needs to be decided tonight.”

  I nod and relax. “Why don’t you two go, I’ll clean up the kitchen,” Liam says, effectively dismissing us.

  Bryan grabs my hand and pulls me toward the door. I put my finger up, asking for a minute, and he nods as he releases my hand. I move around the counter to approach Liam and our gazes meet. I can’t stop the tears that fill my eyes. I wanted to say something, but it all dies on my lips so I wrap my arms around him and hope my hug can convey my feelings. He’s surprised at first but he slowly wraps his arms around me. We don’t say anything; we don’t have to.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Best, Ever.

  BRYAN

  I lead Livia by the hand to my bedroom upstairs.

  “Liam said you haven’t been sleeping up here since you came home from Arizona?” The question throws me off a little and I want to curse Liam for sharing that with her.

  “No, I haven’t. I’ve been a little occupied.”

  She smiles sweetly at me. “So I heard.”

  “From Liam?” I ask, confused.

  “No, on the radio.” She winks at me. “He said you got home and threw yourself into writing that song.”

  “I did. I tend to get a little manic when I’m working on new material. The label gave me very little time to get it recorded if I wanted it on the album.”

  “Is that the only reason?” she asks. Her innocence is alluring.

  “No, it most certainly was not.” I smile at her. “It was all I could do to keep my mind off certain things.” I wink at her. Writing the song let her live in my mind until such a point in time when I could reveal it to not only her, but the world. I wanted to show her that no matter who, what or where I was, she was on my mind.

  “Good,” she smirks. “Now I know you weren’t trying to win me over with that song.”

  My jaw falls slack, but I recover quickly. “Well, did it work?”

  She laces her fingers behind my neck and pulls me down to her level. “Yes,” she breathes before capturing my mouth with hers.

  You’ve read about it in books, seen it in movies; that special moment when the sparks fly, fireworks ignite, and the world falls away. Until you feel it, you can only imagine its existence in reality. This is it, that perfect moment where everything in the world rights itself. Her lips are warm and soft pressed against mine and a piece to the puzzle of my life that I didn’t know was missing clicks into place.

  Her tongue slides along mine and my cock hardens in my jeans. Somewhere in my haze, I manage to open the door to my room and I push her into it. She giggles, breaking our kiss, but I don’t let her go far before pressing her front to mine as I back her farther into the room. My goal is the bed. “I can’t wait any longer,” I breathe against her lips and she smiles.

  “I have no idea what you’re waiting for,” she smirks.

  “Without risking the mood, I have to ask.”

  “No, I’m not going to run.”

  “Promise?” I confirm.

  She nods. Her eyes are hooded and full of the desire I’m feeling for her reflected back at me. “I can’t promise this isn’t going to be an uphill battle, but I promise I will do my best,” she whispers.

  “That’s all I ask,” I whisper back before claiming her lips once more. Pulling her body flush against mine. Feeling her warmth and hearing her whimpers forces my cock to strain harder against my j
eans, but it is my goal to savor her tonight. To worship her body and the woman she is.

  She squeaks when her legs find the bed and it breaks our kiss. I pull her shirt over her head. She doesn’t stop kissing along my jaw and down my neck while she reaches for my shirt and pulls it free of my body. Her tongue darts out and flicks across a nipple and I hiss. I slide my hand into her hair, tilting her head back and looking into her eyes. “Take off your pants,” I demand.

  She smiles wide and reaches for the button of her jeans and unbuttons them, and then slowly she slides her zipper down to reveal a pair of red lace panties that match the bra she’s wearing. My eyes roam over her perfect body. Her tits are trussed up in her bra, giving them a full look that has my mouth watering. I dip my head and slide my tongue along the upper swell. She shivers and her breathing fractures and falters. “Take 'em off,” I say again and she leans forward, pushing me back as she slides her jeans down her legs and over her feet before kicking them aside. “On the bed,” I order her and she sits down and starts to slide back, but I grab her thighs, stopping her. “Stay.”

  She smiles at me. “Bossy, aren’t we?”

  “Got a problem with that?” I ask.

  “No, not at all.” She smirks and reaches for the button of my jeans, but I back out of her reach.

  “Oh no, it’s my turn.” I wink at her before lowering to my knees between her legs. She slides her hand into my hair to guide me and I take my cue, but I don’t go straight for the apex of her thighs. I flick my tongue across the inside of her right thigh and her breathing hitches. I stare into her eyes as I do it again on the other leg. I go back and forth, climbing closer to my goal.

  The sweet smell of her sex makes my head spin.

  Her back arches off the bed and her eyes disappear from my line of sight and I feel slightly disappointed until she settles down. I spin slow circles with my tongue as I draw closer to the one place I know she wants me to be. I go from the crease of her thigh to her stomach on up to her hip. Kissing, licking, and blowing warm air over her skin causes goosebumps to rise across her flesh and she whimpers.