by Shan R. K
“Zero let him go brother. We just talking, no one is going to hurt Beggar and Spade keep your mouth shut. I'm the one in charge here, so everyone sit the fuck down. We have two women to find, Beggar sit down please.”
Zero keeps his position for a few seconds longer before he lets Spade go. They do some handshake arm thing and they’re cool. Men.
I take my place on the bed, until my back hits the headboard. Knees to my chest, hands to my toes, chin to my knees, but it doesn't touch. It mustn't. My hair doesn't fall properly over my face to hide me, but I'm okay. I have an Enforcer in the room to save me.
The room quietens and I don't look at any of them. My eyes stay firmly on my white bedding.
“Let's start with the basic question, how do you know Lucca Sanati?”
I hear that name of his and my mind goes instantly back to the day we met, when I was just a girl and he was so much more.
"My mother had been dead for four years. I ran away from the system at twelve after the man who was assigned to look after me, raped me. It was hard to survive on my own. I was sixteen, cold, hungry and stupid when I met Lucca. I wanted to get a job. Get a life. This girl I met told me I had to look in this club, she said they'd hook me up if I got an I.D card."
"What kind of job girly girl?" The question comes from Knight.
I didn't hear him enter the room. Still, I answer.
"I wasn't looking to be a prostitute if that's what you asking. I was thinking more of a waiter. I was stupid, I got the I.D not realizing that I had to be eighteen to work there. Got turned down before I even entered. I was hungry and so tired that day. I had to walk ten blocks for that gig, that I just sat there. It was closing on ten that night when I saw him jumping out of his black Bentley. He was so handsome in his black suit, his smile so big.”
A throat clears, snapping me out of the daze that is my mind.
“He took me out to some fancy ass place but the kitchen was closed so we ate cold sandwiches. It was nice. He was nice. After that I met him every few days. We dated until the night I was due to move in with him, he found my I.D card in my back pocket...”
I shake my head as memories of that day claw its way to the fore front of my mind. My reality slipping.
“Im going to fuckin’ kill you.” His angry voice hisses in my ear. My screaming, when he pulls my hair. The brutal punch he delivers to my stomach, I feel it all. The loss of air, my wheezing chest as I tried to regain the loss of oxygen. I remember thinking I was going to die.
“No, no,no,no, please, please, I beg you, I don't wanna talk anymore about this please.” My fingers lock around my toes until my knuckles are white as I fight off my nightmares. I rock myself back and forth, my chin doesn't touch my knees. It mustn't.
"He got Jade, took Falon a few hours ago. He wants a trade Beauty.” Zero says in a small and haunting voice.
A phone chimes cutting off any further talking. Storm answers it and grunts.
“He wants to talk to you, no speaker.” My head shoots up to Storm who looks remorseful as he holds the phone for me to take. I swallow the memories that cloud my mind. Memories of him. And I take the phone putting it to my ear.
“Beggar, Beggar, Beggar, my filthy dirty Beggar.” He laughs at his own sick joke.
“Lucca.” My accent thick as my memories fight for my mind. He knows, he can tell.
“ENOUGH!.” He commands and my mind instantly obeys like the obedient slave I was trained to be. “You costed me a lot of money and a lot of men Amariya, millions. I'm tempted to take it out on the red head. She's so tiny, easy breakable, but all will be forgotten if you give me one thing.”
“What do you want Lucca?”I stammer like a little girl. I hate how scared I am of him, I hate him, what he did to me, what he took from me.
“You know full well what I fucking want, I want my daughter.” He says it likes it's the most obvious thing in the world.
“I told you, She's dead.” I whisper but my voice is firm.
He laughs.
He always laughs,
“You lie, you always lie Amariya, it was the biggest problem with you. I know you got her somewhere, it's only a matter of time until I find out where.”
“I wont lie about this Lucca. I wish it was a fucking lie, I wish I had her.” I scream, “but you, you took her from me. You raped me! You took what I would've given you for free, what I gave you for free, so YOU killed her, not me.”
