by Soraya Naomi
Out of options, I say, “We need to beat a confession out of one of the captives.”
Riled up that the club was invaded last night, Adriano strides to the elevator, signaling for us to trail him. After stepping inside, we ride down to the underground floor and make our way to the hallway where the two men are imprisoned in adjacent cells. A guard is standing in front of the first one.
“Open it,” Adriano orders and sails through the doorway.
Rudd, the overweight bar owner we captured last night, looks like shit.
While Tez and I stand back, Adriano halts in front of him and calmly rolls his neck. “I’m going to torture either you or him.” He points next door. “You may choose. I need one of you to provide me the answers I seek; however, I’m not a patient man, so do you still have no idea who instructed you? There must be a lead? A clue? Or if you’re not useful, then I won’t need you.”
Rudd’s tired gaze shifts from me to Tez and ends at Adriano. “There’s a way to find out.”
“How?” Adriano demands.
“He was going to contact me today, but on my burner phone, which is at home.”
Adriano cocks his head and a slow smiles spreads across his face. “Well, then my man will pick it up for us.”
“No! Please let me get it.”
“Shut up!” Adriano barks, and Rudd presses his lips together in a thin, hard line. “I’d never allow you to get it; I’m not a foolish man.” Turning around, he instructs the guard, “Go to his address, find his burner phone, and bring it to me ASAP.”
“Yes sir,” the guard responds and comes inside the cell as we walk out, hearing Rudd’s objections.
“Don’t hurt my wife. Please...” he begs just when I’m about to turn the corner.
Looking back at him, I say, “I can’t make that promise because my wife was hurt due to your stunt.” And I shadow Adriano and Tez to the next room where Adriano throws open the door.
The man rears up from his cot as Adriano taunts while theatrically holding out his arms, “Ah, the chosen one. Since we still need Rudd, your luck has run out.”
This time, I take the lead, needing to let out my anger of last night. Edging toward him, I make him walk backward as I state, “We don’t need you anymore, and given that you know nothing except that you were the lookout, I should just kill you.”
He brings up his palms and I come to a stop. “Wait! I know who the other men were.”
“Rudd does too,” I counter.
“I can find out what they were searching for.”
So someone is trying to steal something from the underground.
“Which is also information I can obtain via Rudd, who threw you to the wolves, by the way. More importantly, didn’t you know you’re a dead man anyway because my wife was in danger? And on top of that, you’re the idiot who willingly came into the Syndicate’s headquarters!”
His eyes round for a second. “Fuck! This is Rudd’s doing, not mine!” he protests.
But I snarl in a deadly tone, “Lower your voice. See, the thing I can’t let go about last night is that my wife got hurt. And I think that if we hadn’t caught you, you would’ve hurt her even more when she returned to the club. That doesn’t sit well with me.”
“Bloody hell! I don’t even know who the fuck your wife is. I don’t care about your fucking wife!”
In that moment, I snap and seize him, hurling him against the folding bed. “Wrong day to disobey me!”
The cot collapses beneath him, but he surges up. I grab his collar with one hand and when I smash my fist into his nose, a wail bursts from him. Then I toss him onto the floor with a loud thud.
“Give me your knife,” I say to Adriano, who bends down and nabs it from his ankle holster.
When he pitches it to me, I catch it midair, brandishing it, and my captive jumps out of the way just in time to avoid the tip of the blade.
“Don’t even mention her!” I bellow as Adriano shifts back and lets me vent.
We move around each other, and instead of flashing the knife again, I snatch his wrist and twist it until he drops to the ground. Then I knee him in the stomach, finishing him off with a solid blow to the chin, making him fall onto his back.
With a lethal grunt, I press my boot against his throat. “Someone must pay for what happened to my wife!” And I kick his temple, blood spraying from his mouth as his head flies to the side.
Howling and coughing, he lies there, no match for me and already half unconscious. I sling the knife toward him, causing him to scream in fear as he recoils, only to have the flat of it slap against him before it lands on the floor.
