by J. S. Cooper
Fabiano hadn’t had a proper funeral and she’d begged her dad to return the whole body so that his soul could rest in peace. And when Enzo hadn’t been able to offer up the body, she’d stopped talking to him.
Enzo had been furious. Everyone in the mafia world knew that Enzo had a bounty out for information on Fabiano. He’d never known it was me. At least not until now. Now he seemed to have all of the information, except for the one thing he really needed to know. And I knew Enzo would go to his grave for the information because if there was one thing Enzo loved, it was his kids. He didn’t care about his wife. He didn’t care one iota about her feelings. All he cared about, when it came to her, was that she cooked for him every night and fucked him when he wanted to. But his kids were another story. Enzo Russo loved his kids more than any damn thing in the world. It was absolutely crazy how much he loved his kids. How could someone so cruel and so mean love his kids so much? And his only daughter, the daughter that stopped talking to him, she was his favorite. She was the apple of his eye and it killed him that she wouldn’t speak to him. So he’d been doing everything in his power in the last five years to figure out what had happened to Fabiano’s body. He needed Fabiano’s body to win back his daughter; to show her that he cared and that he didn’t mutilate her lover. Because there was one thing everyone knew. Enzo was a lousy shot. He couldn’t shoot anyone. That’s why he hadn’t even gone to pick up my gun. He wasn’t good with a gun. He knew I’d have been able to get it from him in seconds. Because I was the best person with a gun this side of the Atlantic. And yeah, I’d shot Fabiano five times. Once in the head, once in the heart, once in the gut, once in the leg and once in the groin. And I didn’t care when he’d cried out in pain. He needed to die, that piece of shit. And Enzo knew how I killed my people. He knew if he found Fabiano’s body, there’d be bullets in it. He could take the bullets out of Fabiano’s corpse, and he could take the body to show his daughter and then she’d know that her daddy wasn’t the one that had killed her lover. And Enzo thought that was all he needed to bring her back home. I’d known all of this for years. I studied people. I watched them. I knew he had a bounty out on Fabiano’s killer. I also knew that Enzo’s daughter was a hooker in Philly, blowing guys on the street for a snort of coke. I doubted she’d go back home even if Fabiano somehow came back from the dead, but that wasn’t my business. Enzo lived in a dreamworld. And the answer to all of his problems lay with me. So he’d kidnapped Anabel. Which told me two things, the rat knew that I’d killed Fabiano and the rat knew that Anabel was back in my life. But I had bigger problems. In less than a minute, it was going to become very obvious that Anabel was lying. She had no idea where Fabiano was buried and Enzo was going to lose it once he figured that out.
“Hey Luca, you listening to me? What the fuck's going on? You out of it? You dying? You need my fist in your mouth again to wake you up?” Enzo shouted in my ear. “Your woman says she’s got the information I need. Has she got the information or not? If she’s lying to me, Luca, I will shoot her. And then I will shoot you. So let me tell you Luca, you need to talk to your woman. She’s either got the information or she doesn’t. If she lies to me, you’re both dead, you hear?”
“Enzo, I have nothing to say. I’ve already told you, she’s not my woman. I’ve got Valentina Marchese sitting at home.”
“Valentina Marchese, Valentina Marchese. What are you doing with her, Luca? Yeah, she’s pretty. Her dad’s a fucking idiot. You really want to bring him into your family? Are you really that desperate, Luca? I thought you were better than that.”
“You thought I was better than what, Enzo? You thought I was better than that when you married Valentina’s aunt?”
Enzo’s eyes narrowed. “And what?”
“I’m just saying, Enzo, if one of them is a slut, then the other one’s a slut too.”
“Are you calling my wife a slut?”
“I just call it how I see it, Enzo. I just call it how I see it.”
Giuliani spoke up then and walked over to Enzo. “Enzo, don’t let him rile you up. You know that’s what he’s trying to do. He’s trying to get you heated before we get the information. Let’s get the information and then you can do whatever you want to do to him. He’s already half dead. Look at his face. He looks like a fucking bloody ugly bastard.”