“It was consensual, you SIGNED the contract.” He shouts and I swear if he was here he would've strangled me.
“I was sixteen, what the fuck did I know about signing contracts. I trusted you. It was you who left me with those men, you told them to take me back. Do you know what they did to me. YOUR. MEN. Your loyal fucking servants. DO YOU.” I scream, and snarl. He’s silent and normally I would keep quiet. But no more. For the first time in four years I tell Lucca exactly what I have to.
“They left me in a god damn ditch for two days. My voice is fucked from screaming. Do you know I didn't even have it checked out, huh. Let's not forget the week I walked around naked without clothes, begging with a cardboard box on. And the days I went without food, without water.” I laugh but it's hollow just like my soul. Shaking my head, I say, “You wouldn't understand the idea of being hungry, or the reality of it if you're pregnant, but I’ll explain it to you, our daughter didn't stand a chance.”
He's quiet, and for a second I swear I hear him breakdown but he clips the phone off, so I guess I’ll never know.
I look up at the men, there's like twenty different men in the room and Venus looking at me with shocked expressions, except Zero because he already knows. I didn't tell him everything but I told him what was important.
He didn't take it very well but he hid it well.
I hand Storm back his phone and regain my position. “I need to make a phone call, he’ll be here soon.”
They all move aside as I climb off the bed. Everyone is silent. These new people must think I'm crazy and they just walked in on one of my episodes, maybe I am. But I'm the best and only hope they have of getting Jade and Falon back.
I walk out of the lounge and go to the front door, aware Zero is behind me. I dial up the only person I've never doubted. The person I met when I was sixteen and pregnant, he was my last hope and he never failed. The price I paid was worth it. A life for a life. Una vita per una vita.
“Talk.” The bark of his voice makes me smile even in my darkest of moments.
“We spoke about that, it's mean.”
He’s quiet for a long minute, “Fuck you Riya, where the fuck are you? You just vanished overnight.”
“Nice to hear your voice too bossman, but this isn't social.”
“We're Italian and family of course it's social.”
My voice drops, “Lucca called, he seems to think our daughter survived.”
“Fuck.” I hear him throw something. He never could control his temper.
“I was thinking the same thing. He's coming here, I know it, he won't wait until Wednesday.”
He knows what I'm talking about, why I'm saying what I'm saying, but only him. “I’ll bring your stuff.”
“That's exactly what I wanted to hear.”
“But I don't fucking like it, this is the last time Riya, that strunzo better be clipped by next week or I'm sending Vince with a Moe Green Special.”
I shake my head, “See you soon bossman.” I clip the phone off and face Zero's tired gaze.
“Come on, you need to sleep. Falon will be fine.”
He pulls me in closer as his hands squeeze my ass, “You damn well know it's not Falon I'm worried about.”
I kiss his cheek, “And you damn well know I have to do this. I know Lucca, he doesn't make empty threats and his men won't stop at just killing your men, they’ll hunt your family down, rape your children and burn your houses, this isn't a war ground with rules Zero, this is the outfit, there is no fucking rules.” I push away from his warmth and walk past him,
no doubt he’s following, he's always following me.
“Beauty, whatever you thinking about doing don't, We've hardly had anytime. We haven't even really spoken.” When I'm silent, he shakes his head, “I planned to tell you this over dinner or a picnic or some romantic shit like that, not like this.”
I frown, “what are you talking about?”
His shoulders slump, “I'm being deployed.” I stop dead in my tracks.
“It's a covert operation, I got two weeks with you, don't cut it short by going to that motherfucker, please stay, give us a chance.”
My stomach sinks and for the first time since I met Zero I do the very thing that he warned me not to- I lie to his face. “Ok, I won't go until I really have to.”
The relief is evident as his shoulders drop. I smile at him, and it's not a hard thing to do, he's looks dangerous and sexy in his cut and chains hanging from his pants.
Taking the few steps toward him I place a chaste kiss to his cheek. My back turns, missing the disappointment that marks his face.
