by Erin Trejo
“You okay?”
“Fine.”
“My father said you would be leaving soon,” he says softly, almost sounding sad about it.
“Two more days. Don’t worry, I’ll be out of your way so you can enjoy her,” I smart off. Matteo huffs causing me to drag my gaze to his.
“You know that’s not why I asked, Giovanni. She isn’t the same without you.” I know that. I don’t know why he feels the need to remind me of it.
“It won’t matter in a few days. I’ll become a memory for her over time and that will be the end of it,” I remind him.
“Do you really think she can get past you that easily?”
Chuckling under my breath, I shake my head. “No, but she has you now.”
“I don’t love her, Gio.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” I roar, catching the attention of the gardener as he tends to the indoor plants. He quickly looks away, but I still feel a set of eyes on me. It’s her, I can feel her goddamn eyes burning through me. “No one, and I mean no one, will love her the way I do. Not you, not anyone else. Just me.” My jaw is clenched as Matteo looks over my shoulder. I don’t even have to turn around to know she’s there, coming this way. Her presence is like the wind, hitting me when I least expect it, dancing over my skin.
“What’s going on?” she asks, stepping in between us as she wraps the towel around her body. I swallow hard trying to keep from reaching out and touching her, holding her.
“We were just discussing Gio’s upcoming trip,” Matteo informs her. Her eyes widen and move from his to mine.
“You’re leaving?”
The sadness in her tone kills me a little more. I agreed to take on more jobs that night. The night I lost her, I lost myself. My father offered, and I couldn’t refuse, nor did I want to. What would be the point of me sticking around and watching my life fade away into another man’s arms? That wasn’t who I was and deep down, I knew I could never be that person. I couldn’t watch her with another man.
“I have jobs to do. Not all of us were chosen to sit on a throne,” I snap, insinuating Matteo and his work. Taking another pull, Asia grabs the bottle from my hand and tosses it to the ground. I swallow what’s in my mouth before smirking at her.
“You are turning into a drunk.”
“What difference does it make?” I challenge her.
“I’ll give you two some privacy,” Matteo mutters, but I stop him from leaving.
“Why would you leave your fiancée with an animal, cugino?” Her eyes flash with fury, one I’m all too familiar with. I hate to see it there but I’m the one that instilled it in her.
“You think this is a game? I know what you do, Gio. You could be killed,” she says softly, her eyes misting up.
“That is always a possibility and so what? I’m replaceable, bambina.”
Asia gasps when Matteo steps in between our showdown. “That’s not fair!” she yells.
“She’s right, Gio. Don’t say that,” Matteo adds.
“Welcome to my truth, my reality, my life! Where you were born a princess,” I look at Asia before moving my gaze to Matteo, “and you a prince, I was born a bastard. We all have a path, don’t we?” Matteo doesn’t pause at my words; he just reacts. His fist collides with my jaw causing me to laugh hysterically. “Is that all you got? How do you expect to protect something as precious as her if you can’t fight?” I want to push his buttons. I want to piss him off, but most of all I want him to take her away from me before I can no longer keep the animal inside of me locked in its cage.
“Don’t push me away, Giovanni. You know I didn’t plan this!” he roars. Regardless of what he says, it’s been decided. I didn’t hear him try to get out of it, but then again, he knows what the outcome would have been had he done so.
“I know and that’s the worst fucking part of it all!”
“I’m still here!” Asia screams, pulling our attention to her.
“How could I forget?” I ask solemnly. Asia stares deeply in my eyes and I have to fight the urge to grab her.
“This is ridiculous! Why don’t we just go to your father? What’s so wrong with her being with you? I think if we just talk to him, make him understand-”
I raise my hand to cut him off when I see the hopeful look in Asia’s eyes.
“Don’t. Just don’t do this, Matteo.” I turn to walk away, needing space to breathe but they follow me. Inside the house, I head towards the stairs thinking I might as well get my shit together and leave early. There is nothing here for me anymore. Nothing at all.