“And even at my ugliest, I’m still more man than you will ever be.” I looked at Giuliani disdainfully.
He snorted. “I might be a fat fuck, but I got a big penis.” He turned to look at Anabel. “And you’re about to see it in your mouth in ten seconds, bitch.”
I could feel it in the air that he wasn’t joking this time. Tempers were rising. The tension was there. Something bad was about to happen. And if I didn’t act quickly, I was the one that was going to pay and Anabel was going to pay for my sins too. I couldn’t let her down once again. Not now. Yes, I’d wanted to hurt her, but in a different way. And I still could, but only if I got us both out of this house. Maybe I could hurt her even more than she’d hurt me. Wouldn’t that be funny? How ironic would it be if I got her out of this hellhole and took her into another one? I was a sick bastard like that. But then again, she’s the one that made me as cold as I was.
I looked over at her face, so sweet and beautiful, and my hard heart melted just a little bit. There was still love there in the middle of the cold ice that was my heart. I could ignore it easily. It didn’t control me anymore, like it had when I was younger. She didn’t control me. But then I didn’t control her either. I wondered what it would have been like if she’d really trusted me, if she’d really loved me. If she’d seen who I really was, that I was a good guy deep inside. Ha! I laughed. Who was I kidding? I’ve never been a good guy. And I was never going to be a good guy. And she was probably smart to get rid of me. The only problem was she didn’t get rid of me properly. I was still here and I was going to take care of her, but not until I took care of Enzo and Giuliani.
“You guys want to know where Fabiano’s body is?” I looked at them and then I looked over at Anabel. “Anabel doesn’t know shit. Why would she, she’s a girl. She’s a mere woman. She’s a weak woman. She couldn’t even stand the fact that I killed him. You think she knows where his body is buried? Really guys, are you fucking idiots?”
“Who you calling a fucking idiot.” Giuliani grimaced. “Shut the fuck up and get out of here.”
I looked over at Enzo. “You and me, we got to talk man to man, okay?”
Enzo’s eyes narrowed. “Why? What do we have to talk about?”
“You and I have got to talk privately because I don’t think Giuliani is going to want to hear what I have to say. You catch me? You get what I’m saying? Capiche?”
“What are you saying?”
“Do you really want me to have to say this out loud, Enzo? Do you really want Giuliani to know everything about why we’re here?” Enzo frowned. He was most probably wondering, “What did I know? What did I know that could harm him?” The truth of the matter was I didn’t really have much on Enzo, but I had a couple of guesses about his twisted mind and his twisted life. And if I was even halfway to close, there’s no way he’d want Giuliani knowing anything. Because even though Giuliani was a fat little fuck, who was twisted himself, he was also judgmental and he valued his family as well. And if he knew that Enzo had fucked his mother and both of his sisters, he’d be furious. Especially if he found out his little nephew was actually his boss’s kid. That’s the way it always was in our circle. We were all evil, but we still had our code of morals. The evil people always judged others more harshly than they judged themselves for the very same sins. And I was counting on Enzo knowing that if some of his secrets came out, Giuliani wouldn’t be much of a yes man anymore.
“What do you want?” His tone was bitter.
“I want you to get out of the room now.” I looked at Enzo and then I looked at Giuliani. “Take him with you. I need to speak to Anabel. I need to make sure she’s okay. I need to calm he
r down. Then you and I will talk. Give me ten minutes.”
“You just want to fuck her.” Enzo turned up his nose.
“You give me ten minutes. Leave. I’m warning you, Enzo. I’m warning you that it will all come out.”
Without a word, he turned around and headed out of the room. “Come on,” he said to Giuliani, and Giuliani reluctantly followed him. He looked back as he got to the door and said, “I’m going to leave you alone, but I’m locking the door, so don’t even try to think about running.” He slammed the door behind him and I heard it lock with a key. I walked over to Anabel and I looked at her, touching her trembling lips softly, and then tilted her chin up so that she was looking me in the eyes.
