AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Leo dropped his hold on my cheeks. “The one where you pretend like you don’t love me.”
“I—” I started to say, and my argument quickly died on my tongue the moment his was shoved inside my mouth. Three quick twists of that nimble appendage and Leo was pulling back with a cocky-ass grin. “Fine. Tell me what the fuck crawled up your ass and put ya in a sour mood.”
“Ya really know how to sweet talk a guy, Rossi.”
“What can I say? In this day and age, a girl’s gotta have many talents.” I shrugged.
Leo flopped himself onto his bed, his hands bracing the back of his neck and his eyes focused straight ahead. He patted the spot beside him, and it took all my willpower to keep from mouthing off again. Just because I could.
The problem was, the fucker was right. I did feel… something for him. Nothing I was willing to put a name on at the time. But definitely something more thanlike.
I stomped over in full brat mode before reluctantly accepting the arm he lifted, then used to tuck me against his side.
He propped his chin up on my head and sucked in a deep breath. “I think he’s doin’ somethin’ behind my dad’s back. My Uncle Benny, I mean.”
I raised a shoulder in a half shrug. “Backroom deals happen all the time. That shit’s par for the course. Someone’s always lookin’ to skim a little off the top.”
“Nah, that’s not the kinda thing I’m talkin’ about. I think it’s somethin’ much bigger. Like he wants to take control of the businesses. Cut my old man out entirely.”
“What makes ya say that?” I pushed up on my elbows to look Leo in the eye.
“Like I said, it’s just a gut feelin’.” He shook his head, then grabbed one of my wrists and tugged me on top of him, his cock already trying to pierce me through the fabric of his jeans. “But right now, I’d rather be feelin’ your guts,prep school princess.”
62
PRESENT
“So, Leo was right,” I hummed, crossing an ankle over a knee in a very unladylike manner. My wrists twisted behind my back in a pair of standard-issue hinged cuffs, and my shoulders secured to a metal chair.
There was a man positioned in each corner of the room. Nine guns in total, counting their backups as well as the one tucked into Mulligan’s overstuffed waistband.
“'Bout what? 'Cause it sure as fuck wasn’t you, princess.” Benny waddled in front of me, his suit jacket far too tight and his lips far too loose for a supposed mob boss. My old man would have known better than to take the bait.
You always commanded the room. You sure as fuck didn’t let the hostage do it for ya. It was like Mafia 101 or some shit.
“Oh, he was right about that too. I can suck cock like a champ.” I quirked a challenging brow. “Want the family discount? I’d love nothing more than to lock my jaw around that toothpick between your thighs and tug it loose.”
The fucker’s face blanched before turning a shade of red that’d put a firetruck to shame, while his men did their best to stifle the sound of their chuckles.
“I should cut that tongue outta that filthy mouth of yours, girl,” Benny hissed, saliva peppering the air when the bastard spoke.
“Why?” I cast my eyes down over the buttons that were straining across Benny’s gut, pausing where a cock should have been before flicking 'em up again. “I promise ya there’s plenty of room for both.” Then I lifted a shoulder in a noncommittal shrug. “But that’s not what I’m talking about.”
Benny leaned an arm on the desk, supporting his weight while urging me to continue with a dramatic wave of his hand.
“He suspected you were snaking your way into the businesses, lookin’ to replace his pops. Get 'em outta the picture. I mean, that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You ran 'em outta town.”
“That wasn’t me.” Benny’s grin was something sinister, like the cat who ate the canary. Then spit it out and used a scalpel to see what was on the inside. It was the grin of a fucking psychopath. “That was all you, Ms. Rossi. The grief, the loss of his firstborn son. Ya see, that’s what really did my brother in. Not me.” He glanced down at his polished shoes before looking back in my direction again. “Thanks by the way. Saved me the work of havin’ to do it myself.”
“Ain’t nothin’ new,” I grunted. “Us girls are always havin’ to carry the load of lesser men. In some fucked-up form or another. Ya gonna have your mama take care of me for ya too? Clean up another mess you’ve gone and made for yourself?”
“Oh, no. That pleasure’s all mine.” Benny’s jaw tensed, like he was chewing on ice cubes and grinding them between his teeth. His nostrils flared and his chest heaving. Though that last one could have had more to do with being out of shape than the rage boiling beneath the puffed-up leprechaun’s surface. “Youronly saving grace over the years was my nephew’s obsession with the cunt between your legs. And what did it get 'em? Ya gutted the kid like a pig and left the poor boy to bleed out on the floor.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong, Uncle Ben—love your rice by the way.” I tilted my head and offered the fucker a grin that rivaled his level of crazy. “I didn’t leave untilafterhe bled out on the floor. Stayed long enough to watch the life drain from the bastard’s eyes.” I flexed my thighs in my seat, rocking the legs back and forth a few times before shifting to move 'em from side to side. A smart man would have bolted down the chair. “Don’t know what sort of trainin’ you had, but my pops taught me to always make sure they’re dead. Never abandon a body before you know for certain. Then again, I guess that’s why we’re here, ain’t it? Because someone forgot to check if the corpse they left behind was still breathing?”
Benny opened his mouth, his lips curled in a way that told me it would be scathing too. 'Cept the fucker never got the chance. 'Cause he was far too distracted by the rumble of an explosion that sent his men running out the door in search of the source.
“Ain’t it a bitch when things don’t work out the way you thought they would?” I hummed, my voice lulling Benny’s head back in my direction. Just in time for me to finish sawing through the rope and pop my dislocated thumbs back into place. It was a little parlor trick I learned as a kid and definitely something that’d come in handy over the years.