“You’re not even worth mutilating,” I spit.
Adriano chuckles behind me, and I peer at him as his expression becomes bored. “Finish him off. One less problem to deal with.” He stretches his arm to check the time on his chrome watch. “We have to go meet Fallon and Cam, and you have blood on your shirt.”
Looking down, I see splatters on my white dress shirt from where my jacket was unbuttoned. “I need to change.”
Without hesitation, I snatch my gun and aim it at the prisoner’s forehead while he screams bloody murder. Pulling the trigger once, I hit him between the eyes and he goes slack as a pool of crimson forms around him.
Immediately, we exit the cell and Adriano commands Tez, “Order a guard to dispose of the body at the warehouse up north. And I want to shut down this area and brick over the route to the L station as soon as we can.” We need to keep Tez close because he knows too many details about the sex club, and giving him this task pulls him deeper into our organization.
“I’m on it,” Tez answers, taking out his phone and starting to make calls while we all walk to the elevator to return upstairs.
When it opens in Adriano’s office, he marches to his desk and grabs a clean shirt from the drawer, flinging it onto the padded chair as I unfasten my tie and shuck off my jacket. Once I’ve changed and am tucking it neatly inside my slacks, I put on my jacket again.
While I right my collar, I instruct Tez, “Follow my lead when the women get here. Fallon and Cam don’t need to know we killed one of the hostages, and I don’t want them too involved.”
“Why not?” he questions.
Adriano and I pin our gazes on him, and I arc a brow in impatience. Tez doesn’t need to know why and how I protect my wife; he simply needs to obey.
Grinning in reaction to our expressions, he brings up his palms. “Never mind.”
“Just don’t tell Fallon and Cam,” I repeat.
“Don’t tell Fallon and Cam what?” a throaty voice says from behind us.
We spin around in unison to see Fallon in the doorway, and behind her stands Cam, who frowns at Adriano as he clenches his jaw in annoyance.
Why did they come early? These women are clever. Although I admire the quality, it also makes handling them difficult. Adriano and I are continually balancing on the precarious edge of being both a Syndicate member and a husband, and unfortunately, the look of apprehension that Fallon sends me now is the exact reason why I keep her out of Syndicate business.
What do I say? I just killed someone. Even after four years, I realize I can’t just come out and state it, because even though she knows, I wouldn’t ever confront her with it since she’s never been a part of this lifestyle.
I pause, not sure how to respond, and you could cut the tension with a knife.
CHAPTER 6
Fallon
AFTER MY HOSPITAL VISIT, Luca drops me off at the Blackhall. The moment I step into the living room, my phone beeps, so I zip open my cherry-red purse that’s slung diagonally across my shoulders and take out my mobile.
Swiping the screen, I answer, “Good morning, Cam.”
“Morning, where are you?”
“Just got home from the hospital.”
“When will you be ready to go to the club?” she asks.
“I thought you were picking me up at noon.”
“I was, but I�
�m almost at your penthouse. Let’s go now so that we can catch up before we meet the men.”
“Okay. Julia’s already watching the twins.”
“I’ll be there in five.”
“I’ll come down,” I tell her and end the call, not bothering to unbutton my custom-made white wool coat before I move into the bedroom to update the sitter and kiss my sleeping babies.
Then I return to the first floor and when I get outside, Cam’s already waiting in front of the Blackhall in her sleek metallic BMW.
Opening the door, I jump inside. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She examines the bruise on my temple, pointing to it. “Oh, it’s looking much better than yesterday. How are you feeling? What did the doctor say?”
“Which question do I need to answer first?” I ask around a chuckle, and she sends me a mock glare.
“What did the doctor say?” she repeats in a sarcastic tone as I reach for the seatbelt to click it in place while she pulls onto the street.
“I’m fine. He did a CT scan this morning – just as a precaution,” I explain, blinking, as black blotches obscure my vision before they quickly disappear.
