Then he says something that stops me cold.
“Because being his bitch isn’t enough.” He sighs wearily. “It’s never enough.”
Nathan shifts again, and I see him differently yet again. I know all this is happening in my mind, but it feels like an inner earthquake.
My eyes burn. I ball my hands into fists and keep going because the only way we’ll survive this night is if we stick together. I have to know if what I’m understanding about him is true and real. “When we were in the Eye, and I wanted to leave with Samantha, all Tucker had to do was say your name. No orders, no instructions. It’s like you knew what he needed, and he didn’t have to spell it out. Then when you asked for permission to escort us downstairs, it’s like you were begging.”
As I’ve been speaking, his head falls forward, and his shoulders slump as if he’s been carrying too heavy a weight. More pieces fall into place. “What could Tucker possibly have on you that makes him so confident you’ll do what he says?”
“He has my mother. He’s had her for five years now. She’s old and helpless, and there’s nothing I can do to save her unless Cesare De Luca keeps his word. Your sister or my mother. I can’t save them both.”
He tells me about his meeting with the head of the De Luca syndicate.
When he falls silent, I take his hand. We walk out onto the porch, down the steps and beyond. The night is silent and deep. We’re miles from civilization, and I’m alone with the man I love, a man who is a highly skilled murderer. The moon has set. We’re too far from the house for any light from the porch to penetrate the dark.
I take his face in my hands and stare into eyes that are hardened and wounded at the same time. “I don’t know what you’ve had to deal with or why you’ve made the decisions you’ve made. I don’t know if the people you’ve worked for are good or bad. I don’t know if the people you killed deserved to die or not. I don’t know anymore what’s right or what’s wrong. I only know one thing: there is goodness in you. You, Nathan Costa, are a good man. I know you will do what is right and honorable or die trying, but I want you to live. I want you to live for me because I love you.”
BROOKE
The hike to Ferrara’s house seems to take forever, but in reality, we’re there in about twenty minutes. When Tucker called Ferrara’s house an estate, he was overstating the case, unless huge log cabins put together with rustic elegance count.
Nathan and I crouch on the edge of the woods surrounding the cabin. Lights are visible in a few rooms. No one appears in any of the windows, which is to be expected considering the hour. I have to fight the urge to race up the stone steps and pound on the door until someone opens the door and delivers my sister into my arms.
“We stick with the plan, right?” It’s like Nathan knows what I’m thinking.
“The plan, got it.”
“Promise?”
I nod. He presses a hard, fast kiss on my lips, and then he’s gone as fast as a shadow.
The night closes around me, but it doesn’t scare me. It feels safer in the dark. Maybe that’s because I’ve had a glimpse into real evil this night. My head buzzes with astonishment at all that has happened in the last few days. I can’t think about the future, any future until everyone is safe—not only Samantha but Nathan’s mother, as well.
Nathan might think he’s fooled me, but I saw the doubt in his eyes when we talked through the plan. There’s always a point where everything fails. No matter how carefully you plan, shit happens. We’ve had zero time to plan, so we can count on more shit coming at us faster than usual. We’re going to have to improvise, or we won’t make it. Are you sure you can do that under pressure?
I told him yes a hundred times. He didn’t believe me. Maybe it’s a guy thing, or maybe it’s a Nathan thing. I don’t know.
Before I’ve had time to review our plan for the forty-ninth time, he’s back.
“What happened? Where’s Samantha?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know. There’s no one there. The house is empty.”
“The lights?”
“Security, on timers.”
“Could Ferrara have been here earlier, possibly, and left. Maybe he got wind of what Tucker was up to. . .”
Nathan shakes his head again, but more slowly this time. “The cabin has been closed up for months, and Tucker had to know it. He’s all about data and details and getting things right.”
“What if it wasn’t a mistake? Why go to all the trouble of luring you here without first verifying that Ferrara and Samantha were here?”
