by Sara Fields
“I wrote a new one the other day using it, sir,” I replied proudly. He smiled, his expression one of deep thought. His fingers petted up and down my arm, and I stayed quiet.
His phone rang and he answered while I was still on his lap. His grip on me tightened, as if he was telling me that I could stay right where I was, and I was grateful for it.
“Nick,” he growled. His voice had turned darker and infinitely more dangerous.
I listened in silence as he took the phone call. By the time he hung up, it was clear that the so called ‘after-party’ was going to take place very shortly.
“This is what they’ve been planning all along. All four kingpins are going to be in attendance tonight under the guise of a negotiation with me, but you and I know better. We’re going to show them that they aren’t in charge of the city any longer, sweet girl. Tonight, we take it for ourselves,” he said darkly.
“What about the rest of the Genovese family?” I asked.
“We’ll deal with that after we eliminate the competition, my little mafia princess,” he answered softly, and I nodded into his shoulder.
The phone that Damon had given me buzzed against my thigh and I jumped just the slightest bit. I removed it from my pocket, tapped the screen, and read the text he’d sent me out loud to Silas.
“You’ll take the stage in an hour. Make sure Silas is there or we’ll put a bullet in your pretty little skull,” I said.
“They aren’t going to know what’s coming,” I added, and he chuckled.
“No, my pet. They have no idea,” he agreed.
In less than an hour, we were outside Bar Emporia. The memory of the first night I’d met Silas flashed through my eyes and I felt myself blush just a little. I was going to see the same men tonight although this time, they were going to see far less of me.
Silas took my hand in his and helped me out of the car. He grabbed my guitar case from the backseat as a valet came to collect his keys. The man reached out and Silas dropped the keys in his palm.
“Take good care of her,” he murmured and the valet grinned.
“I will,” he answered.
Silas wove his arm in mine and led me forward. We walked into the club together. The long hallway was guarded with a few men and at the end of it, they asked for Silas’ weapons. He passed my guitar case to me and I gripped it firmly as he handed them the gun he had tucked into his belt. Then he passed them a knife, a second gun I hadn’t known he had, and something small that looked like a Taser.
“Is that everything?” the guard asked.
“That’s all I have on me tonight,” Silas grinned.
“Arms out,” the man said, and Silas complied. The guard patted him down, but he found no other weapons. For a moment, the bouncer glanced at me and passed his gaze up and down my body with a sly grin.
“Can’t hide anything under that tiny little outfit,” he mused before he waved us through. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep quiet, tightening my fingers around the handle of my guitar case.
Sure, I couldn’t hide a gun in the short skirt and thin tank top I’d worn for my performance, but I could sure as hell hide a few of them in my guitar case when it didn’t actually have a musical instrument inside it. Silas took my arm once more and met my gaze with a knowing smile.
He’d been right.
When he’d first suggested it after he’d hung up the phone, I’d told him that it was a dumb and dangerous idea. Just like he’d said though, the goons had been so worried about disarming him that they hadn’t even considered that a girl like me could be dangerous too.
Silas winked in my direction and I couldn’t help but grin in return.
As we entered the club together, I quickly noticed that it was mostly empty. Toward the back of the club was a large round table where eight men were gathered. They were all dressed in elegant black suits and each of them had a calculated bored expression painted all over their faces.
“That’s the four kingpins. Starting from the left there’s Leonardo Columbo, Vincent Gambino next to him, then Mike Bonanno, and lastly, Nick Lucchese. They’ve all brought their consiglieres with them, but their names don’t matter. Depending on how the night goes, I may let them all live, but honestly they’d all probably be better dead,” he whispered as we approached the table together.
Damon strode into the room and greeted Silas as if nothing was wrong at all. To Silas’ credit, he gave nothing away and perfectly covered up the fact that he knew that the man had betrayed him weeks ago.
Silas took the guitar case from my fingers and placed it beside the table. With a certain cool, calculated cockiness, he pulled out a chair for me and allowed me to sit before he took the seat next to me. At once, a group of waitresses surrounded us and took our orders. Silas ordered for me and I was too busy watching the men at the table to hear what it was.
Within minutes, everyone at the table had a drink, including me. A glass of champagne had been put down in front of me and I wrapped my fingers around the stem, casually taking a small sip as I peered around the table.
Leonardo Columbo cleared his throat. I gazed back at the older man with interest and pretended to take another mouthful of champagne.
“It’s good to see you, Silas,” he began.
“And you, Leonardo,” Silas answered.
“It’s nice to see Miss Banks tonight as well,” Leonardo added next, staring at me with interest. The way he looked at me left me with no doubt that he knew my real identity. My gaze passed over each kingpin and they all peered back at me with the same expression.
They all knew who I was.
I crossed my legs, sat back in my chair, and smiled.
“I’m happy to be here. It’s a great honor to be asked to perform for you a second time,” I answered. Nick’s eyes dipped to gaze at my breasts and my face heated.
“I thought we might discuss a little business first before we have you sing for us,” Leonardo interrupted.
“What business have we to discuss?” Silas asked nonchalantly.