“You okay?” Cam glances at me, tucking her auburn bob behind her ear.
“Yeah,” I dismiss her concern, mainly because I need to talk to her about my fears. “Physically, I feel fine, but mentally, I feel like I’m drowning sometimes.”
She frowns yet stays quiet, giving me time to speak my mind as I finger comb my side-swept bangs. “I drown in worry. See, the fact that I had to run last night didn’t scare me nearly as much as the fact that I was leaving the twins behind. With Luca, I know he can protect himself. But my kids, Cam, they’re innocent.” My eyes blur, and she grips my hand in support.
“I know exactly how you feel; that’s why I stayed with Amalia and the twins. And I did mean it when I said that Adriano and I will always protect them. You know that, right?”
“I do, but I’m their mother – I should protect them.”
“And you did. You were smart enough to listen to Tez and take care of yourself to return to the club safely.” She bites her lip as if she’s pondering something. “Have you thought about how this is the way the men must feel every day, any time they protect us?”
“I have. And I don’t know how they do it.”
The corner of her lips quirk down in sadness. “Me either. Let’s make a pact. We need to start being aware of current Syndicate business. I think that’s unavoidable at this point. I need it for my own sanity.”
“That’s exactly what I said to Luca.”
“I know. Adriano told me, and he thought you and I had already discussed it, so I’m glad we’re on the same page. But I got the sense our husbands aren’t very happy about it.”
“Luca agreed with me.”
“To your face,” she puts in. “But think about it – will he really tell you everything or only the things he believes are necessary? Remember, they are first and foremost the boss and the underboss.”
Impressed with how cunning Cam is, I grin at her. “He would only reveal what’s necessary.”
“That’s what I think too, hence why we’re going early. Another thing I’ve learned from our men is that they’re likely to lose control when something like last night happens, and we need to make sure they don’t kill the prisoners before they thoroughly interrogate them. But we also don’t want to push them or interfere with their business. We have to pick our battles wisely.”
I didn’t even think about these details; however, Cam functioned as a captain within the Syndicate for a couple of months before she gave birth to Amalia, so she’s a trained member. And little by little, she’s teaching me to be more like her.
“We also want to know how they’re going to go about closing the sex club,” I add.
“Yes. And thank god they are. One less thing to worry about.”
“True,” I utter and then watch the skyscrapers blaze by until we reach Club 7, feeling more at ease because of my talk with Cam.
After she parks at the back entrance of the club, we walk inside to the dance area where employees are cleaning up, the sounds of them bustling around echoing off the fourteen-foot high ceiling.
We go up the staircase to the balconied second floor and Adriano’s corner office, but when we get there, the door is slightly ajar.
“Just don’t tell Fallon and Cam,” Luca, standing with his back to me, instructs Tez in a strict tone.
“Don’t tell Fallon and Cam what?” I blurt out, and all three men turn around so fast that I’m shocked they don’t stumble.
Adriano grinds his teeth before he swiftly schools his expression as we tread inside and close the door. Cam sends me a knowing smile – she was right to suggest we come in early.
Luca edges in front of the padded chair and approaches me to press a kiss on my lips, replying, “Niente, dolcezza.” Nothing, sweetheart.
I glance over his shoulder when he pulls back and see his white dress shirt that’s stained with blood crumpled on the seat.
Pick your battles wisely, Cam’s words replay in my mind, so I comment, “Okay.” And I gesture at his shirt. “What’s with the blood?” Luca never comes home with dirty clothes and now I understand why. “What happened? Did you have a problem with someone?”
Adriano rounds his desk and beckons Cam to him, deliberately avoiding Luca’s gaze.
Cam struts up to him and tilts her head in question, yet he grasps her hips and drags her between his legs. “Stop scowling at me, because I like it. Nothing happened. We had an issue with one of the captives and had to end him.”
