All right then.
“Dante,” Nixon grabbed a bottle of wine and set it on the table. “Sergio and Phoenix are on their way over — more training, so only eat what you wouldn’t mind puking up later.”
Nixon. Always encouraging.
“Noted.” I pulled a chair out.
El sat across from me right next to Mil.
Chase flanked my right.
I gulped.
This wasn’t awkward.
Trace was attempting to feed the baby while Nixon helped.
They were distracted.
And in that moment, it all made sense.
How Mil assumed she could fly under the radar in another boss’s home.
He was distracted.
Unarmed.
I didn’t as much as flinch as the reality of my situation washed over me.
Whatever she was doing or not doing.
She was banking on Chase protecting her — and Nixon ignoring her.
I was the wild card.
So, I did what anyone would do in my position.
I fucked with her head.
“Mil,” I poured her a glass of wine. “You look… tired. Doesn’t she look tired Chase?”
Chase tensed next to me. I was loyal to him. But loyal to my blood first, my legacy, my dead father.
And if she was doing anything to jeopardize my revenge on any enemy that tried to take my sister away, take El away, I would end them.
“Lots of late nights, huh Chase?” She winked at Chase.
He went still as a statue then gave her a completely disgusted look.
She paled.
And I knew… she had broken something once so strong between them. It was fragile.
In a world full of lies and destruction.
Sometimes all you have is one person to help you see the light.
But what happens when they succumb to the darkness?
“I wouldn’t know,” Chase finally said, meeting her gaze with a pissed off one of his own.
Trace finally looked over at us as if noticing the tension around the table. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not exactly sure.” I eyed Mil. “But, I’m going to find out. The truth always wins — especially when you’re such a shitty liar.” It was out before I could stop it.
Chase’s chest heaved.
I did the job he didn’t want to.
He would thank me later.
After he tried to beat the shit out of me.
Mil’s eyes narrowed.
And I knew what she was thinking — weighing.
Friend or foe.
I smiled, it wasn’t intended as a friendly smile, but as one that promised pain if she touched anything or anyone I loved.
I would challenge the boss of the De Langes if that was what it came to. And I would win. Because I had nothing to lose.
And she did.
Frank shifted in his seat, his eyes taking everything in. Quietly. He did things quietly. And I knew he was watching the exchange in interest, the very fact that I’d put her in a shitty position in front of two bosses wasn’t lost on him.
Mil’s gaze was ice cold.
I’d never seen anyone crack in front of my eyes.
But I saw it in her, saw the fear, the guilt, and finally the shame when she looked back to her glass of wine and drank the whole thing. Hand shaking.
I turned my attention back to El her face was sad.
Like she noticed the broken pieces between Chase and Mil and didn’t know how to fix them.
She’d come to the same conclusion I already did a few minutes ago.
Sometimes you can’t fix what’s been broken.
Especially when it’s not love that breaks.
But trust.
“I lost my appetite.” I turned to walk away.
Chase caught my arm, gripped it so hard that I knew he could break something if he wanted to.
Instead, he just nodded once.
And that was my answer.
His thank you.
While his wife watched.
Blood will always win.
And because of her choices.
She’d just put an even bigger target on her back.
One I wouldn’t hesitate to hit.
So Chase wouldn’t have to.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Dante
ANOTHER SHITTY DAY.
At Eagle Elite.
After letting Chase punch me repeatedly, he’d been thankful that I’d outed Mil, but with that thanks, came his stress, which meant I got to play the bag to his punching.
I sighed and looked around for El
I should feel guilty that she was sitting by herself, that people were whispering like they always did.
But I had a job to do — and that job didn’t include holding her hand and making sure the kids weren’t being mean to her. I snorted in disgust and tossed a fry back onto my plate.
Andrei approached like I knew he would — hey he was the one who invited me to eat by them.
Silence ensued.
It was becoming annoying, the way people looked at him like he was God, when I knew it was more like he was the exact opposite of anyone or anything you ever want to worship.
I could almost feel the tension dripping from the atmosphere as he calmly sat across from me and folded his hands on the picnic bench.
I had an hour before my next class.
And was spending it trying to eat shit food and not stare at El while she read a book under the tree.
“Still so pretty.” Andrei nodded in her direction. “Too bad she’s used goods, yeah, surprised you still kiss her knowing where her mouth’s been.”
I kept my face indifferent when my heart slammed in defiance of his words, like it was taking offense even though it wasn’t even meant to. Damn it, that mouth was mine.
With a shrug I grabbed another shitty fry and shoved it into my mouth.
“She’s worse than a Russian whore,” he said in a low voice. “Next time you bring her around, know that we will take advantage of her in every way. It’s our right. Besides…” He stood and winked. “She’s got no name to protect her, not that it’s surprising. No Italian was brave enough to take her, huh? What has it been? A few days?”
His voice rose.
She was only a few feet away from me.
Tears filled her eyes, and she glanced back down at her book.
