Dangerous Beauty: Part Three: This is War

by Hardin, Michelle

  From behind her, Mickey leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “This guy is a fucking dick. How about you let me handle him?”

  Carter chuckled and shook her head. “Hell no.” Mickey would kill this guy. “I have a temper, but lately I’ve been better at controlling it than you.”

  And she had been. Months ago, Carter had been reprimanded about her temper by her father-in-law, and she had admitted that she’d been a little out of control since her father reduced their contact to one phone call and one Skype chat a week. He’d still left, even though the only thing Silas had been doing to piss Carter off lately was sending more gifts than she’d permitted him to a year ago over the phone. She was hurting and acting out, but now—after her talk with Daddy Angelo—was feeling a lot better. Plus, relationship and closeness wise, Carter and her father were stronger than ever.

  So Carter had cleaned up her act, and stopped being so quick to anger. She was actually proud of herself for being so good. Sometimes Mickey had to get physical, but not Carter. Carter’s hands had been clean and calm. She was proud of herself for proving everyone wrong about her ‘out of control’ temper. She’d gained more self-control since becoming the mother of amazing twin boys, who were now one and half.

  She turned her attention back to the receptionist who still hadn’t done as she’d asked. “Are you going to call him?” she asked super sweetish-ly.

  The receptionist nodded and looked down at his computer. After typing in a few things, his eyes rose to hers, and with pursed lips he shook his head.

  “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Salerno,” he sighed. “I wish I could get you in to see him, but sadly he’s not in.”

  He’s not in? Did this motherfucker just try to tell me that a man that I saw walk into the hotel with my own eyes wasn’t in?

  Carter blinked rapidly and she swallowed down her anger. She took a deep breath through her now flaring nostrils and pasted on a fake smile again. “You’re lying,” she eyed his name tag, “Jacob.” She leaned forward on the counter. “I saw him walk into the hotel not too long ago. Now be a dear and tell him I’m here.”

  His eyes shot down to her chest again, then quickly back to her eyes. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Salerno, but I can’t do that.”

  Be calm, Carter, it’s not that big of a deal. . .

  “Why?” she asked tightly.

  Jacob smiled. “Mr. Clay pays me lots of money to not tell anyone why, Mrs. Salerno. He also informed me that you were not allowed in this hotel, and if ever you came in to call security and have you escorted out.”

  Carter blinked. Okay, this was just not working out for her at all today. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with any of it. She was admittedly a little stressed, since she hadn’t gotten any sleep last night because both Aleksandr and Maksim had tummy aches. And she didn’t get her extra hour of sleep this morning because her husband had woken up horny. She was irritated, sleepy, and still pissed off that she had to visit this prick again.

  Taking a deep breath, Carter took a step back from the reception desk. “Can you just give me a second before you call security, Jacob?” She needed to be talked down. She was very upset at the moment, and the only thing she could envision was blowing this hotel up. That would handle this entire issue. Just kill them all. She held out her hand and Reno came forward with her cell phone.

  Luckily, her mother answered after one ring. “Hi, baby girl,” she greeted in a bright tone. “Boys, Mama is on the telephone.”

  “Ma-ma!”

  Laughter erupted over the phone, and Carter heard numerous people in the background before one of her little boys began to talk to her.

  “Ma-ma? Lo?”

  Carter smiled as soon as his little high-pitched voice hit her ears. “Hello, Aleksandr.”

  “Ma-ma?” Aleksandr asked again. “Lo, Ma-ma?”

  Carter laughed softly. “Sandr, baby. Do you have the phone on your ear?” She was positive he didn’t. Every time her little Aleksandr answered a phone, whether real or fake, he would put the hearing end against his chubby little cheek.

  “Let Grandmother see the phone, bébé,” she heard her mother say. “There you go, sweetheart. Your mama is on speaker phone now.”

  “Hi, Ma-ma,” Aleksandr chirped. “Maksi, Ma-ma! Ma-ma talking.” Try as her baby might, he could never get that M at the end of Maksim’s name. As a result of his inability to say Maksim, everyone in the family now called Maksim, Maksi.