He warms me with a rare smile that goes all the way to his eyes. “Tucker didn’t make a mistake. He’s showing me that Ferrara’s not here. He wants me to find him because I’m the only one who can. No one else has ever gotten as close to Ferrara as I did when I was stalking him after he blackballed me with the syndicate.”
A coal of anger burns in my gut. “Then what was the point of the threat about Harley killing Ferrara by dawn and that crap about Samantha?”
Nathan settles onto the ground. “I’m guessing it was a bluff so you’d be motivated to pressure me to hurry.”
“But I didn’t know where you were or if you were even looking for me.”
“Tucker didn’t know that. It was to his advantage to have you so worried about your sister, you couldn’t think straight.” Nathan snakes his big arm around my shoulders and pulls me close. His lips brush my ear. “Tucker left you alone in de Hainault’s house because he thought it would make you more afraid. He made a mistake. He’ll make more. We’re going to get him. We’ll find Samantha.”
“What about your mother?”
He turns until he’s facing me and his dark eyes mesmerize me. “I made a deal with Cesare De Luca. The old man is a bastard, but he won’t go back on this promise.”
“Yeah, well Tucker made some promises to that steroid-popping mutant, Harley. We can’t just leave. We have to do something about them.”
He sighs. “Something tells me you have an idea.”
“I do.”
“And I’m not going to like it.”
I stroke his cheek. “You’re going to hate it with a fiery passion.”
He jumps to his feet and drags me up with him, immediately taking a stride down the hill in the direction we came. “That’s it. We’re out of here.”
“No!” I yank my hand out of his and plant my feet. It’s like we’re back inside Dominion again. What’s different now is that I know I’m right. “Only you can find Ferrara. You have to do that. So, go. Save my sister.”
His eyes flash. “You’re not thinking you can stay here and take care of Harley and Tucker on your own because that would be—”
“Logical.”
“I was going to say insane.”
“Good thing you didn’t say it then. That might piss me off.”
The first rays of dawn are beginning to streak through the hills. There’s enough light that I can see a muscle jumping in his jaw. “I’m not going to lose you. Not happening, today or any other day.”
“Nathan, think about it. Harley is a big, mean son of a bitch with more muscles than brains. He’s like a heat-seeking missile Tucker programmed and aimed, only Samantha is the target. He won’t stop until he finds her. To do that, all he has to do is follow you.”
“I’ll lose him.”
“Maybe. What will you do if you don’t? What if you’re at Ferrara’s, and you have to handle both of them at the same time? What then? You said it yourself: shit happens.”
“You’re not allowed to throw my words back at me.”
“I’ll make sure Harley doesn’t follow you.”
“How?”
My courage almost deserts me when I think about what comes next. I lift my chin and give him my most confident smile. “I have other weapons. You’re going to have to trust me when I say I know how to use them.”
The front door of Etienne de Hainault’s house stands open. A rectangle of light pours over the porch
. I ignore it and walk around the house, following the sidewalk, continuing until I reach the long, black limo. The trunk lid is still up. I push it down, not bothering to be quiet about it. As I do so, I glance up at the windows of one of the apartments over the seven-car garage. I curtain moved; I’m sure of it.
I better be right. If I’m not, I’ve remained behind for nothing.
Because Harley has to believe every detail, I stoop and gather another handful of dirty and gravel from the ground and smear more on my face and neck. The gravel scrapes against my skin. I hope it reddens and looks like I’ve been in a fight. My shirt is torn. I threw away one of my shoes and generally transformed myself until I look like I’ve just escaped a violent assault.
This is for you, Nathan and Samantha. I love you both.
All I can think about while I limp toward the garage is that even if I never see Nathan again, I know he’ll rescue Samantha. If anything happens to me, she’ll be sad, but her life will go on. I made him promise to make sure she didn’t give up her dreams of medical school. I’m not a martyr. I fully intend to walk away from here in one piece. It’s just that Harley is so big and aggressive and unpredictable—all side effects of long-term steroid use—that anything could happen.