“What makes you think I haven’t?” I said calmly. “Don’t assume I haven’t spread her legs for my own pleasure and laughed at the way she screams my name as if no one’s ever made her feel that way before, Xavier must have had a pretty small dick.” Smirking, I stood. “So fucking tight, I almost passed out. Probably a good thing Xavier’s dead, or I’d kill him for being such a shit sexual partner.”
“Watch it.” Andrei’s face cracked a smile. “He may have been an idiot, but he was our idiot.”
“And now he’s a dead idiot,” I added with a smirk.
“I can’t decide if I should trust you or just kill you,” he mused.
“You’re asking the wrong question, Andrei.”
“Am I?”
“The only thing you can trust in this business is money and blood. You don’t need to trust the person, trust the greed you see in my eyes, trust the blood I spilled for you. End of story.”
He nodded slowly. “Soon.” He knocked on the table and started walking backward away from me. “We have a few loose ends and then you’ll have all the money you could possibly want — and enough blood to spill to quench even your thirst, Dante.”
I eyed him up and down with a bored expression and said. “Doubtful.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Yeah, I like you.”
When he was a few feet away from me, his back turned, I imagined pointing a gun at his head and firing off the trigger at least a dozen times.
If I didn’t need information on him, his contacts, what the hell he was doing at the University other than stalki
ng the shit out of El — he’d be dead.
Slowly, I approached El, casting a shadow over her form. She turned the page, scrunched up her nose like she was concentrating when we both know she probably heard every ugly part about that conversation.
“Am I supposed to thank you?” She didn’t look up.
“Don’t.”
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
I sat down next to her, our thighs grazed each other. She sucked in a breath and leaned her head back against the trunk of the tree. “He’s going to kill you.”
“Not if I kill him first.”
“That’s a gamble. They’re putting you in a bad position — the bosses, if this goes badly, if you’re no longer useful—”
“That’s where you’re wrong El — I will always be useful to men like Andrei because they can’t see beyond their own arrogance. I’m just dangerous enough for him to want me on his side, I have all the right connections, and there’s a sick satisfaction he gets thinking that I’d ever cross my own family just to build a name for myself. Nah, he won’t fire first, because he sees himself in me, and you don’t shoot yourself in a war, you shoot the enemy. My bullet will be lodged in his head, it’s just a matter of when.”
She shivered and closed her book. “I hope you’re right.”
“Why?” I turned to her. “You gonna miss me?”
She rolled her eyes. “Must be nice, sinking between my thighs, huh Dante?”
I stood and offered her my hand. “I wouldn’t know since you keep them so fucking tight I’m surprised you can even put pants on without difficulty.”
She scowled and jerked away from me. “Thanks… for making him think I was your whore too.”
I wrapped an arm around her. “It’s to keep you safe.”
“I know.” Her voice was muffled against my chest as I walked her away from the crowds of people and toward the business building. “I just… it makes me feel — dirty again.”
I stopped walking, dropped her book onto the ground right after her messenger bag, then cupped her face between my hands, my mouth found hers in a searing kiss as my tongue slid past her defenses, my hands dove into her luscious midnight hair. When she gasped, I deepened the kiss until all I tasted was her.
With a sigh, I pulled away, kissed her forehead, grabbed her messenger bag and discarded book and then her hand.
We kept walking.
“What?” Her voice was hoarse. “What was that for?”
“That was a kiss, El.”
“I know what it was Dante, I’m asking what it was for.”
“A reminder.” I shrugged.
“Of?”
“The purity of kissing, the simplicity of kissing just to kiss, because it feels good because sometimes sex is just fucking and emotionless, but when you kiss, damn when you kiss you feel everything don’t you? You feel it everywhere, it consumes you more than any sexual act you’ll ever do. People don’t really remember their first sexual experience, but their first kiss? You’ll remember it until your dying day. Just giving you something happy so you can replace the ugly. Sometimes kissing is the only way to give innocence back that’s been taken.” I stopped walking. “Now, El. Now you can thank me.”
She sighed and then whispered, “Thank you.”
It was unexpected.
The feeling in my chest that told me the kiss wasn’t just for her.
But for me too.
My kiss had been selfless and after two seconds in her arms, it had quickly turned selfish.
Because I wanted more.
And a part of me was disgusted with every thought that was directed at the very girl I was supposed to stay away from — to protect.
She would never be mine.
But for a few minutes.
When our lips fused together.
I was hers.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
El
SERGIO AND PHOENIX didn’t join us for dinner, they bypassed all the wine and food — very unusual for any Italian, and went in search of Dante.
And for the second night in a row, Chase didn’t move from his spot, nor did his eyes leave Mil’s, it seemed like she was trying after the previous night, not that it mattered, things were breaking — broken.
I was too afraid to ask him if he was okay in front of her. It felt like something was breaking, shifting, and home suddenly wasn’t as safe as it once was.
