by Julia Sykes
“I’ll never deserve her,” I said, not realizing I spoke the words aloud.
“Stop that shit right now,” Marco commanded. “I won’t stand for this lovesick drama anymore. You’re not living in a fucking fairytale, Joseph. There are no white knights and evil villains. You don’t have to be one or the other. This is the real world. It’s ugly and complicated, and it’s time you faced that reality and stopped trying to run away or deny it. You’re a hard man in a hard world. Start acting like it.”
“You mean like you act?” I shot back. “Drugging innocent women and stealing them in the night before scaring them into cooperating? I don’t want to be that kind of man, Marco. You know me better than that.”
He barely flinched as I flung the accusations at him, but that was enough to let me know I’d cut him deeply.
“And I guess you know me so well, then, if that’s what you think of me.”
I held my glare for a few seconds, but I dropped my aggression on a sigh. “Sorry, Marco. That was shitty of me. I know you’re not a bad person. I know you did what you had to do to keep Ashlyn safe. I just can’t stand seeing her cry. She hates me now. She wouldn’t even look at me.”
He clapped me on the shoulder, a comforting gesture. My cruelty was easily forgiven.
“She doesn’t hate you. She’s just upset. I saw the way she looked at you. Believe me, she’s not capable of hating you. Give her some time, and she’ll come around. She just needs some space to process everything and accept the situation. She must be a smart girl; she goes to Harvard. It won’t take her long to figure out that we really are trying to protect her, not hurt her.”
All I could do was hope he was right about that. The thought of Ashlyn flinching away from my touch was enough to sour my stomach. It had been inherently wrong for her to shy away from my hand, to be frightened of me. I’d do everything in my power to fix this. But for now, Marco was right. She needed space and a little time to rest and process her situation.
“I should go see my father,” I said. “He needs to know that Ashlyn is here.” I didn’t want to hide anything from Dad. Even though I’d tried to run away, he still loved me. He’d help me protect Ashlyn, if I told him how important she was to me.
“Yes, you should,” Marco agreed. “And it’ll give Ashlyn some breathing room if you’re gone. Don’t worry,” he added before I could voice my concerns. “I won’t scare her again. I don’t like seeing her cry, either.”
I nodded. Marco might terrify most people, but I knew him better than that. He was a good man, and he’d never hurt a woman, especially one as innocent and delicate as Ashlyn.
“Did you get her to write the messages?” he prompted.
“Yeah. But I left the notepad in the bedroom. Maybe wait a while before you go get it. You’re right about her needing space.”
“Okay, but not too long. We need to send those emails before anyone gets concerned. Her roommate has already texted her phone to check on her. I couldn’t unlock the damn thing to answer. We’ll need to get her passcode. Did you get her username and password for her email account?”
My lips curved as I recalled the information. Her name was as beautiful as she was, and her password was adorable. “Abmeyers. Her password is 1997unicorn.”
The corners of Marco’s mouth twitched. Coming from him, that was like a genuine laugh. “Cute,” he commented.
Ashlyn’s bedroom in her apartment at Harvard had been decorated in pastel colors, something between adult sophistication and childish whimsy. I’d known she possessed a girly streak, but the fact that her password was about a magical creature only made her that much more enchanting. Her innocence was something I treasured, something pure that I didn’t possess. It was one of the reasons why I wanted to possess her.
“I should get going,” I said. “I was supposed to have dinner with my dad at the restaurant, anyway. I’ll fill him in on the threat to Ashlyn.” My levity melted at the thought of her being threatened. “Maybe he’ll agree that it’s finally time to make a move against these fuckers.”
So far, we’d mostly been engaging in something of a Cold War with my father’s rivals. There were moves and countermoves, veiled threats and insults. But outright violence had yet to break out.
“I don’t think you should do that,” Marco warned. “You can tell him she’s here, but don’t tell him she’s being threatened. Things will get bloody fast, and that could put her in more danger. They were watching her in Cambridge, but if we make a move against them now, they’ll know that she’s the cause. It’ll put a target on her back. They’ll know she’s our weak spot.”