“Perhaps we should talk about some of my businesses—Sharp Corporations, Platinum LLC, Adams and Sons Co., just to name a few,” Nick blurted out.
Silas had said he was a dick. Now I knew he’d been right about that too.
Silas tightened his lips in annoyance.
Leonardo sputtered something and Nick went quiet.
“I saw an opportunity and I took it, end of story, Nick. I shut them all down and made a lot of money as a result,” Silas finally answered, tapping his fingers slowly on the wooden surface of the table.
“Those were my companies,” Nick spat.
“Those were shams you use to launder your money, Nick. Maybe next time, you’ll hire tech guys that you didn’t find in your local supermarket,” Silas scoffed.
If Nick could have killed him with a single glance, he would have at that moment.
“It’s not just the Luccheses you’ve gone after. It’s me too,” Vincent growled.
“The Bonannos as well,” Mike added, carefully keeping his tone respectful.
“It was only a matter of time before the cops figured out what you all were doing. You were sloppy, made mistakes. Honestly, I did you a favor by taking the funds for myself. Maybe if you’d have asked nicely, I might even have given some of it back. I should warn you though, I’m not feeling particularly giving right now though,” Silas answered.
“That’s not what we’re after,” Leonardo replied.
“What do you want?” Silas said bluntly.
“We want to negotiate. We’ll run our business and you run yours. We don’t touch yours and you don’t touch ours,” Leonardo offered.
Silas simply chuckled. For a few minutes, the table was dangerously silent, and I peered down at my guitar case as anxiety flashed through me.
“I don’t play by anyone’s rules,” Silas said.
“What if we offered a tribute to you instead,” Leonardo offered. “You can have a cut of the profits an
d then everyone will be happy.”
“Name your price and we can come to an agreement,” Mike added while Vincent glowered by his side. Nick just looked straight up pissed.
Silas glanced thoughtfully around the table. I knew he was just biding his time and humoring them until he decided he’d had enough.
“Seventy percent,” he demanded. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table as he folded his hands together. His price was ballsy, even I knew that, and the resulting tension in everyone’s faces was entertaining to witness.
“Fifty percent,” Leonardo countered.
“Sixty-five percent,” Silas responded.
“Sixty and not a penny more,” Leonardo replied, and I could have sworn that I heard the slightest twinge of defeat in his tone.
“I’ll agree to that,” Silas smirked. The rest of the table stayed silent.
“Why don’t we enjoy a few drinks while Miss Banks sings us some of her songs?” Matt suggested. There was so much tension at the table that it was stifling, and the rest of the men looked relieved at his idea.
“That would be great,” Vincent said, his expression one of tight restraint.
“I’d love to,” I replied, before I took a rather large gulp of champagne. I wrapped my fingers around the handle of my guitar case and made my way over to the much smaller stage at the back of the club. This appeared to be for much more private showings and since it was closer to the table where some of the most powerful men in the city were gathered, I decided it would be better to perform there instead. There was a microphone on a tall stand that I had to adjust, but when I tapped my finger against it, I found that it was already on.
The club already had my music from the last time, so when I gave the signal, the beats of the music started up again.
I began to sing, and the men started to relax. After I performed three of my slower songs back to back, I smiled back at them and readied myself for the music to ramp up in intensity. The rhythm picked up and I swayed my hips from side to side, beginning the routine that I had memorized to go along with it. When I was done with that number, I moved on to the next and performed the rest of the show without interruption.
When Silas finally lifted his hand, I wrapped my fingers around the mic. It was the signal we’d agreed upon in the car.
I knew what to do now.
“I’d like to slow things down and play something I just wrote. It’ll be part of my next album, which will have a few acoustic numbers for you to enjoy,” I said softly as the men at the table sipped their drinks. I hadn’t missed the fact that several of them had downed several glasses at this point. By my count, Nick was on his fourth. Silas was still on his first.
I sat down on the stool in the corner and lifted my case into my lap. I opened it in a way that my audience couldn’t see inside and wrapped my hand around the first gun.
In a quick flash of movement, I tossed it to Silas before I took one for myself. Out of nowhere, all the members of his team burst into the room, fully armed and ready for action. The guards that had protected the entryway were nowhere to be seen.
The four mafia kingpins stood up in a hurry, reaching inside and procuring their own guns even though this meeting was supposed to take place with everyone completely unarmed. Silas had expected that though. These men didn’t play by the rules either and he knew it.
I aimed the 9mm handgun straight at Nick. Silas did too.
“You may have paid off security to sneak in your guns, but I offered them far more to let the rest of my team in with me,” Silas said loudly, his voice ringing in the small venue.
“What the fuck?” Vincent growled.
“What was supposed to happen here tonight, gentlemen? Were you planning on killing me and taking Chloe for yourself?” Silas said boldly.
“She’s the heir to the Genovese empire,” Nick exclaimed furiously.
“Ahhh, the truth comes out,” Silas smirked knowingly.
I noticed that Damon had moved off to the side and was slowly sliding along the wall toward one of the back exits. I took my gun and quickly aimed it at him instead.
