by J. L. Drake
Yes.
“That’s not a good idea.” What the hell was wrong with me? The doors opened, and I hurried down the hall toward my room. “Night, Sydney,” I called over my shoulder.
“Yeah.” She sighed.
1:00 a.m. burned into my eyes as I stared at the clock from my bed. I couldn’t sleep. My head was spinning about the invitation to the cottage. This was big. I’d never been there. I checked in with Mason, my boss, to tell him what happened. He was surprised we were still standing, and I agreed. Sydney pushed some boundaries even I wouldn’t have tested.
Sydney…I got hard even thinking of her. Fuck it.
The hotel was silent as I headed across the lobby wearing my dress pants, with my white shirt open at the top and sleeves rolled to the elbow. This seemed to be my normal look.
I found Sydney in the corner of the bar with a man who had his hand on her leg. They were laughing and looked to be a few drinks in.
“Sydney.” My hands went to my hips. I had to admit I didn’t like seeing her with him.
She slowly looked over at me. “Good…” She squinted at the clock. “…morning.”
“We have to be on the road in six hours.”
“Noted.” Her attention went back to the man whose hand slipped higher up her leg.
With my eyes closed, I calmed my rage and looked at the bartender, who gestured to let me know the tab was on the man’s bill.
“Time to go, Syd.” I stepped forward and pulled her to her feet.
“Hey.” She tried to push me away, but I held her to my side.
“What the hell, man!” The guy moved to his feet. I didn’t have it in me at that point, so I pulled out my badge, and he backed off.
“That’s fucked up, Cooper,” she spat at me as she wiggled out of my hold and into the elevator.
“Yup, I’m an asshole,” I muttered, punching the button. The lift rose as she gave me a dirty look.
“He was nice.”
“He wanted to screw you.”
“So?”
My hands slipped into my pockets as I shook my head.
“Why did you come down to the bar, Colin?” She pulled at my arm so I’d look at her. “Tell me.” When I wouldn’t answer her, she shoved me. “Tell me!” Tonight’s events were raw on the surface. “Just tell me.”
I suddenly walked right up so she would press back flat against the wall. “Because I knew you’d go looking for something to fuck.”
“So?” Her chest rose and her breasts pushed into my chest. She smelled like gin.
Screw it!
I hooked her waist and pulled her closer, then my other hand grabbed her head and pulled her hair back. “Because that’s fucked up. If you’re hurting, come to me.”
“I did,” she huffed, “and you walked away, left me here in the elevator.”
I slammed my lips to hers as she jumped up and wrapped her legs around me. When the doors opened, I walked us out and down the hallway. The entire time we made out like we were starving for one another. Neither of us cared who saw. As long as my mouth was on hers, that was all that mattered.
“Key, back pocket,” I said between kisses. Her hand freed the key and gave it to me.
Once inside, we barely made it to the bed before she was clawing at my shirt. She was wild in a dark, seductive way.
My fingers inched up her dress, and to my not surprise, she was commando. I tossed her on the bed and kicked off my pants and underwear. She peeled off her dress and removed her bra so her breasts moved freely and bounced as she lay back with her legs spread.
If I really thought about it, I would probably talk myself out of what I was about to do, but no man in his right mind would stop when he had a beautiful, naked woman sprawled out in front of him. I pressed my knee into the mattress and moved to hover over her.
I gave her a smile as I took in her flawless, silken skin.
Her legs gently rose and grazed my skin, slowly wrapping around my waist and lowering me to her.
Not a smart move, Colin! I closed my eyes and sank inside her. My jaw locked down as my body heated.
Then, with a dangerous flicker of my hips, she grabbed my shoulders and held on. My hands were everywhere, her breasts, slender hips, thighs, I didn’t care…I just needed to feel her.
“Faster,” she grunted, which sent me in a race to see who would come first. She screamed, bucked, and moaned as I hooked one leg over my arm and dove deeper inside. A slow rush started in my stomach and soon I came full force, plowing over any rational thoughts. I was lost, lost in the sexiest woman I’d ever known. I didn’t care who she was, nothing would stop me, not even if Vinnie himself walked through the door.
I felt her come, but I wasn’t ready. Instead, I hooked her other leg and bent her in half until I found what I wanted—no, needed…another release.
To say I woke with a smile would be an understatement. Not only did I get the release I’d been craving, but she kicked me out and sent me back to my room afterward. She was perfect, no strings attached. My favorite.
With my suitcase in hand, I waited in the lobby for Sydney. I received the text saying Vinnie would send a car and take us to his cottage for the weekend. Classic Vinnie, to change the plans at the last moment. I quickly canceled with the valet to return my car to the garage and sent Mason the new plans. If I were to guess, the cottage address was fake too.
I was aware it was a suicide mission, but no one had ever gotten this close to the Marrone family. My phone was currently being tracked. I knew Vinnie would take our things at some point, and hopefully it would be after we get to the cottage, and not before.