My stomach turned. “Right,” I agreed. “I’ll keep this between us, but I’ll tell Dad that Ashlyn is taking time off from school to stay here with me.”
My father wouldn’t think it odd that my girlfriend was staying with me at Marco’s house. I’d spent enough time here in my life that it wasn’t at all out of the ordinary.
“I’ll see you later tonight. Take care of her while I’m gone.”
“I won’t keep the pretty princess locked up alone in her tower, don’t worry.”
I rolled my eyes at him. I was getting tired of the fairytale jibes.
“I’ll make dinner for her,” he amended when he could tell I wasn’t amused. “And I promise I won’t scare her again.”
“Thank you.” Marco really was good to me, even better than a brother. I knew he’d keep Ashlyn safe and as happy as possible in my absence.
My gut tightened with anxiety when I stepped into the back room at Pisolino—my family’s restaurant in Manhattan. I’d come to see my father, but Gabriel Costa’s deep brown eyes fixed on me, his mouth curving in a cold smile that tugged at the scar on his upper lip.
Apparently, even enemies could come together over bucatini all’Amatriciana.
The room was thick with tension. Marco’s father, Leo De Luca, sat to Dad’s right, as always. And Gabriel, the upstart capo who dared to challenge my father, sat at the opposite end of the table.
Dad had been named by Victor Lombardi as his chosen successor, but Gabriel wanted to be the boss, once the old man passed.
“Joseph,” my father said, without his usual warmth. “Come sit with us. We’ll get you a plate.”
I tried to remain as nonchalant as possible when I sat to Dad’s left. I might not like my violent lifestyle, but the threat to my father rankled. Despite everything, I loved him, and I would die before I let Gabriel Costa hurt him.
“It’s always good to see your son, Dominic,” Gabriel said to my father. “Family is so important.” His dark eyes fixed on me. “It was a shame when you disappeared, Joseph. We were all worried about you.”
My father had almost sent men to kill Gabriel while I was hiding out in Cambridge. He’d suspected his rival had murdered me, and he’d been ready to go to war by the time Marco dragged me back to New York.
“Yes, I’m very happy to have Joseph back where he belongs,” Dad said coolly.
Shit. What I had to say wasn’t going to go over well with him, but it was actually a good thing Gabriel was here to hear it. If his people had been thinking about hurting Ashlyn to get to me, I wanted him to know that I had her safely tucked away at Marco’s estate, out of their reach.
“Yes, I’m glad to be back.” I turned my gaze on my father, but I spoke for Gabriel’s benefit. “I don’t think I told you about the girl I met in Cambridge, Dad. Her name is Ashlyn. We missed each other, and I was so worried about her being alone and sad at Harvard.” I emphasized worried. Dad would get what I was saying. “She’s decided to take some time off school to be with me, so she’ll be staying at Marco’s place for a while. I hope you don’t mind if I stay there instead of at home.”
I was essentially telling him I wouldn’t be in the city to help him with his business for a while, but Dad was sharp enough that he picked up on the veiled significance of my words. Even if I wasn’t telling him outright that Ashlyn had been under threat, he could apprecia
te my caution in bringing her to the safety of the De Luca estate.
“That’s great, son,” he said with a bland smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I hope I can meet her soon.”
“I’d like that,” I lied. I didn’t want Ashlyn anywhere near my mafia family, even my blood relatives.
I’d keep her safely guarded on the estate, with Marco and me. No one would be able to touch her while she was under our protection, especially not Gabriel Costa.
Chapter Six
Marco
I snuck into my bedroom to retrieve the notepad with Ashlyn’s messages. She’d fallen asleep, no doubt exhausted by everything we’d hit her with in the last few hours. Her tears had dried, but I’d waited a long time after her sobbing stopped before I entered the room. I’d been telling Joseph the truth: I didn’t like seeing her cry. I might be a monster, but I never hurt women.