“Anabel, are you okay?” Her eyes widened and she nodded without speaking. “I need you to talk to me, Anabel. Are you okay?”
“Are you going to fuck me?” she whispered. Her whole body was trembling.
“No, Anabel. I’m not going to fuck you.”
“If he would have said yes, would you have fucked me?” she asked again.
I looked at her and I sighed. “Yes.” I could see tears welling up in her eyes.
“Even if I didn’t want to?” she whispered. “Would you have fucked me then?”
“No, I wouldn’t have fucked you if you would’ve told me no. I’m not a rapist, Anabel. You know that. I would never do anything to you that you didn’t want me to do.”
“You didn’t ask me if I wanted you to fuck me though.”
“I know I didn’t and I wouldn’t have done it if you didn’t want me to.” I leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “I know you feel it too, Anabel. We still have that chemistry.”
“I know,” she admitted softly. “I hate that we do.”
“I hate that we do as well.” I laughed, but it wasn’t in mirth. I was angry. “I hate that I’m attracted to you still. I hate that when I look in your eyes and I see you’re hurt, it breaks my heart because I didn’t think I had a heart left to break.”
“Why’d you do it?”
“Why did I do what?”
“Why’d you kill Fabiano, Luca? I was only flirting with him. It was nothing.”
“I didn’t kill Fabiano because you were flirting with him. There were many things you didn’t know and you never gave me a chance to explain so you would understand.”
“But I saw you kill him.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t kill him. I said, I didn’t kill him because you were flirting with him.”
“Then why’d you do it?”
“I did it because he was a rapist, Anabel. I did it because he was the one that robbed your mother that night. I did it because...”
“Stop!” She held up her hands. “What do you mean he was the one that robbed my mother that night?” She frowned. “You mean the night when the robbery happened and she got hit on the head?”
“Yeah. It was Fabiano. He did that on purpose, Anabel. He was letting me know that he would go after your family and then he would go after you. And you played right into his hands by flirting with him.”
“I didn’t know,” she gasped. “Oh my god. I didn’t know. He hurt my mom?”
“He was going to do a lot more to your mom, Anabel. He wasn’t a nice guy. Everyone knew about him. It was only a matter of time before someone took care of him. I found things in his apartment. Things I don’t want to tell you about. I had to protect you and I had to protect your family.”
“So you killed him to protect me and to protect my family?” Light blossomed in her eyes and she suddenly seemed to understand. “You didn’t kill him because I flirted with him.”
“No, Anabel. I wouldn’t kill someone just because you flirted with them.”
“But all these years,” she shook her head looking distraught. “And I went to the feds. I...”
“I know. You nearly had me put in jail.”
“Oh God, what did I do? What did I do? I’m so sorry. Luca, I didn’t know.”
“I know you didn’t know. Hey, you didn’t trust me enough. That’s fine, right? You didn’t really know me. I was just some boy you met in the streets when you dropped your bags.”
“You were more to me than that, Luca.”
“Not really, right? I thought you loved me the way I loved you, but obviously you didn’t because you walked away and you just left me. And I could be rotting in jail right now and you wouldn’t have given two shits. Fabiano was an evil man. He’d targeted other women, Anabel. It wasn’t just you. He didn’t deserve to live. But you didn’t trust me enough to know that I was doing a bad thing for a good reason. You just left. Ran to the police as quickly as possible and turned me in.”
“Luca, it wasn’t like that.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s done. It’s over. All I care about us right now is that we get out of here alive.”
“Can I kiss you, Luca?” She leaned forward and I frowned.
“Why do you want to kiss me?”
“I just want to feel your lips on mine one more time, please.”
“Anabel, no, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Please.” She touched me lightly on the shoulder. “For old time’s sake, Luca. For what we once had.”