Adriano means Luca killed him, which Cam foresaw as well. For a second, she and I lock eyes. Then she cups Adriano’s cheeks as he loops his arm around her and grips her ass to tug her closer, looking up with a wolfish smirk.
“What’s wrong?” Adriano probes, catching our silent communication.
“Well, we were afraid you’d end them,” Cam replies. “Did you get some useful information out of one of them?”
“No, and we don’t need the one we killed anyway,” Adriano explains. “A guard is getting Rudd’s burner phone, so we’ll know who orchestrated this soon and we’ll handle it.”
Luca sits on the arm of the chair and pulls me to him as well while Tez checks some messages on his phone after he claims a seat next to us.
With my back to Luca, I lean against him, sensing he needs it, and he winds one arm around my waist, adding, “I don’t believe this will happen again because two men escaped and most likely have brought whoever’s behind all of this up to date.”
“So how will you handle it?” Cam inquires.
“We’ll end Rudd because he disrupted headquarters, and unless the other guy is someone powerful, we’ll do the same to him,” Adriano responds and lets go of Cam, deeming this discussion over and switching topics, “Why did you come early, Cam? Did you need me?”
“No, we just want to do something with the kids, so we wanted to get this over with,” she says honestly.
“I think you should have guards,” Luca mentions and my gaze shoots to him.
Walking around with guards is uncomfortable. I loathe it, and in this case, I truly don’t believe it’s necessary or else I’d never object. “Please, Luca, I don’t think we need guards at this point. I wasn’t the target last night during the raid.”
Luca’s nostrils flare as he studies me, and I feel his body becoming rigid, yet I can’t get into a debate with him because I’ll lose.
Hurriedly, I continue, “But I do need more protection. And...I want to have a gun too. I’ll also take shooting lessons.”
Luckily, after hearing this, Luca’s characteristic glare turns into a mischievous, lazy grin. In this moment, I grasp how we’ve grown and have learned to compromise to make our all-consuming love work in this ruthless underworld.
“I like how my way of thinking is rubbing off on you.” Luca tugs me firmly into him until I feel his groin in my ass.
<
br /> Pressing against him as his smirk grows wider, I reply, “I need a gun then.”
“I can take care of that for you,” Cam interrupts. “And we’ll go to the shooting range together.”
“That would be great,” I tell Cam before Luca and I break apart when I realize there are actually other people in here, including Tez, who’s being quite inconspicuous but looks up as Cam and I flank him.
“This is...a weird conversation and is turning me on a little,” Adriano mutters, making Cam and me laugh.
“So will you tell us when you have an update or when the situation’s been handled?” I ask.
“Of course,” Luca answers, and I believe him with all my heart. Deep down, I’m addicted to the guilt-free way he loves me.
“However, Fallon, for today, I will have a guard follow you.”
I open my mouth, but he holds up one palm. “He’ll stay out of your way – you won’t even notice him.”
Seeing Luca’s torment and refusal to budge, I concede as always. Besides, I do recognize he’s correct and that it would be smarter to have some extra protection today. Especially since Cam and I are going out with the children.
Suddenly, Adriano rises, addressing Cam, “Anything else you need? We’re going to shut down the sex club now. We’re closing it effective immediately so that another raid doesn’t occur.”
“No, that’s it,” Cam replies, and he smacks a kiss on her mouth just when Tez glances up and asks me, “How are you?”
I move closer and stop beside his chair. “I’m fine. I went to the hospital for a CT scan. You?”
“I’m fine too.” He holds my gaze.
“It was scary in the tunnel,” I admit and he smiles.
“But you were brave.”
“Ah, thanks to you.” I grin back at him, but he looks past me and then away. Spinning around, I see Luca standing right behind me, wearing a lethal expression, and I frown, confused.
But before I can think twice about it, Cam stirs me into action. “Come on, let’s go.”
She urges me to circle around toward the door, and I pause to kiss Luca goodbye, waving at the other two men. Crossing the threshold, I run after Cam when she flies past me with unusual urgency.