“Where do you think you’re going, Damon?” I asked boldly and every single pair of eyes in the place tore back to me.
“You’re not leaving either, Damon,” Silas said as he casually glanced in the direction of a man he’d once thought was his ally. “When Chloe had first told me of your treachery, my friend, I hadn’t believed it, but I’ve been watching you for weeks. When you thought you were alone, you weren’t. When you went and met with Matthew Lucchese time and time again, I knew about it. I know that he offered you a great deal of money to betray me and I’m disappointed to know that you’d turn on me at a low price when you know I would have gone far higher,” he continued.
Damon froze.
“If it was just me, I might have let you walk out of here tonight, but I’m not the only person that you sold out, was I?” he asked.
“She’s just a girl,” Damon scoffed. “She doesn’t fucking mean anything. Hell, it would be better for all of us if she were dead.”
“No. She’s not just a girl. She’s the woman I love,” Silas growled.
My heart melted just as the first gunshot went off. The entire room went silent, trying to understand what happened.
A single round had gone into Damon’s skull. The wound was small and unobtrusive. For a moment, he stood there in shock as a single trail of blood dripped down his nose. He wavered from side to side before his eyes deadened and he fell. He hit the table hard on his way down and I shuddered when he finally crashed to the floor in a mangled heap.
The room exploded in gunfire.
I rolled hard to the side, knocking over a much smaller table and using it as cover. I got a few rounds off and managed to hit one of the kingpins myself. I wasn’t completely sure, but I thought I’d been the one to take down Nick myself.
The booming sound of gunfire was painfully loud. None of the guns had silencers on them and the echo roared in my ears.
I kept my cover through much of it, ensuring that I didn’t make myself an open target as the bullets flew. Every time that I braved a look, another kingpin went down.
It was hard to keep track of what was happening, but it was over in the span of a few minutes. When it finally went quiet, I carefully glanced over top of the table’s edge to see that it was over.
Silas lowered his gun. All of the kingpins and their right-hand men were dead. The only ones left standing were me and him and the rest of his team.
His eyes met mine and he held out his fingers, beckoning me to him. Without a second thought, I rushed to him. My body was pumping with pure adrenaline and I just wanted to be near him.
“Are you hurt, my pet?” he whispered once I was safe in his arms. I shook my head.
“Are you?” I asked nervously.
“No. I’m not hurt,” he said softly.
His team walked toward us. I noticed they were wearing black combat gear complete with bulletproof vests.
“Ya know, for some of the most powerful men in the city, their aim sucks,” Dean complained.
“Not even the slightest fucking challenge, boss,” Eric muttered.
Silas chuckled in amusement.
“Why don’t you clear out the bodies and dispose of them. Make sure that they are found. Tomorrow, I’ll get in contact with what’s left of the Genovese family and inform them that there is a new queen in charge,” Silas said thoughtfully.
“You got it,” Julian grinned.
“When you’re done, call in the cleaners. I happen to like this little club. I have fond memories here,” Silas said, and I felt myself blush as I caught the meaning of his words.
His fingers tightened around mine and I lifted my chin to meet his gaze.
“I’m going to take my kitten back home now. I promised her a stern lesson over my knee for her sassiness tonight and I intend to keep that promise,” he added boldly. The warm heat across my cheeks immediately grew hot
ter at the same time that my pussy clenched hard with desire and I was instantly reminded of the small plug that I’d been wearing for him all night.
“Wait. You’re going to spank me?” I squeaked, squirming against him with aching need. Now that the danger was dealt with, my body rebounded with agonizingly strong desire and I wanted him. I wanted him so badly that I couldn’t stand it.
“I’m going to do whatever I want with you tonight, my sassy little kitten, which most certainly includes spanking your beautiful little bottom bright red,” he smirked. I whimpered nervously in response, knowing that his entire team had heard what he planned on doing to me. Thankfully, none of them said anything in response and I simply stood there trying to manage my shameful arousal instead.
He didn’t make me wait long.
“Come now, kitten. I have plans for you,” he murmured, and I couldn’t help the hard shudder of desire that burst down my spine.
I couldn’t wait to find out what he had in store for me next.
Epilogue
Chloe
The weeks that followed were eventful. We didn’t hear anything from the mob families after that night. Without their kingpins, they’d been thrown into chaos and there was no one left strong enough to take charge. Their power continued to decline and men like Silas grew even more powerful because of it. His team continued to keep an eye on the situation, but they assured me that I would never be bothered by the big five ever again.
My career continued to grow, both from my own talent and the occasional call from Silas to the right people at the right times. My songs were played constantly on the radio and with every passing day, I climbed higher on the top forty list. Within a month, I’d snagged the top spot on the Billboard Top 100. Soon, it wasn’t long before I was finalizing the contracts to a massive world tour that included stops all around the United States, Europe, and even Japan.
In celebration, Silas spoiled me with gifts. Sometimes it was a pair of Jimmy Choos, or fancy expensive lingerie, or even a great number of elegant and simple dresses for every occasion. I wanted for nothing and he made sure of it.