Well, I might enjoy delivering a sound spanking when it was warranted, but that would be completely inappropriate. Even if Ashlyn was beautiful enough and bratty enough to make my palm itch to connect with her round ass.
But she belonged to Joseph. And if she was as innocent as he claimed, she wouldn’t accept the kinds of games Joseph and I sometimes liked to play with a willing woman. Ashlyn might be our captive, but I wouldn’t violate her.
I picked up the notepad from where Joseph had left it on the bed, and then I slipped out of the room, making as little noise as possible. Ashlyn didn’t stir, and I was happy for her to get more rest. She’d be more clearheaded once she got some natural sleep and the drugs fully left her system. I’d had to dose her twice to keep her out on the journey from Massachusetts to New York. She was probably still feeling some of the effects.
Leaving her safely locked in my bedroom, I went down to the media room and turned on my iMac. I usually used it for gaming, but it would do for this more important task.
I accessed the student portal at Harvard and entered Ashlyn’s login information to open her email. My lips twitched as I typed 1997unicorn. She really was cute. I could see why Joseph had become obsessed with her. The attraction part was easy to understand; Ashlyn was gorgeous. But Joseph had always longed for a simpler, cleaner life than the one we led. Ashlyn might not be simple, but she was certainly pure and innocent in a way no one from our world ever could be.
Yeah, I definitely understood why Joseph wanted her.
When her inbox loaded, I noted a few emails about coursework from professors and one from Jayme, Ashlyn’s roommate. She was getting worried that Ashlyn had missed her text, and Jayme couldn’t remember seeing her at their apartment last night.
That could easily be explained away. I’d seduced Jayme and then slipped her rohypnol to secure an invitation back to the apartment she shared with Ashlyn. Once she passed out on the couch, it was just a matter of waiting for Ashlyn to return from the library.
So, if Jayme didn’t remember much from the previous night, she’d blame it on her intoxication. She could have seen Ashlyn and simply forgotten about it in her drunken stupor. Jayme would have been confused enough this morning to make that plausible.
I typed out the message Ashlyn had written for her friend, adding a line about how she had seen Jayme sleeping off her hangover on the couch and hadn’t wanted to disturb her. The lie Ashlyn had come up with was serviceable: she was on a retreat in Colorado, and she wouldn’t have great cell reception there.
That solved the problem of keeping tabs on her text messages. I could turn off her phone altogether, and no one would be suspicious. Not after I finished sending these emails.
The messages to her professors were a little more businesslike, of course. She didn’t mention that she was heartbroken, but instead said she’d suffered a personal loss and needed time to grieve. She wrote that she would do her best to keep up with her coursework while she was absent.
That would do.
When I turned the page to find her message to her father, a weight pressed on my chest. The note was tearstained, the ink smudged. I could read her grief as easily as the words on the page.
A strange knot formed in my gut. She must be very close with her father. It probably killed her to lie to him. She’d communicated that she didn’t have to check in with her parents every day, but it was obvious that she loved him very much.
Yet another aspect of her life that was as pretty and perfect as she was. Ashlyn had a loving family, a doting father who wouldn’t bat an eye at her running off from college and spending money on a fancy retreat.
I’d never wanted for money, but that didn’t mean my life remotely resembled hers. My father had given me everything I’d ever demanded from him, mostly to keep me quiet and out of his way. I’d destroyed it all in a childish cry for his attention. That shit had stopped when I wrapped my new Ferrari around a tree at the age of seventeen. At that point, I’d grown up and stopped being an attention-seeking little pussy.
When I looked down at the tears on Ashlyn’s message to her father, something like envy singed my veins, pulsing through me before I could fully rein it in.
I shouldn’t resent Ashlyn. She hadn’t asked to be pulled into our world. She couldn’t help that she’d led a charmed life. And why shouldn’t she have everything she could possibly want? She’d done nothing to deserve what I’d done to her, stealing her away from her safe, easy life.
I shrugged off my budding sense of guilt.
