by Sam Crescent
“Yeah, yeah, rub it in, why don’t you? You’ve got the best kind of deal.” Raphael stopped talking. His gaze drifted across the ballroom and Antonio followed where he was looking.
The slave girl. The one with the mark of ownership.
“If you keep being obvious, your father will send her away.”
“She doesn’t even know I exist,” Raphael said. All the happiness of moments ago drained away. He put down the glass of whiskey he held, as though he’d lost interest.
Antonio didn’t want to see his friend hurting. “I’m going to go and save my woman from more dancing with strange men.” He walked across the dance floor to where Romeo was. They were talking to a couple of the capos. Ellie looked bored.
“Mind if I cut in?” Antonio said.
“Nah, I’m boring her, I’m sure. It’s a pleasure, Ellie,” Romeo said, but his interest was already gone and down to business.
“This is our engagement party and seeing as I’m one of the women who is engaged, shouldn’t I have known?” she asked.
“Would you have turned me down?”
“You know I wouldn’t.” She sighed. “A woman likes to be asked, you know. They like to know that men care about the answer.”
“You were going to say yes.” He placed his hand at the curve of her back, right next to her ass.
“Being asked would have been nice regardless of the answer.” She looked past his shoulder and he stroked her ass, drawing her attention back to him.
“I do know that. I thought you would’ve been pleased. I get to keep you all to myself,” he said. “Are you telling me you had a different kind of proposal in mind?”
She glared at him. “You’re mocking me.”
He was, a little. “No, I’m curious. Tell me where I went wrong.”
She pressed her lips together and he found her anger so cute. “You know, I’ll never learn unless you teach me.”
“Fine, you want a teachable moment? First, you don’t lie to a girl about who you are. The moment you realize there could be something more, you tell them the truth. Instead, I find out when I was working. It sucked. Now, against all the odds, you propose. I didn’t have any kind of fantasy proposal. I guess I would love to know how the man I’m supposed to be married to for life felt. I don’t know what you think. I know you enjoy screwing me, but it doesn’t tell me what our marriage is going to be like.”
He smiled, leaning in close so his lips were next to his ear. “I love you.”
She pulled away. “Is this a joke?”
“No joke. I don’t kid around, Ellie. You know this.”
“You’re telling me you love me?”
“I’ve never wanted to make a girl my own, but you’re not just any girl. You’re mine. I love you. I want you. You belong to me, and I’m not going to give you up.”
She had stopped dancing and just stared at him. “I don’t know what to say.”
“There’s not a lot to say. You’re going to be my wife and it might not have been the proposal you want. You’re going to have to get used to me doing a whole lot of things you don’t want. I’m not like the men of the world who will plan big, elaborate dinners or romantic evenings. I will take care of you. I will love you. I will devote my life to you. That’s all I can offer.”
She opened and closed her mouth. “I don’t … I…”
Suddenly, the lights were cut off and the unmistakable sound of gunshots rang out. Women screamed as their men took charge. Windows shattered and smoke filled the dancefloor.
“Get to Romeo,” he yelled. Fuck. Ellie was in his arms. He had to get her to safety.
“Antonio, what’s going on?” she asked.
He heard the fear in her voice. He had to protect her, to keep her safe, to love her. There was no way it could end like this. He wouldn’t let it.
Pulling her across the dance floor, he took her down the hall, toward one of the secure rooms. He looked outside in the garden that was aglow. The men would be coming inside. After removing his gun from back pocket, he loaded it.
“Take this and run like hell,” he said. “You don’t stop until you get to Casey. She will know what to do with you. She’ll keep you safe.” He handed her his cell phone. “Call the number labeled as cop. He’ll help you.”
She shook her head. “Antonio, no.”
“Yes.” He cupped her face. “That out there — it’s my life and I’ve got to protect all of them. Please, do not make me worry about you. You know what it’s like to lose love. Don’t let me lose you.” He kissed her hard, passionately.
“I can’t leave you. I don’t want to leave you.” Tears fell down her face and he wanted to tell her it would be okay, but there was no way he could tell her the truth. There was no way he could guarantee they were going to be safe.
After kissing her again, he helped her out of the window. “Go.”
He turned his back from her and grabbed one of the guns from the supply closet. Romeo’s house was made for protection. There were many guns stored away for when they were needed.
He entered the dining room. Bodies already littered the ground. This was the life he was used to. The life chosen for him.
Romeo, Raphael, and the capos, along with many soldiers, were holding down the perimeter.
“Who are they?” Antonio asked.
“Cartel fuckers,” Romeo said. “They don’t like that I said no, and now, they’re all going to die.”
In the back of his mind, he thought about Ellie. She was his love. The light of his life. He’d done many things wrong with her, but in loving her he’d finally done something right. She was worth waiting for, worth risking his life for. He could fight knowing she was safe, protected.
Never had he been beaten down while fighting for the Giavanni Family, and he wasn’t going to start now.
“We’ve got too many casualties,” Raphael said. “We need to fall back.”
“Not going to fucking happen. This is my house. No man, no one will ever fucking take my place from me,” Romeo said.
