“Now he can rot in hell with my father, let the Devil deal with his deception.” Gino watched as a pile of New York City trash was dumped on top of the crate, a family of rats scurrying toward the rotten food and baby diapers. Sully’s decaying body would be a treat for them, as they would devour his flesh by the time the sun set tonight.
“Have we heard from Tony?” Gino questioned as he watched a large rat dig at a loose board on Sully’s crate.
“Yes, the barrel was emptied into the Hudson an hour ago.”
Gino’s anger wasn’t centered solely on Sully. Due to the depths of her deception with Kristine, Gino had ordered Nina’s body placed in a barrel of acid and tossed into the river. Her belongings were removed from the apartment he provided her and sat under a bridge for the homeless to enjoy.
“And what of the warehouse, have the cops finished their investigation?”
When Niko first came to Gino with his suspicions of Sully’s parentage, Gino put measures in place in case Niko was correct. Initially, he planned to set Sully up, allowing the cops to raid his warehouse and find enough drugs to put him in prison for a long time. All that changed the minute he’d involved Kristine.
“Rhoads sends his gratitude, the amount of coke they found will earn him some kind of commendation. And Flynn is being held without bond, he’s suicidal of course.” Niko added with a laugh.
“Of course,” Gino returned, checking the watch on his wrist. “I have a visit with Nona to get to.”
“How is the old girl?”
“Not the best,” Gino admitted, climbing behind the wheel of his car. “She says parents aren’t meant to bury their children, much less a grandchild. She says she prays every day for God to take her before she has to do it again.” Gino hadn’t the heart to tell his Nona of Sully’s deception, deciding her heart was heavy enough with his death.
“Give her my love,” Niko requested, leaning over Gino’s open window. “Let her know as soon as everything is sorted, I’ll pay her a visit.”
29
Gino slipped his father’s cufflinks through the slots on his shirt. In the end, they were the only possession he kept of his. The Vitale estate had sold in less than an hour, a collector from France offering a full cash offer, which Gino gladly accepted. Gino put every penny in the bank, waiting for the day he found a new house to call home; one he hoped he and Kristine would pick out together.
“When you were little, every time your father couldn’t find those cufflinks, he’d send me to your room to retrieve them as we both knew you’d stolen them once again.”
Gino loved the cufflinks, there was nothing special about them, no jewels or initials, just a blank silver circle. He recalled watching his father dress for what he assumed were meetings, thinking if he wore the cufflinks, he could be as big and as brave as his father. It seemed so long ago to Gino, a time where he thought his father was the strongest, most powerful man in all the world. That image crashed down the day he was forced to leave his mother in Sicily.
“I’m so sorry he treated you so poorly,” Gino told Chiara. “And I swear, this is as close to my father as I will ever become.”
Chiara shared a smile with her son as she helped him to secure his cuffs, “Good, because Kristine received some news today I think you should know about.”
Sitting heavily on the edge of his bed, “Is something wrong?”
After the funeral, Kristine chose to move out of the apartment Gino owned and into Emilio’s estate. For several months Gino worried she was pulling away from him, despite the amount of attention he threw her way.
“Apparently, a young man, Jonah, I believe she said his name was,” Chiara waved her hand around. “An old boyfriend if I understand correctly.”
Gino knew exactly who Jonah Kelley was, and the extent of their relationship. Jonah was Kristine’s first love, and the last real connection to the seemingly normal life she had in Kansas.
“He has become a single man.”
Fear gripped Gino square in the chest, his heart pounding so hard he could feel it in his head.
“How so?” Gino whispered, the skin around his left eye beginning to twitch.
“According to Kristine, the young lady he was engaged to, had a baby last week. During the celebration of the birth, the child’s real father burst into the room giving undisputed proof the infant was his, and not Jonah’s.”
Gino's throat felt thick. Reaching up, he pulled at his tie, the edged of his vision wavering.
“Is she…” he paused, his tongue too heavy to continue. “Is she going back to Kansas?”
“Oh, heavens no, Giovanni. I’ve never seen anyone laugh as hard as Kristine did. She deleted her social media from her phone and shouting it was a call for celebration as Karma really does come around.”
Gino sighed in relief, not caring if his mother saw his weakened state. He loved Kristine with everything in him. He’d respected Emilio’s conditions about giving her the space she needed to settle into her new life. Being the supportive boyfriend and not the cocky, sex-crazed man he notoriously was.
Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved the ring his mother gave him when they were cleaning out his father’s safe. The two-carat princess cut was an Amato family heirloom, stolen from Chiara’s dressing table the night before Jonathan was tossed out of the country.
“She’s going to love it, Giovanni,” Chiara assured, not used to seeing this side of her son.
Pinching it between his fingers, “I slipped it on her finger about a month ago when she fell asleep watching a movie. Just to see if it fit.”
“And?”
Shoving the ring back into the box and his pocket. “Like it was made for her,” Gino choked.
Chiara pulled Gino into her arms, “Only one way to find out if she feels the same.”