I wasn’t sorry for taking her. Joseph needed her, and I needed Joseph. He was the only family I had in the world. My father might still be alive, but that didn’t make him family, not in the ways that counted. Even once I’d dragged Joseph back to New York, he was like a ghost without Ashlyn. He’d never really been happy in his life, but this was on a whole other level. He’d been miserable without her.
So, I’d fixed that.
I’d promised Joseph that Ashlyn would come around and forgive him.
I hoped to hell I hadn’t been lying through my teeth.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked, leaning against the doorframe with my arms crossed over my chest. I’d swung the bedroom door open a full thirty seconds ago, and Ashlyn had yet to notice me.
She yelped and jumped away from the drawer she’d been rummaging through. Several more were open, their contents in disarray. I didn’t like seeing my neatly-organized possessions being rifled through, but her blush and guilty expression were cute enough that I could forgive her.
I took a step into the room. She took a step back and bumped into the desk behind her.
She held up her hands, as though to reassure me that she wasn’t a threat. I almost laughed at the very idea of the curvy little brunette causing me any trouble. She wasn’t particularly short, but I still towered over her, and she was much smaller than my bulky frame. I worked hard to stay fit. Intimidating people was in my line of work, so being the scariest motherfucker in the room had proven useful on many occasions.
I’d promised Joseph that I wouldn’t scare Ashlyn. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to indulge in toying with her. The first night I’d met her, when I’d cornered her in the bar where Joseph worked, she’d looked up at me with those wide, blue eyes. She’d quivered in my shadow, and a twisted part of me liked her trepidation. I didn’t want to truly frighten her, but I couldn’t deny that I liked making her nervous. The effect I had on her was delicious. She might soften and sigh for Joseph, but she’d tremble for me.
She belonged to Joseph, but I could indulge myself a little while he was away. Even if he were here, I didn’t think he’d mind. He might be possessive of Ashlyn, but we shared everything. Even women, from time to time.
And while I was certain Ashlyn was far too innocent to contemplate that kind of play, that didn’t mean I couldn’t toy with her. Just a little.
“I asked you a question,” I said as I slowly advanced on her. “What do you think you’re doing, tearing my room apart? It’s very rude. Are you being a little brat again?”
Her wide eyes
narrowed, her full lips twisting in a frown. She lifted her delicate chin in defiance. “Stop saying I’m a brat. You make it sound like I’m a petulant child or something. You freaking kidnapped me. I have every right to be angry.”
“So, you’re tearing through my things because you’re angry?” I asked coolly.
I didn’t stop advancing on her until mere inches separated our bodies. I didn’t initiate any physical contact with her, but I let her feel my presence, encroaching on her space enough to make her squirm.
She tried to ease back again, but the desk behind her stopped her. I pressed my hands to the wood on either side of her hips, trapping her in case she got any wild ideas about bolting for the door. I had a good idea what she’d been up to in my absence, but I wanted to make her admit her transgressions.
“Tell me what you were doing, Ashlyn,” I commanded.
She let out an angry little huff, but her wide eyes watched me warily. “I was looking for a way to contact Jayme, okay?” she said in a rush. “I figured you had to have a spare tablet or something in here.”
My brows rose. “Did you really think I’d just leave something like that lying around where you could get your hands on it?”
She licked her lips nervously, and my gaze fixed on her lush mouth. I wondered what she tasted like. Probably like fucking heaven. After all, Joseph did keep calling her his angel.
“I expect an answer when I ask you a question,” I prompted in my darkest tone.
There it was: the little tremor I’d been waiting for. Her skin pebbled, and her fingers shook. Her pupils dilated, and her head tipped back slightly.
Fuck. I was understanding Joseph’s obsession more with every minute I spent with her.
“I…” she took a breath. “I thought it was rhetorical.”
“It wasn’t.”
I stared down at her, waiting for her response, imposing my will on her.
She didn’t lower her lashes in a show of submission. Her gaze remained transfixed on mine, as though she couldn’t look away.