And that was why Antonio would always fight for him. He didn’t hide behind his rank or soldiers. He picked up a gun and kept on fighting. No one was going to make Romeo back out of a fight.
Their enemy would fall.
Chapter Ten
Ellie hid behind a tree.
She had run all of her life. She’d gone from the foster system when she could until she realized it was just easier to stick around until she could leave. When life got a little too hard, she ran.
Glancing back at Romeo’s mansion where Antonio was, she couldn’t run.
Her man was in there and he wouldn’t let her run away. He’d put his ring on her finger. Claimed her when no one else had. Antonio had taken a chance on her.
It wasn’t lost on her how all of the other women looked at her tonight. She wasn’t one of them. Would never be one of them. She was an outsider, but Antonio had picked her. Romeo liked her.
He was proud to call her a member of his family and not once had anyone ever given her the time of day. Just knowing he loved her, there was no way she could run.
If he died tonight, she wanted to be by his side.
She had already kicked off her heels, and so, she marched back toward the ground. Even as she stood over broken glass, no one was outside. She saw a couple of the guards were dead. Lifting the gun, she looked toward the entrance.
It had been a long time since she’d fired a gun.
The first man she came to was loading his weapon. She didn’t recognize him, and he wore a black hat covering his face. Giavanni men never hid. She shot him. The first bullet got his shoulder, the second, his head.
Her hand shook and she felt sick to her stomach, but these men had tried to ruin a really special night. It wasn’t every single night a woman got ordered into a proposal.
Using both of her hands to keep the gun steady, she found another man. He shot at her, but she had caught him off guard. She fired her gun and knew bullets wou
ld be running out soon.
Leaning down, she grabbed his weapon and fired to see if it would work. It did, but it took her breath away.
“It’s okay, Ellie. You can do this. Easy. Aim, hold tight, shoot. Easy peasy.” Antonio owed her a better engagement party.
Her gut twisted as she stood outside the ballroom door. She heard gunshots and quickly looked inside. There were a lot of men, some hiding behind the tables, all of them firing weapons.
Now was the time.
She had the element of surprise. With the gun in hand, she fired and made the mistake of closing her eyes.
Shots rang out and she felt heat explode in her arm and elbow. The impact made her drop the gun and fall to the floor. She kept her eyes closed as pain rushed over her body. Perhaps this was a really bad idea.
The pain intensified and a part of her was sure she was dead. There was no way she couldn’t be. What had she done?
She wanted Antonio.
“I thought I told you to fucking run,” Antonio said.
Was she dead?
Opening her eyes, she looked up, and there was Antonio’s face. He didn’t appear to be smiling. He knelt on the floor beside her. He reached out, touching her arm. “What the fuck did you do?” he asked.
“I couldn’t run away. Not with you in danger. It wasn’t right,” she said, sniffling.
“When I give you an instruction, you do it.”
She shook her head. “No, we’re a team, and that means we do this together. I’m not going to do this without you. I … I didn’t tell you before, I love you. Those bastards came in before I could tell you. It scares me, but I can’t deny it. I don’t want to. I love you.”
He pulled off his jacket, followed by his shirt.
“I didn’t expect my confession of love to get you naked.”
He tore his shirt and pressed it against her arm, at which she screamed. “Ouch!” She sobbed. “That hurts.”
“I need the medic.”
“What happened, Antonio? Did you win?”
“I won. I never lose, Ellie. You should know that by now. I will always win.”
She laughed. “Good. I like that.” She groaned. “This really sucks.”
“A medic is on the way.”
“Is everyone okay?” she asked.
“You do know if you don’t keep her, I’m going to have to,” Romeo said.
She turned her head to see The Boss smiling down at her. “Hey, Mr. Giavanni. I kind of got shot. I don’t think I’m going to die.”
“You’re not, but I’ll tell you, Ellie, you are certainly an interesting woman. What made you come back? Antonio let you go.”
“There’s no way I could live without him. I love him so much. Every arrogant part of him.” She gripped Antonio’s hand. “And even though he didn’t come right out and ask me to marry him, I will. I love him, so much. There’s no one else I want more than to be with him.”
“Is this like a deathbed confession?” Antonio asked.
“No, it’s from the heart. I love you.”
“The medic has arrived,” Raphael said. He came rushing over and within a matter of seconds, Ellie felt like she was floating as Antonio carried her across the ballroom.
“I ruined your pretty dress,” she said.
He chuckled. “You didn’t ruin anything.”
“It was expensive, wasn’t it?”
“Everything I buy you is expensive.” He slowly lowered her to a bed.
“Am I going to get blood everywhere?” she asked. “I don’t want to ruin all of the good sheets. They look really pretty.”
“It’s not going to happen. You’re fine,” Antonio said.
He stepped back and she couldn’t bear to be alone. Reaching out, she grabbed his arm. “Please, don’t leave me,” she said.
“I won’t leave you. How did you learn to shoot like that?”
“What?”
“I never knew you could shoot like that. I didn’t even know you could hold a gun.”