Not with the way Frank watched Mil.
Or the way Chase watched Frank.
Nixon didn’t catch on, but he had a six-month-old in his arms.
Trace however kept looking back at everyone.
Mil finally stood and eyed Chase. “Want to go watch a movie?”
“Code word for sex?” Chase tried teasing.
A small smile hit her lips. “Probably.”
They were faking it.
Everyone knew it but them.
He followed her out.
I sagged in relief.
Until Nixon spoke. “I’ll deal with it.”
Eyes wide I waited for Frank to say something. Instead, he just leaned back in his chair and grabbed the newspaper. “Enjoy your daughter while she’s young. He sighed. “Dante’s already on it.”
Nixon froze. “The hell he is—”
“Let him.” Trace touched Nixon’s face. “Please, just… let someone else draw blood for once, okay?”
His body was rigid, his mannerisms jerky as he touched his forehead to Trace’s and nodded. “All right.”
I stood and started clearing plates when Nixon’s hand shot out and grabbed my arm, pulling me back down into my seat.
I dropped the plates and waited for whatever he was going to say. It was always hard looking directly at him, he was ruthless, dangerous, he was just like Dante only I knew the blood he had on his hands. Nixon Abandonato was a nightmare in the flesh.
“How are things with Chris?” He asked casually digging into his food.
I sagged in relief. “Um, good, they’re good.”
“You think you’ll feel safe with him?”
I hesitated.
I don’t know why.
“Safe.” I repeated the ugly word. “Is just a fantasy parents tell their children, a bed time story to help them sleep better at night. Is any one of us, ever safe?”
“No.” Nixon smiled at me, stunning me into silence with his beauty. “I wondered how long it would take for you to figure that out.”
“What?”
“Just think about it.” He nodded. “You can go now, but leave the dishes for Chase, it’s his turn.”
I couldn’t get out of the dining room fast enough.
My normal routine was homework and TV in my room.
Shutting myself away from the world.
Away from Dante.
And now, now that I’d left the bathroom door open, now that I’d been in his world a part of it.
It felt wrong to lock myself in my room like a prison.
Maybe that was what I’d been doing all along.
They’d brought me to a home.
And I’d turned it into a jail cell because I was afraid.
I was still afraid.
But not of the same things I used to be afraid of.
I used to be afraid of the way men looked at me.
Now?
Now I was afraid of the day when a certain man would watch me with those crystal blue eyes — as I walked down the aisle into the arms of another.
My legs carried me down to the training rooms where Dante normally kicked ass or had his ass handed to him.
The sound of fighting filed the room.
The smell of sweat.
Blood.
A few weeks ago, I would have run out screaming.
And now, now I was curious.
What had Dante done to me?
I took a step inside and watched.
Dante had no shirt on.
Neither did Phoenix or Sergio.
It should be illegal to see that m
uch naked muscle in such a small space.
I shivered as Dante lunged for Phoenix.
“Stop.” He held up his hands. “Remember your goal is to get away not attack, it’s completely opposite of what you know, but that’s what Krav Maga is. Now, lean in with your right hand, you can’t just poke eyes out with that much force, you’ll just impale eye balls onto your fingers like skewers or end up punching rather than poking.”
“Love it when he says poke,” Dante said under his breath much to the amusement of Sergio who watched on the sidelines.
I laughed with him.
All eyes turned to me.
I held up my hands. “Sorry, I was just… watching.”
“I bet you were.” Dante grinned.
I rolled my eyes.
Sergio nodded to me. “Come on in, watch Dante get his ass kicked, it’s great entertainment.”
Dante flipped him off.
I walked to Sergio’s side as Phoenix approached Dante again, he was leaner than Dante, but not lacking any muscle whatsoever.
Dante evaded one of Phoenix’s punches, reached in with his right hand and stopped right before his pointer finger hit Phoenix’s eyelash.
“Nice,” Sergio said approvingly. “Again.”
They did the same movement about a dozen more times before Dante joined me and it was Sergio’s turn.
“You were good at that,” I said lamely.
Dante threw his head back and laughed. “It’s more brain than muscle, it’s difficult to tell my body to speed up with quicker movements when I just want to pull my gun or knock someone out.”
I frowned. “So why learn it?”
“Because it makes you lethal,” he said seriously. “And because Phoenix is the best at it, he taught Trace how to fight, you know that?”
I felt my face light up. “Really?”
“Yeah.” Dante eyed my mouth and then looked away. “So she wouldn’t be afraid.”
“I never said I couldn’t fight.”
“Ah but can you fight well?”
I shrugged. “That a challenge, Nicolasi?”
“You gonna let her talk shit to you, Dante?
“Maybe I like getting talked to like that.” He sucked in his bottom lip and followed up with one of the sexiest grins I’d ever seen in my entire life.
Phoenix hit him on the shoulder. “Yeah, I think that means we break, don’t forget what we talked about, Dante.”