I don't bother with the new bikers that are lurking in the house with half naked girls hanging off their arms. I don't look up when a cloud of smoke blows in my face. I keep my gaze to the floor, inhaling the thick smell of beer and stale smoke now masking the strong disinfectant that normally fills the air in this area.
Zero's voice rings from me behind me as he stops to greet his brothers. I'm glad he has them here with him. He’ll need them soon.
If there is one thing about Lucca I know is that he will never let me go. I'm not the least bit surprised when my phone chimes as I enter my room. I don't have to question how he got the number, someone is working for him. The club has a rat, and I know the enforcer will hunt them down.
“Amariya, Il mio mendicante.”
“Not anymore, give them back their women Lucca.” I sigh, but inside I'm dying a thousand deaths. Hearing his voice, seeing him is the one thing I never want to do ever again. But since my conversation with him earlier I feel so much stronger. I have to be if I'm going to kill him.
He ignores me, “Do you remember that job you did for your dear old cousin.” I stiffen mid-way to the bed mindful of the door opening behind me. I know it's Zero when his hands wrap around my waist.
“I'm not sure what you talking about Lucca.” I say his name out loud for Zero's benefit.
“Oh, Let me refresh your memory, two in the head one in the back, you filthy, dirty, beggar. Remember?” He chuckles but it's different from before, like it's almost forced.
“You mean your goons that tried to steal me for you.” I'm not going to like what he has to say, I know it. I never had.
He laughs, “They were hardly goons, one was a P.I remember him, ring any bells, the white Texas man.” It's the face I had trouble remembering. I step out of Zero’s arms putting distance between us.
“You lying, no it can't be.” Even my voice sounds doubtful.
“Oh yes yes yes yes yes yes, say hello to your boyfriend for me will you.” He laughs as the call goes dead.
I'm still frowning when I face Zero, who's slipping his cut off his shoulders and placing it like a priceless gem on the chair that Texas left in front of the bed, “Can you tell me about your family, do you have brothers or sisters.”
If he is shocked by my sudden question he doesn't show it. He proceeds to the bed, sitting down to untie his boots, “My dad is on his way from Seattle, had some club stuff to sort out, but we can see him tomorrow. My brother is in a rehab facility, got stabbed in the back, doctors said he’ll never walk again but the man is persistent, he’ll be home in a month. My mother is dead to me, haven't seen her since I was a kid, the rest we can talk ‘bout another time, maybe tomorrow.”
He stands up sliding out of his pants and turns to face me, “Gotta head out in the morning. Tonight I just need to hold you, please, I know you don't like to be touched and shit when you sleep, please Beauty, just tonight.”
His voice breaks and I run into his arms, “You can hold me every night.”
He lifts me up, my legs wrap around his waist. “Every night ha?” His voice drops into a sexy growl causing my sensitive pussy to clench. His eyes take on that bedroom look he does sometimes where the one gets smaller. The scar under the eye is something I wanna know about him. But I don't ask, as he said we will have other nights. Even as the thought leaves me a sense of foreboding settles within me.
“Kiss me.” I tell him, desperation stark in my voice as need to feel this man in me, claiming me over and over again becomes a suffocating fuse burning to be set free, screaming to be fulfilled.
He groans, as he licks his lips and does just that.
He consumes me with a kiss of contentment, a kiss of hunger, a kiss of pain.
He strips my clothes the same way he strips my soul with each touch of his hands, each dig of his fingers as he claims my flesh, unraveling me until all I can do is feel.
And I feel everything, the glide of his lips as he paints my body with the heat of his breath, awakening my senses, pulling me in until I’m arching up, as the chains of another draws me back.
I writhe and twist under his exploring lips and caging hands.
I cry out as he fills me with all that is him, chest to chest, heart to heart, we collide as one. Thrust after thrust Zero takes me, claims me, owns me until I have no choice but to pull at the chains that hold me. I have no choice but to give him the last shred of my humanity, the final piece of me.