“Why do you want to leave me so badly, Gio? What did I do?” Asia’s words have me stopping. Her shoulders are slumped, she’s defeated. My head drops forward, pain ripping through my head, my heart. How could she think that?
“You did nothing, bambina. Nothing but love the wrong person,” I tell her softly, but truthfully, not wanting to say the words to her face.
“We can’t choose who we love. You remember telling me that when we were little?”
Why is she doing this to me? Why? I turn to face her and Matteo, pain lancing my heart.
“We were nine, Asia,” I remind her.
“It doesn’t matter. It was the truth. Please, Gio.” She steps toward me, gripping my face in her hands the way she’s done so many times before. She leans in, pressing her lips against mine. I close my eyes, clenching them tightly. Her lips move over mine but I don’t kiss her back. I can’t bring myself to do it.
“What the hell is going on here?” My father’s voice sounds through the room. Asia jerks and pulls away from me, Matteo moving in quickly to wrap his arms around her trembling body. I’d be lying if I said murder didn’t flash in front of my eyes.
“I was saying goodbye,” I tell him keeping my head held high.
“You aren’t leaving for a few more days,” he reminds me.
“I changed my mind. I want to get out there early and get things set up.” My father grunts, his gaze floating between the three of us, gauging us. He won’t get a read on me, I won’t allow it.
“I’ll make a few calls and inform everyone you will be there earlier than planned,” my father says before walking away from us.
As soon as he’s out of sight, Asia sobs. Running my hand over my face, I turn and quickly jog up the stairs and down the hall. Once in my room, I grab my bag from the closet and start stuffing clothes in it. I need to get the hell out of here. The faster I can go, the better. As I’m packing, I hear the door click behind me but I figure it’s Matteo trying to talk me down off the ledge I’m about to jump from.
“Were you even going to say goodbye?”
I huff out a breath and head into the bathroom. Grabbing what I need and walking back into the room. I dump the stuff onto the bed, when Asia grabs my arm before I can move any further.
“Where you going to say goodbye, Gio?”
Looking down into her broken-hearted eyes, I shake my head. “I never want to say goodbye to you, Asia. So no, I wasn’t going to tell you anything.” My heart breaks a little more seeing the look in her eyes.
“Why can’t you take me with you?” Shaking her hand off my arm, I move to zip my bag, tossing it over my shoulder and heading toward the door. “Don’t walk away from me!” Her screams pierce the silence in the room.
I turn slowly, a sad smile on my face.
“I have to, bambina.”
Chapter 11
California is as far from New York as I could possibly get at the moment. If I could move across the world I probably would. The house I was staying in is nice but it isn’t home. The thought alone pisses me off. Not as if my old place was home either. Nowhere is. That’s why I got my own place. I didn’t need to be around that many people when I drink myself into silence.
“You heading to the club with us, Gio?” Daniel, one of the guys who lives here, asks me.
“What do you think I’m doing here?” I ask cocking my head to the side. Daniel laughs.
“Wh
o the hell knows? You moved out months ago. You get shit faced every goddamn day. You fuck random girls and disappear. I don’t know what you do anymore, Gio.” I chuckle at his response, or lack thereof. He isn’t wrong on any level with what he said. It’s all true. I reach into my pocket and pull out the small vile filled with white powder. Unscrewing the cap, I lift the small spoon to my nose and inhale. Shaking my head, I stuff the vile back in my pocket and follow the guys out to the car. My days have been a blur of drunken, high sex, and my nights filled with death and murder. I take my job seriously, and with every kill, I feel the Devil tugging me down a little more. It’s hard for me to focus on anything but blood.
We all climb in the back of the SUV and ride to the local club. We’ve been here more than once since I arrived in California. No one questions my age and for that I’m grateful. They know I’m Giovanni DeLuca and that name alone means something to them. A thrill runs through me when I see the look in their eyes, knowing I am the one who instills that fear.