  Carter giggled. “Hi, baby.”

  “Ma-ma on phone?” Maksim’s slightly deeper, tiny munchkin voice finally sounded. “Ma-ma go-n swim now?”

  Carter chuckled. Her boys loved swimming, just like their daddy. “Soon, my loves. Mama promises to take you swimming.”

  “Go swim?”

  “Yes, baby. We’re going swimming.”

  They both expressed their excitement in unintelligible words. Some of the sentences she could understand, and some she couldn’t. While they were both quite advanced in their speech and vocabulary, and getting better every day, they were still only one year olds. They knew a lot of words, repeated pretty much everything Carter and Nathan said, and spoke lots of really adorable gibberish when they were excited about something. Carter just smiled and listened to her sons talk up a storm. They were her everything. She couldn’t possibly express how much she loved them and being their mother with words. She felt immensely blessed to have them. She absolutely loved being ma-ma.

  “Okay, Ma-ma, bye-bye!” Aleksandr said brightly, before Carter had even gotten a word in.

  Carter laughed.

  “Bye-bye, Ma-ma,” Maksim said. “Wove you!”

  “I love you, too. See you soon.”

  “Do you feel better now?” Anastacia asked her as she took the phone again.

  Carter smiled and laughed softly. “Much better, Mom. Thank you.”

  “Anytime, baby girl. I’ll see you after work.”

  “All right. I love you.” The words came out effortlessly now. Carter loved her mother very much.

  “I love you, too, bébé.”

  Feeling much better, Carter hung up the phone. Talking to her babies and her mother always did the trick. Ever since her mother had moved to the U. S. permanently, Carter had had unlimited access to her, and the boys had unlimited access to their grandmother.

  Now if only they had both grandfathers here.

  Angelo was an amazing grandfather, though; really, the boys adored him. He’d been spending way more time with them lately, so much so that the boys had a bedroom at his house for the nights they stayed over. Carter loved how close they were to their grandfather. In a few weeks they were heading on their first trip to Italy with him. The twins were excited, but Carter was dreading them being away from her and Nathan for an entire week. Angelo had suggested Carter and Nathan use the time to go away on a romantic vacation for just the two of them, and though Carter felt it’d be nice and was anticipating having some alone time with Nathan, she was still sad that her babies were going away for so long.

  As for Carter’s father … well, he was traveling the world, embarking on a much deserved journey to discover his past. Carter was happy for him because he deserved this. She had only thrown a tiny tantrum when he’d told her he was leaving indefinitely, but she had calmed when he had told her what he’d be doing. She supported his journey; she was proud of him. Plus, when he called she loved listening to the stories of what he’d found that day. She was actually expecting a call from him tonight.

  Coming back to her present situation, Carter turned to Jacob with a smile. “Okay, call security, hun.”

  He arched an eyebrow, then nodded and did as she’d said.

  Carter was ready to play nice now. Whether security came and attempted to escort her out or not, Carter was going to see Mr. Clay today. She didn’t know why Clay had instructed his staff to do this anyway. Security wouldn’t touch her. No one would. Carterina Salerno was untouchable. Those who chose to ignore that suffered.

  Security came out
in record time, moving quickly through the crowds of guest to get to her. When Carter finally saw the large, Italian men walking toward herself, Mickey and her men’s mouths dropped open in both amusement and shock.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Mickey said, walking up behind her. “Are they out of their fucking minds?”

  “Apparently we’ve underestimated the amount of balls the Bonaducci family have.”

  Mickey laughed. “This is going to be so fucking epic. Wait until Angelo hears about this shit.”

  A devious smile spread across Carter’s face. It was going to be epic indeed. The security that was called to escort them from the hotel were men of Eric Bonaducci, Don of the Bonaducci Crime family. The Bonaducci family conducted the majority of their business in Brooklyn, but there had been rumor that the Bonaducci’s had ambitions of expanding in New York as well as moving some business to Las Vegas. They were even trying to push some smaller families out just to take over their territories. Angelo and Nathan had recently capitalized on some exceptionally lucrative business opportunities with some small-time organized crime families that were nearly victims of the Bonaducci’s expansion. Carter was positive that this partnership with Mr. Clay was an attempt to get Angelo back for capitalizing on those opportunities in Jersey and Harlem. Why Don Bonaducci would think it was a good idea to fuck with Angelo like this was beyond Carter.