“This is not really the right time, Anabel. We should be thinking and talking about how we’re going to get out of here, not kissing.” But I couldn’t stop myself. I pressed my lips against hers and her arms wrapped around my neck and she pushed her body into mine, so delicate and warm and sensual. I held her to me as if I was never going to hold another woman to me again, for the rest of my life. I kissed her back passionately. I tugged on her hair and I sucked on her lower lip. My hand slid up her back and then cupped her small, delicate breasts.
She gasped into my mouth, moaning, whimpering. Oh, how I loved the sound. Oh, how I wanted her, how I wanted to bend her over right then and there and fuck her. I wanted to fuck her hard and make her scream my name so she would know and I would know that I was the only one that could ever fulfill her. But there was no time. I pulled away slowly and she just stared at me.
“Wow,” she whispered. And I just smirked because I knew in that instant that I had her again in the palm of my hands. She was mine to do with what I wanted. And at this moment, I wasn’t quite sure if I would crush her or let her fly away.
Chapter 18
Anabel
My lips still felt warm from the touch of his against mine. Everything had changed. I stared at him in wonder, upset with myself, confused, and about to go crazy. Luca wasn’t the evil bastard that I’d thought him to be all these years. I was the one that had fucked-up. I was the one that had failed. I’d betrayed him, and that’s why he hated me. I’d betrayed him because I hadn’t known the truth. I’d thought I’d done what was right, but in fact, I’d done everything that was terribly wrong. He was right. I hadn’t trusted him. I never should have gone to the feds. I’d ruined everything.
As I stared up at him, his swollen eyes, his puckered lips, I knew that I wanted to be with him. I needed to be with him. I needed to be intimate with him. I needed to give myself to him to show him how sorry I was. I grabbed a hold of his arm.
“Luca.”
“Yes? What is it?” He was breathing heavily and I wondered if I’d hurt him when we’d kissed. I could still taste his blood on my lips. “Sorry,” he said quickly. “I’m stressed. And I’m worried.”
“I want to be with you, Luca.”
“What?” He took a step away from me. “What did you say?”
“I want to be with you, Luca.” I touched the side of his face. “I want to fuck you now.”
“Are you out of your freaking mind, Anabel?” He shook his head. “We’re about to get murdered and you want to have sex?”
“I know it’s crazy. I don’t even know who I am right now, but I fucked-up all those years ago and I don’t know how I’ll ever forgive myself for that, because you were one of the best things that ever happened to me. You made m
e believe in myself, you made me believe in love, and I gave it all up because I didn’t trust you. You’re right. I nearly put you away for a long time, but I still have memories of us, and those memories never faded, and those memories were good, and those memories were sweet.”
“Anabel, we can’t do this now. Please.”
“I haven’t been with anyone else since you, Luca,” I admitted to him, feeling slightly embarrassed.
“What?” His voice was deep and unbelieving. “You haven’t been with anyone else? Are you fucking with me, Anabel?”
“There’s been no one else since you, Luca. No one.”
He let out a deep, low breath and pulled me toward him. “We shouldn’t do this, Anabel, but my god, I want to fuck you so badly, you don’t even know.”
“Then take me, Luca. Take me now, please. I just need to feel you inside of me. I just need to feel a release. I need to. Please.”
“Fine,” he said, and then he pushed me around and slammed me up against the side of the wall. “How do you want to do this, Anabel?”
“What?” I looked over my shoulder at him. “You let me know.”
He turned me around again and pulled me up into his arms. I wrapped my legs around his waist and leaned forward and kissed him. He kissed me back hard, his hands going up underneath my skirt and pulling my panties down slightly. I gasped as I felt his finger rubbing against my clit roughly. He rubbed against me as if he wanted me as wet as possible, as soon as possible. There was nothing gentle about his touch, and I loved it. I loved it for everything that it was. Rough, primal, and raw. I bit down on his lip so hard that I tasted blood and he gasped.