“You going to think about work all night?” Gabe, one of the other guys, asks.
“What do you care?”
“Why do you even come out, man? You are always so damn pissy and shit,” he mumbles.
“Why do you always ask questions you don’t want the answers to?” Tipping my head, I stare him down, daring him to say something more. Gabe, Daniel, and Andre are all Morettis. When my father sent me out on these jobs, I was contracted by the Morettis as a hitman. They all know what I am and what I do, yet Gabe is the one who wants to test me at every turn. I wouldn’t call them friends as I don’t have any of those anymore. These guys are useless and mean nothing to me.
“You need to lighten up. Things here aren’t like in New York, Gio. You can breathe here and have a life.” I snort out a laugh and lay my head back when Daniel speaks.
“You don’t know shit, Gabe. Shut the fuck up. You run around protected by dad and his men just like I do. Gio isn’t one of us; he wasn’t raised like us,” Andre says. Thank fuck someone finally understands me and my situation.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. He lost his fucking girl to his cousin. That’s some shit. Must be some magical pussy,” Gabe laughs. I move so quickly no one saw me coming. Lunging my body over the seat, I wrap my hands around his neck, squeezing.
“Yo, stop! Gio!” Andre yells trying to get me out of my own head.
“You ever speak about her again, your father will be finding pieces of you from here to Florida,” I hiss in his face.
“You left her from what I heard,” he says through his teeth.
“Gabe! Shut up, man!” Daniel hollers.
“You should listen to your brothers, Gabe. You are testing the patience of a madman, and I don’t think you really want to know how far I’ll go,” I remind him. The car jerks to a stop and then and only then do I remove my hands from his throat. As soon as I do, his hand comes up rubbing the area I was holding.
“You know how quickly I could get you fired?” Gabe spits in a disgruntled tone.
I chuckle under my breath. “Do you know how quickly I could kill your father and disappear?”
Climbing out of the car, I adjust my shirt and wait on the others to get out. Daniel laughs, slapping a hand on my shoulder and leading me toward the door. Club Onyx is a premier upscale strip club that not everyone can get into to. It’s all by membership only and it’s owned by none other than my boss, the Moretti Family. We step inside a room filled with smoke and stale liquor. Men of all ages line the floor watching the girl on the stage dance for them. This isn’t my typical scene, but I do have some business on my father’s behalf and why not use this place as the backdrop?
“He doesn’t mean shit, he’s just stupid,” Andre says nodding toward his brother.
“It would be wise of him to learn a few things before I have to teach him.” Ignoring whatever else comes out of his mouth, I head toward the back where the private rooms are. I know I have to meet with Dominic Gambino in less than twenty minutes but I like to be early. As I head down the hallway, a woman steps in front of me.
“You can’t go down there,” she says sweetly, her big brown eyes beam up at me.
“And why is that?” I ask, reaching up to brush a strand of hair behind her ear. Her cheeks blush, turning a pretty shade of pink.
“Business dealings. I was told to let all men know that they aren’t allowed. Only one is.”
“And who might that be?” She smiles and it’s so goddamn sexy I can barely keep my cock in check.
“Giovanni DeLuca. I am only to let him pass.”
“Then you’re in luck. I am Gio,” I tell her a little flirtatiously. She smiles and licks her lips, and fuck, my cock wants to slide between them. They’re plump and fuckable and just what I need tonight.
“No offense but you don’t look Italian.”
I chuckle and run my knuckles down her cheek before I respond.
“Have you never heard of the man with killer eyes?”
She looks deep into my eyes, realization hitting her hard. Her mouth parts but no words form. She shakes her head on the verge of an apology, but I don’t want nor need it. “Don’t look like that. It’s fine. You’ve never met me. I assume you are fairly new here?” She nods her head slowly when Walt, the bouncer, walks over.