  “Reno,” Carter called, “be a dear and go search the hotel for our friend.”

  Reno nodded and stepped forward, only to be blocked by one of Bonaducci’s men. “Get the fuck back,” the man spat. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  Reno chuckled. “You might want to take a step to the side, puttana. I do as Mrs. Salerno tells me to,” he shot him a sinister smile, “by any means necessary.”

  “All right, boys,” Carter said, taking a step between the men, and in turn they both moved back. “Let’s play nice now.” She took a step toward Bonaducci’s men. “Pardon me. I’ll go find him myself.”

  “I advise you against that . . . woman.” He’d said the word as if he were disgusted by her presence.

  Carter was neither surprised nor did she give a fuck. The mafia was a boys’ club, and any woman that was active in the underworld was looked down on. Women were to be silent but beautiful props for their men. They were supposed to push out the babies, and be mindless, submissive, and easily controlled.

  That would never be Carter. Fuck anyone who didn’t like it. “What are you going to do?” Carter challenged them. “Call the cops? Go ahead.” She shrugged, knowing the motherfuckers wouldn’t dare. “That’s what I thought. Get the fuck out of our way.”

  Mickey came forward and pushed the men back forcefully. “Move!”

  Mickey led, Carter followed behind him, and the men followed behind them both. It only took them a moment to find Mr. Clay. He stood in the hall where his conference rooms were located, and was talking to a man that had his back to them. Mickey let Carter pass him, and she walked up to Clay just as he glanced up and alerted the man standing in front of him, who then turned to look at Carter, too.

  When Carter saw the other man, she stopped in her tracks. “Matthew?” Matthew Young. Her friend Katherine’s husband. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  Matthew looked at her like he’d just seen a ghost. “Carterina? Wh–what are you—”

  “Don’t speak to her, Matthew,” Clay commanded sharply. “How the hell did you get past security?”

  With a furrowed brow, Carter cocked her head to the side and regarded Clay. “Are you Katherine’s half-brother?” she asked.

  Clay smiled smugly. “I heard you were friends with my dear sister. You here to take away her bread and butter once again? You know, Angelo Salerno invading in my business nearly put her, Melanie, and that adorable new one they’ve got in the poor house.” He chuckled. “Now they’re rich. No thanks to you and your handouts.”

  Carter shot a stern look of disapproval to the silent, fearful Matthew Young, who was now standing behind Clay. It was more than obvious that the man did not belong in the business he was in. He looked like a frightened child. Carter almost felt bad for him … almost. Don’t get her wrong, she loved Katherine and Melanie, and their little nearly two-year-old Joshua, but this was business. The Salerno family would always come first to Carter. She hoped Matthew had been saving a nest egg because this shit was about to get shut down.

  Carter cut her cold gaze to Clay. “Clay,” she said in a menacing tone, “take me to Niko. I know he’s here.” Niko Bonaducci, underboss of the Bonaducci crime family and idiot son to the don. “Before you say no, I want you to know that I’m not in the fucking mood. Take me to him now. You have five seconds before I drag your ass to an alley and murder you,” she glared to Matthew, “and my best friend’s husband.” She shrugged. “Your choice. Five, four, three—”

  “Follow me,” Clay snapped before he turned and walked toward an elevator.

  Clay, and the still fearful looking Matthew, took them to the fifteenth floor’s executive suite. The men guarding the door stepped aside for them to enter. Inside they were greeted by a woman wearing … well, she wasn’t wearing anything besides a thin, pink thong. That was it. There were at least five women in the room, and that was all that each of them wore. Greeting them with smiles, they led them to the living room were Niko sat in a large chair, half naked, with three more women surrounding him. Carter was pretty sure one of the women was sucking his dick … it was fucking sick. Not only that, but the place was filthy. Like he’d just spent the entire night partying. Carter had to shake all of the shit off of her stilettos as she walked through the room. Clothes, trash, food, and drugs were scattered on the fucking table. It was deplorable, and no way for an underboss to behave.