I looked up and saw her in a sexy yellow sundress and heels, her suitcase rolling behind her.
“Ready to go?” she asked as she brushed by me.
I grew hard and swallowed a knot in my throat. Yes, I was, but not for this weekend trip.
Thirty minutes into the drive, the driver lowered the partition. He tossed us black cloth bags to pull over our heads since no one knew the location of the house. Sydney gave me a worried look before she did as she was told. I didn’t blame her, because this could go south real quick.
I could only make out shadows that whipped by the window. The driver turned up the music to hide anything else. I tried to count the turns but I lost track after the sixth one. For all I knew, he could be driving in a big circle just to throw us off. It wasn’t until we hit gravel that we were told we could remove the bags. Blinking to adjust to the light, I saw we were in the middle of nowhere.
Black, over-the-top, drug-lord-looking gates swung open and we drove through. I rolled my eyes at Sydney, who had her head in her laptop. She nodded, indicating she felt the same way.
“I won’t lie, I didn’t think you’d agree to come.” I reached for the handle.
She climbed out and turned to me. “I want answers just as much as you do, Cooper.”
We were hustled to the back of the property after the butler took our bags. We emerged onto a patio where Sydney nearly tripped in front of me when we laid eyes on the famous Bobby Marrone.
I’d only encountered Bobby once before, when I witnessed him jam a fork in a snitch’s mouth. Of course I had to pretend I hadn’t seen it, as Vinnie had just handed me his cousin for a triple murder earlier that day. I thought he was testing me. I said nothing and stayed alive, but I vowed I would find a way to take down that son of bitch in any way possible. When I came across the Knights’ case, it had Bobby’s name all over it.
“Agent Colin.” Bobby nodded at the seat across from him at a marble table. “Sit.”
I did, and Sydney moved to stand behind me. Bobby snapped his fingers, and some of the men left. Only Vinnie, Sly, and Tommy stayed.
Tommy looked as though he was going to be sick, and this worried me. He knew something I didn’t.
“Please, sweetheart.” He pointed to the seat next to me. “Sit.” She complied without her sass this time. I was thankful.
“Drink?” he ask
ed as he twirled his ring along his middle finger. The blue stone shone in the light. Everyone knew his ring. It was the family ring, and only the head of the family wore it.
“No.”
“Suit yourself.” Tommy poured himself a drink but spilled a little, which caught my eye, and Bobby’s.
Something was off; this wasn’t good.
“Agent Colin, I felt like we had some kind of an agreement here.” The skin around his eyes crinkled. “Vinnie helps you, you get to take down one of our men, so on and so on. But this is a whole new level for you.”
“I don’t follow.” I saw Tommy give a quick shake of the head.
“Sydney, do you know who I am?”
“No, should I?” She glanced at me then back to Bobby.
“Interesting.” He sighed as he leaned back in his chair. “Vinnie, what is my number one rule?”
Vinnie stood straighter. “Honesty.”
I smirked. “That’s rich, coming from the mafia.” Bobby let out a little laugh, but I noticed his fingers rubbed together. It was something Bobby normally did right before he—
“Shit!” I shouted as Tommy’s head slammed down on the marble table, and his eyes popped wide open. The sound was so horrid that Sydney held her stomach.
Bobby opened his pocket knife and reached inside Tommy’s mouth and yanked his tongue out. Tommy screamed and saliva started to drain from his lips.
“I have rules, don’t care who you are, nephew or not.” He sliced right through the muscle and dropped half his tongue onto the table with a splat. Tommy bucked and wailed but didn’t dare move.
Sydney buried her head in my shoulder as she gripped my jacket for dear life. She didn’t scream, but she was clearly terrified.
“Rats.” He nodded at Sly to take Tommy away. “Send my sister his tongue. She’ll see what her boy really is. Now…” He wiped his hand free of blood, before sitting back down as if nothing happened. “Where was I? Sydney—” He waited for her to raise her pale face. “—answer me something.”
Shit…
“You said you lived with your aunt? Does she have any other kids?”
Oh shit…
“Yes.”
“How many?”
She tried to look at me, but Bobby shook his head.
I wanted to bump her leg, but Vinnie caught my eye.
“A daughter.”
“Tell me this. What happened to your grandparents?”
Fuck me.
“They died.”
“How?” He leaned forward, and I knew he saw it.
Oh fuck…
“Car crash.”
In a flash, he pointed his 9 millimeter in her face. I felt the tip of a rifle dig into my neck as my gun aimed at Bobby. This was a nasty triangle to be in. Mob, mob, Fed.
“Wrong answer, Sydney.” Bobby shook his head. “Really, after what just happened, you’re going to lie to me?”
“I’m not lying,” she muttered. “My grandparents were killed in a car accident.”
Well, that’s true.
Bobby rubbed his head with his free hand. He lowered his gun as I did mine. Though Vinnie kept his gun pinned to my neck.