Kristine had never seen so many suits in one room in her life. The last formal event she’d attended was her senior prom, and, with the school located in a rural area, the majority of the guys were dressed in jeans and pressed shirts. As she walked around the room, she recalled how Jonah spent most of the dance in the parking lot getting drunk with his friends. Lifting her glass of champagne to her lips, she wondered how many of those good ‘ole boys helped him numb the sting of Grace’s betrayal? When Jonah’s instant message popped up a few days ago, she’d ignored his pleading for a second chance and deleted her account.
Looking across the room, her eyes landed on her father, his deep laugh, which always brought a smile to her face, was impossible to ignore. He’d been generous with her, much like Giovanni, giving her time to adjust her sails and become comfortable in her skin. After her mother’s funeral, she went back to work but soon found her mind couldn’t focus on the tasks before her. With a heavy heart, she’d handed in her resignation, and moved out of the apartment, immersing herself in learning everything she could about the mother she never knew. Kristine spent the summer watching home movies, shifting through photographs, and the closet full of clothes her father never got rid of. She attended dinners on the arm of her father and spent every Saturday night being fussed over by her patient and understanding boyfriend. And while she occasionally spent the weekend at his penthouse, she refused his offer to move in together.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?”
Kristine closed her eyes, allowing her body the pleasure of submitting to Giovanni’s embrace. Melting into the caress of his lips on the shell of her ear, and the way his hands skimmed under her breasts.
“Once or twice,” Kristine admitted, turning in his arms to face him.
One of the most difficult changes for her to accept as Emilio’s daughter, was how she could shop. Kristine found it difficult to avoid looking at price tags and either handed over a credit card or allowed Gino or one of her bodyguards to pay for her purchases.
As it happened, Kristine and Sophia, Gino’s sister bonded easily. Sophia took it upon herself to introduce Kristine to her favorite stores, and how easy it wa
s to hand over the card to obtain anything her heart desired.
“Well, a dress like this deserves to be complimented,” Gino mumbled as he kissed the edge of her mouth. “I happen to love the wrapping on my birthday gift.”
Kristine thought back to the day prior when she’d found the dress in question, old habits died hard as she accidentally looked at the tag, her eyes bulging as the cost would have afforded her a decent used car back in Kansas.
Looking into Gino’s deep eyes, she prayed he would always look at her with the same hunger he did today, and she would feel the love he confessed to her every time he touched her.
“You have guests to greet.” Kristine reminded Gino when he attempted to deepen their kiss. Kristine found it odd how there were no happy birthday banners hung over the door frame, no balloons floating over a table filled with presents. Instead, there were uniformed individuals with trays upon trays of food and drink circling the room.
“You’re right. Do me a favor, stay where I can see you, I have something special to show you later.”
Nodding, “Of course.”
“I love you,” Gino whispered, before giving her a much more chaste kiss.
“I love you, too.”
Where Gino had been quick with his feelings, Kristine took her time and made sure what she felt wasn’t the result of his saving her or the newness of starting over. Once she was certain, Kristine chose the perfect moment, confessing her love for him as Fourth of July fireworks splashed in the sky.
Gino sent her a wink before allowing the crowd to swallow him up as he shook the hand of every man he passed.
Needing a fresh drink, Kristine searched the room for one of the waiters, her eyes landing on Chiara’s smiling face, her arm wrapped around the sleeve of her longtime bodyguard, Luca. Chiara had confided in Kristine how the pair had been in love for years, but her marriage to Jonathan prevented them from being together. She further admitted Sophia was a product of that love, a well-known, unspoken about story in the Atamo family. “Do you take me as a woman who would give herself to a man who had already betrayed her?” She told Kristine when her mouth hung open in astonishment.
Kristine wanted to have the strength and grace Chiara possessed, and the unwavering loyalty of Nona Vitale, who had several men tripping over each other to help her.
Just as Kristine took a glass from a passing tray, the music changed and a multi-tiered birthday cake, glowing with sparkling candles, was rolled into the center of the room. A chorus of happy birthday’s rang out across the room.
Gino took his place beside the cake. “Before I make a wish and blow out these candles, I’d like to have Kristine come here and stand beside me.”
With all eyes on her, and a round of applause making her blush, Kristine took her spot beside Gino.
“You came into my life, carving out a chunk of my heart so you could move it.” Gino sang as a collective ahh, rang out. “You stood strong when the side effects of my world tried to knock you down, and you love me in spite of my unsavory history.” Reaching into his pocket, Gino dropped to one knee as he held out the ring. “Kristine Vittorio, will you marry me?”
Kristine dreamed as a young girl of a moment such as this. Granted her dream didn’t include a man as handsome and dangerous as Giovanni Vitale.
“Kristine, you're making me nervous here. Don’t leave me hanging, beautiful. Especially with all these candles melting into my cake.” Gino teased in an attempt to keep from passing out.
Kristine didn’t care for all the death and destruction she had to face to get here, but the journey of discovery had been worth it. Extending her hand to Gino, “Yes, Giovanni Vitale, I would be honored to be your wife.”
Epilogue
Two years later…
“I’ve seen some beautiful babies in my day, Giovanni, but this little girl is beyond words.”