“Oh, one of my foster dads believed it was important for women to protect themselves. He’d take us out in the backyard, shooting at cans. He was one of the good ones. It didn’t last long though. He got drunk one night and went out to clean his guns, shot himself in the head, and we were all located to different places.”
The doctor came in, and at first, she understood him. Especially the parts where he promised to take the pain away. The moment he pricked her skin, she lost all consciousness and went off to a pretty place of no pain.
****
Later that night, Antonio glanced around the ballroom where destruction had fallen. The windows were in the process of being boarded up, but there would be replacements tomorrow.
He rubbed the back of his head, exhausted and in some serious need of some sleep.
“How is your woman?” Raphael asked.
“She’s fine. Sleeping. The bullet went through. The one in her arm had to be removed, but the doctor already had her asleep when he went searching for it.”
They were silent. The bodies of the cartel were already removed. No one was left alive, but they knew their mark. Romeo had already told him to be ready for them to retaliate. He had no problems with that. In fact, he wouldn’t wait for retaliation. They had shot at his woman and for that, he couldn’t forgive them.
“Isabella was killed,” Raphael said. “They had no other daughter. So they’re pissed.”
“What about your slave girl?” Antonio asked. He kept his voice down.
Raphael sighed. “I’ve had to take care of her. She was stabbed by one of the enemy. My father wouldn’t dream of wasting valuable resources on no one, and so I’ve had to take care of her. Don’t tell my father.”
“Raphael, you do know your father will arrange another marriage, don’t you? This is only a temporary setback.”
“I know. Until then, I can at least take care of her and not let her die and be taken out like she’s nothing more than trash.”
Antonio knew it was pointless to warn his friend. When Raphael had his mind on something, there was no stopping him.
When everything was back in order, and he’d consulted with Romeo on the next course of action, he went in search of his woman.
She lay in the bed where he left her, her arm bandaged up, moaning as she started to wake.
After closing the door, he advanced toward the bed, smiling down at her. “Hey there, beautiful,” he said.
“I don’t feel beautiful. I hurt all over.”
He sat on the edge of the bed, reached out for some pain pills, and let her have two. The doctor had left some along with a prescription for the pain when and if she needed it. From the look in her eyes, she needed it. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck and the guy has repeatedly gone back and forth. It really does hurt.”
He stroked her hair back. “I can’t believe you came back for me.”
“Of course I’d come back to you. I love you.” She rested her head against his hand. “I will always come back for you.”
“You were pissed and scared when you found out who I was.”
“Of course. You lied to me and I’ve been around a lot of people who like to lie and cheat, and steal, Antonio. It’s not a lot of fun, believe me. It sucks. I didn’t like the feeling you were taking me for a fool.”
“Never. I would never hurt you in that way, Ellie. At first, we were only having a bit of fun, but I liked how you didn’t treat me differently. You weren’t afraid of me, and I found that very addictive.”
“I’m an addictive kind of girl.” She closed her eyes. “I may say and do things that sound completely wrong. I hope you know that.”
“I do. Don’t worry. I have every intention of taking care of you. Of loving you. I’ll keep you protected.”
“Like tonight?” she asked.
“Tonight was a fluke. They will never take us by surprise again, of that I can promise you. I vow to keep you forever safe.”
“I do like the s
ound of that.”
He reached for her hand and looked at the ring he’d slid onto her finger. Without waiting for her approval, he took it off.
“Antonio, what are you doing? You’re not getting out of this now. We’re going to be married.”
He silenced her with a kiss. “Shut up, and let me do this properly.”
“You want to propose properly?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Shut up.”
“I will. This is me shutting up.” She locked her lips together and pretended to throw away the key.
Rolling his eyes, he took a deep breath. “Ellie, for the longest time, I didn’t think I was capable of love. In all truth, I didn’t think I was capable of anything. I know I liked to party, fuck, kill, and it was my life. It was what I was good at. Then you came along. You didn’t see me, but I saw you. I fell for you then because you took a chance with me. You have given me a reason to live. To want to fight back. To want to come home. There’s no place I want to be if you’re not in it. From now on, if we’re ever in a shootout again, you will do as you’re told and leave. I want to grow old with you, have lots of babies, and the only way to do that is if you listen to reason.”
“Well, this is going to be one of those proposals I won’t ever forget. You wouldn’t be in any romance movie, though. It’s a little out there.”
“Will you marry me?”
“There you go, right on point,” she said. “Yes, Antonio, I’ll marry you. There’s nothing else I could ever want.”
He slowly slid the ring back on her finger. The perfect fit. Just as he knew it would be. Leaning down, he kissed her head. “I love you, Ellie, so damn much.”
She covered his hands with her own. “What happened, Antonio? You can’t lock me out. I know you’re going to want to for my protection, but don’t. Please.”
He sighed. “Fine.”
“No, I mean it, Antonio. What you know, I want to know.”
“And I’ll give it to you. Every single day.”
“You can’t be with any other woman either.”
He laughed. “I won’t. I believe you’re going to keep me on my toes. Of that, I have no doubt.”