I’ve had enough of this shit.
“I’m not entirely sure why we’re here this weekend, but I think we’ve overstayed our welcome.” I stood, but Bobby raised his hand, then nodded at Vinnie, who placed two gun shell casings in front of me.
A weight suddenly lifted off my chest.
“I knew Charlie,” Bobby muttered. My hands went out to touch the warm steel as his words sank in. Sydney reached for my arm. “He knew about something we were planning and didn’t want any part of it. He left and ended up in Nashville, where he fell in love with some diner bitch.” My eyes stayed locked on the casings. I was afraid to move in case he stopped talking. Answers, I was finally getting answers.
“Vinnie found him and brought him back, but he didn’t want any part of it. So he left again, vanished. He resurfaced a year later, and he had gotten married in Vegas. When I sent Sly to speak with him to remind him that he had duties to uphold, they slipped away.” Sly shifted. “Not before Charlie left Sly with a…parting gift.” Sly craned his neck, and I saw a scar along his shoulder. “Three years later, they popped up at a party, and their picture ended up in the newspaper. Three days later, I paid him a visit, but they knew we were coming.” His finger traced in Tommy’s blood, spreading it outward. “I’m starting to understand how they were tipped off.” He waited a beat.
“So, I followed them home one night. Only they caught on and tried to make a run for it.”
“Into the scrap yard,” I whispered with my palm held up to my face to get a better look at the casings.
“I knew Charlie would hide the girl, and sure enough, when we were close to her, he showed himself. Vinnie dragged him through the dirt to my feet. He didn’t beg. He was smarter than that. He just closed his eyes and said a prayer. It had never made sense to me, and when I thought I understood it, I was proven wrong.” His glance moved over to Sydney then back to me. “It wasn’t easy, but it had to be done. He knew too much.”
“How did his wife play into all of this? Why kill her?” My mouth was dry.
“She saw. If she had just stayed put, I would have let her be…maybe.” He smirked. “But instead she dropped to his side and died right alongside of him. True love and all that shit, I guess. I don’t like loose ends, Agent Colin.”
I cleared my throat and set the bullets upright. My pointer finger rested above my lip while I chose my words very carefully.
“One last thing.” I felt an eerie calm pass over me. “How was Charlie connected to you?”
Vinnie laughed behind me as Sly smirked at Bobby.
“He was my son.”
“Hmm,” I mumbled, then in a blink, I grabbed my knife and jammed it in his throat. Sydney grabbed my gun and held Vinnie and Sly at bay. I moved around the marble and watched as the blood squirted from his main artery, soaking his expensive dress shirt and pooling on his lap. His eyes showed me his life slipped from his grasp. “Sorry, Grandfather, but you had to know it would end like this.”
“Holy fuck,” Vinnie gasped behind me. “He’s Charlie’s boy.” His expression changed as he glanced at Sydney. You could see as it all clicked together for him, “you’re not their daughter.”
I ignore him and look over, “Syd,” I called over my shoulder, “call it in.”
I looked back at the man I hunted for years. I knew he was connected, but I never had enough proof, until now.
“This is Agent Sydney Claire, badge 768 with the Santa Monica agency.”
I looked down at my blood-soaked hands, then at a body that struggled to live, and finally at the woman I love who agreed to help me with this case, and follow me through until the end.
“I can’t believe I’m looking at Charlie’s boy,” Vinnie grunted as he tossed his gun at my feet in a state of defeat. “He would have been—”
Pop, pop! Two bullets burrowed into his flesh. I turned to Sly and did the same. No loose ends.
I bent over Bobby’s lifeless body and pulled his ring free of his fat finger and slipped it on my own.
I looked at Sydney, who gave me a wicked grin and joined me at my side.
I finally got what I wanted—justice and my seat at the head of the family table.
I had mafia ties, and I planned to use them.
The End
CONTINUE ON WITH THE NEXT SUGGESTED BOOK:
Courage, Blackstone Series Book 4
SUGGESTED READING ORDER
World One
(All books connect in World One)
Broken / Broken: Anniversary Edition
Shattered / Shattered: Anniversary Edition
Mended / Mended: Anniversary Edition
Honor
Escape
Trigger
Demons
Unleashed
Freedom
Omertà
Courage
Darkness Lurks
Darkness Follows
Darkness Falls
World Two
(Not connected to World One)
Behind My Words
All In
Quiet Wealth
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About The Author
Author J.L. Drake was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada, later moving to Southern California where she lives with her husband and two children.
When she's not writing she loves to spend time with her family, traveling or just enjoying a night at home. One thing you might notice in her books is her love for the four seasons. Growing up on the east coast of Canada the change in the seasons is in her blood and is often mentioned in her writing.
Her books can be found in different languages around the world.
Acknowledgements
Mary Drake, Erin Smith, Ana Armstrong, Ariana McWilliams
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