When I’m closer to the garage, I start whimpering, gradually increasing the volume. Footsteps echo from inside the garage. I throw myself at the door, pounding with my fists and crying out, “Harley! Harley, are you there?”
The door swings open. I fall forward. He doesn’t catch me, and I sprawl at his feet.
“What the fuck?”
“Oh, Harley, I’m so glad you’re here.” I push up from the floor, taking care that my strategically ripped shirt allows my breasts to spill out.
Harley sucks in a gasp of air. My hand snakes up his leg while I look up at him. “Help me, Harley. I need your help so bad.”
He looks more lost and confused than angry or suspicious. I’m counting on the fact he won’t be able to take his eyes off my tits and my legs and my lips. Finally, he reaches out with one hand. I take it, and he pulls me to my feet. This time I’m the one making sure our bodies make contact every inch of the way from the ground.
I throw my arms around him. “Thank God you were here. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t.”
He raises an eyebrow, obviously still puzzled. His fingers paw through my hair. “What happened to you? Did that asshole Nathan do this? Because if he did, I’m going to kill him.”
“Oh no, Nathan’s not here. At least, I haven’t seen him, have you?” I hold my breath, waiting for his answer.
“N’aw,” he drawls. “Tucker said he’d come, but Tucker was wrong.”
“Tucker’s wrong about a lot of things.”
“Don’t you say nothing bad about Tucker. He’s my friend.”
I push out my bottom lip and gaze up at him through lowered lashes. “Are you sure about that? Because he hurt me tonight.”
Harley holds me at arm’s length, surveying the damage. His gaze keeps straying to my breast where I’ve rubbed mud and dirt to make it look as if I’m bruised. “This is Tucker’s fault?”
“He was mad that Nathan didn’t show up. He said he needed a reward for all the waiting he’d had to do.”
“What the fuck is talking about waiting?” Harley protests. “I’m the one stuck here with my hand on my dick.”
I lower my voice. “That’s the thing. You know how he promised you could have my sister?”
Harley licks his lips. The look of anticipation on his face makes me sick. “He told me he changed his mind. He says you don’t deserve us, and he’s going to take both of us for his own.”
He strokes my hair. “Girls are pretty when they cry.”
“I’d cry for you, but I can’t! Tucker won’t let me. He says I can only belong to him.”
Harley turns my hand over in his. “I stamped you. I marked you as mine. I told Tucker as much. He said it was okay. He’d make it okay for me to have you.”
My voice hardens. “Then he must have changed his mind because he tried to fuck me.”
His face darkens. “Tucker forgets a lot. He makes promises and then forgets. I try to overlook his lapses on account of all the time we’ve been together. Then he has to do and do something like that that just makes my blood boil.”
His emotional shifts that slide from sounding like an adult to more like a child are hard to follow. I can’t let myself think of him as vulnerable. This is a man who could snap me like a twig if Tucker gave the order.
Then he smiles again. “I know what you’re trying to do to me.”
My heart about stops. “What?”
“You like me. You’re fooling me about Tucker to make me jealous so I’ll fuck you.” He grins. “You don’t have to do that. I’ll fuck you anyway.” He shakes his head sorrowfully. “You won’t like it much. Most of the girls don’t. They break too easily. That’s why I wanted you. You’re not skinny or little.”
Go me.
Harley covers his mouth with mine. His breath smells like a sewer. It’s all I can do to stifle my gag reflex. When he lifts his head, it’s clear he’s going for my tits next. “Don’t you want to make sure it’s all right with Tucker first?”
“Tucker ain’t here. How’m I going to check with him if he ain’t here?”
“Remember those sexy texts you sent me earlier today.”
His hand cups my breast. “I knew you’d like them.”
Digging into the pocket of my jeans, I pull out the cell phone Marco De Luca gave me. “Use this.”
He frowns. “Nobody has Tucker’s number. Not even me.”
“This is his contact. He gave it to me.” I pull up the messaging app. “This is Tucker’s number.”
“Give me that.” He jerks the phone out of my hand.