  “What the fuck is this?” Carter asked in disgust. “I can’t even walk through all of this shit.”

  “It smells like ass in here.” Mickey covered his nose with one hand and gripped Carter’s with the other, helping her over the mess. “Reno, go to the hall and call Nathan. Tell him to get over here, we’re dealing with an underboss.”

  Reno nodded, seeming all too happy to be getting out of the room.

  When Niko looked up and saw them, he grinned wide and opened his arms. “Salerno!” Tightly gripping the hair of the girl that was pleasuring him, he snapped, “Enough. Get up.” The girl released him and immediately crawled over to the table where the drugs were laid out, taking turns with the other two girls snorting the drugs from the table.

  Niko rose to his feet as his men came into the room and stood behind him. He tucked himself back in his pants. “I didn’t mean for you to see my dick,” he chuckled. “Pardon my lack of clothing, I wasn’t expecting any company today.” He pointed to the women gathered around the drugs. “The whores can’t get enough of this shit. Would you all like to partake?” he asked. “My shit is your shit. It’s like a fucking … buffet in here.”

  Carter turned away from the young women and lifted her hand. “We’ll pass, thank you.” Everything about Niko was sickening. Carter wanted to vomit just looking at him.

  It wasn’t that he wasn’t an attractive young man, because he was. He had dark brown hair that fell to his shoulders, a striking pair of bright green eyes, a fit body, stood around six one, and a deep, smooth Brooklyn-accented voice. He was definitely a ladies man, but he was also a piece of shit, punk ass little bitch. Carter had only met the young man—who was around thirty years old—a few times, and each encounter she’d had with him, he’d managed to thoroughly disgust her.

  He stared at Carter with an unreadable expression on his face as he stood up straighter and tried to spruce himself up. “Well … I only recognized Valente. I had no idea you brought along Mrs. Salerno. I would have cleaned up a bit. Or at least gotten rid of the whores.” He cleared his throat, pasted on a smile, and gave her a shaky bow. “To what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from the mafia princess herself?”

  “We were unawa
re that you were pursuing businesses in the City,” Carter replied. “Don Bonaducci should have discussed this venture with Don Salerno before pursuing it.”

  He sighed. “Don Salerno isn’t the easiest man to get a meeting with. Plus, this was just an opportunity we decided to snag up. You know how it is. We like making money and all that.” He laughed. “Everyone likes a good whore every now and then.” Shrugging, he gave her a fake look of concern and changed the subject. “I was sorry to hear about what happened to you, when was it, a couple of years back. I couldn’t believe someone had the courage to touch you. I was delighted to hear that you were returned safely. You are cherished by the Salerno men. I hear that was quite a vicious war. Did they ever find the culprit?”

  Glancing at at the floor, Carter saw a used condom not too far away from her and nearly vomited. She backed up until she ran into Mickey’s chest. God, she hoped Nathan would hurry up and get to the hotel so he could handle this and they could go.

  “It was Silas Steele,” Carter answered, wanting to keep the conversation going until Nathan arrived. She didn’t care if anyone knew that Silas Steele had tried to take her, especially since he was pretty much a non-issue these days.

  Niko frowned. “Did you say—”

  “Yes,” she answered before he asked. “And before you ask, no I was not a victim of human trafficking. Silas is my biological father.”

  “Fuck you,” Niko said in disbelief. “That’s bullshit.”

  Carter didn’t say another word. Instead, she gazed out the window wishing she was outside and not in this filthy suite. She spotted another table that was covered in alcoholic drinks, but next to one of the bottles was a piece of paper with safe written on top, and numerous numbers written beneath the word. Interesting, Cater thought.

  Carter had only been studying the paper for a few seconds when Niko noticed where her eyes were directed and snatched up the paper. Smirking, he picked up a lighter and burned the small piece of paper.

  “So you’re saying that you are Silas Steele and Anastacia Stone’s daughter?” he questioned, not commenting on the numbers.