Gino sat in the bed beside Kristine, his arms wrapped around his wife, with a watchful eye on his mother as she snapped photos of his Nona holding her namesake.
Nine months to the day after his wedding to Kristine, Elisabella Margarita Nicole Vitale was born.
Their wedding made national news. Booking out several hotels in Manhattan, creating a media frenzy and security nightmare.
Kristine insisted on a long engagement, which included a sex embargo two weeks prior to the wedding. Gino struggled to keep his hands respectable from the moment Emilio lifted Kristine’s veil. However, his control was shot to hell as he knelt before his new bride to remove the garter from her leg. Tossing her over his shoulder, the garter was flung to the first guy he passed as he bolted out the back door of the hotel. Boarding the Vitale jet, Gino had Kristine naked and was balls deep in her before the plane reached cruising altitude.
They spent four weeks, blissfully naked, in a home Gino owned in Sicily until the running of the Family pulled them back to New Jersey. A few weeks later, Gino found Kristine bent over the toilet, retching her guts out. He knew instantly Kristine was pregnant, and a trip to Kristine’s doctor gave Gino one of the happiest days of his life.
He’d been overprotective during her pregnancy, which led to several arguments, ending in makeup sex. The day prior had been one of those arguments, this time, however, before Gino could get his wife naked, her water had broken and they’d barely made it to the hospital before Elisabella was born.
Chiara handed her phone to Luca; they’d married in a private ceremony in the Canary Islands not long after Gino and Kristine returned from their honeymoon. Moving to sit on the arm of the chair, she reached out to twirl one of the many curls her grandbaby was born with.
“It’s funny really if you think about it.” Chiara began, leaning over to kiss Elisabella’s hand. “These tiny creatures come into our lives and in an instant, we love them with an immeasurable passion, willing to give them everything we own for them.”
“Unconditional love.” Emilio defined, as he stared hard at the little miracle, he hoped his Nicole in heaven could see.
“That’s exactly what it is,” Kristine added, adjusting her position in the bed as her daughter began to fuss. Holding out her hands, she waited as Chiara took the baby from Nona, laying her gingerly in her arms. “And I plan to make sure my daughter goes to bed every night knowing how loved and treasured she is. How her Nona Nicole is watching down on her from heaven.” Kristine swore, her voice cracking with emotion.
Burying his nose into Kristine’s hair, the emotional moment clogging his throat. His mother was right; he would give anything, kill anyone, to protect the women in this room, especially the tiny bundle enjoying her breakfast from her mother’s breast. None of the things he’d found pleasure in before gave him a tenth of the joy he felt now. Here, protecting his family, was where he was meant to be, and nothing or no one would take that away from him.
The end
About Cayce Poponea
Cayce Poponea is the bestselling author of Absolute Power.
A true romantic at heart, she writes the type of fiction she loves to read. With strong female characters who are not easily swayed by the devilishly good looks and charisma of the male leads. All served with a twist you may never see coming. While Cayce believes falling in love is a hearts desire, she also feels men should capture our souls as well as turn our heads.
From the Mafia men who take charge, to the military men who are there to save the damsel in distress, her characters capture your heart and imagination. She encourages you to place your real life on hold and escape to a world where the laundry is all done, the bills are all paid and the men are a perfect as you allow them to be.
Cayce lives her own love story in Georgia with her husband of eighteen years and her three dogs. Leave your cares behind and settle in with the stories she creates just for you.
INSIDIOUS LOVE
A Novella by Crimson Syn
INSIDIOUS LOVE
A Bleeding Heart Novel
by Crimson Syn
When Rose Blackthorne witnesses a hein
ous murder, her only choice is to run. But the events of one night force her into the arms of a stranger. Jake Cavanaugh has been hired to find Rose and keep her quiet, even if it means having to dispose of her dead body. Rose’s only hope is a stranger who has a dark secret, and there’s no escaping him without being consumed by his darkness. Jake’s rules are simple, get the job done and never get too close. But what happens when his obsession for this woman blemishes his plans?
Dedication
Hello my lovely readers,
Thank you all so much for joining me in this dark world I’ve created. Insidious Love is part of the Bleeding Heart series of books, which includes my previous installment, DEVIOUS HEART. Please don’t expect this to be a sweet romance. This story is angst-driven, morally questionable, and passionately raw.
If you’re new to my books I just want you to be aware of one thing, I do not play by the rules. So be prepared for triggers, a rollercoaster of emotions, and a love so deep, it will rock you to the core.
Rose Blackthorne is a young woman who has recently witnessed a murder. She goes into hiding only to be sought after by a hired gunman who has become obsessed with her. One fateful night brings these her closer to this stranger. The one she sees as her hero turns out to be the one, she fears most.
Jake Cavanaugh doesn’t know the meaning of love. He has spent his entire life shielding his heart. When a contract goes out on Rose, she seems like an easy mark. But what happens when the monster stirs, and obsession gets in the way. His cold and calculating way of doing things frightens Rose, but maybe, this monster is her only salvation.
Leave Me Breathless: The Black Rose Collection Page 21