Chapter 22
Zero
IM AWOKEN BY BEGGAR screaming, my head pounding. The bed dips as I turn to grab her by the waist, she obviously fights me but I easily pull her to my chest. "Stay still." I snap. She listens and then whimpers.
"Sleep Beauty,” and she does. It's the first night I sleep with Beggar in my arms. And though I feel her closeness, I know she's safe, there's nothing but a painful ache in my chest at the thought of her going back to that man.
He did this to her, yet she’s prepared to relive his torture to protect two girls who would never do the same for her. She hasn't said it, but her eyes say more. I know she's going to leave. I feel it.
She might've been a beggar when she walked into this clubhouse but now she's a beggar stealing pieces of me that I'd never knew existed. She's stealing my heart and I want her to take it. Take it all. The rest will come later.
It's hours later when I get up. Beggar is still fast asleep and I have tons of shit to do besides going to tell the entire club that my woman is the reason Falon and Jade are missing. I should get out of bed and get on the road. Instead I just watch her sleep. And I notice things I've never noticed before, like the faint dust of freckles on her nose, the tiny scar on her temple from an old wound, the light crinkles under her eyes. Her hair fanned out on the pillow. The downward tilt of her lips. She's beautiful, and so strong.
When she told me about the pregnancy, it was too much. I couldn't fucking deal, I couldn't do it. I told her I was going to take a piss, but I fuckin’ hurled my guts out.
How did she survive a life like hers? Living on the streets had to be hard, but being subjected to some sick bastard with a fetish of raping women? Getting raped by numerous men on top of that. Then getting left in a ditch while you're pregnant. It's almost impossible to believe. Yet, She has the scars, brands and these gut wrenching, mind fucking nightmares to prove it. Lord knows what other fucked up shit happened to her. At least she's safe now, in my clutches. I won't let her go now, no way.
“Then he called yesterday sayin’ she's his, the guy is a sick fuck and that girl has already gone through more shit than all of us put together. There's no way I'm letting her near that fucker.” Storm’s grim eyes dare any fucker to challenge him.
All the brothers are sitting around the table eating breakfast.
Rounder is at the head of the table, not much better than yesterday, and now his girl is gone. It was my job to protect her and I failed. I know I should've taken her to Barfa but fuck, I can't regret
that time I spent with Beggar. And the fact that I'm not losing my shit just confirms what I already knew, that my nameless Beggar is it for me. When I took her again last night, fuck. I feel a hard on coming just from the thought of her rolled back eyes and parted lips as her body convulsed in the pleasure I fed her. A real fucking siren, shit.
I was reluctant to leave her with the women and prospects who were all ordered to eat in the lounge, so the brothers can discuss the situation. Venus already agreed to stay with the women and catch up during church later. The two other full members, After and Mercy are on the way with the rest of the women and children from Houston.
Storm just about finishes with a quick rundown of his plan when Den rushes in.
“Sorry, Prez but you guys gotta come see this.” His bug eyes tell me I'm not going to like whatever this is.
I’m the first one out my chair, slipping my cut on as I follow the prospect to the front door. The sun hits me full in the face. I step out onto the porch spotting the black Bentley and three Mercedes parked outside the gates.
The first person comes to mind is Lucca, he has come for my woman but that thought is squashed when I see an unmistakable face.
All the brothers come join me outside on the porch. Our eyes all trained on the cages. So I don't spot Beggar until I see her ass climbing down the stairs.
I naturally go after her. My arm snaps open and I grab her around the waist, “Where the fuck do you think you going? That's Deno Catelli.” I growl into her ear.
“They here for me, I won't be long.” She says matter of factly.
“That's the future head of the Marfia..” I remind her, in case she thinks it's Lucca.
“She already knows that, Deno is her family.” Killer says from beside her.
I hear the men behind me swear and curse. My woman just keeps bringing on the surprises, but it answers one question. Why did she choose to be a beggar when she got older. It has been nagging me since last night. She's protecting her family, like she's protecting us. Everybody knows the New Orleans Outfit is the biggest enemy of the Famiglia.