“Good to see you, Giovanni.”
“You too. Gambino ready?” He nods once and looks at the shock on the girl’s face.
“She do something wrong?”
“I didn’t realize who he was,” she says quickly. The fire in Walt’s eyes pisses me off. I know how this club works and how they treat their girls. He moves toward her, but I move to block her.
“She made a mistake. She didn’t realize I wasn’t as pretty as some of the Italian men,” I tease, watching her cheeks brighten once more.
“She will be handled. I do apologize, Giovanni.” Walt’s words annoy me.
“I’ll handle her myself. What’s your name?” I turn back to the dark haired beauty.
“Rosa.”
“Join me in this meeting, won’t you?” Rosa looks to Walt as if he has a fucking say in what I do. He doesn’t. He nods anyway and Rosa pulls her gaze back to mine.
“Okay.” I offer her my arm and she quickly slides hers through as I walk us down the hallway.
“Don’t be so stiff. You can relax with me. Whatever they do here, I don’t.” Walking to the end of the hallway, I turn into the last room, bringing her with me. It isn’t typical that I bring a woman in on meetings, but there’s something about Rosa that I like, or my cock does anyway.
“Mr. DeLuca.” Dominic Gambino stands from his seat with his cigar in his hand.
“Giovanni is fine. I don’t like to be associated with my father in that fashion.” Gambino smirks, but nods his head.
“Please, sit.” I do so and take Rosa with me, placing her on my lap. Gambino eyes her but doesn’t dare say a word.
“What is this meeting about?”
“Can I offer you a drink?”
“No, you can tell me what I’m doing here when I could be at home, getting my cock sucked by these pretty little lips,” I tell him as I run my fingers over Rosa’s mouth. Her body tenses but I don’t care.
“Straight to the point, I like it. Your father has ports in New York that I would like to utilize,” he begins when I cut him off.
“That wouldn’t be my specialty, Gambino.”
“As I very well know. May I continue?” I nod my head amused to say the least. “Your father has taken on some questionable side gigs. They aren’t in the best interest of me asking for a deal on ports at the moment.” I shift in my seat wondering what the hell he’s talking about. My father has never let anyone use those ports.
“I can see the wheels spinning, Giovanni. Let me explain. I made an offer to the Luchessi family only to be refused. It wasn’t that refusal that sparked my interests, it was the reasoning behind it. Your father has already made a deal with the Luchessi family.”
> “Bullshit,” I growl. Why would he do that? What the hell is he thinking?
“I assure you, It’s not. I have the proof if you’d like to see for yourself. I don’t know the logistics of what is going on between them, but I’d like to find out.”
“You want me to go against my own family?” I chuckle. “Why would I do that?” My fingers roam up and down Rosa’s naked thigh, her body trembling under my touch. My cock responds, pressing into her ass.
“Because your father never wanted you. He’s used you for years, Giovanni. I’m sure you know that,” he says, not telling me anything I don’t already know. Nevertheless, it hits a nerve. I shove Rosa off my lap before lunging over the desk. I pin Gambino down in a matter of seconds.
“Don’t you ever disrespect me the way you just did.” I grind my teeth as I stare into his eyes.
“I meant nothing of it, Giovanni,” he tries to backtrack, a slight tremor in his voice.
Shaking my head, I release the grip I have on him, knowing I’m losing my shit tonight. Control is important to me, but the more things run through my head, the more control I’m losing. I pick myself up and move away from Gambino as he rights himself.
“Why me? I’m not the only hitman in the world. Why do you want me?”
“You are right. There are many of them, but I want the best. You are just that. If anyone can make the Luchessi clan disappear, it’s you. I don’t want just one, I want the whole Luchessi family.
I huff out a laugh and sit back in my seat, dragging an unsure Rosa back onto my lap before picking up where I left off. Her skin is soft under my touch and the feel has me worked up more than it should.