I watch Harley peer at the screen and type with two beefy fingers, cursing occasionally and stabbing the phone.
Was my plan insane? Things could go horribly wrong if Harley asks Tucker for permission to fuck me, and Tucker gives the okay. I keep telling myself Tucker will never do that because he needs me to use as leverage over Nathan. Not that Tucker cares about me one way or another. He has to know what happens to the toys he gives Harley. I’m no good to him dead, and Nathan’s mother won’t live forever. Once she’s gone, I’m insurance Tucker can use to keep Nathan in line in case today’s loyalty test fails, as it will when Nathan fails to kill Alexander Ferrara.
Text messages pop up in response. Harley stares at the screen, his face turning red. “But she’s mine,” he mutters. “You said so. You promised.”
“What’s he saying?”
Harley ignores me. “No!” The word comes out like a howl of pain. “No, Tucker, no. You promised.”
Even though I know it’s a risk, I grab Harley’s arm. “Is there anything I can do?”
Harley stands before me, the phone in his palm. Then his fingers close on the device. It crumbles under the assault. He throws it on the ground and then stomps on it, twisting his foot until he grinds it into nothingness.
I’m so scared I can barely breathe. “What happened?”
His eyes flick to my chest, and he scowls. “Tucker made a mistake, a big mistake.” His head swings from side to side like a bull in the ring. “He can’t do that. Not to me. We’re tight. We’ve been tight all the way, every since we was kids.”
“You can tell me what he said.”
Fury blazes in his eyes. He takes a step forward, and I think he’s going to lift me and shake me like a rag doll in a dog’s jaw. Instead, he pushes me out of the way with so much force, I fall. He turns and shakes a finger at me. “Tucker thinks he can fire me and put Nathan in my place. That’s not going to happen. Tucker needs to understand that, then everything will be all right again.”
“That’s what he told me,” I shout to Harley’s retreating back.
He halts and turns back. “Told you what?”
“That Nathan is better than
you. He never wants to see you again. If you ever show up at the club again, he’ll have you thrown out.”
Harley moves faster than should be possible for a man his size. His face looms too close. He picks me up and slams my body against the exterior wall of the garage. Pain arcs down my spine and across my shoulders.
“If you kill me, you won’t be able to fuck me. Then I’ll always belong to Nathan.”
I can practically taste his fear and anger. Each one wars with the other. In the end, anger wins. His massive hands release me. I fall to the ground and watch him jump behind the wheel of the limo and peel out of the driveway in a spray of gravel.
I stay on the ground for a long time, too spent and scared to move. It’s all up to Nathan now.
NATHAN
The smell of garlic and warm, fresh baked bread welcomes me to Caravello’s restaurant. It’s a hole-in-the-wall joint not far from the airport. They serve old school Italian food in giant bowls alongside mountains of greens with sliced tomatoes and wedges of fresh cheese. My stomach growls. I can’t remember the last time I ate, but it’s late afternoon now. Prime time for the old don to take his seat at his favorite restaurant. Unless I miss my guess, I’m going to find Alexander Ferrara with him; old-friends-turned-enemies who are now friends once more celebrating the bloodless re-organization of the syndicate.
Business as fucking usual.
What I want to know is why Cesare De Luca wanted to protect Tucker Voss while Ferrara wanted the bastard dead and why they had to lure me into their game.
The restaurant is nearly empty.
“Would you like a table or are you here to pick up a take-out order?”
“I’m meeting a friend. I think you might know him.” I glance over the hostess’ head at the red velvet curtains covering a doorway in the back.
She nods and leads me through the dining room, pulling the curtain aside to allow me to pass. A large, round table dominates the room. Cesare presides over it all like a king minus his throne with Marco at his side. Alexander Ferrara ducks his head in acknowledgment and takes a sip from his wine glass. I notice a fine tremor in his hand when he places the glass back on the table. Apparently the day has taken its toll on the billionaire, too.
Made: A Bad Boy Romance (Bad Boy Games) Page 12